Idyllwild Camping On Film

A few film snaps from the little plastic Ultra Wide Slim on our first forest camping trip in Idyllwild. Also, one of my new favorite pictures of my wife. Kicked back, reading a book, under giant trees. Oh, and the skies really are bluer up there. :)

An Oasis In The Desert

A very warm walk in the desert to try to find an oasis of palm trees...

This hike was one of my least favorite yet. It was so, so hot. It seemed endless. Then we found the "oasis" and it was pretty unremarkable. Of course, California is experiencing a horrible drought, so the stream was mostly dry and the palms that surrounded it were a little droopy. Then we had to turn around and walk all the way back. I ran out of water. (Not to worry, I had plenty in the car when we finally got there.)

Granted, we saw some cool skies and creatures, but it was maybe just a tad to hot for this hike a day after camping in the desert. Still, a fun hike and one that the little plastic Ultra Wide Slim captured pretty well.

A Forgotten Roll of Film

I finally finished a roll of film in a camera that has been sitting around since right after we got to California. It went out on a few of our adventures around town, but only managed a photo or two per trip. Mostly, it sat on a shelf somewhat forgotten. So, finally, I ended the roll and sent it off to the lab. Enjoy some miscellaneous California plastic camera photos! :)

Superheadz UWS, Fuji Superia 400, Developed by Alpine Film Lab.

An Island Birthday

I had a really new experience for my birthday this year. My first birthday in California, so it was an appropriate celebration. We took an hour long boat ride over to the island of Catalina. We climbed aboard the Catalina Flyer in the Dana Point Harbor and floated off to a little island getaway...

Bye bye Orange County, disappearing on the horizon.

And hello Catalina, appearing on the opposite side! :)

A friendly passenger saw me snapping all kinds of photos, and offered to take a quick shot of us together. One benefit of a cheap little plastic camera with only one button... you can hand it to just about anyone and get a good photo. :)

Pulling into the colorful harbor of Avalon in Catalina!

We stopped for a quick lunch at some little pub, then took a stroll along the edge of the land to get down to Descanso Beach to rent our kayak. It took weeks of my wife convincing me, and my own researching every aspect of kayaking in the ocean, to agree to possibly go do this. Once we got there, it looked reasonable enough, so we jumped right in. We rented a little two seater kayak, packed our necessities into a dry bag, and jumped onboard!

This is the beach where we landed our little ship! There are a multitude of photos from out on the water, but they will follow in another post. These are the not-waterproof-camera photos. :)

Wife and boat, on our own little beach.

A snack break on the beach. We paddled up to this island, then back out into the water, and then returned to this beach later for a break. We swam in the water, played in the waves, watched fish swim right up to our faces, and sat in the sun. This was really my first real "romp" in the ocean. I've never really let the water get much above my waist. This time, I was getting tossed by little waves, wearing goggles and swimming with fishies, and even got scuffed up by the rocky ground. It was so much fun.

Back on dry land, we changed into dry clothes and walked around a little. We stopped for some ice cream and made our way to our boat for our trip home.

Our ride pulling into the slip.

The trip back home was a beautiful sunset show!

So long for now, Catalina, we'll be back.

Superheadz UWS, Fuji Superia 400, developed by Alpine Film Lab.

Move to California on Film

Flashback to our move to California. The film that came along on the journey finally got developed. I enjoyed seeing these photos in August and remembering the fun we had on our looong drive from St. Louis to California way back in February. I hope you enjoy, too. :)

Our old parking lot, and the little pod that carried all of our stuff for us!

A selfie, my little car, loaded with Podcasts, pandas, caffiene, a gnome named Norm, and a few bags of cameras. :)

Wife in a cute little red bug!

Break time... stretch, walk, pet the cat. (Look close, Kim is in her car chatting with Zoe.)

A pit stop in Texas to see the "Cadillac Ranch".

I think this may be my favorite photo from the whole drive. The perfect use of a little three lens plastic camera and a bunch of Texas Cadillacs stuck in the ground!

Norm says Hi!

Family photo, minus Zoe, plus Norm.

California! Still a long way from the ocean, though!

All photos made with Superia 400 using cute little plastic cameras - an Ultra Wide Slim and Robocam (three lens). Developed by Alpine.