my friend Connor owns and lives on Sea Casa, his Hunter 31 that he has been preparing for a long open-ended sail down to Panama and East to Florida. For over a year since he made his decision he has been taking on all the precautionary and maintenance projects that this sailboat could ever need. the other weekend he sailed to MDR to a more reputable boat yard for a set of all new standing rigging. Because he's a liveaboard he had to get it back to Redondo while the yard worked on the rigging. I tagged along for a mast-less motor on a weeknight. Weather was great considering the night before was the thunderstorm and the seastate was comfortable enough to make it pretty easy. It made me want to go night sailing. 

A week later he texted me to see if I'd be available for a night sail and I was. The wind was light enough around 6-8 knots so he hoisted up the asymmetrical spinnaker while I handled the lines and steering. We went from 1 knot to 4.5-5 in the light wind. 

Just before leaving San Luis Obispo Sunday night we saw lightning flashes through the fog. A quick check of radar maps let us know we'd be driving through a building thunderstorm for basically the entire way to LA. I was excited, Mia was not. For most of the trip lightning was appearing over the water or on the horizons except during the highway 154 pass which is up the back of the Santa Barbara mountains. Mia was covering her eyes and ears and lightning bolts were striking very close and through heavy tropical rain. When we got back to Redondo around 11:30 Mia wanted to watch the weather because on radar, it was out safely beyont Catalina Island. We grabbed our cameras and phones and watched from the main channel and then out on the breakwall. I got lucky a few times with using a manual focus lens and 1 second shutter speeds. 

Neighbors project vehicles  

Took a drive up to SLO for a quick weekend trip, marking Mia's brother James's last weekend before moving north for college. We all visited the horses both days and took a walk with the puppy Sunday morning, played tennis, had lots of fun. 

a stranger having and easy Sunday morning 

Rosie has gotten so much bigger than the last time I saw her, she's 5.5 months now. 

Willow is perpetually stuck on whichever side of the house that Rosie isn't in  

A four day weekend, I went to Cabrillo and hung out on my dads boat, went to a birthday pool-party in downtown LA at Mia's friends insanely nice apartment complex, went to Sierra Madre to see Mia's family and was surprised by this bear family.  

This was the only time I turned on my camera.  

I grabbed my 42-150mm lens and zoomed in as close as possible as fast as possible. When the cubs went into the neighbors yard for the small waterfall pool, I crossed the yard and went up some outside stairs to get a better angle. 

There's another heat wave. I got home just in time for sunset and a sailboat race finish. The weather felt monsoonal and dumped some heavy rain drops on me whiling driving home but fortunately made for a great sunset. 

Long 5 second exposure using a railing to keep the camera still. 

A new powerboat on the dock... I don't think he's used the anchor for a while.  

The sun finally showed through late on Sunday while the rest of the weekend was cool and cloudy, apparently there's a heat wave going on everywhere else  

The photos above are all from attaching my old 28mm wide angle lenses to the new mirrorless camera. This allows for fun of manual focus and the lens acts more like a 56mm (2x) due to the sensor size of the digital camera. It also looks rad. 

Got some small projects done and looked more into my instrument panel wiring as well as organizing the aft port storage. Reinstalled the autopilot around the wheel back on the steering pedestal. 

practicing night photos again 

Sunday we took a minute to stop by the inside breakwall 

Here's what Mia was looking at  

On Friday I left work and went bodysurfing on the way home, Conditions were bad and felt sharky so I hurried home to take some photos before it got dark 

one of the only boat projects I've done lately was putting a bug screen up around our companionway to allow breeze in while keeping mosquitoes out 

Saturday we went with friends to a multiple band music show at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. One of the members of the hosting radio show took a photo with me. 2 years ago he waged a small social media feud against me because I pointed out that he makes this same ridiculous face in every photo. He didn't know that I was that guy from 2 years ago when he posed for this photo and I knew he was going to make the face 

Lake Louise on a smokey morning 

the hike up offered and empty trail and cool air while the sun was behind the mountains  

just off the trail on the way up, trying slower shutter speeds to blur the water 

Mia and Maeve already did this hike earlier in the week before I arrived but Mia really wanted me to see it, the only way to fit it in would be by waking up at dawn on the final day - which we did, and Maeve was a trooper and came along with us

the tea house at the top of the trail and Abbot one of the house dogs. Tea house workers haul up propane and supplies and stay for about a week before hauling down trash before they get a few days off and do it all over again 

we had tea and biscuits while listening for glacial or rock falls. They echo through the valley sounding like thunder.  

on the way down we were actually running (during the safe parts) because we had to get back to the hotel before checkout and were losing time 

by this time in the late morning the bottom of the trail was a mob of people clogging the path, people riding horses to the tea house rather than walking, and rock climbers doing their thing 

another stop off the trail on the return to peek at the rushing glacial stream which fills Lake Louise 

We spent the last afternoon getting a post-hike breakfast and strolling around downtown Banff and the Bow River to Bow Falls and finally to the airport 

Moon rise  

Moraine Lake on Sunday. We were lucky to enter and get a parking spot. They limit the crowds by closing down the road when it gets busy. 

breakfast Sunday morning at the Post Hotel, along a steam that flows into the Bow River. 

The canoe rental dock  

water temp was 38 degrees and felt (shockingly) refreshing after a paddling across the lake. James at the top and me in the middle jumping off a rock 

view at the top of the rock pile into the clear blue water 

the sun was beating down and the chilly water felt great to swim in

a natural damn of logs bottlenecks the glacial runoff from leaving Lake Moraine, also allowing a crossing to a large rock pile to climb.  

After Lake Moraine we went to a ski resort where you can take chair lifts above the ski runs. In the summer there are often bears eating berries below, but we were told that there were not any sightings this afternoon and took Bow Parkway, along a railroad track, on the way back. There was a good chance of spotting bears because they eat grain and things that fall off the train cars so we kept our eyes peeled through the forests, yet we didn't see anything. Back in town early enough to walk around under the smokey skies, we could feel an extra level of energy because it was the eve of a Canadian national holiday and many people were out enjoying the summer weather. 

Saturday morning, Calgary airport. The flight landed after 3am and many of us were stranded here to wait and try to sleep until rental car companies opened again. 

I got my rental car as soon as I could and drove to Banff in the eastern Canadian Rockies. Promptly met with Mia's family and we headed out for the day - saw bears on the side of the road 

Bow Lake

after driving into the park and seeing bears, we stopped here first. I was already obsessed with this national park  

hike up to Parker Ridge and views of the Columbia Icefield glacier  

Parker Ridge is a farther drive north on the Ice Field Parkway almost to the end of the park.  Here is the Columbia Icefield Glacier and Mt Athabasca on the right. 

waterfalls coming from Big Bend Peak

the clearest weather was my first day there so we took advantage by going to all the big lookout spots we could. A fire nearby caused smoke for the other two days  

Waterfowl Lakes

the coolest outhouse I've ever seen  

Peyto Lake Panorama  

admittedly I was exhausted by the end of this day, having about an hour sleep on the plane and an hour at the airport at the end of a brutal work week. 

we went to the Park Distillery for dinner both nights I was there because it was so good.