Taken on an iPhone after yesterday’s rain.  Not my phone.  Nor taken by me.  But permission to post has been asked and granted (plus I don’t think he had much of a choice anyway).  Hope you have a wonderful day.

Thanks for stopping by.  Back soon next week.

P.S.  I usually don’t respond individually to comments, as I figure people don’t come back to check for a response, but I truly do appreciate your taking the time to leave them.

First, I will say that this Reserve is worth the day trip from La Serena (it’s about a two hour’s drive to the beach landing area, then another 45 minute boat ride to the islands).  And yes, from afar you’ll see birds, sea lions, sea otters, and penguins frolicking on the rock outcrops.  But I think the fun is more in the journey itself than in the amazement of seeing marine life, because the boats cannot disembark on these rocky islands where these animals inhabit, or even get all that close.

Setting off point in the tiny fishing village of Punta de Choros.

Not our boat below, but roughly almost the same size.

This is what I meant about the fun being in the journey itself.  It was an early spring day, and overcast and windy.  And honestly, the 45-min boat ride on choppy waters felt much longer.  But I really enjoyed it, even knowing that whatever marine life I see would be pretty tiny (I suppose I could have brought binoculars, but I’m not much of a binoculars fan, or a long lens fan either).

Maybe it’s just me, but I like the absurd feeling I get now and then when traveling, as in “am I really going all this way, or taking a 3 hour bus ride, or whatever just to see [fill in the blank -- the smallest known set of cutlery in the world; or the single two-inch large red flower that opens once every decade]?”  I’m exaggerating a bit, and am not saying that my trip to the Humboldt Reserve was like that, but sometimes doesn’t it feel funny the things travelers may fixate on?  And on this day I was determined to see penguins, even knowing that we couldn’t get close to shore, and that the Humboldt penguins are about 18 inches/46 cm tall (not to be confused with the Emperor penguins in Antarctica, which can reach 4 feet/1.2 m tall).

So here they are.  I’d say that this is after cropping about 60% of the image (truly hard to choose among my many Rorschach images).

Setting foot on land in Isla Damas, also part of the Humboldt Reserve.

The biggest treat of the day for me was probably having a school of dolphins follow our boat for part of the return trip.  And I was wise enough to simply enjoy the moment.  Not all memories can, or have to be captured in print, or megapixels.

Have a wonderful week, and thank you for stopping by again.

But I have to confess that the real reason I’m posting this is because I decided that I needed a “buffer” photo.  I was deciding what photos from my Chile trip to upload next, to follow my Elqui Valley in the Mist post.  And it occurred to me that it’s just too jarring to have nature images on an overcast day immediately following the blindingly bright technicolor happy photos from the last post.  I know, not like anyone necessarily scrolls from one post to the other or cares, but I feel like I need a transition or something.  So this one fits the bill.

See you soon next time.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the Rose Parade, it’s a Southern California tradition, now in its 123d year.  On New Year’s day (or the day after if New Year falls on a Sunday), there’s a five-mile/8km plus parade of huge floats, where just about every surface area is covered with flowers or plants.  It’s followed in the afternoon by the oldest college football bowl game in the country — first played at the Rose Bowl Stadium in 1902.   My apologies to my friends in colder climes, but I can’t resist adding this bit of history.  The Rose Parade was started in 1890 by members of the Valley Hunt Club in Pasadena (a private social club) as a way to showcase Los Angeles to their former East Coast neighbors.  As one club member said, ”In New York, people are buried in snow.  Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let’s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.”   Official site.

This year’s theme was “Just Imagine . . . .”  And yes, it was sunny and warm.

“Dinosaurs in LA Backyard.”  (Listing names of floats where I could remember them)

“Elizabeth Taylor:  Our Champion” (honoring her for her AIDS advocacy work).

“Preserving Paradise“.

“Every Body Walk!“

“Happy Trails“.

“To the Rescue”.

“Spirit of Prosperity and Harmony“

Just Imagine . . .”If Pigs Could Fly“.  Easily a crowd pleaser and my favorite — plus various parts even move.

If anyone’s interested, the LA Times has a cool video of the making of Trader Joe’s float below, from conception to exhibition.

“Sweet Dreams” (also first image).

Back to my regular photos next week.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.