Geonial

From the Monterey Harbor to the nearby coasts, sea otters are frolicking offshore. Apart from the harbors, a good spot to see them in their environment is the “Point Lobos State Park”. There, I observed a very peculiar behavior of one otter who hopped onto a tiny island and robbed to a dark brown thing, sniffed it, turned around and splashed back into the water. Inspecting the pictures taken with my telelens, I could see that the thing the otter was sniffing was a dead otter. I reported this to one of the rangers in the state park and he says: “Oh, it was probably just sleeping”. I mean, who would NOT have thought of the Dead Parrot in Monty Python?! I was fighting very hard with myself not to reply: “This otter is an ex-otter. It has ceased to be. This otter is no more, it has gone to meet its maker. It is pushing up the daisies!” (For those of you who are unfamiliar with the absolutely hilarious dead parrot sketch click here) End of story is that he finally believed me when I showed him the pictures and he called it in right away, so they could get the ex-otter for necropsy  to determine cause of death which helps researchers to find out why otter populations are struggling to maintain their numbers. Please note: All animals shown in picture are very much alive.

“Driving down the road I get a feeling that…” I’m in California! Big waves, beaches and sandy cliffs is what makes “Big Sur” one of the most scenic routes in the state.

One of the biggest aquariums in the world, the Monterey Bay features stunning exhibits on underwater life ranging from the secret life of seahorses to threats of ocean life. I was especially fascinated to see the educational parts on seafood: You sit in a diner and choose on an electronic menu, and the chef comes up on screen to explain why you shouldn’t eat shrimp, and gives an option that’s (a little) more sustainable.

PS: The last picture is NOT seaweed. Make an educated guess.

The feeling of spring is all around in the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada. Higher up, it’s still winter allright! So this should comfort those of you who are still stuck in the Swiss winter. 😉

What a change after the Death Valley to wander among some of the oldest (and biggest) trees on earth! The giant seqoias have been estimated to be 2000 – 3000 years old. Thanks to their fibrous bark that has a furry aspect (that must be why I like them so much) they can withstand fire and insect attacks. Very impressive. Less impressive are the hords of tourists that look like ants scrambling around the trees… Maybe these trees inspired Tolkien for his Ent-trees in Lord of the Rings (sorry, nerd-alarm!)? Anyway I was partly glad that they didn’t come alive so we wouldn’t get squished by their huge trunks like some hobbits. 🙂

And yes, I confess, I am a tree-hugger. But with these huge tress, hugging becomes virtually impossible! Recently added last picture to show the actual size (the light brown speck at the bottom of the tree is me).

Named by a party of golddiggers (or something like that) to commemorate the loss of one of their friends in the valley, the name seems quite fitting… My guidebook is a bit too harsh in saying that “Death Valley is best appreciated from an airconditioned car”. The writer must have never experienced a Swiss winter to enjoy the warmth of the desert spring, so at least I did!

The Joshua Tree National Park lives up to its name. It is, well, full of “Joshua Trees”. This tree species has adapted so well to the desert climate that it is growing in large numbers in this rocky area. Because of the different rock-formations, the park is a mekka for climbers (unlike the Swiss pendant, US National Parks allow different kinds of uses of their protected areas, please note that this statement is sort of non-judgemental). I only longed for my tent (and 2 more weeks) to go hiking and camping!

The desert is blooming (at least some parts of it, the wildflowers didn’t bloom this year). A love for cacti and other succulents must be genetically encoded, since it seems to run in the family!

A very Hoppy Easter to everyone! In California, we indulged in chocolate bunnies and eggs (the country of origin will not be mentioned here for custom regulation issues that could arise…) and I even met an(other) Easter Bunny impersonator! The encounter was friendly though. To all of you who (yes you, my chorology friend) have other associations or b/funny thoughts: It is Easter. And a bunny is a bunny is a bunny. 🙂

In the desert I even saw the REAL thing (decide which picture that would be for yourself).

Out of professional interest I just HAD to visit the world-famous (so they call themselves) zoo in San Diego.50 hectares of top-notch animal keeping, 400 different species, a lot of edu-tainment (more heavily on the “tainment” side though), it’s worth a visit despite the hefty entrance fee.

Most residents of the zoo would win the prize for “laziest animals ever”, as they were fast asleep during most of the time. Others were pretty active, such as the hippo (please note that they are vegetarians, and only if you look closely you will see that I coincidentally took a picture that looks like the hippo is eating the child’s reflection!). The underwater-hippos were the coolest thing in the zoo, apart from the pandas. Yes, they are just cute. And the mothers are pretty authoratitive educators, she just kicked that little panda right of the branch when he wasn’t doing like she said.