These past few months have been quite a blur of events, including celebrating Christmas with my parents for the first time in eight years (yay!).  But in early December we were "Nawlins" bound, which is a fun little city even if you never left the French Quarter (though thankfully we did).

We visited all the standard places like Café Du Monde for their beignets and café au lait, and Bourbon street for its nightlife (as well as its less frenetic, more musically enjoyable counterpart Frenchmen street).  It was also oyster season so we ate chargrilled oysters to our hearts' content.

I also rode a fanboat for the first time, which was actually quite a fun way to explore the swamps.  The ear muffs were dorky but absolutely necessary against the deafening sound (I'm amazed that we didn't scare off every single bit of wildlife for miles around).  We even got to hold a little hatchling, as apparently life is quite challenging for baby alligators so they are sometimes raised to a certain size before being released into the wild.

There are also some truly beautiful plantations in Louisiana.  We got to visit the Laura Plantation (a Creole plantation) and caught a glimpse of the stately Oak Alley Plantation.

And then three days later it was back to Los Angeles, though not without a little hitchhiker in tow.

Several weeks ago I spent a few days in Half Moon Bay, which was a relief from the rash of hot weather  we'd been experiencing in Los Angeles.  We were at the Ritz Carlton for a very worthwhile benefit, but it was also a good time to just get away a little.  I love that Half Moon Bay seems perpetually shrouded in fog.  I hopped on a bike for the first time in seven years, and after a slightly wobbly start we managed to bike all the way down several beaches and back.  But I think I spent most of my time just curled up in an Adirondack chair watching the waves during the day and the glow of the fire pits at night.  

It may be fall everywhere else in the United States but with the heat here it still sometimes feels like summer.  All photos were taken with my phone, which has lately been the medium of choice for these spontaneous trips.

Here are a few shots taken from around the bay while I was up in Berkeley for an engagement shoot a few months back.  Some were taken with my camera, but more often than not they were taken with whatever I had on me (my phone camera).  It was nice being back in my old stomping grounds again, it's always fascinating how Berkeley always seems to change with every visit.  But that mural (seen below) has almost stayed entirely the same.  I've been taking pictures of that same mural ever since I was a wide-eyed college freshman way too many years ago.  And of course no nostalgic trip down memory lane is ever complete without a trip to Fenton's for a black and tan sundae.