I have no idea what sort of flowers these are. I tried some rudimentary searches with Google, but they didn’t turn up much. I also tried an image search by uploading this photo to Google and seeing if it could match anything. Nope. So here you go… some crazy little red flowers growing amongst the sequoia groves in Sequoia National Park.

A number of years ago the National Park Service decided to cut down one of the immense Sequoias within Sequoia National Park because its impending collapse threatened a nearby cabin. So they cut it down in a controlled fashion saving the cabin and allowing for this image. These are the tree rings of a giant sequoia believed to be between five and six thousand years old. I didn’t count them.

Jennifer and I went camping in Sequoia Nat’l Park in July. She is a complete camping newbie so we kept things easy. (Not that I’m a pro or anything… I know a pro camper or two and I’m decidedly amateurish… but I show promise!) The place is pretty incredible. Hiking around off of the paved trails really transported me to another world. There are a boatload of undeveloped trails to hike and I’d like to get back and hit the majority of them.

I’ve known this guy since 2001ish when making my first impression on him by yelling, in class, at my incompetent calculus teacher. “What do you MEAN you lost my homework?!” This image is from our return to Vegas from a recent photo trip to Rachel, NV.

This is the interior of the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel, Nevada. The walls are covered in alien-themed trinkets, videos about Area 51 and “unexplained phenomenon” are playing in the corner and the ceiling above the bar is covered in dollar bills decorated by a multitude of patrons.

Seems the good folks of Rachel, NV had a parade some time ago and this was one of the featured “floats”. Interesting, I suppose. The alien spacecraft is reminiscent of all typical “flying saucers”, a term coined by an airline pilot back in the ’50s by the way. I desaturated the image for kicks.

I forgot to post a few pictures from the Lil’ A’Le’Inn that Chris and I visited a few months ago. This is the ceiling of the restaurant covered in dollar bills decorated by patrons from around the world. Chris and I didn’t leave our own mark, but we aren’t UFO buffs. The next photo will provide a bit more perspective on the place.

So you noticed… it’s not black. Here’s the back story of why this white mailbox is called the Black Mailbox. If someone else has already written about it, why bother with my own rendition? Chris grabbed this picture on our recent trip to Rachel, NV along Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway north of “Area 51″.

Not exactly magenta, but close enough, right? Despite last minute planning, this night turned into a decent time. Drinks, conversations, fireworks, and plenty of fun. This is the last photo I’ll be posting from my Fourth of July collection. Up next, some shots while I was golfing with Chris and Navin.

Classic Chris… I set the shutter on bulb, opened the shutter and, like a movie director, called for the drawing to begin. After a few seconds I closed it and couldn’t believe my eyes… There it was, a big ‘ole cock drawn with the lighter punk that came with the night’s firework entertainment! This image is unedited.