MOUNT LAGUNA JULY 2026

bit late on this, but what's new. had a really wonderful time with my best friends, and at the time i totally needed it; i was really feeling like a crazy person, sometimes still am, but this was very grounding. i was gonna say i'll spare you the sentimentality, but that's really what i made this whole thing for so i won't. i used to go camping here pretty often with my family, so i have countless great memories of time spent here with people that i love, and to be an adult with the means and ability and friends who are willing to make the time and the effort to go make more with me is something i truly cherish. i've been feeling decidedly quite unlucky this year, but moments like these do put things in perspective. i have some photos to share too (they're totally out of order, i'll try to give context where i can).

 i wanna say this is the afternoon we got there (7/17), but it could totally be the 18th. sun streaming through the trees, it was hot, but not nearly as hot as san diego or los angeles had been, a nice reprieve.

the sunrise the next morning was beautiful. didn't sleep super well, but it really wasn't a problem. awoke to the sound of cows mooing.

good morning, cows at the meadow 

 wes and tay looking at the cows at the meadow

in all my years of camping here i'd never seen them make their way over to this side where the campsite is, was pretty neat.

there were so many, so i have a lot of pictures of cows lol.

zane in his one man tent. he seemed to really enjoy it, he even left the door open like he does at home sometimes.

breakfast sausage. i wish i got a proper picture of all the breakfast, but we ate real good. not sure if it was just cause we were exerting ourselves and hungry, but everything was delicious.

 friends by the fire.

saw some people on horseback while taking a hike later that day. i always use to tell people that this was my favorite place, this trip was a reminder why. these expansive, open, grassy fields, bordered by pine trees are so beautiful.

though it had been pretty hot and dry, there was still some water in big laguna lake. not much of a lake honestly, looked kind of gross, but happy to see there was still some water especially since there was none in the meadow.

the cows too had found their way to the lake and decided to take a dip. i love the way they lined the water around this bend.

i love the contrast of the blue to the green to the yellow.

camp site in the afternoon. not pictured is our massive 8 person tent (which we used for 3 lol).

encounter with a california toad.

 friends by the fire.

i can't remember what night it was, but it randomly rained (want to say night one). this is from footage of me going outside to show that it was raining, only footage i have with me in it. great trip. looking forward to the next one. peace!




 

  

longtime

a year to the date since i was here last, lots of things changed really fast. i've no choice, but to figure it out.

 

 

WYLTLM '76

 hi, can't sleep

 

 

1976 demo of one of my favorite prince songs

JAPAN JUNE 2025

 honestly forgot about this until my credit card got charged for the domain last week.

 

anyways might as well put it to use. here is a selection of stills from footage i took on my camcorder during my first trip to japan (as well as out of the US). it was a lot of fun, i went with my girlfriend and some of my best friends. i truly can't wait to go back. nothing is in order so i'll provide context on the photos where i can.

 

 

we took a long walk from our airbnb in hatagaya to shop around shimokitazawa for the day. it was really hot and humid but we ended up walking down this path about half way through.

i was pleasantly surprised at the amount of padres stuff i saw during the trip, especially because the dodgers and padres faced off in two series while i was there. i figured i'd see more blue, but i was very happy not to. the cornrows are crazy though.

it was also pride while we were there, very cool and exciting to see people parading through tokyo, they looked very happy, that made me happy.

 

 

i was pretty excited to visit a tower records and it didn't disappoint. i didn't walk away with too much by way of music, but i was able to scoop a "saturday night" by zhane record for about $30 USD (i'd been looking on eBay to no avail), as well as some merch for myself and my parents. definitely want to check out more record stores whenever i go back.

 

a lot of walking was done. a lot.

shinkansen to kyoto. need one of these in the states desperately.

a shrine in kyoto, we didn't really check it out, one of our bus stops just happened to be outside of it. crazy to think how old this thing probably is.

 

also on our long walk to shimokitazawa. we happened upon this park (called komaba park) which had a western style mansion and a traditional eastern style home. we didn't spend any time looking at the houses as we were just passing through, but the park itself was beautiful, the tree cover was much needed after walking in the hot sun for awhile.

arashiyama monkey park. it was really fun, quite the walk. worth it for our experience, but mileage may vary. we were lucky enough to catch the feeding time where all the monkeys congregated and ate peanuts that the workers tossed out, it was interesting, but also kinda strange.

i pointed the camera at her every opportunity i could (which was often).

arashiyama and the katsura river. the trees were so pretty and lush.

hot dog from paddlers coffee. hot dogs seem kinda popular in japan.

i didn't end up going to the deer park in nara (my friends did), but we caught a glimpse of a few deer on the way down the hill from the monkey park. how cute.

lots of toyota comforts and toyota crowns as taxis. they look so cool, i'd love to drive this daily.

shibuya scramble on a warm, rainy night. wasn't as busy as it normally got, but still a bit crowded.

these covered scooter things are so funny to me, not sure why. i wanna drive one though, seems fun.

the osaka kaiyukan aquarium. i am not well versed in aquariums or aquatic animals (though i do love sharks), but this was quite fun. it was a bit of a mission to get to, especially since we were only in osaka for the day and we were bouncing around, but seeing the whale shark and other animals in that big tank was really cool.

 

all in all, it really was such a cool trip. we were there for about 2 and a half weeks and i don't at all feel like it was enough time, i can't wait to go back. thanks for reading this if you got this far. cheers!