Amy Gangi

It's no secret I've been slacking. I've been overcome with lazyness as of late. I blame the job, the last thing I want to do when I get home is use a computer. I also haven't been picking up my camera at all. I want a Canon 5D Mark ii so bad that I can barely stand to look at my current camera these days. Now that the price has been lowered it's within reach. Finally. I really want to try shooting a video too. I've been making short ones with my iPhone but I want to make a decent video. I know that's "Shit Photographers Say" but I mean it. I want to give it a shot. I've also been putting the Go Pro HD Hero camera in my cart on Amazon a lot and then not buying at the last minute. One of these days I will run out of willpower though.

The car we got swindled into renting:

Have I told you how much I love succulents? I love them so much, have you seen the new West Elm catalog? There's so many in there! Air plants too! Man, I love them. 

Patrick has a fear of heights and cliffs over the ocean. I had to get closer to these! I climbed down closer to the ocean and to the lovely plants. He stayed at the top and nagged me back to saftey. 

We went on some sweet hikes, but I have to admit I kept the camera in my backpack through most of the climbs. On the shorter ones though I did pull it out.

Also, best tacos I ever had.

When I was about 12 years old I decided that I wanted to live in California. I used to read about different cities trying to figure out where I'd want to live. I ripped pictures out of magazines and saved them in a Vans shoebox labeled "California Dreams." I was very funny back then. I think the love affair started when I noticed all my favorite bands were from there, also I was really into making my own clothes back then and I thought I could make a living doing that there. As I got older I thought I could join a band, playing drums, then I thought about trying to be a freelance photographer and get paid to go to shows and shoot the bands I love. Then reality hit and I figured I'd end up as paprazzi or something worse and hate what I do so much that all the fun would be sucked out of living there. 

So Basically, I've always wanted to go to the west coast. I wanted to drive down highway 101, with the ocean on one side and beautiful mountains on the other. At 27, I finally did it. I read through all the books I had read years earlier and bookmarked all the things I wanted to see. I guess I forgot how into these things I can get. It was a lot of bookmarks.

I narrowed it down to only a few things that were within the areas we would be. Big Sur, Carmel, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. The biggest thing I wanted to do? Just hike in Big Sur. I wanted to hike the cliffs around the ocean and up into the hills, through redwoods. Sneak peak:

First, I had to fly though. I have a problem with flying. I know it's irrational, I know everybody is a little afraid to fly. I get it. I just have a pretty major problem with it. It's not that "I'm not in control of the situation," or that I'm afraid of the plane crashing. Well, it is those things, but it goes beyond that. I get sick and shakey when I look at a seating chart of an airplane. My plan was to take some drugs and a lot of motion sickness pills. 

As soon as we got to the airport it hit me. The shakes, the sweats, the "I'm going to puke, it's a good thing I had the foresight not to eat anything in last 12 hours." It's embarassing really. I can handle much more difficult situations but for some reason this was the worst for me. I could barely walk into the airport without losing it. I went straight for the bathroom and popped everything I had. When I came out, we went to get our boarding passes and went through security which took my mind off of things long enough for all the drugs to kick in. By the time I was on the plane I felt okay, nervous but I was high and not shakey, pukey, and sweaty. 

I was lucky enough to get a window seat and the view over Colorado was quite amazing. That may be our next trip. I have about 100 more photos and more stories but I'm to tired to keep working on this today. So this is part one. Please stay tuned.

The lovely Sandpiper AKA Piper.

Rockie does not ever stop moving.

Copper and his 2nd best friend. I'm his first. Sorry Patrick.

Just back from the beautiful Harper's Ferry. We biked all over the park, then on the way out noticed a friendly little sign saying biking was prohibited on the trails we just rode on. Oh well.

Taken by Ben on his smart phone. Oooooohhh. Patrick and I marveling at a giant leaf. Also please note I will work on my posture.

Perfect place for a metal band cover shoot. Patrick's pants are rolled because we were on bikes just before I took this. Pro Tip- Don't bike in jeans, even if you are "just cruising around town."