Category: nature

Urban Exploration

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Photo credit to startribune.com

Just the other day I was browsing some dank memes on Reddit.

I got really bored so I went to “reddit.com/r/random/” which directs the user to a random subreddit.

After three attempts I finally stumbled upon a decent-looking subreddit that I had never even heard of: /r/urbanexploration.

I spent the rest of my evening on that subreddit. The subreddit is dedicated to exploring ruins in urban areas. It’s all about people’s findings of abandoned monuments frozen in time.

Spanning from secret basement doorways that lead to a massive tunnel system that were likely used by Al Capone, to old Yugoslavian monuments from the 1960s.

Photo credit to Michael Mehrhoff

The subreddit is mostly crap, but every few posts is an amazing story. The stories are really just a bunch of captioned pictures in the order of their findings.

My favorite was the post titled “Bad Ass Bunker.” The album is a series of 31 pictures with detailed captions.

The person who explored the bunker was visiting his old friend in northern Germany, which was formerly GDR.

They found a massive bunker. Some of it was already explored and had been tagged by teens. But the further and deeper they went, the more they found.

Eventually, the bunker was flooded and they had to turn back.

Photo credit to Johnny Joo

Urban explorers find a thrill in going through these abandoned buildings. Some even travel around the world.

They love it because the building tells a story and they get to be the ones to figure it out. Like what is this place, who was here, why was it abandoned?

Urban explorers are each like a modern-day Indiana Jones. Some of the explorers are photographers that actually take photos of abandoned places for a living.

Photo credit to Daniel Barter

For those who want to get started, the subreddit is a great place to get advice and learn of new locations.

Keep in mind, in most cases breaking into abandoned places is trespassing, and a lot of people on the subreddit have been arrested.

But there are websites that can be found on the subreddit that help avoid this issue.

October

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Photo Credit: blogspot.com

It’s finally October – so whip out those Halloween decorations and a copious amounts of candy corn.

Every year when October comes around, I get really excited, like way too excited, because it is the beginning of fall and it means Halloween is not far away.

My current neighborhood, filled with rich retired elderly couples treating Halloween like any old day, and to be honest, it’s dreadful.

I used to live on a block where Halloween was the most important holiday. They used to put their decorations up right when the first leaf fell from the trees, and the fresh smell of pumpkin wafted through the air.

Every house had a jack-o-lantern in the window and a styrofoam cemetery on their front lawns coated with bright golden leaves. October, in my eyes, is one of the best months out of the year.

Halloween is magical, but the sounds and views around you on an everyday basis are what makes October truly great.

The sound of crunching leaves on the sidewalk, the turning colors on the trees, the burning of fall time candles, and let’s not forget pumpkin spice everything.

Ok, I know that anything pumpkin spice is basically all sugar with the tiniest amount of real pumpkin, if it has any pumpkin at all, but it transports your mouth to fall wonderland.

Photo Credit: tumblr.com

 

On top of all that, is the introduction of fall fashion. Along with October comes chunky sweaters, boots, and cute beanies.

Seriously, sweaters are like socially acceptable pajamas, and beanies can save a bad hair day.

So take advantage of October. This is the month to curl up in huge blankets, drinking a pumpkin spice latte if you wish, and watch all the Halloween classics.

Santa Cruzin’

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I don’t consider myself a water person – unlike the bounty of surfers and ocean fanatics that I now surround myself with, I grew up inland and only ventured to the cold Oregon Coast 1-2 times each year.

Now in California I have many more opportunities to go swim in the ocean, or just be near the water.

However wonderful my opportunity is to many, even sometimes to me, when I heard I was going camping for a week at Santa Cruz Island, I was less than enthused.

The idea of being surrounded by ocean for five days straight, no matter how clear and beautiful I knew it would be, scared me. We were to be completely isolated – an hour boat ride away from land.

Photo Credit: http://www.nps.gov

My trip seemed to be the most popular out of the four – everyone wanted to go, and I even felt bad for taking up a spot when I wasn’t nearly as excited as some who couldn’t go.

Once I was on the boat to the island, standing with salty wind blowing through my hair, watching the island grow bigger and bigger, I began to feel excited. No longer was I wishing I was on route to Yosemite, I found myself looking forward to the next week, and what was to come.

What I thought would be a long, torturous week turned out to be adventure-filled and an amazing time. The ocean, originally the object of my fear, was beautiful, full of creatures, and the best part of the trip.

Photo Credit: upload.wikimedia.org

Out of all the camping trips I’ve been on throughout my life, this one was the most fun. And not only did I explore caves, but I also explored my limits.

Photo Credit: i.ytimg.com

Camping Chaos

mushuoo
Photo Credit: captainstewbaycruise.com

After an incredible summer, I’m back and ready for my senior year.

Coming back to school felt so sudden, especially when I heard the news that there was a mandatory all-school camping trip on the second week of school.

Uh oh.

I give credit to my editor and friend, Kendall Shiffman, for this quote that is oh so accurate: “I’m just a happy camper who hates camping.”

The thought of being consistently dirty for five days makes me cringe, but the decision was already made that I had to go.

On the drive up to Moñtana De Oro, I became warmed up to the idea of camping, and as soon as we arrived I was suddenly overwhelmed with excitement.

The environment was incredibly green, cold, and lush. Camping instantly seemed less terrifying.

As the trip went on, I ventured far out of my comfort zone. I never would have imagined having fun was a possibility on a mandatory camping trip, but that’s exactly what happened.

This camping trip truly taught me one thing: I feel more open-minded about life than I ever have before.

From The City to The Country

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After living most of my life in the city, sounds of sirens and car horns are just background noise, and the smell of gasoline simply means I’m home. Now, living here at OVS I’ve learned an entirely new way of life, for I have a better chance of seeing a grizzly bear than a bus.

At home, I wake up to the sounds of garbage trucks and school busses, and I fall asleep to the screech of distant sirens and car alarms. And quite honestly, it’s comforting.

Photo Credit: autoparkchryslerjeepblog.com

Now I wake up to birds chirping outside my window, and fall asleep to coyotes howling just a little ways away. And although that sounds beautiful, like some poem or romantic story, those birds are loud! And obnoxious. And constantly make a racket!

Photo Credit: community.secondlife.com

As for the coyotes – who knows what they’re barking about! As far as I know, they could’ve just killed their prey and are celebrating before they enjoy their feast. I’ll take a multiple-ton, killing machine on wheels any day.

I know that both the city and the wilderness come with their fair share of dangers, not one more dangerous than the other. I also know that OVS isn’t actually the wilderness, but compared to the city it sure seems like it! Personally, I prefer living in the city, but life at OVS has opened my eyes to what else is out there.

The Spiders Rise pt. 2

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Parts of the following blog are fictional accounts.

Tuesday
I’m always the first one back from breakfast, so the dorms are quiet and still. Halfway down the hallway, a drawing of a cartoon spider flutters to my feet from it’s position on the wall. It was an omen, I swear it was. There was a spider in the dorm’s cutlery drawer when I was looking for spoon to make hot chocolate with.

The girls went to bed that night feeling weary but quite hopeless. We all knew that the relentless torture would not ease up yet. “Third time’s the charm,” they say.

3am and the all-too familiar sound fills the dorm. I laid awake in bed for 20 seconds or so, contemplating just staying in my room and facing the consequences.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that thought, as I was the first person out of the dorm. The other humans took their time coming out because they knew that there was no fire and no danger.

We’re all tired. We’re all bickering.

Wednesday

No sign of our 8-legged friends anywhere, so I felt internally relieved. The other girls felt hopelessly exhausted and didn’t have as much knowledge as I do.

All was quiet that night. Not a peep, not a ring, not a twitch.

Thursday
6:40am and I’m brushing my teeth, eyes still closed and dozing off in the silence. A friend screams and points to the wall – a large brown recluse, crouching and staring at me from the mirror. I bring him outside and try to calm my beating heart, now definitely awake.

There’s the cartoon spider at my feet again. I had stuck it back onto the wall on Tuesday, and today… Well, there it is.

9pm Thursday. I’m prepared for their final attack.

Friday
5am and I was woken by the smell of smoke. It was faint enough that the fire alarms didn’t go off.

There were about (aw heck no) a dozen spiders on my floor.

They all ran under the crack of my door and I followed them out into the hallway and out of the dorm. It was hot outside. Like, fiery hot. Actually, there was a huuuge fire outside the dorm that singed the edges of my tie-dye shirt and curled the ends of my braided hair.

The fire alarm finally went off but the dorm didn’t jump like it usually did.

Everyone was sick of the fire alarm. Every single one of them stayed in their beds and covered their ears and groaned. Nobody was awake enough to smell the smoke or to even bother to check the hallways, where smoke was coating the ceilings.

The dorm dogs ran outside silently, followed by a cat and several hundred more insects of all shapes and sizes.

I thought I was dreaming, which is why I only laughed and waved at the dorm.

Bye.

Photo credit ifiberone.com

Goodbye.

Shark Bait Ooo Ha Ha!

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Recently Sharks have been spotted in the ocean off the coast of Ventura…

Sharks in the ocean? Not again.

Six sharks were spotted quite close to shore near Ventura South Beach.

Still wanna go for that morning surf?

Previous to this warning, there have been multiple incidents off the Ventura Coast involving sharks.

The sudden emergence of these creatures makes me wonder why they have chosen to come a little too close for comfort.

After doing a little research on the subject of shark’s behavior, many (probably false) websites accused the animals of coming near shore to look for people.

Most of me doesn’t believe this due to the fact that sharks do not have a behavioral history of purposely attacking humans, but what if they actually are coming closer for more food?

All I know is I will NOT be going in the ocean for quite some time.

Photo Credits: http://www.treasuregurus.com

 

Crow Craziness

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Currently, the human species is the smartest on the planet.

I repeat, currently.

I walked into the living room and my mom was watching a TED Talk on her iPad. About what you may ask?

How freakishly intelligent crows are.

Crows have the intelligence and communication skills of a six-year-old child.

Scared? I’m just getting started.

Crows have the ability to plan, recognize faces, hold grudges, conspire with one another, and have incredible problem solving abilities. 

A university in Seattle conducted an experiment where students wore face masks and tagged each of the crows with different colored anklets to identify them, which they didn’t enjoy.

Each time the students would put on the face masks, the crows who were tagged would find the student wearing the face mask that tagged them and proceed to swoop down and harass them

Talk about holding a grudge.

Remember that next time you shoo away a crow.

You’ll know who pooped on your car.

Photo Credit: thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com

 

The Spiders Rise pt. 1

indigoshell

Sunday
11pm (on Saturday) and I’m piling wet clothes into the drying machine. A few socks fall to the ground and I feel an ominous tingle touch my spine while reaching for them. In the gap between two machines is one of the largest spiders I’ve ever seen in my life, about an inch long with legs. Now, I’m not afraid of spiders, but I could’ve sworn that this one was looking right at me.

Photo cred – Spiders.us

That night (or morning), all was well until 3am. Alarms blared and the whole dorm seemed to shake as 40 girls fell out of bed. The fire alarm had been triggered, and the standard protocol was to all file outside into our circular driveway.

I was in such a rush that I forgot my shoes and glasses, which normally wouldn’t be a problem. It was dark out and the little moonlight we had were shadowed by the bodies of stumbling girls. Twice I nearly fell down the stairs.

The real kicker? There was no fire. And we all knew it.

Monday
While making tea that morning, a (rather normal sized) spider scuttled across my feet and made its way out the door. Spiders are very normal occurrences around the girl’s dorm, but most of them actively avoid humans. So this was a very, very odd thing to experience early in the morning.

Everybody went to bed that night as usual, not suspecting a repeat of the night before.

5am came around and the same shrill sirens went off, startling the dorm and ejecting the girls into the cold. I remembered my shoes this time, but it was still cold, dark, and disorienting. 5am was an odd time for us to wake up, as most girls wake at 6:30 anyways. I considered staying up, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough to decide.

I knew that this was just the beginning.

Hot or Cold?

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The weather in Ojai compared to Portland is insanely different, and is treated in contrasting ways as well. It is so cold in Portland and so hot in Ojai, that whenever the weather crosses over into unknown territory, people react in extreme ways.

In Portland, as soon as the weather reaches 55-60˚, people are digging out their shorts and tank-tops, all the while raving about the wonderful weather. In these newfound outfits, they will venture out on hikes, set out to take pictures, or really do anything to be outside.

Californians, on the other hand, throw on their down jackets as soon as the sun ducks behind the clouds. If it’s below 75˚, sweatshirts and boots can be found as far as the eye can see.

What Portlanders consider to be the nicest possible weather, Californians refer to as freezing. After spending time in both locations, I can grow to appreciate both temperatures. However, I have to agree with the Portland mindset.

Photo Credit: photoblog/dynamic_media/photoblog/portland-sign-broadway-street.jpg