Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hiking

Last Sunday Cory, Scott and I took the dogs for a hike. We drove just one exit south of us to Del Mar, and hiked in a nature preserve area near a housing development. The hike didn't look like much from the road, but once you got on the trail and into the brush a bit, we saw some really cool stuff.

I also got a souvenir from the trip.....on Tuesday I found a tick on me! Bleh! It took all of my power not to hyperventilate and pass out while Cory expertly removed it.

Cory, Scott and the dogs walking a ridge that overlooks Highway 5, the Del Mar Racetrack and the ocean

Hiking + 8 months pregnant = exhausting. I didn't really dress well for hiking, but I was told it would be an easy hike, so I figured I would go with comfort. Maybe the tick was jumping on while this picture was taken?




Found this little guy alongside the trail. I was obsessed...he was so cool! Took a bunch of pictures, and he let me get really close. So then we tried to touch him....easy! So of course, my next move was to pick him up.

Ha, I will pick up any animal! He reminded me of a mini triceratops. Whenever I pet his little head, he would just close his eyes and look all content. So cute!
We looked him up on the way home....he's a Coast Horned Lizard
http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/herps/phry-cor.html
I learned that this guy can shoot a small stream of blood from his eyes as a defense mechanism. Glad he liked me enough to keep the blood to himself. 

This guy wouldn't let us get close at all, but he was still cool. He's a Southern Alligator Lizard.

The dogs had a blast on the hike.
One last picture of Irie before we head back to the car. This cool color setting is the entire reason I bought my pocket PowerShot camera.


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