As you know, this is Memorial Day Weekend in the United States. For many of us working class, it translates to a three-day weekend extravaganza which is usually an excuse for roasting animals (specific ones, of course) outside on something known as a “grill”. I’m a vegetarian. For me, a three-day weekend means that I should go somewhere to take pictures on my digital camera. Of course, I do that all the time anyway, so this is just an excuse for travelling somewhere and taking pictures on the trip. What fun.

Today, I went to Kure beach, which is around two to three hours away. There were lots of people hanging out, for some reason. The smell of roasted pig and cow lingered in the air as I walked along the sandy shore. People are typically suspicious of (or interested in) anyone carrying a camera (especially me carrying a behoemith SLR with mutiple lenses). These specific people today were even more suspicious as they were half-naked in swim suits and the person with the camera (me) had a friend’s borrowed 300mm lens on said camera body (I was taking pictures of birds and trees, not any people — honest!). Even if I had only my dinky 50mm (the smallest lens I have size-wise) attached, they would have felt threatened; my camera’s body is large and imposing enough. I did not take any pictures of bathers, for what it’s worth.

I quicky avoided the sun and surf oriented crowds and went directly to the local aquarium. Afterward, I went to a military fort.

Basically, to sum this post up: I took some neat pics of fish and stuff (alligators, turtles, sea horses, jellyfish, and more — also some neat tree pictures from the fort area too). Expect them soon-ish; as early as tomorrow evening or the beginning of next week.

I am going to take more pictures tomorrow. Mountain and forest stuff. It should be nice too.