Plantosaurus Rex


Dinosaurs have invaded the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park!


Tourist.
Prehistoric plants.
Turtles existed alongside dinosaurs, but are obviously more badass as they survived whatever killed the dinos.
The reason we came here was to give Dana a chance to high five a dinosaur, and she failed.
This plant would have fit right in with all of the prehistoric flora and fauna, but it (along with all of the below) is in one of the Conservatory's regular ol' present-day exhibits.

Lily pads above water and underwater.
Photobomb'd.

The Best Camera is the One That's With You

I will be without a laptop for the next week or so while my uncle fixes the LCD once again (I'll probably buy a MacBook soon because this is getting ridiculous). Since I can't edit my photos to create a new blog post, I'm taking this time to put together a compilation of some of my Instagram snaps. My phone goes just about everywhere with me, making this photo-sharing app an easy way to share tiny glimpses into my life (and to exercise my photographic eye when I'm sans DSLR).








Do you use Instagram? Let's be friends! Say hello: @katrinawlui

Graduation Portraits - Stephanie

Last week I hopped on a train down to the South Bay to shoot graduation portraits of my sister. These were taken at the photogenic Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto. Can't go wrong with the pretty girl + flowers combination!


This photobombing spider caused my sister to snatch her tassle off the sundial...and we had to tie it again.
Us. Taken by Diana.

The Long Road Home

PDX --> SFC


I think that's the guy who yelled at me later that night.
A picture of one of Portland's many bridges, shot from another bridge.
My reading material of choice on the left, and Connie's on the right.

Tried my hand at making a cinemagraph. Holding the camera still on a bumpy train ride was tricky.

I discovered a fun way to do panning: still objects shot from a moving vehicle.
This is when I got yelled at by an Amtrak employee. Oops.
Connie wouldn't come outside with me.
Sunrise from somewhere near Sacramento.

PDX

Portland was awesome! In some ways, it's similar to San Francisco: green lifestyle, convenient public transit, and welcoming of weirdness. It definitely had less of a big city feel (not necessarily a good or bad thing) and seemed cleaner. What I didn't expect was how nice people were! Almost everyone we encountered were super friendly.

As we were there for only two days and three nights, we didn't really have time to wander any part of the city besides the NW quadrant and downtown. Next time I will definitely explore more. Looking back at my photos, I realized that all we did was eat and shop. That was mostly due to the weather, which was rainy—it even snowed towards the end of our trip! On our way to dinner on the last night, I slipped on some black ice and injured my tailbone, causing pain to my rear end that lasted for a few weeks. Worst souvenir I ever got.

The cozy little apartment we rented off of Airbnb.
Connie warming up by the heater. It was her best friend for the entirety of our stay.
After settling in, we walked over to Mio Sushi for dinner. On the left is the Portland Roll, which I thought was appropriate for our first meal in the city.
Next up was Papa Haydn for dessert. My salted caramel chocolate ganache tart was amazing! And moscato is always yummy.
Little Big Burger. So good. I wish places in SF would serve Camden's Catsup (it contains sriracha).
Finding our way around Powell's City of Books.


Of course we had to pay a little visit to Stumptown.
Really cool camera obscura art by Darius Kuzmickas.
The light rail and streetcars are free in the downtown area. Nice.


Dinner at Oven & Shaker including a brussels sprouts and bacon pizza(!).
After going to an arcade bar (we each had one drink and played one game...we're both not really gamers), we took a bus back to the apartment. Hooray for reliable public transportation!
The apartment was right on this cute little street.

Woke up to snow the next day (!).
Spicy Thai (includes sriracha, of course) and Good Morning from PBJs.


Delicious Italian food at Bastas Trattoria.

Before heading to the train station on our last day, we made sure to stop by the famous Voodoo Doughnut for a bacon maple bar.

Stay weird, Portland! I'll be back.