Indian Rock Native Garden

March 23 turned out to be a great day to go on a trip. The weather was great. I started preparing to go to the Indian Rock Native Garden by checking out a camera from the school. Once again, unfortunately, I did not get the camera that I had hoped to get. I got a Panasonic again. Nevertheless, I was optimistic about using this camera and taking some great photos. Since Andy lives in Vista, we decided not to carpool for this trip. I left the school and drove straight to the site in Vista. I drove right past Indian Rock the first time down the street because I was looking for it on the wrong side of the road.

When I arrived, I started taking pictures immediately. The rock was really cool to see, and everyone was climbing around it. The battery in my camera went out quickly, so I went to my car to switch it with the other battery. When I came back everyone had gathered to listen to our speakers. I was amazed at how much they new about native plants! And I thought it was neat that this site served a ceremonial purpose in the past. I always wonder about what the area that we live in looked like in history, and it was very interesting to have that curiosity satisfied in one way. Once they finished telling us about the plants and the site, we were able to shoot some more pictures, now well informed about what we were seeing. Some of the most interesting to me were the yucca ("Our Lord's Candle"), white sage, black sage, lupine, elderberry, and lemonade berry.

Andy, Cameron, and I stayed near the rock for a while after everyone went down the hill to eat. It was nice to have the chance to take more photos while it was quiet up there, and there weren't many people around. It was a really fun field trip, and I really enjoyed the clear, concise information that we were given. On a less positive note, I was very disappointed when I got home and found that my pictures were all very grainy because something was set wrong on my camera. What a waste of so many good pictures and such a great opportunity! I did the best that I could to recover them in my editing, but there was only so much I could do.