US Road Trip 2009: Animals

So, some photos from this year's American road trip. "Finally!" you're probably saying, "you guys have been back for like 7 weeks now!".

I thought I'd take a thematic approach. First out is animals.

On the California leg of the trip we hired a convertible and ended up getting what we had wished for - a red Ford Mustang. A brand new one, but if I could have chosen I would have opted for the original 1960s model.

This cute bunch of canines were patiently waiting while their owner got burgers from Jack in the Box (which is much better than most other hamburger joints since they seem to actually use real meat). "Dad" made sure they posed for the photo, which wasn't that hard since these were some of the most well-behaved dogs I've ever met. The owner laughed and told us "he should start charging for this". He put his burger on the front seat of the truck while going back inside for a drink refill. One of the dogs who was in the front seat sniffed the food but left it alone and when daddy came back s/he jumped quickly to the back seat. Don't miss the little black dog. "Dad" has to whistle twice before his/her head popped up :)

In Malibu we opted for a less exploited and less accessible beach than the big, touristy Zuma Beach. We were one out of only three couples on La Piedra State Beach (well, later a old man came down from one of the villas above for a skinny dip - apparently nudity is not illegal all over the US, especially not in free-minded California). The pelicans outnumbered us by a hundred or so but they were busy gliding or diving straight down to catch fish.

Another La Piedra occupant: a beach hopper!

Like their cousins in Central Park on the other side of the country, the Californian squirrel is also curious and almost domesticated, especially if it suspect you have something edible to share.

I thought this shot of two seagulls turned out playful and lively!

A calmer, people watching seagull in Carmel. Or he or she may have been watching all the fancy cars on display in the town since there was a car show in the vicinity that weekend. Our Ford Mustang fitted right in, although was by far the cheapest car of them all.

Another sea gull photo. But there is something special about flying birds!

Isn't this one of the most adorable beings you've ever seen! A sleeping baby seal at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

A dog and a duck somewhere on Manhattan - we were on a boat that took us on a three-hour cruise 360 degrees around the island. But wait, there is something wrong with this picture??

A little fowl on the old railroad tracks in New York's meat packing district that is now High Line Park. I will show more photos from the park in future posts but if you want to find out more about it and cannot wait, check out Petchie's blog!

A beautiful butterfly - aren't all butterflies beautiful?! - in the High Line.

And as the grand finale of this post, an edible animal. Well, I guess almost all animals are edible, but these get the green light also from vegetarians and probably even vegans. We didn't buy any though, just sneaked a photo. Petchie has also written about our visit to Chelsea Market (Petchie, her sister, Peter and I visited the High Line Park and Chelsea Market together and also had breakfast at a great French bistro - all in her post).