Striped King Snake

Yesterday, while hiking at my usual park, Calavera Hills, I came upon a snake on the road.

 From a distance I didn't see a familiar skin pattern.

 As I approached, I realized it was a Common King Snake, but instead of the usual bands circling the body, it had 3 stripes.  This is not particularly rare, and both types can hatch from the same clutch of eggs.

It was not in any hurry to move off the road, so with a little nudge it moved into the bushes.  A week or two ago, I saw a smaller banded king snake a few feet from where I saw this snake.

Comic-Con!

San Diego's biggest event of the year is Comic-Con, a four day event where movie, TV series, comic, and video game enthusiasts gather for workshops, lectures, and who knows what.  Tickets sell out immediately, so most folks like us just show up and take to the streets to enjoy the spectacle. Saturday, Gail and I took the train down to spend all day Saturday soaking it up.

 On the train Captain Challenge posed with passengers.

 Approaching the Convention Center, you see festooned buildings.

 One also sees a peaceful confrontation between the pro Jesus camp and secularists.

 Extreme stilt walkers in front of the Convention Center.

It seems like many of the promotions are for movies and series with warriors and super heroes.

 About 130,000 attendees get tickets to go inside.  Luckily, there are actors and industry professionals who offer their time to everyone else out on the streets.

 A lot of free stuff, or swag, is given out, and most people carry their swag bags.

 A transformer?

 A whole area is devoted to The Simpsons, with games, blue cotton candy (Marge hair), and donuts.

 There was also a zip-line with a faux city backdrop.

 This vehicle is for a new show coming out on storm chasing.  It will be driven into the heart of tornadoes, apparently.

 Gail was excited to see a sister Twilek!

 These Clockwork Orange fans were rather scary.

 ???

 This area is kid friendly and free of charge.

 Hello Kitty!

 Loved Ones is a business that will be featured on a new series.  The premise is that Loved Ones will make replicas of your deceased loved ones.  $40,000 will get you life-like skin and human hair.  These replicas were so life-like, it took us awhile to realize they weren't living people.

 This makeup artist has spent his working life doing makeup on most of the big names in Hollywood, as well as directing his own movies.  He organized a demo on volunteers.

This robotic monster walked on the sidewalk, moving all parts of its body.

 Cool taxis.

 Two of the Steam Powered Giraffe were doing an interview, and some moves, right on the sidewalk.  They happen to be our favorite San Diego band.  That's Spine and Bunny (formerly Rabbit).

 How do you like this, Dave?

 More large scale promotion.

 Sharknado 2 is coming out!  Apparently Sharknado wasn't bad enough.

 ???

 The man in the brown cap is apparently a main actor in this series, as the crowd went wild.

 A beer keg sledgehammer!

 Petco Park was open to walk through, so we took in the great views from near the top.

 It just so happened that the cast from Sesame Street was doing a little interview.  Grover, Cookie Monster, and Murray took to the mikes.

Ok, the photos below are of the Zombie Walk.  No explanation will be provided.

 The streets got really crowded in the area by late afternoon.

 This woman had a very cool steam punk wheelchair.

 Sumo!

One of the mobile billboards driving around.

Well, it was 7:00 p.m. and time to take the train back to Carlsbad.