On the road again....

Being a holiday weekend, I planned staying busy as I hate being in front of the monitor 29 hours each day as I am currently doing... this archiving of my image files will take forever.... so to break the boring routine, I went looking there and here with my camera.... Friday saw me in the car with sister and her friend to Point Reyes National Seashore which we finally arrived after skipping through the Marin Headlands, then down the road toward Point Bonita, then shooting over on HWY 101 to Pt Reyes.

the gorgeouslight at the Marin lookout point

I've never been there though I tried often as a pre-teen. Riding my bicycle from North Beach through the Presidio, I would cross the bridge then shoot down to Sausalito, then enter Mill Valley to the Stinson Beach left-turn. From there it was a struggle up the curvy road to Mt. Tam, finally reaching the top and again shooting down at unbelievably fast speeds to Stinson Beach where I'd eat a sandwich if I packed one {often I didn't}, then ride back the opposite direction to return home to North Beach. I often thought of continuing to Pt Reyes on that bicycle but after 30 minutes of riding, I'd turn around.... I didn't realize it then nor now that if I had continued I would be riding that long path to nowhere before ever reaching Pt Reyes. It's a long and desolate drive in a car ~ can't imagine how I would feel on a bicycle then have to return to the City!!

After stopping at the Pt Reyes visitor center, we continued on toward the lighthouse to see that. That was another 20+ miles on a narrow winding road with horses and cow farms along the way.... all green - very green - scenic views which called me to stop, and I did often! Once at the lighthouse it was a short hike to the "top" then down 308 steps to the famed lighthouse.
But I was more amazed and camera-crazy with rocks lining the narrow steps, and photographed quite a bit of that.

It almost seemed to resemble rocks one would see in a desert and not along the coast, subject to constant high winds and cutting sea spray. The textures were very unusual too and made a very nice study of tones of light desert brown and blushing reds.
Down at the lighthouse, one could see it was very small and need of repair and a good paint job, as with many lighthouses. Still it was a fabulous view and the clouds and sun cooperated very nicely!
The next day I decided to head down the coast to Half Moon Bay to again photograph the lighthouse at Pigeon Point. The lighthouse is actually dormant, its light dark and is lit only one day a year. Still it stands tall and proud on the Californian coast and it's a still a pretty sight though it's also in a state of disrepair. A smaller light station is located at Point Montara and isn't as big as a normal lighthouse but is still a sight worth seeing.

The weekend weather was great and it seemed everyone was on the highway headed south... I again stopped often to snap away as the incoming tide crashed upon the endless coves and beaches, creating a thick mist that looked like fog, photographed like fog but wasn't. It was great to see this mist, bringing out the darker tones of the high cliffs bordering the coastal highway.... I also enjoy the crashing waves and today the waves were really high, with a slight mist forming as the waters crested, and then pushed back by the air... it was amazing to watch this as I hadn't seen this before! The waves were about 10 to 15 feet high, and the absence of surfers made me wonder if this was a dream or not. At one stop, there was a huge flattened rock which was continuously plummeted by the waves; the explosion of water vs rock was tremendous, with the rising waves reaching over 30-50 feet in height! It was truly wonderful to see this, to "feel" the strong force of nature as it has been throughout the centuries, pounding away at the immovable, smashing down to create pebbles, sand and finally, to pound and eventually grind even that into nothingness.

It's always great to take a drive anywhere... I just need to remember to take the camera ~ this weekend I'm going on a overnight trip to Fort Bragg and to explore the surrounding area. Any recommendations anyone? hahahahaaaa I know I won't get any replies to that question because NO body from the USA reads my blog!! hahahahaaaa Only Martians on da Moon observing the Earth read my blog so they'll know where to visit after they land!!

Tonight is the BIG YELP party at the Exploratorium (Palace of Fine Arts) and I'm going!! Anyone else going? It'll be interesting if I can get in ~ RSVPed over a month ago and there's over 2,000 others attending too so am hoping to survive the long wait in the line!! Through my account at Yelp, I regularly review a lot of places where I go to eat, shop, etc., a routine I started through my older (now closed) Xanga blog while I lived in Eugene. I am foresaking my photography club meeting to attend the Yelp event... I must be going crazy!!

Only a month before I depart for Spain!! I cannot wait and though it's a working trip, I cannot wait to get back to my apartment!! sigh...

Angel Island fire - plus the day after

wow!!! I heard my downstairs neighbor talking to someone on the street about some fire... I opened up my bedroom window blinds and took these few pictures through the 40-year old glass, being able to see the flames in the void quite clearly!!! How eerie to have flames seemingly in the middle of nowhere in the night darkness!! Now ten minutes after snapping this first picture, the smell of burning brush is seeping into my room!! yuck!!!

Monday morning: I've slipped outside to get a few snaps of the aftermath. You can actually see a tiny helo dumping water over the smothering mess, then coming down to the surface of the bay to get more water. Respect Nature, respect the environment!

UPDATE: Well, the fire on the island is completely out and they are investigating the cause of the fire. Right now according to new reports, it looks like it started near a campsite ~ over 300 acres of land were torched and over 300 firemen were brought in to fight the flames. However - good news - the 120 historic structures on the island were intact after the blaze; it seems most of the flames were on the City side, which is the southern portion of the island.

MAN, enemy number one of Life, Nature and the environment! grrrrrr

the party's over.....

at least, it is for me! I've recorded and created about 3,762 in the past few days, and probably deleted about 3,761 of all of those images!!! hahahahaaa I almost feel as if I were at a tennis match, watching the ball tossed from one side to the other... at least I don't have to look at aircraft any longer, till next year perhaps! I've been standing an average of 4-5 hours per day, except for Saturday where my volunteer-time had me standing in the biting cold from 9am till 4:30pm... guess I am not the young man I have always been and my bones were really hurting! I could barely bend and just to sit in the car and drive home was painful enough....

For this final performance day, I had decided to sacrifice detail for distance. I walked onto the Golden Gate Bridge to take some of these most recent pixs of the Blue Angels to share with my good European and other friends, who aren't from this area {or never seen this area xcept in fotos/film} so they could "see" a bit more than just some tiny jets and even smaller propeller planes flying against a blue sky. Puting the City skyline in the background creates a terrible picture for me as it's too busy and hard to see the low-flying aircraft, but this does put into perspective the vast area being used by the planes during the performances, plus also gives them an idea of the size of the aircraft flying in comparsion to the city.
This last pix below are of some seals who were playing in their backyard below me on the bridge. I also saw what I thought was a dolphin who never reappeared again, but these seals stayed around for some hours. I also saw some huge jellyfish thinking it was strange that those would appear in the water at this late time of the year, but oh well. enjoy the fotos!!