The Alabama Hills

We’re home now.  Between business and lack of internet I didn’t get much posting done on the road.  So now I’ll just break down the trip by locations.  We stayed in the town of Lone Pine in order to photograph the Alabama Hills, between the town and Mt Whitney.  Here’s Dave doing what we do.

 

 

The Alabama Hills are just some hills made from piles of huge rocks.  Hundreds of movies were filmed here.  You’ve probably seen some movies film here and didn’t realize it.  That’s Dave again with the Sierras and Mt Whitney in the background.

 

Mt Whitney is just about dead center of this shot.  It doesn’t look like the tallest but that’s just because it sits further back.  It’s the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states.

 

Here is some local vegetation with Mt. Whitney on the far right.

 

This is typical scenery in the hills if you can call any of this typical.

 

 

Here is the same arch as seen from the other side.

 

This may help convey the overall view of the hills.

 

On Tuesday afternoon when I spotted this arch, I told Dave it would be cool to get a shot of the moon through it if you only knew when to be there.  We got up at 4:30 Wednesday for some sunrise shots and guess what….

 

Dave took this shot.  I like the way it show the layers of terrain.

 

You just have to get some rest where ever you can.

 

Here is Mt. Whitney at sunrise.

The Eastern Sierra

 

OK, I’m on a trip in California dedicated almost entirely to photography.  This time Connie stayed home and Dave Cecaci came along because he is now retired and he likes photography as much as I do.  That’s Dave in the red shirt.

Monday we met in Sacramento then head over to Highway 395 which runs down the east side of California.  We set up the trailer in the town of Big Pine before driving east into the White Mountains to get some pictures of the ancient Bristlecone pines at sunset.  If you haven’t heard of the Bristlecones here is some explanation.  I guess they are the oldest living things on earth.

Dave took a picture of me trying out some new angles.  By the way, the elevation here is around 10,000 feet!

Here is what we were after.  We didn’t get the kind of sunset were hoping for but we were actually very pleased with our results anyway.

Catalina

Saturday morning Monaka, Cash, Connie and I caught the 8:45 ferry from San Pedro to Catalina.

 

The weather was absolutely perfect.

I found some ice plant in full bloom.

We took the back stage tour of the Casino which is not a gambling casino but a theater and ball room.  It was built by William Wrigley Jr. in 1929. It’s an amazing place.

We took a golf cart on a driving tour.

One more thing scratched off of our bucket list.

Friends, Family and Drama in LA

 

Wednesday night while we were still in Ventura, Dan and Jan came to the trailer for dinner at our beautiful beach campsite.  We had a good time catching up with our friends.

Thursday Connie went to breakfast with Jan, Glory, Joy and Suzie.  That bunch of ladies always have to much fun together.

Thursday afternoon we headed down the coast a little further to an RV park on the beach near Los Angeles were we will be staying while we visit with my niece and her husband.  This is where the drama begins.

We checked in right at 3:00 found our spot and started to get set up when we heard lots of sirens coming from all directions.  Then the police converged on the park in great numbers.  Within moments they had a suspect under arrest not more 100 feet from us.

  

Over the next half hour there where police motorcycles, mark cars, unmarked cars and helicopters everywhere.  Four hours later we still couldn’t drive in or out until police dogs finished a search for a weapon.  There is a beach parking lot very near the RV park and there had been a shooting there at 3:00 just as we were checking in.

Here is a link if you want to see the news account of what happened:

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/shots-fired-at-dockweiler-beach-20100506

Just another day at beach.

The day ended on a much more pleasant note as we had a nice dinner out with Monaka and Cash.

Another Day at the Beach

 

Here we are at Rincon State Beach.  We spent 2 nights here while visiting with the Schallers.

There’s nothing quite like being right on the ocean.

It’s very relaxing, as you can see.

 

Not much for site seeing here other than watching the waves and the wildlife that come your way.

 

Later today we will head for Redondo Beach.

I spent some time yesterday trying to capture interesting waves. It was amazing to see all of the intricate detail and personality of the water when you freeze a moment in time.  Imagine how this goes on endlessly around the world for thousands of years yet no 2 waves are ever exactly alike. Wow!

There goes the Pelican drill team.

Kings Canyon is Spectacular

 

Monday morning we drove down into Kings Canyon. We weren’t sure what to expect so we were excite to see how beautiful it is.  Incredible scenery around every turn but much of it is hard to capture in a photo.  You had to be there!

Also, the weather was perfect!  Blue skies and almost 70 degrees.  All the wild flowers are blooming an all of the waterfalls were rushing.

Most all of these photos are like a convex mirror.  Objects are larger than they appear (except for Connie and me).

I think I could spend days there and keep finding great stuff to photography.  You know what, make that weeks. This really is a great time to see it and there is hardly anybody there.

This was a rock wall just above the road. Pretty crazy, huh.

It’s amazing where wild flowers will grow, isn’t it?

In the afternoon we drove into Sequoia National park to see the largest tree in the world.  It was about 30 miles one way and pretty but nothing like Kings Canyon.  Well here he is, General Sherman.

General Sherman is not the tallest, not the oldest and doesn’t  have the larges trunk but for sheer volume it is the largest tree in the world.

• 52,500 cubic feet in volume.
• 1,385 tons.
• Diameter at base = 36.5’
• Diameter at 180’ up = 13.7’
• Diameter of largest branch = 6.8’
• Height = 275’

Southern California and the Sequoias

 

Yes, I know we just got back from a trip but life’s to short to sit at home.  We are headed to Redondo Beach for a visit with my niece, Monaka and her husband, Cash.  I always figure when your going anyway you might as well see all you can and here is the good part of living in California.  After spending the first night in Sacramento next to Steve and Bernice’s house with all the roses in bloom…..

…we just drive a few hours and here is where we will be spending the next night or two before heading over to the southern California coast.  This is Kings Canyon National Park, home of the giant sequoia trees.  Just about a week ago we were in the redwoods and here we are in the even bigger sequoias.

It was hard to image trees larger than the redwoods but here they are.  This is not at all the biggest one but it is the only one I got with people in the photo to give you a size perspective.

This is General Grant. Yes that’s it’s name.  Here are some facts:

• It is the third-largest tree in the world by volume.
• It’s trunk is 40’ across at ground level.
• It’s the worlds widest know sequoia but not nearly the oldest.
• It’s 1700 years old and 268’ tall.
• It’s 107’ in circumference and it’s first branch is up 129’.

The world’s largest tree by volume, General Sherman, is just 27 miles from here, so hopefully we’ll get some pictures of that before we leave the area.  Mean while here is a double tree that was partially burned out in the past but both sides are still alive.

This is a fallen tree that is hollow and you can walk through it like a tunnel.

Not sure about posting while here, internet connections are iffy at best.