chris February 11th, 2007
Today was one of those California appreciation days. Faced with the daunting task of cleaning up our house, Edie, Natalie and I decided to go for a little hike instead. Natalie wanted to show her mom some of the landmarks we discovered on our hike in El Corta Madera Creek a few weeks earlier, so we hopped in the car and headed up the hill. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the trail head on Skyline. The anticipated rain never materialized so we hiked the slightly foggy redwoods, revisited the Sandstone Formation and discovered a vista that gave us a view of the ocean.
Back at the car we decided it was too earl to go home, and took the first left, down Tunitas Creek Rd, which we were hoping would take us to the sea. Eventually it did. A few miles north we discovered an amazing little beach called Cowell Ranch State Beach. The trek to the sand from the parking lot was over a mile through a working farm, but was worth it. Beautiful sand and almost completely deserted. On the way we saw bunnies and hawk sitting on a fence (well, the hawk was on the fence, the bunnies were scurrying for cover). By now the day was starting to draw to a close, and we headed into Half Moon Bay for dinner. We ended up eating at Cetrella, a bit pricey but delicious food and great service.
It’s really amazing the fun you can have and the beauty you can discover, in this area without even really trying. Just point your car and go! (or bike, or tennies, I guess :).
See all of the photos taken on this adventure!
chris January 29th, 2007
Natalie’s soccer game was canceled at the last-minute this weekend due to overly soggy fields, and since it wasn’t really raining we decided to take a hike. Natalie brought along her buddy Arielle, and I brought along my new buddy, a 10-22MM wide-angle lens. I figured the redwoods in the fog would make for great gratuitous wide-angle subject matter. It rained a little, but the trees protected us, for the most part. The fog was amazing and offered us a dark, creepy, quiet and drippy experience. Great fun! We came across this amazing sandstone rock formation (called “sandstone formation” on the map). Much more impressive than the name implied. I think this is the ideal way to experience the redwoods.
See all of the photos!
chris January 18th, 2007
I was home sick for the last couple of days and at one point, while unable to do much besides stare out the window I saw Mr. Squirrel running back and forth along the fence. Well, let’s take a picture of Mr. Squirrel I thought. Even better I decided to use some of the acorns Natalie collected a while back as bait to get Mr. Squirrel to come very near the window.
I piled a bunch of acorns on top of a post about five feet from the office window, but unfortunately for Mr. Squirrel, Mr. Jay was paying better attention. Even before I had gotten back in the house and set up the camera Mr. Jay and his friends were fighting over the acorns. So, I took pictures of Mr. Jay instead.
The fight was classic Mr. Jay. The first Mr. Jay would grab an acorn in his bill and then stand there trying to prevent any other Mr. Jays from take the rest of the acorns. I’m not sure what the first Mr. Jay’s endgame was because there was no way he was leaving that post with more than one nut. The result was all the acorns got knocked on the ground, and out of my view lots of squabbling would ensue. In my weakened condition I found this quite entertaining so I tried it two more times, each time with the same result. Fun with nature! Reenacting Aesop fables.
About an hour later, Mr. Squirrel did happen by. He missed out on the acorns, but because the camera was still set up I did manage to get a shot of him looking right at me. He asked me “Where’s my nut?” and I said “Talk to Mr. Jay”.
chris February 27th, 2006
Edie came across this photo yesterday. One of the classics from my childhood (that’s me, the baby!). My mom’s holding Sloopy. In addition to having an amazing name, Sloopy was apparently an amazing (and enormous) cat. Unfortunately Sloopy and I didn’t get along. In the end my parents decided on me over the cat and Sloopy found another home.
chris November 26th, 2005
So, we had some free time while on vacation, especially in the evenings, what with no television or the internets to distract us. This gave me a chance to have a little fun with my new camera. And I even got Natalie involved with a little time-lapse trickery. Who knew she was capable of standing perfectly still for 15 seconds!
It was also a personal mission of mine to take one of those stars-spinning-in-the-night-sky photos. The stars out there were brilliant. I memorized how to locate the Southern Cross, just for this purpose. Because I couldn’t figure out how to make my Rebel’s shutter stay open for longer than 30 seconds without holding it open, I resorted to MacGyvering it with a wine cork and some rubber bands. But hey, it worked. I got a pretty cool 8 minute shot and another 25 minute one.
The Whole Trip: South Africa - The Summary
edie November 26th, 2005
Just about wrapping our our storytelling of the Great South Africa Vacation. Here is an album full of photos of assorted things like the amazing sunsets we saw almost every night, the flowers on the grounds, some amazing animal skulls in the garden and or course Natalie running around like a goonie bird.
See more photos of Sunsets and Scenery!
The Next South Africa Entry: Makalali Game Drive and Dinner
The Whole Trip: South Africa - The Summary
Today was one of those California appreciation days. Faced with the daunting task of cleaning up our house, Edie, Natalie and I decided to go for a little hike instead. Natalie wanted to show her mom some of the landmarks we discovered on our hike in El Corta Madera Creek a few weeks earlier, so we hopped in the car and headed up the hill. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the trail head on Skyline. The anticipated rain never materialized so we hiked the slightly foggy redwoods, revisited the Sandstone Formation and discovered a vista that gave us a view of the ocean.
Back at the car we decided it was too earl to go home, and took the first left, down Tunitas Creek Rd, which we were hoping would take us to the sea. Eventually it did. A few miles north we discovered an amazing little beach called Cowell Ranch State Beach. The trek to the sand from the parking lot was over a mile through a working farm, but was worth it. Beautiful sand and almost completely deserted. On the way we saw bunnies and hawk sitting on a fence (well, the hawk was on the fence, the bunnies were scurrying for cover). By now the day was starting to draw to a close, and we headed into Half Moon Bay for dinner. We ended up eating at Cetrella, a bit pricey but delicious food and great service.
