A Rainy Day In The Redwoods

Today was a rainy day. I don't mean there was just a sprinkle in the morning like happens in southern California. And I don't mean thunderstorms like the ones that happen in Minnesota. I mean a rainy day; it rained all day. Yes, there were moments of sunshine albeit brief moments but for the most part, it rained. By shortly after noon, Mike and I had enough of the inside of the motor home and decided to take a drive. WOW, that was a good decision!

Our first stop was a "pull over" by the ocean. The sky changed dramatically in the short time we were there. At first we thought the sun might be making an appearance, but we quickly found out differently.

And the waves; I wish you could hear them! The ocean was so impressive that we called B and B to tell them they should brave the weather and get out to enjoy the sights and sounds.

Our next decison took us down a road which Mike thought would take us to Crescent City eventually. But first, it was a drive throught the giants. The low hanging clouds and brief moments of brightness made for some dramatic scenes.

The Jeep looks like a toy car amidst the BIG TREES.

You cannot help but be in awe of the beauty from the very small flowers to the multitude of greens, to the ever present ferns and moss. And the rain and mist just enhanced the beauty.

Before we got to town, we saw more of those low hanging clouds,

a cool bridge that seemed to link nothing,

and a river that seemed to flow with milk chocolate (or mud and I was just hungry).

On the way back home down 101, we again stopped at the ocean and once again, it gave us a different view.

And when we got closer to home, those misty clouds were still hanging around.

This evening, in between rain showers, Bonnie and I took a drive to the end of our road to look for whales and enjoy the scenery. I may have seen a spout, but I wasn't sure and didn't see it a second time. But we did see a beautiful sky.

It was a rainy day in the Redwoods, one to remember!

Route 101 North

Since San Francisco, we have been traveling Route 101 North. We are now in Klamath, CA at Kamp Klamath Campground in the midst of the Redwood National and State Parks and it is raining. It has been raining for the past 24 hours and it sounds like it might continue to rain for the next 48 to 72 hours. If that happens, we may not get to see much of the Redwoods except through raindrops from the car windows.


We arrived here on Sunday and by Sunday night, Mike and I had taken a drive a mile or so down our road to the mouth of the Klamath River. There are some beautiful views from that vantage point and we spotted whale spouts. It seems that this is an excellent spot to see whale all year around but especially now in the spring as they move farther north. I don't have a picture of the spouting water from the whale but I did snap these pics as the sun was getting lower in the sky. Little did I know it would be the last of the sun we would see for awhile. There are flowers in bloom absolutely everywhere you look.

This is the view of the mouth of the river from the "end of the road" vista point.

This is looking inland, up the river. Seems it is pretty much always hazy and foggy around here, one of the reasons the redwoods, flowers, ferns, moss and everything else grows so well.

I love the coastline in this part of the world.

This is where we saw the whale spouting. It is right by the mouth of the Klamath River.

Yesterday, the four of us took a drive to Crescent City, 20 miles farther up route 101, to pick up a few necessities and to have clam chowder at a place a couple of people had told us about. Wouldn't you know, it was closed on Monday. We did find chowder at another cafe; I didn't think it was the best although Barry liked it. We were close to the harbor and we did manage to get a couple pictures before the rains came down in force. This is the lighthouse at the Crescent City Harbor - you can only access it in low tide.

Views from 101.

Right alongside the road, very near a pullout, we spotted this redwood log; that is Barry posing in front of it. It must be over 6 feet in diameter.

This craggy looking tree was nearby, also. Love the fact that these trees make me look little!

Weren't bored so we are off for a ride even if it is raining. More later from Route 101 and any other side road we may find.

"Wine A Bit, You'll Feel Better"...

is one of the garden flags that I often hang. And what better place to wine, then Sonoma and Napa Valleys in California. Oh, I learned something about the valleys. The Napa River provides water for Napa Valley and just 30 miles to the west, the Sonoma Valley is watered by the Russian River. The old established wineries are on the Napa Valley side. (Info you couldn't live without, right?)

Our base for the exploration of wine country was Santa Rosa at another county fairgrounds. We visited San Francisco one day; we rode the trolley cars, ate clam chowder at Pier 39 and chinese food in Chinatown. The wait person at the Imperial Palace was as unfriendly as the one we had years ago when we visited Chinatown... you would think they made good money off the tourists but obviously they don't feel the need to be friendly.

So, on to wine. Our first stop of the day was Beringer. This is one of the oldest wineries in Napa and even operated during the Prohibition - sold wine to churches for use in religious ceremonies. They know how to treat visitors. We loved this sign - at last, we get some respect!

We decided we wouldn't do the sampling for $15 because we had all tasted the wines before but we did enjoy the gift shop. Mike could not decide if he wanted to be a hand model or model hats. Barry decided on hats.

What fun to act like kids in a store and have no one yell at us. We did a self-guided tour and loved the grounds. I talked to one groundskeeper who told me there were only four people who work full time on buildings and grounds upkeep - they do a great job. This is the Beringer home that was built in the late 1800's.

It is easy to step back in time and imagine what it was like for the old movie stars who visited this winery and others in the valley.

This bronze urn is embossed with the history of the Beringer Winery.

This is one of the scenes from the urn showing the estate with old vehicles in front.

The sculptures were tastfully placed throughout the grounds.

California is known for its poppies and they were in full bloom in this yeard.

This is the view from one of the windows in the Beringer home. The old leaded glass gives a nice distortion.

And this is a view from one of the gazebos on the grounds - they were constructed from old oak laths from barrels no longer used for wine maiking.

When we left this magnificent estate, we headed to Sterling Winery. Keith at Redlands Truck Service had recommended this winery so we had to stop. It was another highlight. The entrance was a beautiful and modern landscape.

And you get to the winery via a tram. So the four of us paid our fee and hopped aboard. Although the cost was $20 each, it was worth it. The tour was self guided and the samples were generous and all the staff (but one old bitty in burgundy leggings) were gracious.

The views from the top of the mountain were a delight.

We learned that the bells, which ring every 15 minutes, were from an old church in London that had been bombed out during WWII and rescued and shipped to the states by the owner of Sterling Vineyard. The vineyard itself was not started until the 1960's.

From there, our tour went downhill... even after the tram ride.

The Francis Ford Coppola Winery is currently under construction. Only the gate was impressive, but I am sure it will be something in another year.

When we left there, we headed back to Santa Rosa to a winery that I had read about - the sculture garden was suppose to make it worth taking time to visit. Suffice it to say that the only thing we came away with was a new "screen saver" for Mike. Any of you other guys wanna use it, feel free.

Overall, our trip to wine country was very enjoyable. And now, we are off to see the Redwoods. But before we get there, we are going to spend a few days in casino parking lots "Along The Side Roads".

A Photographer's Dream

If you like to take pictures like I do and you are in a spectacular place like Yosemite National Park and there is a free two hour photography class, you would probably get as excited as I did when I learned of the opportunity.


On Saturday at 7 am, we made the trip into the park and to the Ansel Adams Gallery where the group was to meet. In case you didn't know, much of Adams work was done in Yosemite. His black and white photographs pull emotions from even the most cynical viewer. Mike had decided he would "just hang out" while I enjoyed the class. This didn't prove to be a problem since the park was celebrating Earth Day and there were all kinds of activities and booths set up for the occasion. I digress, back to pictures.



There were about 15 of us in the group and the instructor was a young fellow who was employed as a full time photographer working with the park and the gallery. He lives in Yosemite Village right in the park and knows the place intimately having seen it in all "seasons and moods" as he put it.



We first talked about composition: the rule of thirds, framing, use of light and shadows, repeated patterns, form, texture and all the elements that go into making a truly good photograph. He encouraged us to look around and find each of the elements of which he spoke.


This was an attempt at repeated pattern but I don't like the result. the trees and falls are all parallel but it just doesn't seem to work.

I do like this one - the branch has the same shape as the mountain and works as a frame... in my opinion. But, I need to work on the coloring.

I was more satisfied with some of my efforts than with others. Since it was early morning, Yosemite Falls had frosted ice along the falling water - that and the shadows were fun to shoot.

Our instructor then spent a bit of time talking about cameras - he wanted all of us to understand that cheap ones and even cell phones can take good pics. He said, "I've seen remarkable work from a $100 camera and terrible shots from a $1000 one." That made me feel good as neither of my cameras cost over $300.

He spent some time talking about "photoshopping". He feels that it has become a dirty word and that some "would be professionals" claim only "original" or "untouched" photos are true art. This fellow spoke of Ansel Adams and told us that none of his work was "untouched"; he actually teaches a class on the many methods of photo development that Adams used to create his finished products. He encouraged all of us to retouch as much as we wanted as that is where a photographers' creativity can surface. This was like a blessing to me as I seldom leave a picture "raw". This certainly wasn't the light on Saturday morning, but I like the product.

He talked about seeing things "through your own lens" as a way of expressing yourself. Somebody could probably analyze me cuz I am always seeking reflections... This one of The Big Falls I find particularly pleasing. This pond will not exist in a few weeks when the area begins to dry up. And just a few moments after I took the shot, ducks landed and the ripples erased the image.

It was an inspiring two hours. When I sat down with my pictures, I was obviously influenced by the black and white master, Ansel Adams.

I like both of these much better in B & W than in the colors.

I was trying to copy a photo by Adams with this one of the big and little Yosemite Falls. It could have been taken 100 years ago, don't you think... That is until you spot the jet stream in the sky which I just couldn't get rid of...

I loved the experience!

On our final morning in the area, Mike and Barry and I left our motor homes at 4 am and headed to the park in hopes of catching a glimpse of a bear. Bonnie decided she would pass on this experience... she was probably the smartest of us. We had been told that bear had been spotted in the meadows early each day. We didn't see one. In fact, we didn't see much wildlife at all, but I had fun playing with light... or lack thereof.

Last night I went through all my photos from Yosemite and saved them on my backup drive. I shot over 500 pictures... this might be an obsession!


Oh, one last thing. If you know Mike well, you know he loves steak. Well, as a part of Earth Day, they were serving organic vegetarian meals in the park. I had to include this pic; it may be the only time he ever eats some of this stuff!

Oh, and a couple more pictures I really like. The clouds just make this one.

The Big Falls through the window of the church, which is the oldest building in Yosemite National Park.