We had a visitor in town this past week and took her on a drive up to Muir Woods via the Marin Headlands, Marine Mammal Center, and Rodeo Beach. Having been to Muir Woods many times, I am always at a loss for new photo ideas that aren’t the same old picture of looking skyward at the giant trees. This time I found a leaf on the ground and tried to use it to get some different sorts of photos.
While out at the beach watching the marathon, I found a few other things to photograph. This totem pole is looking out over Ocean Beach through the fog and seems to be saying “brrr it’s cold here.”
I really liked this coin operated telescope that seemed to be looking out to the other side of the ocean.
Yesterday’s storm was the first big storm for this season bringing nearly 3 inches of rain to San Francisco and ranked as the 7th strongest storm since 1955 on the Bay Area Storm Index. Although the forecast called for the storm to continue on into the night, the skies cleared just enough to make for a beautiful sunset. Here’s the view from Lands End overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
After a week on the road, it is always nice to be back home. Today’s return was a little rougher as I saw the Golden Gate Bridge packed in fog. Gone was the hot, sunny summer weather of the past week’s trip.
From Portland, I headed to the coast and it’s a lot farther than I expected. Once at the coast, the first part of the drive is super-touristy with lots of windsock, fudge, magnet, salt water taffy stores. After suffering through that section, the drive becomes much more scenic.
One of the coolest parts was watching the ATVs and dune buggies racing around on the giant sand dunes.
From Hood River, I headed down highway 84 and the Historic Columbia River Highway toward Portland. There are lots of beautiful spots to stop with one of the most popular being Multnomah Falls. While most people hike to the top of the waterfall, maybe take a few pictures, and relax for a while, I went right up and took this photo, then ate an ice cream sandwich and was back in the car.
Since there was no wind and no windsurfing today, I went off to explore the other parts of the Columbia River Gorge. I checked out the Columbia River Discovery Center and then drove down the Historic Columbia River Highway between Hood River and The Dalles.
I also followed a route known as the Fruit Loop past all the orchards and farm stands in the areas. One stop yielded some delicious cherries and pears. Another stop produced some cool photos of an abandoned fruit packing plant.
Click on the photos above to see more pics in the gallery.
In an effort to actually experience some summer-like weather, escaped the fog of San Francisco and headed out on a road trip to Oregon. I went north up Interstate 5 but got off and hit the back roads.
The first stop was Crater Lake National Park. I spent two nights in the lodge, toured the lake by boat, did some hiking, and had dinner in the lodge. Here’s a view of “The Phantom Ship” rock formation.
The next stop is Hood River, OR. Click on the photos above to see more pics in the gallery.
Last weekend I headed up to Humboldt Redwoods State Park for some camping. Luckily, they have signs to let visitors know where the trees are in case people have problems finding something hundreds of feet tall and more than thirty feet around.
