On this day we took our out of town guests to the beach. Theses guests were Ben, Fawn, Daniel, and Jacob. (Also known as "The Most Interesting Family in the World"). It was a bit colder than expected, but managed to have some good family time together. Hopefully next time the sun will decide to come out.
This day we decided to visit OstrichLand USA near Solvang. It was a quick visit, but managed to capture some of my favorite pictures up to this point. There's a special "softness" in the first 2 pictures where people are interacting with the ostriches.
This day in Santa Barbara was part of a longer trip to Solvang. On this day we went to the mission, but decided to not go in because it was too crowded. So we went to Shoreline Park and took the first 6 pictures of this set.
Later we decided to go to Stearns Wharf and have lunch in one of the restaurants there. I had an amazing Po' Boy sandwich and Susan had some kind of clam soup. To burn some of those calories we walked around and shot the rest of the pictures you see here.
The second day of this adventure was a lot sunnier than the first one. It started with Susan and me taking a short walk around the cabin. That's where the first 5 pictures of this set were taken.
After the walk we and "Brudy" went into town. Judy wanted to try some of the local coffee shops and somehow I was talked into trying a "latte" for the first time in my life. Not a bad decision.
Later in the day we all decided to hike the Idyllwild Perimeter Trail. The rest of the pictures in this set were taken there. And by the way, I didn't get all of us lost during the hike. I knew exactly where we were at all times.
Although this was not the last day of our trip, this was the last day I took any decent pictures. On the 3rd and last day our visit, we all cleaned the cabin and hung in the deck that up to that point hadn't been used at all.
On this adventure Susan and me were joined by Brandon and Judy whose celebrity couple name is "Brudy."After the 2.5 hour or so drive from L.A. we met at Fulmor Lake near Idyllwild. We had lunch on one of the benches and then walked around the lake. That's where 8 of these pictures were taken. As you can see from the pictures the day was cloudy, a bit cold and somewhat dramatic. The very last picture of the set was taken after we had stopped in town for some coffee and hot chocolate. Yum! Also worth mentioning was the fact we got to meet Mayor Max, who may or may not be a dog, that same day. Click the buttons below to see both Brandon's and Judy's websites and services. You may find what you were looking for.
October 26, 2024 This was our 3rd and last day of our trip. We got to the Congress Trail parking lot early and were able to secure a very good parking spot. Most of the pictures of the General Sherman Tree were taken from a distance because I was more concerned about hiking. I wanted to capture light going through trees. In some of the pictures you can clearly see the damaged caused by the fire from a few years ago. By the time we came back to the General Sherman tree, it was full of tourists and getting a nice picture wasn't possible. However, this is a good excuse to return in the future. I think Jose Luis also had a great time. If you're wondering how he looks like, he shows up in the lower right corner of the picture featuring the group of trees called "The House"
October 25, 2024 This was day two of our trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. About half of the pictures were taken during our hike on the Sequoia Lake Overlook trail. The more dramatic pictures are of the General Grant Tree. I just love how the light was hitting it during this time of the day. The last 6 pictures were taken from an overlook on Generals Highway on our way back to our hotel in Three Rivers. Hope you guys enjoy the pictures.
October 24, 2024 This collection of pictures was taken during day 1 of a trip to Sequoia National Park on October 24, 2024. Me and my friend , Jose Luis, did a short hike to the top of Moro Rock. Some of the pictures are from this hike while others are of Moro Rock as we were driving inside the park.
October 12, 2024 This set of pictures were taken during a drive up Highway 39. At the end of it all, we had burgers at the top of the mountain at the awesome Crystal Lake Cafe. The first two pictures of this set are from Morris Reservoir while the rest are from Crystal Lake.
This day was an important day. Why? This is the day I got to go out and take pictures with my new camera. Nothing fancy. Just a Canon Rebel T7. Before that all of the pictures had been taken with a Canon Powershot. I forgot the exact model number. I had that camera since 2012 and is a very good camera to learn how to use a true DSLR.
Anyways, it was a good day. Beach, friends, a camera, and flying kites.
These pictures were taken from the rooftop of the Cabazon Outlets. Not bad at all, eh? I love how the light and the shadows play with each other. Also love the dramatic sky.
We decided to check out Point Dume this day. Got there early and ended up a pretty good parking spot. I remember some people were doing some rock climbing in the distance. Now that I think about that, I probably should had taken pictures of that too.
Anyways, I got these. I think they are pretty good.
This set of pictures comes from a 2 day trip to San Diego, CA. During this trip we met with long time friends "Jeopardy Jen" and James. We visited an awesome scape room and spent time in Balboa Park with them. It was a fun filled trip, however, the only place that got me to take my camera out was Cabrillo National Monument.
Even when we drove from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe and spent 3 days there and back, for some reason I decided to only take these 3 pictures for the entire trip. The first one is from the Eastern Sierra taken near the Hot Creek Geologic Site close to Lake Crowley. The second one was taken during our hike on Emerald Bay. The last one was take on Zephyr Cove.
We were originally drawn to San Juan Capistrano by the return of the swallows parade. However, it turned out to be a very rainy day. This didn't stop the parade and I have to admit it was impressive to see all the people in the parade walking in the rain.
For obvious reasons, I couldn't get a single shot of the actual parade. Susan and I went to the car and waited for about 1 hour until the rain stopped. That's when I was able to take the camera out and got some cool pictures.
After the initial rain the sun came out very nicely. You can see that in the progression of the pictures.
