Su from Zimmerbitch invited me to post ten days of travel photos, no explanation needed. Today we’re along California’s coast. I’m also supposed to nominate someone else to participate and pingback to my blog/post. Today I’d like to nominate Deborah at Circadianreflections. You’re welcome to wait until after Christmas if you like.
Three years ago, I visited our daughter in southern California and one day when she had to work, I spent a marvelous day wandering in Descanso Gardens. What a place! The flowers were in full bloom and I even managed to find a few gates and doors. But only this one had a giant rabbit on the other side! Farmer McGregor, beware!
A somewhat ordinary door, but not every ordinary door is guarded by lions!
Fancier gates with a set of double doors behind them.
There’s a door somewhere in here, even if you have to meditate to find it and be a midget to get inside.
Dear God, my brother told me about how we are born but it just doesn’t sound right? What do you say? Marsha
Glendale’s outdoor mall, The Americana at Brand, is beautiful paean to consumption. High-end shops, restaurants, a theater…there’s everything a person could want. You can even just hang out or play. This is NOT my normal walk in the park.
Not one, but two celebrities, unbeknownst to them, were captured in this shot: Half Dome on the left and Bridal Veil Falls on the right, two of the stars of Yosemite National Park.
What? Wednesday again? I’m two and a half weeks into Tour de France watching and exhausted having just watched today’s mountain stage. What will I do with my morning’s after Sunday’s last stage? Ahh, well, on to today’s challenge, the Weekly Photo Challenge. Finding an apt photo can be as challenging as winning a Tour stage (well, maybe not) and today I’m searching for one that meets the challenge of “Unusual” posed to us by an excellent photographer, Lignum Draco.
I was blessed to be able to spend just a very, very short time in Yosemite in March. During that stay, I had this unusual view of the park. I also had an unusually hard time trying to get this photo ready to upload. 🙂
The sun shone on our first afternoon in Yosemite, but the rainy writing was on the afternoon wall. Our hope was to get in a hike during the morning without getting soaked. A trip to the food court netted me tea and my daughter coffee and a croissant. Back at our room, we filled up on yogurt and homemade granola, put on our various layers, and headed out. I had my non-backpack lined with a heavy plastic bag to protect my camera and telephoto lens in case the rain showed up early.
The hike to Mirror Lake isn’t difficult and if you really want to take it easy, you can walk on the edge of the paved road. We took the path less traveled and…dare I say?…that made all the difference.
Notice my Chicago Blackhawks jacket? 🙂 Layers were definitely the thing as it wasn’t warm. But of course, as we hiked, we warmed up. Jacket zippers down, then up, then… I was also constantly changing lenses or bringing out my phone for a shot. My favorite pants have a pocket along the leg just the right size for my phone, which is most convenient.
Back from La-La Land, back from sunshine and (at the end, at least, warmth) to rain, gloom, and a high of 42F (although it’s supposed to be in the 50’s in the coming days.) It’s good to travel and good to come home…and even better to have a home I like to come home to!
Each time I visit our daughter, we have a brave, daring adventure. Last visit it was a whirlwind trip up “The 1” to Napa’s wine country. “The 1” has nothing to do with Neo and “The Matrix” and everything to do with the fact that for some unknown reason, highways in California and Arizona (and possibly elsewhere in the west) are called The Whatever Number. At least you know the number. In the Chicago area, they nickname the highways: The Dan Ryan, The Kennedy, The Eisenhower, and so on. If you’re new to the area or don’t use the highways much, you have NO idea what highway the traffic reports are referencing!
This year’s brave, daring adventure was a quick trip to Yosemite National Park, a place I haven’t seen since I was too young to remember what I saw and all photos were black and white without editing. During tourist season, we wouldn’t have been able to spontaneously do this, as reservations have to be made many months (or more) in advance. My understanding is that even trails have to be reserved for hiking during the high season, a far cry from the days when my mom and her family camped in the park for several weeks, an inexpensive vacation for a Lutheran teacher’s family!
