Just Before Sunrise

This one is from our campsite at Cardiff By The Sea last weekend, taken at about 5:30am or so. Bailey woke me up to let her out of the tent so she could go to the bathroom, and once I'm awake it's hard for me to go back to sleep. So after taking Bailey for a walk, I decided to pull the camera out in the pitch dark and try to shoot some long exposure night sky shots. I didn't quite get what I was hoping for, so I still need a lot of practice. But here's something for Fun Photo Friday.

Nature's Picture Window

Bryce Canyon is easily one of my favorite parks to visit and photograph. The landscape is incredibly diverse and beautiful. We spent three days in and around Bryce, in the mornings, days, sunsets and evenings. This is Natural Bridge, which forms a natural picture window to the forest below, and a beautiful contrast to the orange-yellow sandstone formation that comprises it. Natural Bridge is a very popular destination within the park, not too far beyond the entrance, and just off the main road the runs through Bryce Canyon.

Please click here to see the photo in my gallery, and to view my many other photos available for printing!

Where could Bailey go to stretch her legs?

After just a couple of days into our RV Road Trip in 2012, we found out that several of the state and national parks don't allow dogs on many of the hiking paths. So we did some investigation for a location in Kings Canyon where we could take Bailey and let her run around, and we discovered Hume Lake inside the park. We didn't get to stay long, as we were heading up to Yosemite the same day (with a goal of arriving no later than 4pm in the RV camp...look up that "rule"), but it did not disappoint. It is a beautiful tranquil area, and is highly recommended! By the way, the drive to and from Hume Lake were the first real tests of our agility with the 32-foot RV, and since we were only a few days into the trip, it was very nerve-wracking! Just keep that in mind!

Looking Forward To The First Camping Weekend of 2015!

It is finally time for another weekend camping at the beach in Cardiff. We try to do this monthly, either at Cardiff or up in Carlsbad. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with Darcy and Bailey, enjoying this beautiful view, the smell of campfires, and the sound of the waves hitting the shore.

The Historic Bell Tower at Balboa Park

What to do on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday? Darcy and I opted for a walk around Balboa Park with Bailey (our dog). It was a beautiful day in San Diego, so I grabbed my camera and we headed down to the park after a stop for breakfast at the Fig Tree Cafe in Hillcrest. For tourists and locals alike, Balboa Park is an awesome place to visit museums, people watch, and of course to just walk around and shoot photos. This is the historic Balboa Bell Tower at the Museum of Man, which you can now climb for the first time in 80 years (yep, look it up)!

As always (well almost always), clicking the photo will take you to a larger version in my gallery.

Just After The Storm Has Passed

Last year, in 2014, the snow conditions up at Lake Tahoe were horrendously bad, but we managed to make it up for a trip in March when there was at least a storm that left some of the fresh white stuff. This was shot from the Cave Rock boat launch area right after the storm had passed. We were on our way to catch our flight from Reno back home to San Diego when I saw that the photography conditions were very good, as there was a lot of dramatic scenery to capture. Click here or on the photo to view it larger on my gallery page!

Let's hope some more of these storms hit the area up there very soon, as the snowfall this season is even worst than last so far.

Walking Distance to The Post Office and The Library

Happy Fun Photo Friday! My best guess is that this was taken in 2000 on one of the many trips that Darcy and I used to take to San Felipe, BC, Mexico. On one of those trips, we had a day or two before some friends were arriving for the weekend fish taco-fest with us, so we drove down to Puertocitos, which I'm pretty was the end of the paved road heading south into Baja. Puertocitos is an awesome little coastal town, a taste of which you can see in the town Post Office and Library. There are also hot springs there, which is a neat thing to do on a rocky shore right on the Sea of Cortez.