I have been lurking lately, but found a little time andmaterial to post.The
pictures can be found here:http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=13775My
son finished high school and as a reward we took him onhis biggest vacation up
to date – trip to California. Yes, we have taken himabroad, but this was much
bigger. His favorite movie of all times is “BigTrouble in Little China”
(rolling my eyes…), so San Francisco it was. San Francisco is one amazing city.
More amazing are itsinhabitants…they are so laid back and relaxed and…pretty
sure none of themrealize that the car they drive actually has a horn. Really,
what’s wrong withthese people? And who wears winter coat at the end of June, we
felt so out ofplace in shorts and t-shirts. There was another reason we felt so
out ofplace-we drove the biggest car in the city, but more on that later…The
first day we “rented” a tour guide whom we found on theNet. We choose him,
because we didn’t want to participate in a cheesy tour,going to all the tourist
places. Our effort paid off and we actually learned something.First stop, China
Town. It was very unlike China towns onthe East Coast. To get there we took one
of the old trolleys. Funny, they havewooden brakes that smell like burning pine
downhill. There was one funnyincident, where the tour guide who happened to be
a jokester, pointed to a verynarrow side alley and told the group that it’s an
unique photographicopportunity and upon hearing this, each one of them started
clicking away. Hejust laughed and told them that he was joking. I think they
gave him dirtylooks, because he didn’t joke like that until the tour ended.San
Franciscans seems to love their coffee. Everywhere yougo, you are greeted by
this big, beautiful coffee machines. No idea how good itis, since I don’t drink
coffee, but I can attest, that the local beer issuperb. We were renting houses
anddespite having all the amenities, we ate out. The food was edible, unlike
thefood found in the tourist destinations. Speaking of San Franciscans, did
youknow that one can smoke pot in public transportation…:)I really wanted to
have a picture of the iconic SanFrancisco bridge, but it wasn’t meant to be.
There was entirely too much fog.Well, you see my best effort…On the way to
Mount Carmel, starting picture 452. Alexchased the birds on the beach. We were
so happy, as we hadn’t seen a real oceansince July of 2013, the time we left
Rhode Island. Mount Carmel was touristy, the beach was cold and aftercompleting
the famous 17 mile drive we headed to Santa Cruz, where we spent therest of the
day. Having lived in RI for ten years, we weren’t impressed by the17 mile
drive.Next day we headed towards the Yosemite where we spent twodays. It was
too hot in the valley (yes, that deer passed right by me) and inthe afternoon
of the first day we headed for the high country, which we likedbetter. The
second day we spend hiking at high elevation, where one couldreally feel the
lack of air in the air sans the unrelenting heat.Pictures 894, 941, 944 and 945
are from a place called “SodaSprings”. I love seltzer and it was amazing to see
it bubbling right out of theground. Of course I drank it and am still alive.The
following pictures were taken either on the way or atMono Lake, some of them
through the car window. I hate the sunset/sunrise lookwhere everything is
orange, so the pictures of the tuffas were taken right aftersunset.Now we start
with the part of the trip which was mostinteresting to Alex. He likes old stuff
and he is fascinated by the abandonedtowns in the West. First stop-Bode, an old
mining town that was deserted in theearly part of the twentieth century. I
didn’t see any generators, but if youlook closely the lamp on picture 1152 is
still glowing. It was hot, really hot,but as you can see the person on picture
1161 was not deterred to dress inlayers…:)After that, we explored via back
roads a few more abandoned towns.We had rented an SUV in order to accomplish
this task since they were far awayfrom pavement.Alex was upset when we reached
the first town. As mentionedabove, he really likes old stuff and the fact that
people used everything,especially the cars for target practice, did not go well
with him.On the way back (at the end of our vacation) we stopped by a train
museum, Alex has atrain fetish. We were informed that the train on picture 1371
is a movie starthat starred in more than 100 movies, including the famous scene
from “Back tothe Future”, but you movie buffs already knew that.Unlike now,
California was really dry. One can see from thepictures taken in-between how
scorched everything was. I have never seen fieldsand hills made of pure
gold…Now, keep in mind, that I was forewarned-this wasn’t goingto be a
photography trip, all pictures with the exception of one were made prettymuch
while walking/driving. Only one time during this trip, I (put my footdown, much
to Alex’s annoyance and…) took 20 minutes in order to take one ofthe pictures,
so here it is: Whoeverfigures out which one it is first, gets an award, I will
think of something.Hint…it took me nineteen minutes and a half to find it and
half a minute totake it. BestBoris .................................
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I am not easily happy with things. I work hard for my happiness.
--Bob Whitmire
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