Yosemite and More

I grew up in the small town of McCloud California, which is located on the Southeast side of Mt. Shasta. It was a company owned lumber town and I have many happy memories of living there. One such memory is of the railroad. The McCloud River Railroad. We used to go to sleep to the sounds of the trains getting ready to haul a load 'over the hill' to Mt. Shasta City or east to the Northern Pacific tracks in Burney. If you've followed me at all you know I love trains. This railroad is why. After the closing of the lumber mill the railroad was sold and became the McCloud Railway, a tourist railroad. Unfortunately it didn't make it and the railway was sold to scrappers. A sad sight for this railfan and probably anyone else who lived during it's hayday. Here are a few photos I recently took while on a work 'vacation'. I was thinking of changing them to sepia tone but the rust kinda took care of that for me. This i...

It's been raining and very windy. Last Saturday I decided I better go food shopping. I went about 1/4 mile turned around and got my camera. A couple of days earlier the Almonds were just beginning to bloom. They still have several weeks left. Soon the peaches, nectarines, and lots of other stuff including wild flowers will begin to bloom. For now I'll share these. The clouds were pretty good, but were changing constantly. I wanted to use my macro lens but there was just enough breeze to make it very hard, so I settled for this one. Every year more and more of this are is planted with almond. There are several different varieties of almonds. I'm not sure if this is an almond orchard or some other tree nut. Here's an independent one. Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph Dave

One of the things I like most about Point Lobos is that there's more to see and photograph than just the waves.  Part of the park consists of forest, tide pools, islands and small beach areas. You  may see seals, sea otters, whales, and a variety of birds. If you look around and down, the rocks, tide pools and plants provide a wide variety of photographic opportunities. The ocean does a wonderful job exposing the various  layers of rock. Some of those layers are at interesting angles The beach area is full of interesting stuff washed up from the ocean and a wide variety of pebbles and rocks. There's even a sign asking you to not 'collect' anything.  If you like lines and contrast it doesn't get much better than this. I thought this one looked like the back of a turtle. Go, See, Enjoy and Photograph Dave

I went to Point Lobos and Asilomar with Friedhelm the other day. We were lucky, the weather was great and the waves weren't too bad either. I'll be posting some 'non-wave' photos pretty soon. Go, See, Enjoy. Dave

A friend and I went to the  Castle Air Museum the other day.  If you like aircraft this is the place to go. Exhibits include well over 60 aircraft, an indoor museum and you can get lunch as well. I plan on going back soon.  I took a lot more closeups then of the whole aircraft.  There is a wide variety of aircraft, From the Presidential plane, SR71 Blackbird, WWII, Korea and on and on.  Adding the personal touch to aircraft has gone on since it's invention. Here are a few of the many at Castle. Let's not forget what most of these aircraft were for. Their purpose was to defend the United States and that requires firepower. I liked the symetry of the three jet engines on this B47E And my last photo has nothing to do with aircraft. As I was walking around the grounds I spotted this growing in the grass. Go, See, Enjoy. Dave

Continuation of my trip to Northern California. This time I went to Scott Valley, located west of Yreka after you go over the pass. As I hit the top of the pass, this is what greeted me. Knowing how cold it was I thought 'this is going to be a great day'. And it was! Everything was covered in ice, and blanketed with fog. I liked how this sprinkler just vanished into the fog. After I left the Valley, up and over the hill again I was greeted with this. I haven't gotten many chances to photograph lenticular clouds. You can imagine how excited I was, especially after having such a good time in Scott Valley. The small cinder cone to the left is Shastina, on the right is Mt. Shasta. A little while later, only the Lady had a hat. Go, See, Enjoy. Dave

Here's part two of my recent vacation to  Northern California. After being in the fog for most of the morning (see my previous post) I broke out of it and finally located the Little Shasta Church. I've seen photos of it but had never visited it. The church was established in 1878. I've seen several of this style over the years and I still find them intriguing a great photography subjects. I like lines and this one had some great ones. Aren't Steeples intriguing and wonderful to look at.  On the way back I came across this Golden Eagle eating lunch, right alongside the road. I really didn't think it would stay there but I turned around, drove back and stopped in the middle of the road, right across from it. It stayed for quite a while, while I clicked away. (Yes, I blurred out the bloody carrion)  When it decided to leave I got off a couple of shots before my car's door jam and win...

I went on a short vacation to the north state. I stayed in Yreka which is in the northern part of the Shasta Valley in Siskiyou County. Not too far from where I grew up. On the way up I decided to take a detour and travel on Highway 299 then go to Mt. Shasta on Highway 89. My intent was to take some of the side roads. Unfortunately there was just a little too much snow for my car to travel on the. I did get this nice view on Highway 89 The next morning when I got up it was very foggy and about 25°. After warming up my car I headed out to the area around the small town of Montague.  As I drove the backroads I came across this herd of deer. As I mentioned it was very cold and pretty foggy. Everything had icicles or better yet ice spikes. Here's a newer version of barbed wire. That's right, that isn't snow on the trees, it's ice. Didn't know what to label this one since I...