Yosemite and More

Friedhelm knew I like to visit railroads and as a birthday gift, I'm 364 days older than him, he took me to this museum. A great choice. Any suggestions on where I should take him, even if he is younger. Most of the railroads I've been to are steam or diesel powered, the Western Railway Museum is almost entirely electrical . The trains are powered by overhead electric lines and are historically used for commuter traffic, they're often called 'trolly's'. We were lucky that it was a slow day. We were the only ones aboard for the 11am run. Our conductor and the engineer were extremely accommodating and knowledgeable. I'm sorry I didn't get better photos of them. We had a great and informative trip. Here's the 'trolly' we rode on. Self contained, no other engine required. She's a butte isn't she. Looking out the open front window. Overhead lines for power, track lines for a road. If y...

When I went to the Lava Beds National Monument I spend way to short a time at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I will definitely be going back to both places when I can spend some real time. This first photo is not really very good but it gives you some idea of  why it's called Tule Lake. There were tons of Yellow Headed Blackbirds and they really stood out among the tules. This one turned his head to give a great view of it's coloring. This Black Crowned Night Heron was quite a ways off and it took me a while to find a fairly clear view. I'd never seen one before (that I know of) and wasn't sure what it was. A fellow photographer posted a photo of one a couple of days after I got back. Thank you. As the sun set and getting late I decided to take a gravel road to see  where it went. It seemed to be going away from the water and I had decided to turn around when I came upon  a whole lot of these dragonflies....

When I was up in the Mt.Shasta area my brother suggested I  visit the Lava Beds National Monument to do some photography. I honesty was VERY skeptical that there was much to  photograph besides rocks. Once again he was right and I.... wasn't right. The smoke from fires in the area was pretty thick and when I first  arrived I was pretty sure my prejudgment of the area was right. Lots of rocks, not much else. Yeah I changed it to black and white for emphasis. I took a walk and came upon this, just a little bit of color   It's amazing where plants will grow. Another side road and low and behold several Smoothstem Morningstars. I saw them in the brochure but figured that they probably bloomed in spring. Boy was I wrong. While not fully opened,I think because the smoke was so thick, they are a pretty flower anyway. Also they were only in certain areas. If you have flowers you need pollinators. A patient but...

I recently took a trip to the area where I grew up. The McCloud-Mt.Shasta area of Southern Siskiyou County in Northern California. As you may have heard there where and are a number of wildfires occuring in the area. The smoke was in fact very, very heavy at times. That limited my photography to mostly close up subjects. I tried to get above the smoke by going to the Mt.Shasta Ski Resort, about 7,000 feet. I couldn't get above the smoke even at that height. A little lower I  stopped to finally eat some breakfast and was pleasantly surprised. This is one of the first 'Flowers' I found.  You'll notice the name is Wild Carrot. Not sure why, but....... It has another name, 'Queen Anne Lace' just like the one below.  Yup, the one above is sans flowers, it's after all the petals are gone. I also saw a number of  butterflies fluttering about. None very cooperative for a photographer. Except this one. Have you ...

I had to go to Sacramento for my job (the semi part of semi-retired). Since I was done early I decided to visit Old Sacramento.  But first a little story. Since I had spilled some chemical down my pant leg and it looked ...um... unseemly,  I went out and bought a pair of shorts and some socks, and was ready to go. I'm a member of the California Railroad Museum and therefore got in free. It wasn't a disappointment from a railroad fan point of view. I was however disappointed from a  photographers point of view. The museum was quite dark, no tripods allowed,  and most of the exhibits were under glass. I did get a couple of inside shots I liked. This is the water injector that put the water in the boiler, a very mundane function but in yesteryear an opportunity to shine. An this is one of the most famous color schemes. It's the Santa Fe's War Bonnet colors.  A modified version is used today by the Atchison Topeka and Santa...

It's been a while, I have to get out more. These photos were taken on a great trip I had with Friedhelm to Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Parks. This first one is the view from the Forest Service Fire Lookout on Buck Rock. The road in was pretty bad, but the view once you got there was spectacular. Can you imagine being here during a thunder storm. That would be soooo cool. Unfortunately they don't allow anyone up there if there's a possibility of  lightning. If you look closely at the chair's feet you will see that they're protected by insulators.  I think the chair has been there since the  tower was first put in, in 1923.  They also have some very active Hummingbird feeders. During a hike I saw only two of these flowers, about 10ft apart. I kept a eye out for more but only saw the two. Not sure what the name is but it seemed to closely match a Bindweed. So we'll go with that. The area had ...

If you've ever driven from Merced to Yosemite you've passed this spot. I think it's called 'Bud's Place' or something like that. It's an old railroad station and has all kinds of old stuff laying around, mostly overtaken by weeds. I've driven by it tons of times and thought it might be an interesting place to shoot. Well finally the other day Friedhelm and I stopped and took a 'few' photos. We were lucky there were a couple of ladies there who had access and let us  into the bar area. There was a very eclectic decor, mostly cowboy stuff, but every nook, cranny and wall was filled. This was sitting on the end of the bar. Across the room was this guitar Outside was lots of old farm equipment.  I liked the blurred tines in the background contrasting with the single bar in the front. Here's a part of the same hay rake, I like the way it looked in sepia tone. I just like the cont...