Lake Tahoe

After leaving the Avenue of the Giants and the cool ocean breezes, the drive down into the Sacramento valley was long, hot, and mostly pretty dull with the exception of the golden covered hills I found just as the sun was setting:


My base camp home office for the week was an RV park in Truckee, CA conveniently located on I-80. Each night after work, I'd take the 30 minute drive south to Lake Tahoe to take a few shots at sunset. Parts of the lake are extremely deep (nearly 2000 feet) and cold. The waters along the deeper shorelines produce a wonderful emerald blue color while the sun is still high in the sky. But in the afterglow of sunset, when the sky glows with color, the still waters also begin to reflect those colors as well.






A spot well-known by nature photographers and locals, is hidden at the bottom of a cliff along the eastern Nevada shore just south of Sand Harbor called "Bonsai Rock". I finally located it on my 3rd night and found the unmarked trailhead to get down to the lake to take these shots. For a few of them, I had to stand calf-high in the lake, but boy was it fun!





For our final night in Truckee, Millie and I went up to the top of Donner Pass to hike a neat little trail through a few mountain streams and over large, smooth slabs and boulders of granite. There were even a few spots with snow still not melted (that Millie had a great time running through!).

We took the old Donner Pass Highway back down into Truckee, and spotted these rock climbers as well as other scenes. I can't imagine how the pioneers made it over this pass with their wagons on their way to strike it rich in California gold country 150 years ago (and obviously, some never did made it). A roadside memorial commemorates the infamous Donner Party's story of cannibalism for survival when they got stuck in these rocky hills during the winter of 1846-47.

California Redwoods

After leaving Bandon, our next base camp was the California redwood coast near Crescent City and Redwoods National Park (which is actually a collection of California state parks that initially protected these wonderful trees). To get a sense of just how big these trees really are, I parked my Subaru next to one!

I planned my trip to occur just as the summer coastal foggy season was starting, but to also catch the last of the rhododendron blooms. I was hoping to get a shot of both together, but it was not to be. The fog rolled in briefly late one evening as I was walking Millie near the campground, but each day after that was sunny, dry and clear as a bell. Guess I should have spent this week in Oregon and the previous week in the Redwoods!

At least one benefit of the clear days were these crescent moonrise shots over the ocean south of Crescent City:


Crescent City itself isn't a particularly pretty town, but it does have this very neat lighthouse that sits on an island a few dozen feet offshore. You can walk to it at low tide, but I obviously arrived a bit too late! Since I was there during the photographically dreadful midday sun, I decided to put away my color point-and-shoot and pull out the infrared camera to make it more interesting:
Highway 191 takes you east of Crescent City on a twisty route through Jedediah Smith State Park
A very fun dirt road traverses the park called Howland Hill Road that takes you through some of the oldest redwood groves in the state (nope, trailers not allowed on this road, so the T@B had to stay home!)
As I headed back to my campsite that evening at dusk, driving along Highway 101, I saw something big and black leasurely crossing the road just in front of the car ahead of me...just a large black bear out for his evening stroll across 4 lanes of traffic! What a way to end the day!

My next California destination was Eureka, about 2 hours south of Crescent City, and getting there was most of the fun. Here was a quick stop along the scenic parkway in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park:

After getting the T@B parked at it's campsite, I headed back up to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwoods National Park. At the trailhead was a plaque and some photos of the day Richard Nixon and Lady Bird Johnson were there in 1969 when he dedicated the grove in her honor. Strange to think of walking in big-time politicians' footsteps along this trail (imagine if these grand old trees could talk!).




The most unusual redwood I saw on the trail, was this one. A huge section of the base of it's trunk had been completely burned out and hollowed...yet it continues to live on and thrive. Little wonder these trees have survived the last 1000 years. Lets hope they can survive the next 1000.
Eureka and the smaller town of Ferndale (about 10 miles south) have some remarkable examples of Victorian architecture (as well as a few nice art deco buildings as well):



After taking one last romp on the beach just north of Eureka, it was time for Millie and I to bid adieu to the Pacific and begin our journey east towards home. We drove one final, glorious scenic redwood drive along the famous "Avenue of the Giants" in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Day 15 - Morro Bay to Barstow

Our week in Morro Bay went by far too quickly and it was now time for us to pack up and start the long drive home. I finished up work Friday afternoon so that we could drive down the coast while it was still daylight.

I had considered spending the week in the Santa Barbara or Pismo Beach areas before I settled on Morro Bay, and was so glad I didn't! Pismo seemed rather seedy to me, and most of the Santa Barbara beach scenes were ruined by dozens of offshore oil rigs dotting the horizon. Additionally, traffic was a mess down there!

Millie and I stopped in Malibu just as the sun was setting. Millie got to do one final run on the beach and pretend to be a blonde bimbo Malibu girl....

While I admired our little Malibu beach house!


The rest of the evening was numbingly frustrating as I stupidly drove through L.A. during Friday night rush hour(s). It was still bumper-to-bumper as late as 9:00pm nearly all the way out to Barstow!

Day 14 - Morro Bay

It had poured rain all day, but then miraculously, the sun came out around 4pm just as I was finishing up work, so I grabbed my camera case and headed back down to Montana de Oro State Park. This was the same beach as I had shot a few nights before, but this time I was up on a bluff overlooking it. Gorgeous light peeked through the clouds.

But, the sunshine was short-lived. A few minutes later, I looked out to the ocean to see another storm front approaching. By the time I stopped at Morro harbor for dinner, it was pouring down rain again, so I decided to work the rest of the evening.

Day 13 - Morro Bay

Today was mostly cloudy all day. After work, I took Millie to a dog park in San Luis Obispo where she got to play with a dozen other dogs of various shapes and sizes. As we drove home, the clouds started to break ever so slightly, so we high tailed to our beach for the sunset. And what a glorious sunset it was!


Millie and Morro Rock: