Modesto and San Francisco

Back to the Central Valley after a two week stay in Clovis/Fresno, California.  This time, just 80 miles north in Modesto.

Fortunately, I went over into Yosemite a couple of weeks ago and cruised around in the valley.  Now there is a rim fire, shutting down access.  So, Saturday, I headed west, over to the coast and San Francisco.

The Central Valley daytime temperatures this time of the year range from the mid 90° to the low 100° but the coast is another matter.  Not really thinking about it, I wore only shorts and a cotton t-shirt so with the wind blowing off the Pacific, I found it a little uncomfortable and hunkered down behind a grove of trees at Thornton Beach.  62°.  Yeah, I'm a wimp.

As usual, clicking on the photo will increase resolution and size.

On toward San Francisco my first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge showed fog at the tops of the span.

Further around the point, the winds had changed and the skies cleared.

Eastward on Lombard up the hill.

The obligatory trip down the zig-zag side of Lombard.

Sunday afternoon; a trip up along the Stanislaus River at Knights Ferry, California.  This is part of the old gold rush area.  I even saw one guy, just down stream, panning for gold.  I truly doubt he found anything.

Central California; Fresno, Clovis and Yosemite

It's been a couple of years since I've been near the Yosemite area and so a trip to Fresno/Clovis was a treat, not that either is much of a jewel but it's a great launching place for a weekend at Yosemite or the Sequoia National Forest.

My last (and first) trip to Yosemite was in late winter which meant many of the roads were closed but that also meant that traffic was at a minimum.  Getting an early start Saturday, I was able to get a jump on the crowds but by early afternoon, traffic was becoming insane.

Here's a few photos.  As usual, clicking the photos will increase the size and resolution.

The entrance

August is not the opportune time if you want to see lakes and waterfalls.  For the most part, the streams are shallow and waterfalls non-existent.

The iconic Yosemite Falls were bone dry.

The 3 mile round trip hike to Mirror Lake was less than what I expected and proved to be a dry meadow this time of the year.

While a 3 mile trip wasn't that bad, temperatures began to warm up into the nineties by noon.  Looking back, I kinda wished I had rented one of the bicycles for the sake of speed.

I wish I could tell how I cleverly stalked the wildlife and spent hours setting up for a shot but that would be a gross exaggeration and maybe a downright lie.   A lot of the animals were so used to humans, they appeared to be posing and could often get within inches of them.  Such is the case with this overweight squirrel.  The rules say, "Do Not Feed The Animals" but this one clearly made a living off the soft hearts of the human visitors.

The same held true for this 4 point Mule Deer buck.

Still majestic Half Dome

The Tuolumne Meadows.

Early afternoon, I had all of the people and traffic I could enjoy, so I took the long way back down to Clovis.  

Sunday afternoon, I was close enough to the Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon National park so I took a few hours to check out the giant Sequoias.

The General Sherman Tree is not the tallest of the Sequoias but in wood mass, it's supposed to be the biggest.

Fallen logs are an attraction too.

Hume Lake, Sequoia National Forest

I love these mountains but my stay here is only 2 weeks.  I'd love a long(er) term assignment near here in the future.

Bugs and Flowers

There's a little nature park down by the river near my hotel in Dublin, Ohio, where I found a few flowers and a bug or two after a nice little thunderstorm.

Blessed Is A Man

...who can ride his Harley to church.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the Name of the Lord, our God. - Psalm 20:7

My Ohio Weekend

This weekend, I found myself up for a little exploring.  Cruising the internet, I found the locations of a few waterfalls, for which I have a huge penchant.  The other is ("stalking" is such an ugly word), Amish watching.  So, I decided to do a bit of both.

(as usual, clicking the photos should enlarge them and increase resolution)
I warmed up a bit with a water sculture at the community center near my hotel in Dublin

then progressed down the road, not far away, to Hayden Falls

 where I met a duck.

I set my GPS toward Holmes County, Sugar Creek, Berlin and Millersburg in search of the Amish.

Along the way, I passed a huge 7 story office building that was the home office of Longaberger Baskets in Newark, OH.  It was pretty impressive.

The first thing I try to remember is upon seeing the first road apple on the pavement is start watching, because the roads are sometimes winding, hilly and limited shoulders in some places.

We don't want to run over one of the Yoder boys.

Everything in that region is geared, of course, to Amish.  I even suspect there are folks just pretending to be Amish (I digress) just for business but that's another story.

 It's not like you have to look hard for them

  they come out from small roads and streets and just appear.

 One thing I found interesting was how most of the big box stores, such as Walmart, even had dedicated parking spots for the buggies.  I would guess to protect them from being run over and also, being the cash cow they are, to cater to them as well.

Leaving Millersburg, I started heading back south and found a couple of covered bridges in the process.  One being an active one for anyone to use and another that had been closed only to non-motorized (buggies) vehicles.

 

 This one bears the title of Ohio's longest covered bridge.

At the information sight of the above bridge, I read of another set of waterfalls near there on the road back to Columbus.   It's Honey Run Falls.  A little off the beaten path but still very nice.  It took forever to get shots of it because of kids in the nearby campgrounds playing in them.

Yes, I was more than patient.  I was a kid once myself, so I have been told.

Seriously, it was such a nice place watching the kids and several other photographers trying to grab just the right angle.

Well, outside of going to church with some friends who invited me, that's been pretty much it up here in Ohio.

Until next time...

Independence Day, Columbus, Ohio, 4th of July

Columbus has the "Red, White and Boom" festival which actually begins on July 3.

With some new found friends, I went downtown (against my fears and better judgement) to watch the parade and later that night, the fireworks.

Waiting patiently for the parade to begin, attendees lined the sidewalks along with side men selling noise makers and favors.

Some watched from a window above at the downtown YMCA.

Eventually, it all began

Floats were pretty scarce and saw several cleaned up 18 wheelers
from different firms such as Pepsi, Walmart and a few others.
Unions and politicians even paraded, some with their supporters
marching.

Even Jesus (pretty sure that wasn't really Him) was there.

After the parade, we went down to the river to await the fireworks
display at 10:00 PM.  The walkways were a parade within them-
selves.

At 10:00, the fireworks began along with a light rain.

On the real 4th of July, I rode around in the rain, electing to stay
away from the crowds.  Call me "hyper-vigilant"  if you like but
given events in Boston some weeks back, I wanted to not be a
target for terrorism so I chose more serene places for contemplation.