T’was the Night Before Xmas

On the eve of a wonderful day, we wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and we hope that we all find success and continued happiness in the coming year.

Solitary Confinement

Conference schedules and car rental companies conspired to kill our planned ride to Monterey and Carmel today.  On the spur of the moment, we decided to go out to Alcatraz and explore.  We have never been there before.

It is one thing to know the history of the island and the penitentiary was there, but it is quite another to actually see the cells and hear the stories of the place.  It is a fascinating tour.   There is a 45 minute audio tour of the cell block building that drives the hell that was Alcatraz home.  The cells are tiny and the solitary confinement area is even worse.  I cannot imagine being locked up in there and maintaining my sanity.

The picture above is what remains of the warden’s house, with the lighthouse behind it.

It’s Raining Again

So here we are in San Francisco and it’s raining.  If wasn’t for the lack of the accent, I would think we were back in London.  We are here for five days (Susan is working, I am shooting) and it is supposed to rain the entire time we are here.  It is going to be a soggy trip.

We did get over to the wharf area and spent some time on Pier 39.  This is where the sea lions hang out.  As soon as we got out of the taxi, it started to really rain, so we ducked into a restaurant for lunch.  As we finished, the rain stopped and the sun actually broke through, so we went looking for the sea lions.  From the stories I had seen on the news, there were supposed to be hundreds of them, but it must of been to wet even for them.  There were about 10 scattered around.  One did some nice posing, but I got more interested in the colors on some of the tour boats at the docks.  The picture above was of some colorful detail on one of the boats and was taken just as the rain was starting up again.

We did get out tonight for some great Spanish food at Zarzuella, a wonderful restaurant in the Russian Hill neighborhood.  Excellent tapas and killer Paella.

Tomorrow, if the rain isn’t too bad, we will head for Carmel and Monterey.  There may be some good surf pictures along the coast road around Monterey.

The Polite British

We have finally returned from our travels to China and London.  My body has just now figured out what continent it is on and what timezone it is in.  Life is good.

London was a real kick.  It was our first time there and we really enjoyed it.  However, the weather was not in a cooperative mood.  We had rain and gale force winds the first two days and finally saw sun on the last day in the city.  It wasn’t that bad, however, as the rain forced us to change our plans and we did some things we might not have otherwise done, such as high tea at Fortnum and Mason.  Quite the nice things to do on a dreary, rainy day.

Which brings up a good travel tip.  No matter how much planning you do, when you finally get someplace, something is going to get in the way of doing what you planned.   It is a given.  If you are flexible and open to other ideas, wonderful things can happen.  It is the unexpected and unplanned that is usually the most memorable on a trip.

On Sunday, we took a cruise down the Thames to Greenwhich, which was not something on our agenda, but the sun was out and the docks were right there and the ticker seller said that Greenwhich was a pretty good place to wander around. It was.  Sort of quaint and we found a nice pub for lunch.   On the way back up river, we noticed this sign:

Quite a polite and funny way of saying, “Stay the hell out.”  The British are nothing is not polite.

Moving Day

Wonders of wonders, I have found a way around the China censorship and all is well with my network world.  Ah, the wonders of modern, subversive technology.

China is nothing if not about manual labor.  With 1.4 billion people in the country, labor is cheap and there is not much incentive to automate, or to make anyone’s life easier.  Got a load of furniture to move?  The picture above pretty much says it all.  I don’t know how this guy got it all loaded, or how he keeps it balanced, but he does and the furniture gets moved.

I am off to Xi’an on Sunday.  The terracotta warriors, the great mosque, the city wall and lots of Feng Shui.  Should be fun and I may even find time to shoot.

In China with no Pictures

I am currently in China, where, in the Chinese government’s infinite wisdom, they are blocking the WordPress blog sites. Not just mine, but everyone’s. So, no pictures and I will have to wait until I return to the US at the end of next week to do another post. Sorry.

Best of Intentions

I did have all good intentions of posting as soon as we returned from our trip, but life intruded and if just didn’t get done.  To make matters worse, my imaging computer is down, as my office is completely torn apart while we redo the place.  My old workspace was not set up for efficient workflow and print production, so we ripped everything out and we are redoing it.  Hopefully, the cabinets, desktops and shelving will be done this weekend and I can get my images back.

In the meantime, above is a picture, taken at Yellowstone National Park on the day before we headed home.  Fall in Yellowstone is always a great time.  The combination of colder temperatures and mist from warm springs and creeks make for great photography.  I shot more images in one day in Yellowstone than during the entire rest of the trip.  This is off the west road, south of Mammoth Hot Springs.

I am leaving for China on October 20th, so with luck I will have some interesting pictures to post.  I will be in Hangzhou, Xi’an and Shanghai this trip.  Also, a week after I return from China, Susan and I are heading for a long weekend in London.  Not sure how much photography I will do there, but I am sure I will take some pictures.

In the meantime, it’s Fall, so get out there and take some great pictures.

It’s a Dog’s Life

We left East Glacier early this morning and ran route US 89 down to Gardiner.  It is a nice secondary road that runs through the Lewis and Clark National Forest, which is a really nice scenic route.

After arriving in Gardiner, we stopped for a late lunch just outside Yellowstone National Park.  We saw the dog above soaking in the sun, while, we assume, waiting for his owner.  Nice to be able to take it easy.

After lunch we drove into the park to the Mammoth Hot Springs village.  We had fun watching the whack job tourists pester the elk feeding there and the rangers having fits trying to keep the fools from getting hurt.  Some people just don’t think.

We also went over to the Mammoth Hot Springs themselves, which turned out to be a strange experience.  When we were here five years ago, the springs were active, with a lot of running water, pools and steam.  Now they are almost completely dry.  It looked more like cement terraces than a geothermal site.  It demonstrates the changes that have been happening recently in the park.  The park has always undergone changes, but over the past several years, the pace of change has accelerated.

Part of the west road in the park is closed for the season, due to road construction.   That will force us over the east side of the park tomorrow, which means more wildlife and less geothermal attractions.  Not what we had planned, but it is go with the flow for now.  If I have Internet connectivity tomorrow evening, I will post a final entry for the trip.  Otherwise, I will post one when we get home Saturday.

That Bloody, Bloody Wind

Tuesday morning we  woke to more high winds and cold temperatures.  After a really good breakfast at the Park Cafe in St. Mary, we drove up to Babb and then over to the Many Glaciers area in the park.  We pulled in to Many Glaciers Hotel to find even more wind and a dropping temperature.  There is a huge fireplace in the lobby and it seemed that the entire clientele of the hotel had decided that it was a fine day to sit by the fire and read a book.  We decided that was a fine idea and did the same.  It was just way too cold and windy to make any kind of hiking comfortable.

The weather on the east side of the park is anything but friendly.  I gather that for a good chunk of the year, it can be a brutal place to be.  For all that, we saw one grizzly bear feeding up on a hillside and a number of mountain goats moving around the upper reaches of the surrounding mountains.  They, at least, did not seem to be bothered by the cold.  Tress, on the other hand, were bent and there were a large number of dead ones, standing stark against the sky.  The one on the picture above was along the road to Many Glaciers.

This morning we slept in, as the wind was still howling.  After finally getting up, we drove back to the Park Cafe for breakfast (the fruity french toast is awesome) and then drove over route 89 and 49 to the entrance to Two Medicine Lakes.  There was a short trail to Running Eagle Falls, which was nice, but not much else.  The camp store and tour boat at the end of the road had closed right after labor day.  At least the wind was gone and the temperature was climbing again.

From there, we heading into East Glacier, to the Glacier Park Hotel.  By far, this is the nicest place we have stayed in so far on this trip.  Our room wasn’t ready, so we ran route 2 to Essex and then on into West Glacier, stopping at a picnic area for lunch out of our cooler.  After some poking around in stores (everyone of them have the same tourist s0uveniers), we drove back to the hotel and took some walks.  Not much for photography, but relaxing (this is a vacation, after all).  We found a good Mexican restaurant, Serrano’s, which, when they say hot, they mean hot.  My dinner was wonderfully flavored, but so hot my eyes were tearing.  We cooled off later with huckleberry ice cream.   So much for any kind of healthy eating.

Tomorrow we are off for Gardiner, Montana, which is at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park.  Probably no pictures, as it will be a long drive.  If I have connectivity, I will post something Friday night.

Hidden Creek Cascade

I did have the best of intentions to post an entry last night, but the Park Service does not have either cell phone, or Interet service within the park.  As we were staying at Lake MacDonald Lodge, well within the park boundaries, there was no chance to post.  The same will be true for tomorrow night, when we  are at Many Glaciers Hotel.

We arrived at the park yesterday to find clouds and some rain.  However, by dinner time, the clouds had blown through and the sun came out.  Unfortunately, while Lake MacDonald is quite something to see, the sunset wasn’t very good, so the pictures were mediocre.  We did drive up the road a bit to Sacred Dancing Cascade, which was quite beautiful.  As with most glacier fed streams, the water was crystal clear and a brilliant blue.  Once I get home and have time to process the pictures from the trip, I will put some shots up on the website.

This morning was cold and cloudy again, with the threat of rain.  After breakfast, we started up Going to the Sun Road.  As it was a holiday, there was no construction, so very little hold up on the drive.  After a quick stop to shoot some more at the Sacred Dancing Cascade, we stopped to walk the Trial of the Cedars.  This is a short loop trail through stands of cedar and hemlock and mostly boardwalk.  At one point, we passed over Hidden Creek, which runs into Avalanche Creek.  Right upstream was a small and very nice cascade.  One of the pictures from there is above.

We continued up the road, stopping at Logan Pass Visitor’s Center.  Naturally, right at that moment it decided to start snowing and the wind really picked up.  We scratched the short hike we were planning to do and sat in the car and ate lunch.  We then continued on our way, stopping to admire the views.  We actually saw a single mountain goat, sitting on a rock, watching the whacky tourists below.  Too far away for a picture, even with a long lens.  Farther down, above St. Mary Lake, we ran into a small traffic jam.  There was a young black bear on the side of the road eating some sort of a plant.  The bear was on Susan’s side of the car, so she got a picture, but I didn’t get anything.

We finally arrived a St. Mary Lodge, our stopping point for the night, and decided some downtime was warranted.  If not mandatory as there isn’t anything in St. Mary, or the surrounding area and the wind was cranking at about 40 MPH.  At least it gave me a change to catch up on email and picture editing.  And getting a blog post out.

Tomorrow it is off to Many Glaciers and Wednesday it’s down to Two Medicine Lake.  Hopefully I will have Internet on Wednesday night and be able to post another blog entry.  See you then.