A couple of great sunsets and a trip out to Mono Lake via Yosemite.
These first few photos were taken from the ridge in Castro Valley overlooking San Leandro & The Bay.
My youngest Son & I took a sunset hike out there with our dog.
I know, it's just the boring old moon,
but it's the first boring old moon photo that I've taken that isn't just a white blob in the sky!
You can actually see some detail in the moon.
This first shot was taken on the Sequoia Bayview Trail.
I like the Enchanted Forest feel of this one.
Your typical bank of fog rolling into downtown San Francisco.
The last photo was shot through a star filter.
My son was out of school this week so I took some vacation time and we headed out to Mono Lake.
We took Hwy. 120 out to Yosemite and then headed up over Tioga Pass.
These first photos were taken at Tanaya lake.
There we grabbed a bite to eat and found a place to spend the night.
Early the next morning we headed out to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake to get some sunrise shots.
(The shutter got stuck).
The rest of the shots were taken on my trusty old Kodak Easy Share Z740.
but the Tufa wound up getting overexposed and pretty washed out.
As we were heading out of Mono Lake, I stopped and laid down in the middle of the road to get this shot.
but the lack of an SLR camera, (Which was pretty much the whole point of the trip), caused us to cut it short.
Just as we started back up Hwy. 120, we stopped at the Mobil station located on the left to gas up and eat some snacks.
While we were sitting there eating, we saw these poles set up on a hill overlooking Mono Lake.
How spectacularly random is that?
We finished eating and then it was back up the mountain with plans to stop in Yosemite Valley.
We hoped to take some video and a few shots with the Kodak camera there.
On the way back through Tioga Pass we stopped and took a some shots.
This one was taken just after re-entering the Park.
I thought he was in the bathroom and I was waiting and waiting and waiting and starting to get worried.
All of a sudden some movement catches my eye and I look up to see him way up on the Dome.
I grabbed the camera and hiked up there with him.
He saw how smooth the granite face of the dome was, so he had decided to skate it.
We also saw this sign there that gave us a good laugh.
Now there's bureaucracy for you!
A quick stop at the West side of Tuolumne Meadows.
It was a bit hazy up there so I didn't get the greatest of photos,
but the clouds above Half Dome were rather spectacular.
This shot was pieced together from two photos I took up there.
On the way around the loop, we saw this bus stop and thought the lighting was rather cool.
No such luck on short notice.
We decided to see what was available outside the park and found a room at the Yosemite View Lodge.
It was just a few miles down along the Merced River.
In the morning, before we left, I took a few photos off our balcony that turned out pretty good.
Just driving home through the area we had already been through.
Well, that's all for this week.
See you again soon.