California
As part of my epic road trip in July 2009 I headed out to the Californian coast to travel the Pacific Coast Highway North to Seattle, Washington.
I drove into California from Las Vegas where I had planned to stay for a couple of nights, after spending a few hours on the 'strip' I decided I hated it and got back in the truck and set off for California the same evening. I enjoyed a beautiful drive beside the Mojave Desert and picked my way across to Santa Barbara where I found a small hotel for the evening.
I awoke to a think fog/mist as I sat in the huge glass walled breakfast area looking out toward the ocean, the 'Har' rolled slowly away. The 'Har was with me every morning as I drove the 1000 miles North to Seattle along the beautiful coastal route but it didn't stay long, these two shots were taken less than 30 minutes apart.
I had spent that 30 minutes in the company of a group of Columbia Ground Squirrels who had loitered around since I arrived in the dusty car park by the roadside.
Many of them were brave enough (after a while) to come and take a cracker out of my hand, at times even resting their paw on my fingers as they did so, they sure did like a cracker and ate the lot before I got out of there. I really enjoyed the connection with this little critters.
I stopped by an elephant seal colony and watched them wobble around struggling to get anywhere, and for the most part they gave up and lay in the sand throwing sand over themselves with their flippers, but when they did make it into the water they were incredibly agile for such an ungainly looking beast onshore.
The road itself is a joy to drive and the scenery is constant as you weave along beside the pacific, sometimes hundreds of feet up overlooking the ocean sometimes directly adjacent, for almost 1000 miles you rarely lose sight of the ocean, it is a beautiful journey.
I had decided long before I got there that I would overnight somewhere close to San Francisco in order to try and get an archetypal 'sunset at the bridge' shot. They may well be clichés now but to be there and make one yourself is still unbelievably cool. I had a great time in the city and had to queue for ages to drive down Lombard Street just to say I'd done it. I drove around the old town for a while (which is incredible) I would have liked to walk around but my legs just weren't up to walking far, I'll go back one day and walk with Sarah. After looking around I crossed the bridge and stopped off in the upper viewing area.
I then dropped down to a marina that was visible from the top and would provide the best view toward the West for sunset behind the bridge. I figured it was a long shot but the sky was clear enough with just a few clouds blowing by. I walked around for a while and met a few people before scrambling up a rock to a flat outcrop and setting up the camera on a tripod.
With dusk approaching a few showers blew through and provided a beautiful rainbow over the city and even a hint of a second above it.
As I stood up on the rocks a voice from below asked "hey, you godda da room for one more", sure, come on up I say. As the guy is scrambling up I say "Italian eh", to which he replied "hey, howa da hell you gedda this....maybe I godda da acent huh", just a bit says I as I reach down and take his tripod and camera to make the last few steps easier.
The guy was called David and worked as a radio talk show host in Italy (football talk show) and damn he knew some stuff about football. We stood there for about an hour or so talking about football and our homes so far away until sunset. This may not be the best 'sunset at the Golden Gate bridge' photo as the sun just didn't play along but it is a 'true' photo, I did apply a filter to it at one point to make it look better for printing but for these memories I'm sticking with the original.
Once it got dark I said 'Arrivederci' to David and set off once again along the coast road as it was too early for a hotel just yet.
The guy was called David and worked as a radio talk show host in Italy (football talk show) and damn he knew some stuff about football. We stood there for about an hour or so talking about football and our homes so far away until sunset. This may not be the best 'sunset at the Golden Gate bridge' photo as the sun just didn't play along but it is a 'true' photo, I did apply a filter to it at one point to make it look better for printing but for these memories I'm sticking with the original.
Once it got dark I said 'Arrivederci' to David and set off once again along the coast road as it was too early for a hotel just yet.
turning to leave I realised that the sunset actually looked better behind me over the marina and snapped a final shot before leaving.
after an overnight stay in another hotel I continued my stop start journey along this wonderful road toward the Oregon state line, stopping to walk a little on a beach, on the cliffs and in a Giant Redwood forest.
There is so much to do in California that you could spend months there and still not get it all done, so I guess there is only one thing I can say at this point..........I'll be back.