We Are Home

We arrived home this morning at 1 AM.  We got close to Yosemite National Park, could not confirm a hotel reservation near Mono Lake and quickly decided that Yosemite could wait until next time.  We thought of Death Valley, but it too was closed.  We looked at each other and quickly agreed that the option to just go on home was a pretty good one.

We have no photos to put up today.  I did not shoot at all and Tom was very busy navigating me through the CA traffic maze from Concord to Phoenix.  By the time we got out of traffic it was dark.

In case you are wondering, in the 46 days we were on the road we put 7,296 miles on the car, consumed 174 gallons of gas, stayed in 30+ hotels, drove through 8 states and did not lose any camera gear or personal items. Fortunately, we did not keep track of the number of photos taken.  The important number is how many we have kept six months from now after completing all of our organization and edits!

As I sit here typing this message it is impossible to convey what the trip has meant on a personal level. So, I won't try. If you ask me if I would do it again, my response is that I can be packed and ready to go in an hour!

We sincerely thank you for joining us and sharing our fall trip.  There will be many more trips and you will again be invited along.  We will leave the Travelogue up for a while for those who are wish to catch up or just go back as we are going to do over coffee one morning and look at the whole trip!  We might be surprised!!

Last Day in Bay

We met up with Kati in St. Helena and drove together looking for photo opportunities.  We took side roads, shot along the road and returned to St. Helena for lunch, taking photos around town and looking like photo-tourists.  Late in the afternoon we stopped at St. Supéry, a winery that Kati has visited before. It was that stop that made the day memorable for me.

"What can I do for you?"

"I would like to purchase three tastings."

He smiled.  "There is only one of you.  It is better to taste with friends."

"Oh, my friends are still outside taking pictures."

That is how I met Joe.  He set out three glasses.  By the time Kati and Tom came in, Joe and I were already good friends.  Joe is beyond retirement age, wears a mischievous grin and enjoys his part time job more than anything he could do in retirement. It shows.

I asked him why we sometimes saw red rose bushes at the end of a row of vines.

"Well, there are folk tale reasons, some reasons that might be true and then, of course, you can make up your own. One is that they are pretty. Another is that they are very sensitive to aphids and serve as early warning sentries for growers of an impending problem. They are said to be useful to tractor drivers as they navigate narrow rows in the dark hours of the wee morning, letting them know that they have enough clearance to go down a new row."

So many more questions and answers were shared.  Before leaving I asked if I could take his picture.  "Sure" he said. As long as I would join him.  Kati did the honors.

Joe made our day. By the time we left I was ready to return and apply for a job to work with him.

Between questions, answers and tasting, we took a few photos.  These will bring back memories of the place more than anything else.

I remembered Cory's advice.  "Don't overlook the small things."  This one is for Cory.  

Our hope of finding a road up a hill that would offer a great view of the valley was only partially met.  There are few public roads up the hills and vegetation right up to the road made a clear panoramic view impossible.  We spent a lot of time driving and little time photographing.  The following will give you an idea from the one site that we found.

Entry driveways are quite photogenic.

This is the old family house on the Supéry Winery.

This was once a winery owned by a Christian monastery.  It is now a branch of the Culinary Institute of America.

Vines are used to cover old buildings.  This time of year they are colorful.

Only one shot of our stroll through St. Helena is offered.  We may be able to creatively rescue some more photos later.  The best time to shoot in St. Helena is very early morning before traffic and people start moving about. The story on this one is that it is of a car that Tom did not recognize!!! Do you know what it is? It is a rather classy car that impressed even Tom from an unlikely manufacturer.

Today we are leaving the Bay area and headed for Yosemite. We are told that we can drive through the park but we cannot stop anywhere along the way. Thank goodness Tom is now a seasoned photographer in the rare genre of car window photography. Our goal is to overnight somewhere near Mono Lake. We are indeed on the home stretch of this trip.

We are glad you are part of our journey.  We hope you can get out and do some clicking on your camera.

A Return to San Fran

San Francisco is so full of iconic photographic opportunities that we just had to go back.  What a great place to to hone one's photographic skills! Traffic was much better, although parking remained a huge issue, so much so that at one point Tom scamppered out of the car and I drove around the block while he shot the "Painted Ladies". This post is as much about what we learned as about the sites we visited.

One great challenge is to capture the crowded and hilly character of San Francisco along with the side by side existance of old Victorian charm in a very modern city. Photography professionals tell beginners to 'work your scene, work your picture, walk around it, move'! We did a lot of that.  We hope you enjoy what we came up with.

These are the Painted Ladies, a series of homes across from a park that tops a hill. Very different looks can be achieved by simply moving around. Please note the porta-potty in front of the far right home.  The home is undergoing renovation of some sort and lattices have been put on the porta-potty so it fits in better.  LOL

Sometimes you can see a home and actually isolate it. While the Painted Ladies are on the list of 'must see', this house many blocks away was worth a stop as well.

We drove to the Delores Park area where you can see the city below and the extreme hilly nature of the city and its neighborhoods.  I was nervous just parking along the street, remembering wheels need to be turned outward, emergency brake pushed in (and then nervously rechecked a dozen times before getting out).

Towards the end of the day we drove up Telegraph Hill and parked in front of the Coit Tower, built in 1933. The view is great, but rather obstructed by vegetation, making it difficult to get a clear panorama of the city and bay.  The statue of Columbus was notable in the gold light. Yes, the sign on his right hand says 'fu** Columbus', some mischief by a group of kids in the parking lot.

We drove down Telegraph Hill and dined at Pelegrinos in Little Italy. We had skipped lunch in the excitement of our day and we were hungry. The food was great. On the way back to our car, sans gear, we saw a different view of this church against deep nautical light. Up the hill to gather gear, and back down to capture the scene. You know me, keep it simple. Tom, on the other hand wanted tail lights. So much more fun but much more difficult, especially as the cars were intermittent and few and the many buses passing right in front of us were very frequent. Talk about getting a good 30 second exposure!!

Today we are headed back to wine country with plans to meet up with Kati. It will be another great day!

Hard to beileve it is already Wednesday! Hope it is going well for you.