Day 7: Going Home

Garrapata Beach in the morning

Our last day at Big Sur dawned and we headed off to Garrapata Beach one more time. We had been there for sunset twice but hadn’t taken any photos for sunrise. There were a lot of shadows because of the cliffs, so really didn’t get the sunlight shots as we should have. We probably should have stayed another hour, but I think we were both anxious to pack and get ready to head back to San Mateo, where we were to stay one more night before catching our flights home.

Our last fancy breakfast consisted of French Toast stuffed with cream cheese and strawberries, all with whipping cream and strawberries on top. Amy couldn’t resist Eggs Benedict one more time. We both agreed it was time to get out our Fitness Planner apps and get rid of those calories that we’ve digested on this trip. LOL

The trip home was easy, except a lot more traffic than I had thought it might be at noon. The trip to Carmel was a breeze down Highway 1 on Monday, so thought the freeway would be simpler. However, I was mistaken. I guess I’ve forgotten how busy Highway 101 can be any time of the day.

We got to San Mateo in time to stop by the Hillsdale Mall for a little while in order to get the kids something from the trip (and some See’s candy, of course), then we went by Keli and David Amann’s to see the new baby. David sounded quite stressed when I talked to him on the phone. He said that it was quite hectic around the house, so we didn’t stay too long, so as not to add to any strain. Amy had bought Sean a cute little pair of shoes and Ryan a little doll (from a cartoon series that I, of course, didn’t know anything about!) I’ll take care of Sean’s present after I get home.

Amy and I stopped for Chinese food, but I was sorry to see that my favorite restaurant was no longer in Burlingame. We went to the Jade Dragon, where there were a lot of Asians there, which is always a good sign, and ate a little bit of many dishes. It wasn’t as good as my favorite, but it was okay. Back to the hotel, and by 8:30 both of us were in bed. Amy’s flight takes off at 7:20 a.m. (She has to be back for a cheer competiton in Houston on Sunday) and I’m due to leave at a more reasonable hour of 10:55 a.m.

A great trip for two amateur photographers. How much fun we had!

Day 6: Various Locations

Bixby Bridge

I decided to try to hit various locations along Highway 1 in the morning light because that’s when it looks its best. We left the hotel at 7:30 a.m., when disaster struck again, I’m afraid. This time I dropped my camera. Luckily had the circular polarizer on it, so it looks like it didn’t damage the lens, just cracked the polarizer. I took it in to a camera shop after the morning shoot to see if someone could get the polarizer off since it’s slightly bent, and I can’t get it to turn. The man in the camera shop said that he didn’t have a filter wrench so he sent me to the camera shop in Monterey. They couldn’t help me either. It wouldn’t loosen. They told me that I needed to send it to their repair guy, so I guess I will have to wait until I get home and see if someone there can dismantle the polarizer and get it off. I tried to rent a lens, but they don’t do that in Carmel or Monterey, so I guess I will have to make do with my wide angle lens and my 70-200 lens.

Morning light south of hurricane point

Hurricane Point

But before I did all that, Amy and I did drive about 20 miles south on Highway 1, and worked our way back until we ran out of light. We stopped first at a turnout south of Hurricane Point where there are some nice views of the coast line and the Point Sur Light Station in the distance. After leaving there, we stopped at Hurricane Point. The light was much better today than it was the other day when we were just checking it out. Because the light was hitting it just right, the grass even looked somewhat green, whereas on Tuesday everything basically looked brown even though the water was a pretty blue. After Hurricane Point came the Bixby Bridge. Amy wasn’t too excited about that location–was getting too much glare, so turned around and got a great view of the blue green water coming in to the shore. The last place on our list was Rocky Point, but by then the light had gotten too high and all of our pix were dark without anything to make them memorable. Maybe we will give it a try tomorrow to see if we can do any better.

Rocky Point

A Flower by Amy at Garrapata Beach

Back to the hotel for a 3-cheese omelet with veggies and, of course, house potatoes. Then headed out to tried to get my lens taken care of, to no avail, as I talked about above.

We’ve been spending @2 hours each day between shooting to look at our photos and for me to work on this blog. We left about 3:30 to find the calla lily grove at Garrapata Beach. It took a few false stops before finding it, but we made it while the sun was fairly low. There were only a few calla lilies left so we couldn’t use that as a foreground, but Amy got some macro shots of flowers. We also walked out to the beach but didn’t find anything that inspired us, so retired to the top of the cliff to see what the sunset would bring. It’s was pretty going down but there weren’t enough clouds to make the sunset anything special. Will try this area again tomorrow morning.

Amy’s sunset photo at Point Lobos

Bixby Bridge didn’t inspire Amy, but she turned around and this scene did.

After the evening shoot, one more very good California meal at Hog’s Breath. That’s the restaurant Clint Eastwood started, but I believe he sold it a few years ago. It’s in a really cute place–a courtyard made up of three surrounding buildings (with one side having a large mural on the wall.) The restaurant is made up of tables in the courtyard, a small bar in one of the buildings and the restaurant in another small building. Very quaint and visually pleasing. Amy had crab cake and fish tacos; I had artichoke soup and prime sirloin with peppercorn sauce with mashed potatoes and asparagus. My only complaint was that the steak was sinew-y. Otherwise, a very nice meal.

Sunset at Garrapata Beach

I asked Amy if she wanted to just relax tomorrow morning instead of getting up early to shoot one more time, but she was willing to go, so we will have one more photo shoot before leaving Big Sur. She’s a trooper!

Day 5: Point Lobos

Got in bed at 8:15 p.m. last night, propped myself up with pillows to read, and 2 hours later woke up, so that I could actually lie down and sleep. I felt really refreshed and ready to go this morning. It’s amazing what a little sleep will do. And to top it all off, when we paid our fee to go into the park, the ranger wanted to charge me full price. I told him that I was a senior and he said, “Really, you’re 62?”

We were one of the first ones in the park this morning, and according to Don’s “cheat sheet”, it’s best to do the south part of the park in the morning. If I looked at the light, I can see myself that the southern end will be the first to get the morning light and the first to have the harsh light on it, so that’s where we headed first. It’s a good thing we were there early as by the time we were ready to leave, the water had so much glare that even the a polarizer didn’t help. I believe that I got some good ones. It was a really beautiful day and since we were basically shooting sea scenes, I decided not to take my backpack with me, just my 24-105 lens, my camera, and my tripod. Of course, every time I do that, I regret it because guess what, I went down a new trail there that hadn’t been there before. On that trail was a platform that gave a great view of Bird Island. All I needed was my longer lens out of my backpack, which was in the car! Will I never learn.

Back to the hotel for breakfast. This morning Amy had huevos rancheros and I had a vegetable omelet with a fennel and tomato slaw and mozzerella. All of this, of course, with hash browns or house potatoes.

For the afternoon shoot, we went back to Point Lobos. The sun setting over the northern end was good because the skies looked better this afternoon. We first went to view Old Veteran and to see how a photo of it would turn out. When I was here in the spring, we went to this spot while it was still in shade, and I didn’t think the picture was very good. This time there was nice light hitting the tree, so hopefully, it will be a better photo. Amy and I took the trail over to Seal Rock to decide where we wanted to set up. There was a nice mist over the rocks past Seal Rock and huge waves crashing over it. The trail down to that location though is fairly steep and I was a little worried about getting down it and back up in time to be out of the park before the gates were closed. So I told Amy to go ahead and take the shot and we would meet back at the top by 5:15 pm, about fifteen minutes after sunset. I took up a spot at the top of the trail overlooking the rocks and where the sun would set. The sky developed a beautiful pattern, one that would be hard to capture in a photo, but I was going to try. Amy got some beautiful shots down there, close to the rocks and to the seals.

This is one of Amy’s photos from Sobranes Point

Upon leaving Point Lobos, we decided to eat at a nearby restaurant called the Bistro in the Crossroads Shopping Center. With a name like the Bistro, I was expecting simple fare but it was anything but. It was really delicious! The butter was shaped like a rose and not like any rose you’ve seen before. It had 8 rings of petals on it. The ice water had a nice taste that we couldn’t tell for sure what it was–Amy guessed mint. We had French onion soup, but unusual. Amy had grilled sea bass with gnocchi and I had beef stroganoff, but not the kind I fix at home. We topped it off with a glass of Morgan Pinot Noir 2011. All so yummy. Then home to look at the pix and work on my blog. I haven’t decided what to do for our shoots tomorrow. It’ll be a surprise for both you and me.

Day 4: Sobranes Point and Garrapata Beach

Sobranes Point

Amy and I didn’t get up as early as I usually do for photo workshops, but we did head out to Sobrantes Point at 6:30 a.m. We didn’t want to go in the dark, but we did want to be ready when the sun comes over the hills and lights up those big rocks on the coastline. I had a printout that I was given at a photo workshop describing some photo opportunities along the highway. It talks about mileage markers, but we couldn’t find any mileage markers that seemed to match the ones in my printout, so I used it as a guideline, and then tried to find something that looked familiar.

We did find Sobrantes Point and made our way down the trail. It was somewhat overgrown which made me wonder if we were on the right track at first, but then I recognized one of the places I had shot from in the spring. It looks different without all the greenery and flowers! Also it seemed that the trails were somewhat steeper and more narrow in places than before. I think they must be eroded, and of course, now Amy is worried that I’m going to fall! I usually take care of myself pretty well and try not to do anything too foolish so I shot from the places that I could reach easily and watched her enviously going down the steeper paths closer to the edges of the cliffs–of course, not too close! We took pictures before the sun had peeked over the hills and thought they were pretty good; then once the sun showed up, they were obviously much better. And while we started out in hats and coats, all of that came off within an hour of being there. Very nice temperatures.

Another view of Sobranes Point

As the sun got too high, decided it was time to go back to breakfast. Our hotel has a great breakfast menu. Amy had Eggs Benedict and I had crepes stuffed with scrambled eggs and crab with Hollandaise sauce! How decadent is that. But continuing my klutzy routine, I spilled hot water (for my tea) on my hand! Can you believe it!

I wanted to scout out some other places after breakfast and then the plan was to go into Carmel and stroll through their small downtown. We drove by Bixby Bridge and Hurricane Point and tried to find the part of Garrapata Beach where there are stairs that actually takes you down to the beach. Once again, tried to do it by using the mileage on the printout but that didn’t seem to work. I finally recognized one turnout as being familiar, so I told Amy I was just going to go see where the trail went. I went along the edge of the cliff with good views and finally came to steps that would take me to the calla lily grove, so I knew that I was in the right place. I also met a couple coming from the other side and asked if they had gone down to the beach on stairs. They had found that spot and told me where to find the turnout, so I was happy. When I got back to the car, Amy wasn’t there. She was out looking for me, thinking I had fallen and couldn’t get up. LOL. But we hooked up, and at least I knew where to go this evening. According to the tide charts, this evening was supposed to be at a low tide level, but we had to watch ourselves because the tide seemed to be coming in pretty fast. Stayed for sunset; would have wanted more clouds to appreciate the colors, but still got a very nice orange cast.

Garrapata Beach at Sunset

Back to the hotel to decide where to go for dinner. We’d been in California for 4 days and hadn’t eaten a nice meal yet! With all the good places around, it was time to find a good restaurant. We went to Flaherty’s Seafood Grill. The menu was excellent, the waitstaff was excellent (could answer all of our questions, understood how it was prepared, etc.) and the food was absolutely delicious. Amy had lobster and some kind of gnocchi and I had European scampi with risotto. Yum, yum.

By now, I was really tired, so back to our rooms. Put on my nightgown and one of their fluffy bathrobes. Took the time to download and back up my pix, but hardly looked at them. Going to Point Lobos tomorrow and it doesn’t open until 8:00 a.m. so will get a good night’s sleep.

On Our Way to Big Sur

Even though we had been tired the night before, both of us were up somewhat early so we decided that we would go ahead and dress and leave right after breakfast. There seemed to be some problem with the lights in the room–on some kind of sensors or something–because they would go on and off throughout the night. If it hadn’t been so late, I probably would have asked for another room, but that would have meant dressing and getting my stuff all together again, so we just slept as much as we could and complained after the fact.

I have a nephew in Redwood City. He and his wife had a new baby just a few days ago, so I called and asked if we could drop by when we get back to San Mateo from Carmel. Amy has an Aunt Ginny and she called her but Aunt Ginny is leaving on a trip the day before we get back, so we won’t be able to see her.

Sunset Wellness Center, Half Moon Bay

Field of Leeks, along Highway 1

We won’t be able to check into our room in Carmel until 4:00 p.m. so we took a meandering way to get to Carmel. We first stopped by the Fitzgerald Marine Preserve in Moss Beach–it’s really a great place for tidepooling, but the tide wasn’t low enough for us to do that. Neither will it be when we get back. We then drove down Hwy 1 through Half Moon Bay and took a few photos along the way. Pigeon Point Lighthouse caught our eyes on the way and we spent a while there before driving on to Pacific Grove, a charming little town that Charlie and I used to visit quite often to go hiking and biking. Of course, we had to do 17-mile Drive, and stopped at several of the turnouts to take pictures.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

On 17-Mile Drive. People seem to like to stack rocks.

By the time we actually got to Carmel, it was time to check in. Once again, we’re staying in the same place that I stayed in last spring. Amy really liked the hotel. It’s really well decorated, the staff is friendly and helpful, and it’s convenient to anything we might like to do. After we checked in and I started unpacking, I discovered I had left both of my jackets (cold weather and light weight) in the closet at Best Western! What a stupid thing to do! I called them to tell them and they said they would have someone check. I hope they are still there when I get back there in 4 days. Amy went with me to the mall so I could buy a jacket; otherwise, I wouldn’t have anything to wear in case it’s cold when we shoot in the early morning or late evening.

We’d had enough shooting and shopping for today and decided to have a quick dinner and call it a day. After all, we have to have some time to actually look at the pix we took! Tomorrow we’ll go along Highway 1 and see if we can capture the beauty of the Pacific Coast here in the Big Sur area.

Day 2: Yosemite Valley

We “fell back” an hour due to going back to Standard Time, so our pick up time was at 4:30 this morning. Our first stop was a Tunnel View, an iconic stop for all photographers whether they be the casual traveler or the die hard photographer. Yesterday we had great skies all day but today we didn’t get that lucky. No “pinking” up to give us a nice background behind the valley view from this end of the park. We left there as soon as we found we weren’t going to get that great sky look to go back to Camp 6. Scott wanted us to get a starburst through the trees, if possible. That’s a lovely place to see the sun come up–we could see how the light from the sun moved, shining on one side and growing/glowing against the trees on the other. I got a starburst, but just a small one. Amy got a really good one which also reflected in the river–a two for one shot. I assume that the angle at which we were standing affected being able to get that shot.

After leaving Camp 6, we had breakfast and then headed out check out Fern Spring and to get a photo of the Pohono Bridge and the trees along the river. Too many shadows for either location to produce much. But the unhappy occurrence happened while walking along the side of the river. I took a spill over one of the rocks and landed face first, luckily in the sand. I was perfectly fine except for a some sand on my face and hat, but while I brushed myself off, my “family ring” slipped off my finger and I couldn’t find it. Both things put a damper on the photography. I told the rest of them not to worry about it, but Amy, Scott and Mike were intent on finding it and probably spent an hour looking for it. It’s my fault because it’s been loose since I lost weight last year, and I just hadn’t gotten it resized. I hated that it happened but it bothered me more that everyone else was put to so much trouble. And then Scott was very solicitous about where I stepped, wanting to help me, etc. I really was perfectly okay–just embarrassed about it all. So we stopped shooting and went back to our rooms so we could check out and get some photos ready for an image review. The worst part was getting sand in my camera and lens!

I always like to go through an image review because it helps me see what other people are seeing, there’s discussion about the composition and best cropping, and some ideas about editing. Scott makes it seem so easy–of course, he’s very experienced, so it probably is easy for him. Amy and I decided if we did this kind of thing again, we’d like him to take one of our raw images and show us exactly what he does, step by step. Scott says he likes to make the perfect picture in camera as much as possible and then tweak it digitally. In other words, get a good composition and use neutral density filters to try to get the best lighting.

This is one of the shots that Amy took. Scott raved about it as he did with most of hers.

After the image review, we headed back to Valley View to try for that last sunset shot. Still nothing going on in the sky, and as it turned out, nothing very exciting about the colors that sometimes come after sunset. But Valley View is a lovely spot for a photo, so I was happy with what I got.

Valley View

Amy and I had decided not to stay in Yosemite one more night because we wanted to get to Big Sur tomorrow and that’s a really long drive. So after the shoot, we headed for San Mateo, 3-1/2 hrs in the dark down steep winding roads! But once we got through the first hour or so, it was easy. (When we stopped for gas in Mariposa, guess what we saw! A mother deer strolling down the side of the street with 4 young ones with her! She crossed busy Highway 140 and we were sure one of them would get hit, but they all made it safely to the other side.) We were glad to get to the hotel, because by that time, we were both pretty beat. But we were ready to move on to our next adventure.

Day 1: Yosemite National Park

Scott picked us up to take us to the sunrise shoot of El Capitan and the Merced River at 6:00 a.m. We dressed warmly (hat and gloves kind of cold) but Amy and I were bright-eyed and ready to go, although Amy was feeling some trepidation. I had told Scott that my goal was to learn better composition and he promised to work with me on that. We got there in the dark and using our headlamps, we scouted the location to see where the best spot to set up would be–also talked about moving around to get better angles.

Spent about 1-1/2 hrs shooting the scene, then quickly moved on to the next location–one of the meadows where we see a panoramic view of across the south (??) end of the valley. There’s frost on the grasses in the meadow which is interesting, but I can’t see how that will show up in a photo. We head off to breakfast where we all ate heartily, because we were cold and hungry. Then out to shoot again–this time at Valley View and next at Bridal Veil Falls creek. Scott had planned to break for lunch and then do an image review, but since the skies were so nice, we drove up to Glacier Point instead where we got a beautiful panoramatic view of Half Dome and its surrounding granite. Besides, Amy had never been to Yosemite, so we wanted her to see as much of it as we could get in.

Scott took us back to our room for an hour to freshen up and then we headed out to Sentinel Bridge for our sunset shoot of Half Dome and the fall color in the foreground. After the sunset shoot, we had dinner because we had time to wait before our last foray–out to Camp 6 for a lesson on shooting at night. It offers its challenges because you can’t see anything, can’t focus on anything and it’s hard to compose the scene in the blackness. But we did our best, and the photos will be interesting if we can lessen the noise enough for a good pic.

My biggest problem is that just before I left, one of my editing tools that I depend on disappeared from view and I have been unable to get it back. The photos in this blog aren’t my best work as far as color, etc. go but once I get home with a big monitor and my editing tools, I hope they will be better. I have been doing some shooting in raw, but it’s a problem for me, because I can’t seem to get the colors right. Jpegs are evidently the way to go for me.

Until tomorrow!

On the Road Again

On the road again –
Just can’t wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making photos with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been.
Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

Well, here I go again. Heading towards Yosemite for a private lesson with Scott Schilling, and taking my daughter-in-law Amy with me. She and Jeffery are planning to go on an African photo safari next year, so she needs to learn to use her new camera. This is a good opportunity to do that for her, and she’s good company for me. The plan is to have the 2-day private class at Yosemite, drive to San Mateo, spend the night and go to Big Sur to see if we learned anything. When we head back to SF, we plan on stopping by to see my nephew and his family and Amy’s Aunt Ginny, if it’s convenient for them.

We both got up at 4:00 a.m. (for me EDT and for her CDT) and hopped an early plane to meet on our layover in Las Vegas. From there we took the next flight to SFO and got in at 12:15 p.m. I had gotten a good deal on a car rental from Payless, but had to take a shuttle from the car rental center. At first, I thought this looked like a lot of trouble, but as it turned out, we were glad it worked that way. The car rental center at SFO was a mess, with lines at each counter snaking out the door. We felt like we were way ahead of the pack by taking a shuttle to our car rental agency where I ended up with an Nissan Altima. Our next stop was El Faro in SSF–my favorite taco place. Didn’t get to go there last time, so I had do it this time. After a satisfying lunch, off we went to make the 4-hour drive to Yosemite.

The Altima was a good choice for a car. It drives smoothly and quietly and I found that it took the long and winding roads up to Yosemite quite well–a very comfortable trip. Amy was a good traveling partner and didn’t gasp even once as we drove even though she was sitting on the “drop-off” side! We got to the hotel about 7:00 p.m. It’s outside the park and it’s more crowded than I expected for this time of year, but everyone enjoys seeing the fall color, of course, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

Our room is okay except the toilet sounds like it’s going to gargle and belch when it’s flushed, and to close the door to the room, we have to slam it. Even though that doesn’t bother us very much, I imagine those near us are going to love it when we leave early in the morning for a sunrise shoot.

After dinner (trout for Amy, pepper steak for me), we met with Scott and his assistant Mike. Scott has a full weekend planned for us, so we should get in a lot of photo taking time. He will even do an image review with us, which I always like, because I learn a lot from it. So once again, I’m ready to enjoy one of our National Parks and see if I can learn more about taking beautiful pictures. It’ll be fun. So I’ll try to keep you posted about what we are doing.

Bucket list so far: Galapagos (planned for 2014), autumn in Michigan maybe 2014. Trips to think about–Monument Valley, Grand Canyon again (maybe during monsoon season), Northeastern U.S. (autumn in those states), Acadia Natl. Park, Glacier Natl. Park.