Posted on by Anne Sandler

Back from Death Valley, the final chapter

Good news, this is the last post of Death Valley National Park. Bad news, this is the last post of Death Valley National Park! It was so pretty, unusual and amazing there, I wish I had more to show you. But then, you may have seen enough. We are so fortunate to have spectacular National Parks here in the U.S. And seven or more are right here in California.

Today I’m showing you scenes from the Artist Drive, another drive through canyon, and Natural Bridge Canyon, a short hike to an amazing natural rock bridge. I will admit that I almost didn’t walk it because of the cold and bad back I was suffering from, but I was glad I did.

If you have a chance, visit Death Valley. Just don’t go in the summer when temperatures are HOT!

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Back from Death Valley and drying up, part 6

It’s partly cloudy today, and it’s nice to go to the store without getting rained on. I know we should feel blessed to finally have rain, but a break is nice. More is due next week. Southern California is digging out from mud slides, and I’m hoping the families whose homes are near the summer’s King Fire are doing okay.

We’re almost done with Death Valley. Today I’m going to show you images from Twenty Mule Team Canyon and of Tom. I was walking Gem in the morning and saw Tom sitting on a table engrossed in what I thought was a music sheet and playing his guitar. His feet were propped up on an orange 5 gallon pail. I told Gem that we had to rush back to our trailer to get the camera. Yes, I do talk to the dog, and yes, he does try to understand. We did get back to Tom. I took some candid shots before he noticed me. Then we talked as I shot more. It was great to meet and talk with him.

After that we left for our drive/hike tour of our last day. Tom hikes the back country and avoids the “tourist areas.” I guess we’re tourists! Our luck had changed because they just opened the Twenty Mule Team Canyon that morning. It’s a drive through canyon, although you could stop and hike, and just beautiful.

See for yourself!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Back from Death Valley, part 5

I just don’t understand WordPress and their new setup. This is going to be a short post since it’s the second time doing it. I wrote and added pictures and accidentally published without adding tags and categories. In the old setup, you could edit the published post and update it. I did find where I could revert to a draft, pressed the button, and lost the entire post!

Enough grumbling. Death Valley is so diverse geologically that you could never be bored. Even though we couldn’t do major hiking and some trails were closed, we did get a good sense of this beautiful park. Today I have shots of Ubehebe Crater, The Sand Dunes and Mosaic Canyon. Our favorite was Mosaic Canyon and most of the images are of it. Explanations of the areas are in the captions.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Back from Death Valley with more to show you, part 4

You may have heard in the news that after a 3-year drought, California is experiencing a severe wind and rain storm. With that being a prominent concern, we dead headed from Death Valley and drove 11 hours to home yesterday to avoid getting caught in 60 mph winds that hit last night.

But, I still have so much more to show you. Death Valley is full of surprises and one of them is Scotty’s Castle. It’s called Scotty’s Castle because Scotty was the person most associated with the vacation home of millionaires Albert and Bessie Johnson. Scotty and Albert’s relationship was born out of a swindle (on Scotty’s part) and went on to become a friendship that would last Albert’s lifetime. People came from all over to meet Scotty and hear his tall tales. The Johnsons rented rooms and had private guests. The tour guide told us that when friends came, Bessie would play their favorite song from the clock tower as they were approaching. More of the history can be found at the two links I’ve provided.

My next post will show you the Devils Corn Field, Sand Dunes and Mosaic Canyon.

Now for the Castle images.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Finally got my photo fix: Family Thanksgiving weekend at KOA, Watsonville, California

Yes, I finally shot my way out of the funk! I shot grandkids, beach, surfers, buildings, people, butterflies, a lighthouse and more. I think this may be a three-parter, but we’ll see. We’re leaving on Wednesday for Death Valley National Park. So I have to be quick.

Let’s start at the beginning–the very sandy campground. No it wasn’t on the beach, but the children’s play areas were in sand which my dog sat in. Needless to say, sand was all over the trailer! But the grandkids had a great time, and isn’t that what is important?

Posted on by Anne Sandler

On the road again: Looking for Fall foliage at Hyde Park, NY

Coming back east for an October wedding had a promising bonus–shooting the Fall foliage! So with that in mind, Irene, Neil, Richard and I went upstate to Hyde Park for some Fall color. I was ready with my cameras, lenses and tripod, but alas, we may have been too early for full Fall color. However, we did have a great time at the FDR library and home. It was a trip worth doing.

The library was as interesting as the Lincoln Museum we enjoyed in Springfield, Illinois last year. I have a few pictures to show you. I wasn’t able to take many in the library because of the no flash rule. And, we were too late to book a house tour. But just to be there was terrific.

As for Fall foliage, there is some promise in Pennsylvania. I did take some shots at a highway overlook while going through New Jersey. Time is getting short, so let’s cross our fingers for some great Fall colors in Pennsylvania.

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler

On the road again: Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY

Long Island is. It is a long island, and my cousins live about 30 minutes from each other. We visited with Morty and Mary who are my cousins on my father’s side. (Irene and Neal are cousins on my mother’s side.) Morty took us to Port Jefferson which was further down the island and to the north side. It was beautiful. We ate lunch, walked, had ice cream and walked. The bonus was the weather. Sunny!!

I’m so glad Morty and Mary are healthy and doing well. I’m younger and it’s fun to hear stories about relatives who I didn’t get to know.

Since we are leaving for Pennsylvania tomorrow, these images are the last from this very Long Island!

 

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On the road again: Peachtree City, Georgia

Well, we’re not exactly on the road again, but we are on the east coast. Last year we took an amazing trip across the United States in our 5th wheel trailer, and this blog was essentially a travelogue for three months. We’re back on the east coast again, but this time we traveled via airplane.

Coming out for a wedding, we are visiting relatives who live on the east coast. Our first stop was Peachtree City. We wanted to visit our niece, Roberta, last year, but they were traveling. This time we caught them at home, and since my brother and sister-in-law have moved here, we were able to see the entire family. Two teenagers can keep a family busy with sports and other activities. Roberta’s family is extremely busy. She has got to learn how to use the word “no!” During our two-day stay she made 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies while running a taxi for Daylen and Evan and taking care of her parents.

We did take an outing to a Fayette County park. From a photography point of view, it was a typical park. We walked the path, had a picnic lunch and then the clouds came. Picture perfect! There are a lot of images so please be patient. And they are out of order–software problems today!

It was a great two days; and then we flew to New York where we are now, and then on to Pennsylvania.

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Capay Valley–after almost a month’s absence

Do people really forget about you when you don’t blog for a while? I hope not! My spirit was wanting to blog, but that 4-week long cold kept saying, “Stay home. Rest!”

Resting is boring; shooting photos is exciting. I had a wicked good time when Jayne West and I joined other photographers from the Exploring Photography meetup group in Capay, California. I’ve never been on a trip like this. We met each other for lunch at the Road Trip Bar and Grill, had lunch and then went on our individual road trips. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if Jayne hadn’t been in the car with me. Two women from the group met a landowner prior to our lunch, and he invited the entire group to come and explore his property. It was amazing. A literal junk yard for old cars and other stuff. Jayne encouraged me to try some bracketed shots. I managed to set up the tripod myself (A feat!), but I couldn’t get my new remote shutter release to work. It worked the night before! So I’m not sure how the bracketed shots will work on Wednesday when Jayne shows me how to use the HDR and Lightroom software.

After that, Jayne and I went to find Peacocks that were supposed to be at a park nearby. They were there, but stubborn and didn’t want to spread their beautiful feathers. After that, we drove on to find Lake Berryessa. But, it was closed by the time we got there. We did shoot some images from the side of the road just to prove we were there.

Just going out with this group makes me feel like I’m still spinning wheels. Most of the photographers do HDR and are more advanced than I am. So, I need to catch up! I’ve decided that every Tuesday will be practice day. Most of it will be local, maybe even my back yard! But, I will practice!

The added bonus to learning will be the routine blogging I hope to do. I have quite a few images from the Capay Valley so this may be a two or three part post.

Posted on by Anne Sandler

What happens when you wake up way too early? Mare Island, Vallejo, California

It was way too early to wake up, but there I was at 4:30 a.m. with my mind processing stuff. Has that ever happened to you? So I made myself a cup of coffee, sat down at the computer, went through email, did a search on photo software and now I’m posting this blog.

Mare Island was a photo meetup with the Shoot Or Go Home group. Closed as a U.S. Naval Shipyard in 1993, Mare Island is a peninsula alongside the city of Vallejo. Now the Island houses boarded buildings, a museum, a golf course and more. The city of Vallejo wants to preserve the historical value of the shipyard and create more use for the land. A great place for an amateur photographer who loves old buildings, etc.

It was a cold and damp Saturday with half the group staying home. I was not feeling well (that cold I’m still not completely over) and we got there late because of heavy traffic. The outing was supposed to start at 1 p.m. and end with full moon shots; however, the cloud cover made that impossible.

But, the outing wasn’t a complete bust. I met Jayne West who knows a lot more about editing and shooting than I do, and I found the caliber of photographers in the group amazing. I need to buy HDR software and learn how to use it. Some of their photos were fantastic compared to mine–given the same shot. Some were overdone, but most were excellent. I still posted my images, but with the conviction to learn more.

So here are some of the Mare Island images. After completing this post, maybe I can go back to bed and sleep!