Had a great day doing the balloon ride today. We got up at the painful hour of 4am, which was tough since we didn't get to bed until midnight.

The balloon ride today was awesome. And it single handedly covered the things we wanted to do in Napa Valley.

Everyone met at 5:30am in étoile restaurant at the Domain Chandon vineyard for a continental breakfast before the balloon ride. A full buffet breakfast was served when we returned. So right there we got to visit a vineyard and nice restaurant in the valley. Check! (The grounds there are lovely -- gardens, rock art, flowers, birds chirping way. People were arriving via limo for tours and tastings, neither which we did, as we were leaving.)

We also got to see the entire Napa region, Sonoma region, et.al. from the air. But even better, our ride went particularly far (we're told they only go that far about a dozen times a year) and we landed in the Ravenswood vineyard and farm. So driving out we got to see back roads through the region that we couldn't have seen before. (They had to hunt down someone to unlock the gate to let us out.) Check!

It turns out that you can't really steer in a balloon. Winds blow in different speeds and directions depending on your height. And the balloonists know which houses/farms/estates do not welcome balloons, which ones do, and which will allow an emergency landing if necessary. (Wherever they do land, a bottle of champagne is left as a gift. I'm sure that helps things with the land owners quite a bit.)


Picture 73 shows were the first balloon landed. Yes, that's somebody's backyard. We were in a van chasing them like tornado chasers. That is also were our flight, the second/last flight of the day took off. Picture 86 shows were we actually landed -- in a crop field. The person in the tractor in picture 87 offered to put everyone to work; I believe he was the brother of the owner.

We came back to the room and basically went back to bed. This evening we went to Sonoma and had a nice time walking around the square. (I somehow forgot my camera and therefore missed the sunset shot of the day.) Most things were closed by the time we got there but the weather was lovely (a lot of other people thought so too), we had a nice dinner, and it was a very peaceful way to end the day.

We've decided not to go into SF tomorrow. We had sort of a revelation while having dinner with Nik and Kelly that there will be a lot of walking in SF, we can't really drive the car everywhere. Ordinarily that'd be okay, but Mom's back is acting up right now so a day of walking doesn't seem like a great idea.

But this gets us up the coast a little faster. And if we make up a full day anywhere we'll have time to shoot past Seattle and see Vancouver or Victoria, and I know Mom would love to see either of those. (We brought our passports just in case!)

Twenty-two new pictures.

Today we drove around Lake Tahoe and then landed in Napa where we will be up at 4am for a hot air balloon ride.

I uploaded three pictures from Tahoe. I'm not really happy with them. It's hard to get shots when you're just driving through an area, especially if it's during the middle of the day when the light isn't so great. It's a little easier when you spend an entire day somewhere and if the light isn't right over a certain vista when you first head out, it might be perfect on the way back, especially around sunset.

I wanted to get closer to the lake too and get some good rocks in the foreground and to capture the emerald green water by the shore. --The lake is beautiful; You can see straight down through the water.

Three new shots.

Yesterday I didn't label my post as "Raw" since there we no pictures. But since we had a yummy sushi lunch, I realized when I woke up this morning that I missed the change for a great pun. Please pretend I wrote something witty, and funny, and that you laughed out loud. Excellent.

I want to write more. We had a great dinner, stopped off at a crafts show while driving around Tahoe, but 4am is going to come painfully fast and I'm exhausted. Looking forward to the balloon ride!

"Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

Mom and I spent the entire evening gambling after having a dinner with a breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe. I was prepared to lose $100 but only lost about half that. So really, I'm up fifty dollars! Tomorrow I'll have to figure out how to spend this surprise windfall.

I had a fun time gambling, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Paul fracking Oakenfold was playing at the hotel next door to us tonight. I tried to convince Mom that for a wee thirty dollars she could claim mad bragging rights.

"Oh my, starry eyed surprise, sundown to sunrise, we're gong to dance all night, dance all night to this DJ. . ." (My favorites are some of the Max Graham remixes actually -- and the Great Wall CDs.)

Before getting up here to Lake Tahoe, we stopped off in Sacramento and had an incredible sushi lunch with Nik and Kelly. It's amazing how fast two hours can fly by when you're having good food and good conversation with friends. I'm reminded how much I miss the Ceviche days!

Tomorrow pictures should resume with photographs from around Lake Tahoe before we head over to Napa.

Yosemite.

As I looked out over a charred valley and then turned my head to examine a barren hill that had once been dense forest, I vaguely recalled hearing about a fire in Yosemite a few years ago. “Oh, yeah. . .” Mom and I didn’t bother driving that part of the park.

Also due to the freakishly cold weather (global warming?), more than half of Yosemite is still closed and covered in snow. So we didn’t get to see a lot of Yosemite. But we also had a very rewarding day:

For starters, we say a grizzly cub bounding through the forest. --Not sure if he was playing or chasing something. Unfortunately there wasn’t any place to pull off the road. (There are really not a lot of places to pull off in that park unfortunately.) And I got a couple great deer pictures.

Yosemite is a more subtle beauty that the nonstop “Wow” that is Yellowstone or Zion. But once we got into the park a way, its beauty really captivated us. I would describe it as very lush. Tolkien-ish elves could have ambushed us, shouting, “What are you doing in our forest!”

I wouldn’t mind spending several days or a week hiking and biking on the trails, which is the best way to see Yosemite apparently. But the lush factor could have something to do with the fact that we were immersed in rain, then sleet, then hail, then snow off and on throughout the day. Water has a way of doing that.

Pictures 53 and 54 were actually taken in a downpour of sleet. I precariously balanced my umbrella overhead by pressing it against the camera with my cheek, while trying to look through the viewfinder, and thus keeping my hands free for working the tripod head and camera settings. And despite the umbrella, nearly $4k of camera equipment was covered with more water that it probably should have been.

But I can’t be bothered to worry about that (unless I have to send something into Nikon for repair again). Life was meant to be lived and cameras were meant for taking pictures!

Sixteen new pictures.

Today was a characteristic whirlwind day for a Mom-Michelle vacation. We started off in Monterey of course, had breakfast, and revisited Cannery Row. From there we drove up Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz, which turned out to be a neat little town. The downtown area had a lot of shopping, saw Natural Bridges State Park, the boardwalk and wharf, and West Cliff Drive (beautiful). After Santa Cruz we drove *back* down Hwy 1 to Morro Bay and out to Fresno, where I write this. –And plenty of photography in-between.

When the coffee wears off, I’m going to be tired.

Santa Cruz turned out to be a very nice surprise. I had considered trying to move out there at one point in my life, years ago. So it was interesting finally getting to see it. There is a lot of surfing and also seems to be what I would characterize has a large “hippie” culture, for lack of a better description. We drove past a little drum circle of kids/people that seemed to be homeless or doing some long term “backpacking”, for example. You just don’t see that in Tampa.

Judging by some of the houses we drove by, Santa Cruz is more than surfing and drum circles. In fact, Mom seemed to really enjoy it.

The big surprise of Santa Cruz was the boardwalk (complete with massive roller coasters, etc.) and the wharf. There was a large population of sea lions resting in the rafters under the pier. I’m guessing (though not sure) that they got up there during a high tide. At any rate, it was possible to take some steps down and see them quite close, behind a fence that had been erected for protection.
Tired now. Pictures, shower, bed . . .

Twenty-one new photos.

Yesterday we saw Pebble Beach, Carmel, and The Cannery. It was raining the entire day, which I didn't mind so much: it gave a nice moody feel to the pictures. But it cut our shopping time in Carmel and The Cannery short.

I've uploaded eight pictures from Pebble Beach. The drive definitely exceeded my expectations. I had thought to say, "So there is where all those golf courses are..."

Today we're going to hit some more of CA 1, maybe go into Santa Cruz for a bit, maybe see the Monterey Aquarium, and finally drive up to Yosemite tonight.

Photo Gallery

I'm just terrible at editing and publishing my pictures after a vacation. Mom is still waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for pictures from last year, and the year before. . .

This year we're on another whirlwind vacation. We flew into LA and we're driving all the up the Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle, in two just weeks. I'm going to try something a little different this trip. I'm posting some raw, unedited pictures for friends and family. I only brought my netbook this trip, so I couldn't do any editing if I tried. And being free from that temptation is somewhat liberating.

Here is the San Diego pier, Rodeo Drive, a lake whose name I forget on CA 1, some Elephant Sea Lions that were also on CA 1, and finally some of what the highway is famous for.

California Raw, Web Album