Travel: September 2005 Archives
I don't even know what this building is actually called; it's recognizable enough even without a name. Taken from a hotel room in downtown San Francisco.
Spotted on the street near a tram stop along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
This fountain on the Stanford University campus functions as a clock as well. The inner rings turn to mark the time, and the entire granite base also rotates to track the time of year.
In other news, I live on the border of Houston and Galveston County (Texas), so we're keeping a very close eye on Hurricane Rita. I'm in the Category 3 evacuation zone and will be heading north sometime today.
Well, in trying to get in my favorite photos from two trips that happened within two weeks of each other, I'm just mixing Seattle with San Francisco, Olympic National Park with Yosemite, and more. Hope you don't all get confused. :)
This is the oft-photographed Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, shot on a gray and foggy day (hence the washed out sky) in mid-August.
Ian checks out the warning sign posted at the trail junction near Grand Lake in Olympic National Park. The top orange sign warned of bears sighted in the area. The bottom warned of a cougar spotted in a neighboring valley. Cougars and bears and people, oh my!
Gavin (and Jen and Ian in the distance) along the beginning of the trail to Grand Valley in Olympic National Park. The landscape there was so different, and so much more impressive, than what I had imagined. We passed through fields of yellow grass, clouds, slopes full of rock shards, and tall trees -- all in the 4 miles to the valley.
Elsewhere, it's my final day at Scene from my Life, so check it out.
On the last morning of our trip to the Seattle-area national parks, we walked along the Olympic National Park coast from Rialto Beach to Hole-in-the-Wall. It was low tide, so we were able to see a lot of cool tide pools and rock formations. I liked the look here as water from a nearby creek carved rivulets in the sand.
Elsewhere, I'm doing Scene from my Life this week, so check it out.
After an unexpectedly chilly night camping on the shore of Grand Lake in the backcountry of Olympic National Park, we woke up to frost covering all the grass and trees. It was cold! Fortunately, the sun came up and instantly warmed up, and resulted in this great reflection of the mountains in the lake.
Submitted for Theme Thursday, Parks.
Elsewhere, I'm doing Scene from my Life this week, so check it out.
Another shot taken at Gasworks Park in Seattle. As I was pulling this one up from the folder of photos from my trip, I realized I was missing a set of RAW images I took later that night at Gasworks. Apparently my download software does not catch RAW files when it does an automatic download, and I deleted the card before I thought to check all the photos. GRR! My night shot of Gasworks and the Seattle skyline are sadly gone. They looked good in the LCD too...
Elsewhere, I'm doing Scene from my Life this week, so check it out.
On the trip back from San Francisco a few weeks ago, we flew through Denver. I was on a United flight, which I like because passengers are able to listen to the air traffic control communication from our seats. I heard the Denver center direct many a plane to fly directly over Longs Peak as they directed all the traffic carefully through huge thunderheads and onto the ground in Denver.
As we landed, my window faced west, and I saw the silhouette of the Rockies in the distance backlit by the sunset. I am not entirely certain, but my best guess is that the tallest mountain on the horizon is indeed Longs Peak, the 14,259 foot grandaddy of Rocky Mountain National Park. In late July 2004, seven friends and I climbed almost to the top of the peak before being turned back by late season ice and snow.
The photo wasn't sharp to begin with, so I enhanced the softness a bit to emphasize the clouds and rain we were flying through.
Tomorrow I'll be returning to photos from my more recent trip to Seattle.
Elsewhere, I'm doing Scene from my Life this week, so check it out.
Gasworks Park in Seattle, shot an hour or two before sunset. I loved the randomness of this park -- lush green fields with random outcroppings of gas tanks and large plumbing. Very neat.
Apologies if you couldn't get to this site yesterday afternoon and evening. The power outage in Los Angeles took out my hosting company's servers for a while. A bunch of people were bitching and moaning about it on the company's blog, but hey, you can't control all random utility workers who might cut cables. I still love you Dreamhost!
Elsewhere, I'm doing Scene from my Life this week, so check it out.
This mural was painted on a wall at Safeco Field in Seattle, home of the Mariners. I love the heavy outlines and bright fill colors.
Elsewhere, I'm doing Scene from my Life this week, so check it out.
As we flew out of Seattle on Tuesday evening, we got a final parting shot of Mt. Rainier below us. The funky shadowing on the right is a result of me pressing my camera as close to the window as I possibly could to get the entire mountain in the shot!
This was the view of Mt. Rainier as we drove away on Saturday morning. You couldn't see the mountain while you were standing on it on Friday, but Saturday from a distance it loomed large. I stopped the car on the side of the road to shoot this one.
From one west coast destination to another! From San Francisco to the Pacific Northwest! I'm back from a great extended Labor Day weekend in and around Seattle with more lovely photos to share.
Sadly, the weekend also uncovered my new nemesis: that hulking volcano otherwise known as Mt. Rainier. Despite being able to gawk at its size from 100 miles away in Seattle on Thursday, the top was hidden by clouds when we arrived at the national park on Friday to hike the Skyline Trail. This is the best view I got from the top of the trail -- a glimpse through the swirling clouds. (Here's a more, ahem, humorous take on the view.)
As we drove away Saturday morning, I could see it again. As we flew away on Tuesday, I could see it again. But while actually walking around on the mountain? Nada.
Stupid clouds.
