Knights Ferry

White Door (Knights Ferry) - Central California  2016

I've always meant to take the turnoff to Knights Ferry, on the way to Yosemite. I finally made it this year. Some photo ops, but I didn't linger.

Not sure what happened to the apostrophe.

Olives 2016

Olive - Marin County  2016

There are a few olives, here and there. I've been picking and tossing them as they appear, since they're all showing signs of fruit fly damage.

Alert readers will recall my "Sad Olives" post from last year. This year I decided to give the anti-growth spray a try. I sprayed the tree two separate times with "Florel." It seems to have worked for the most part, but as I said, there are still some olives to remove.

Very annoying! Not so much the spraying and picking, but the fact that there apparently won't be any usable olive crop for the foreseeable future.

Florel - Marin County  2016

Limantour Beach

Sand (vertical) - Point Reyes  2016

Sand, Wave (horizontal) - Point Reyes  2016

Pristine early morning sand, overcast sky: perfect for semi-abstract Limantour photos. I used an Olympus EM-10 and a 14-150mm lens.

I'm wondering what these would look like printed "big."

Lupin

Grass, Lupin - Point Reyes  2016

Lupin - Point Reyes  2016

Near Limantour Beach, Point Reyes.

Berkeley Sightems

Eternal, Self-Portrait - Berkeley  2016

Fourth & Virginia, Self-Portrait - Berkeley  2016

Berkeley afternoon, the sun moving towards the horizon: two sightems.

Stable Sightems

Flowers, Chain Link - Marin County  2016

Flowers, Propane Tank - Marin County  2016

Taken during early morning convalescent Tuffy walks.

Monday Horse Blogging

Tuffy, Hali Morning Walk - Marin County  2016

Tuffy had a little bit of an issue in June: horse colic. Wasn't eating or drinking . . . serious stuff.

The vet came out and hydrated him by shoving a plastic tube down his nose and into his stomach! He wasn't too happy about that.

Eventually he began to recover and seems perfectly OK now. But, he's pretty old: 33 years old, 101 years in human terms.

There were a few instances of going out to check on him at 1 A.M.!

Mike, Stable, 1 A.M. - Marin County  2016

Mt. Tamalpais

Mt. Tamalpais - Marin County  2016

Taken from the back - er, stern - of the Larkspur ferry as it was leaving Marin for San Francisco.

Canon G5X.

Fairfax Sightems

Oleanders (Fairfax) - Marin County  2016

Doorway, Self-Portrait (Fairfax) - Marin County  2016

Walking back to the truck after leaving the Fairfax Festival.

Some Flowers

Rose (San Rafael) - Marin County  2016

Sweet Peas - Marin County  2016

Top: rose seen at the car wash in San Rafael.

Bottom: volunteer sweet peas in our front yard.

Art Show #3

Spiralizer (San Anselmo) - Marin County  2016

Mike had reserved a space at the San Anselmo Art and Wine Festival. Alas, his assigned spot was completely opposite to what he had requested. He had wanted the afternoon sun to his back, but he was given a spot where the afternoon sun would be directly shining onto his inkjet prints. Not good.

Oh, and the temperatures that weekend were in the 90s.

So he took the entry fee loss and didn't participate. But he did drop by on Sunday morning, interested to note that most of the vendors were not selling what you could actually call art.

Art Show #2

Booth, Fairfax Festival - Marin County  2016

Mike's Truck, Late Evening, Fairfax Festival - Marin County  2016

June, and the Fairfax Festival! Wow, take a look at that great booth!

But somehow, in spite of the greatness of the booth, sales were pretty flat. Down, actually, from last year.

Not only that, but when it came time to pack up, Mike was unable to bring his truck in for loading purposes until hours after the festival closed. Vendors on the periphery took a very long time to leave, blocking Mike's departure. Jeez.

Art Show #1

Mike's Open Studio Exhibit - San Rafael  2016

Unoccupied Studio - San Rafael  2016

Mike participated in the annual "Open Studio" event this year. It was OK, but just OK: he found himself in this basement area, with not that much foot traffic.

He made a last-minute sale, however! A couple wanted some scenic photos of the western U.S. (they were moving back to Germany,) They ended up purchasing several prints, included Mike's most recent favorite, "Union Pacific."

Monday Cow Blogging

Cows, Snow - Utah  1996

More of the cows on the highway theme. Cows on a snowy Utah road outside Escalante in 1996.

Snow - #3

Snow, Trees - Sierra Nevada  2016

Snow, Trees (vertical) - Sierra Nevada  2016

So these snow pictures had not been expected! I spent some time trying out different viewpoints, wide-angle and telephoto, but finally had to stop. I got back in the car and was soon out of the snow and driving through the Sacramento Valley.

I stopped at a McDonalds for lunch, where I was able to order from the breakfast menu! Below: an iPhone photo that I took in the parking lot: the Toyota covered in Highway 80 sludge.

Then the drive home to Fairfax.

Yikes . . . it's taken way more time to post my Utah trip pix than the actual trip took! First post here.

Toyota - Central California  2016

Snow - #2

Snow, Yuba River - Sierra Nevada  2016

Snow, Small Pine - Sierra Nevada  2016

I was able to find a parking spot near a small bridge over the Yuba River, where I could view the river and various forest details. Very nice. Although . . . I'm having a little difficulty in printing these snow images. Going to have to see what Ansel Adams has to say about snow scenes.

I used an Olympus EM-10 and an Olympus 14-150mm lens.

Snow - #1

Snow, Trees - Sierra Nevada  2016

After Donner Summit I gradually got comfortable with driving in the adverse conditions and started to notice the scenery. Once on the downgrade I began to realize that there had been quite a snowfall: trees and shrubs were covered with the stuff. For me, an unusual sight! After a few shots from the car window I realized that I would need to get off at the next off-ramp.

Sierra Winter Storm

Truck in Fast Lane, Snow (Highway 80) - Sierra Nevada  2016

Downgrade (Highway 80) - Sierra Nevada  2016

Prior to my trip I had purchased some cables meant to go on the front tires during snow and ice conditions, but had never gotten any real practice in putting the things on. But here there were actual people you could pay to perform the task. I stopped at the designated pull-out and spoke with one of the chain installers, who gave my car a quick inspection, then pronounced me good to go without the cables. (The Toyota has all-wheel drive.)

Just "take it easy," he said. No problem! I always take it easy. So I was in the slow lane getting continually passed by monster trucks going way over the speed limit.

So my cables have not gotten put to the test - they are now dry and pristine sitting out in the garage.

West on Highway 80 - Winter Storm Warning

Highway 80 West - Nevada  2016

Truck Chain Installation Area - Sierra Nevada  2016

The weather didn't look that bad! There was early morning sun as I headed west on Highway 80 over the Sierra Nevada. But as I started to gain elevation, snow-covered mountains came into view, ominous clouds loomed ahead, and electronic highway signs warned of chain controls in place.

Outside of Fallon

Salt Flats (outside Fallon) - Nevada  2016

Clouds (outside Fallon) - Nevada  2016

Weather had started to be a concern. Knowing that the last leg of my return home would take me over Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada, I had been obsessively following the forecasts. I had been lucky so far: I hadn't encountered any storms so far on the trip and had easily navigated the one instance of snow in Utah. But that was apparently about to change. As I drove towards Fallon, clouds began to gather.

To be honest, I don't have any real documentation of the rest of the drive through Nevada: nothing of the crowded freeways into Reno nor anything concerning my stay at the motel there (near the airport).

Monday Horse Blogging

Horse, Mountains, Snow - Nevada  2016

So this might be a genuine wild horse! In Nevada on BLM land.

Austin, Nevada

Serbian Christmas, Trump 2016 (Austin) - Nevada  2016

Painting (Austin) - Nevada  2016

OK, so Mike had been through here before, 23 years ago. And what had caught his eye at the time?

Don't know if consistency is . . . good, or a hobgoblin.

Painting (Austin) - Nevada  1993

Eureka, Nevada

Louie's Lounge (Eureka) - Nevada  2016

Casino Cafe (Eureka) - Nevada  2016

Traveling west from Ely through the vast spaces of Nevada's basin and range country one comes upon two small towns, Eureka and Austin. Photos taken from the car while driving through town, using a Canon G5X.

Highway 50

Highway 50 (vertical) - Nevada  2016

Highway 50 (horizontal) - Nevada  2016

On the way to Reno. Basin and range topography.

Earlier mikereport post: Highway 50.

Ely, Nevada

Hotel Nevada (Ely) - Nevada  2016

View from Motel (Ely) - Nevada  2016

As Mike pulled into Ely he was just a little bit tired. Nice motel, though. And, no additional charge for the scenic view!

Utah into Nevada

Fence, Mountains, Snow - Utah  2016

Fritos & Beer, Highway 21 - Utah  2016

Sandstone country was left far behind as Mike headed west towards the Nevada state line, pausing for one last Fritos 'n Beer photo op.

Union Pacific

Union Pacific (Milford) - Utah  2016

"Sometimes a wrong turn can lead to some great photo opportunities." As he entered the town of Milford Mike spotted a group of Union Pacific diesel locomotives sitting on the track off to his right. He parked near the train station and walked back to get this shot of one of the powerful engines with some snowy mountains as a backdrop. So, even though Milford wasn't on Mike's route, the inadvertent detour turned out quite nicely.

He used a Canon G5X for the photo, which incidentally makes a rather nice print. (See below.)

Union Pacific (framed) - Marin County  2016