RAV4 (Street View) / Waymo

RAV4, Marin General Hospital - Marin County  2025

Waymo, St. Ignatius Church - San Francisco  2025

Top: I was driving my RAV4 to a dentist appointment when I noticed that I was following a Google Street View camera vehicle. That was last April . . . I kept monitoring the Bon Air Road street view until, finally, my (red) Toyota showed up! Wow!

Next: I was waiting in my car for Hali to pick up some sandwiches we had ordered, when this Waymo self-driving vehicle pulled up in front of me. The passenger hopped out, then the now vacant Waymo pulled out into traffic (after properly signaling). Someday we must try riding in one.

Monday Cow Blogging

Cows - Montana  2024

Seen from a side road that I was directed to by Google Maps. I slowed down, rolled down the passenger window and took this photo with a Canon G5XII. 

The side roads were supposed to get me to my destination faster, but then there were more photo ops. So, probably not faster at all.

Google Maps on iPhone - Montana  2024

North through Montana - 1

I-15 North, Rain Clouds - Montana  2024

Fence, Hills, Clouds - Montana  2024

I-15 starts in California and ends in Montana. Leaving Idaho Falls I drove north on I-15, entering Montana at Monida Pass, crossing the Continental Divide. Huh. Interesting! I saw the sign as I sped past, so no photo. But there's a Google street view photo available:

Continental Divide - Montana (Google)

Grapevine Sightems

Grapevine Hills - Kern County  2024

Rose Station & Mountain Base (Grapevine) - Kern County  2024

I regularly stop here for the views. 

Check out the Google Street View shot of the same scene:

Google Mt Base Road 2019

Monday Geese Blogging

Geese, Tomales Bay - Marin County  2022

An early morning stop at a dirt parking lot in Inverness (Google Street View below.) Photo taken with an Olympus E-M1II and a 75-300mm zoom lens.

Inverness Parking Lot (Google Street View)

Adobe Church - New Mexico

Adobe Church - New Mexico  1993

Adobe Church - New Mexico  1993

Was this taken in Hernandez? Maybe. I remember looking at the map and trying to decide where to stop. (This was in the ancient days before Google Maps.) 

Whatevs. Below, a Google Street View of Hernandez, July 2016.

Hernandez - New Mexico  (Google)

Highway 70 / Clouds

Spotted Wolf Canyon, Highway 70 - Utah  1996

Mountains, Clouds - Utah  1996

These 1996 photos were taken with a large format camera.

I tried to get an updated photo of the highway 70 view . . . all I could come up with is the Google Street View below.

[UPDATE] Just by chance I just now (October 3, 2022) discovered that the top photo is a view of Spotted Wolf Canyon. Wow!

Hwy 70 (Google Street View) - Utah  2019

La Sal Cafe

La Sal Junction Cafe - Utah  1993

Cafe Sign - Utah  1993

An abandoned cafe at the junction. A more current view below courtesy of Google Street View.

La Sal Junction - Utah  (Google 2012)

La Sal Junction

La Sal Junction - Utah  1993

On the way either to or from Moab during our 1993 California / Nevada / Utah / Colorado trip.

Below, a Google map of this remote location.

La Sal Junction (Google Maps)

Italy (Google Street View)

Tarvisio Off-Ramp (Google) -Italy

Road towards Slovenia (Google) - Italy

Road towards Slovenia (Google) - Italy

Mike had planned a route that would travel though Austria and then directly into Slovenia, but had somehow overlooked that his route would go through a section of Italy! So we were concerned that we’d have to pay some Italian entry fees and/or tolls. But we didn’t have to worry . . . our route took us off of the main highway at Tarvisio, then wound through a series of highly picturesque Italian towns, cemeteries etc. By then we were starting to be concerned about the time factor (that 5PM reservation); so Mike wasn’t able to stop. No photos of Italy! (Sad face emoji.)

(So, the above photos were gotten from Google's street view.)

People's Park - 2

National Guard #3 - Berkeley  1969

National Guard #4 - Berkeley  1969

Bottom photo taken at the intersection of Bowditch and Dwight Way. The street sign is no longer there, but telephone pole number 2225 is, as shown in the Google Street View photo below.

2225 Telephone Pole (Google) - Berkeley

. . . from the archives #102: Backyard - Berkeley 1969

Backyard - Berkeley  1969

50 years ago. I was renting a second-floor room in a house on College Avenue while I was attending UC Berkeley. Google Street View reveals that the place looks about the same now.

Mike, College Avenue House

College Avenue House (Google) January, 2018

Wall Art - Legs

205 Club - New York  2018

Marilyn - New York  2018

Not exactly murals. Photos taken with the Canon G5X.

Below, the Google version of the top photo. Hard to say which one I prefer!

205 Club (Google Street View) - New York  2017

25th and Utica

25th and Utica Ave - Kings County  2007

I found this photo while rummaging through some old Photoshop files (can't remember why I was doing the rummaging.) Taken with an Olympus E-510 DSLR and a kit 14-42mm lens.

Took me quite a while to find the exact location (a highway 5 offramp). Below, the Google version:

25th and Utica - Kings County (Google)

Google Bus

Private Bus (Zynga) - San Francisco  2013

Actually, in this case, a Zynga Bus (parked in front of Zynga HQ in San Francisco's SOMA district).

From a recent George Packer article in The New Yorker:

A lot of younger employees of Silicon Valley companies live in the city and commute to work in white, Wi-Fi-equipped company buses, which collect passengers at fifteen or so stops around San Francisco. The buses - whose schedules are withheld from the public - have become a vivid emblem of the tech boom's stratifying effect in the Bay Area.

And just one more obstacle for motorists trying to navigate into San Francisco using Lombard and Van Ness.

Google Buses, Lombard Street - San Francisco  2013