Category: travel

We spent the night at Tahoe Tuesday! My husband had a business meeting, so we spent the night before at the Sunnyside Lodge, where we had a wonderful dinner and a room overlooking the lake.  Before dinner, I took the opportunity to take photos in the afternoon and early evening.

When it was time for dinner, I left the camera in our room, and went downstairs to the dining room.  Just before our meal arrived, I noticed the couple at the next table was looking at something outside, but when I looked out, it looked like just the same scene I had photographed before dinner.  Finally I got up to see the view from their vantage point and saw the MOON- reflecting on the lake.  I ran upstairs to get my camera and joined the lady from the next table as we tried to capture the beauty of what we were seeing.  She also had a Nikon (maybe a D5100?), and we struggled with settings as the moon slipped behind the clouds- and then was gone in a matter of just a few minutes.

So here is the moon as it went back behind the clouds. Sigh. And I have tried to ignore all the beautiful full moon photos (taken with cell phone cameras. . .) on Facebook.

I used my new Silver Efex Pro plug-in to convert this photo to black and white.

Regarding Silver Efex Pro:  If you have purchased any of the Nik software suite within the last five years, you may have received an e-mail from them a few days ago, giving you the entire suite for FREE.  My e-mail was in my spam folder.  I am thrilled to have all these new toys- but have no idea how to use them yet.

This was the view from our balcony last weekend!

We enjoyed beautiful weather with temperatures in the high seventies in San Diego- it is much cooler now.  On our last day, we drove over to Pacific Beach- warm sand, crashing waves, and fun people-watching!  I had a great time photographing Crystal Pier and, according to my family,  was causing the lifeguard some concern as I was crouching in front of the waves trying to get the best photographic angle. I was in photography heaven and had no idea he was watching me. I would love to go back there at sunset one day.

We returned last night from a short trip to San Diego to visit our son, Matt.  One of the things we were most looking forward to was a visit to the San Diego zoo to see the seven month old baby panda, Xiao Liwu.  We arrived at the zoo early, knowing that the baby was only on display for three hours in the morning, and we headed directly to the Panda Pavilion.  There were short lines to walk by baby and mama, and we were able to go through twice.  There were some unbelievably long lenses in the crowd- but I think I was able to get good shots with just a 200 mm.  The shot below is probably my favorite.

Baby is learning to climb trees, and, according to the guide, falls many times a day, thus learning about gravity (!).  He was up pretty high when we moved on, and we were glad to miss the expected tumble.

Photography/computer note:  Before we left, I bought a new external hard drive for photo storage, because the old one was almost full.  Unfortunately, I don’t have enough room to upload all my San Diego photos until I get the new hard drive hooked up.  Expect to see more San Diego photos in the week ahead, as I get them uploaded.

The Meditation Garden at Unity of Tustin was one of the highlights of my visit with Nevin.  She and Darrell have found a spiritual home there, and she was eager to show me around the amazing grounds today.  I was especially drawn to the labyrinth, which I find such a deeply beautiful spiritual symbol and practice.  This labyrinth was outlined with stones, and a magnificent angel was placed near the entrance.

I have many more photos, but exhaustion is starting to set in.  It was a whirlwind of a visit- 3 appointments for my husband, hours of wonderful conversation, the meditation gardens, driving adventures, a lunch with a view of the ocean, and my husband’s iPhone being left in the rental car- and mysteriously disappearing within ten minutes of turning in the car to the company.  But this last event hardly put a damper on a wonderful two days- iPhones can be replaced, friends can’t!

We’re in that weird in between place where one has just crossed 3 or 4 states in two hours, is getting unpacked, washing clothes, and confronting all the things that must be done after a vacation.  The snow clothes are put away- and I just changed into capris to celebrate the California sunshine.  We sure are missing those little boys- and their parents too. . .

My camera gear seems to have made the trip unscathed- no thanks to me!  I wasn’t paying attention when the security folks somehow flipped my think tank over to put it through the scanner.  Yikes!  Since I had taken the laptop out, the camera, lenses, speedlight etc. were free to bounce around when turned upside down.  The camera is working; I haven’t had a chance to check out the other gear.

Here are a couple bonus photos from our drive yesterday.  Yes, that is the coyote I wrote about yesterday!

Our son-in-law took us on our traditional drive through the park today.  The snow isn’t deep yet, and the contrast between the rich hues of the willows and grasses and the white snow created beautiful scenes for our excursion.  We saw lots of bison and three coyotes (the kids’ favorite moment was when the coyote pooped on the hill beside the car. . .).

I took many photos; this one is my favorite so far.

Family outings these days require two vehicles- Justin, Miles, Papa, and the dogs in the truck and Caitlin, Henry, and I in the Subaru.  We drove east through the park, stopping a few times to photograph bison and finally getting out so the boys could climb on the rocks.

The obligatory Yellowstone bison photo:

Brothers!

Miles and Papa:

Beautiful Lake Tahoe again- snow capped mountains and deck chairs on a sunny, but cold, beach:

Taken from River Ranch on the Truckee River, the scene of Anderson family (mis)adventures in river rafting twenty something years ago: