I took this picture a few years back in Tennessee. I gotta say, those hillbilly's know how to do pyrotechnics!

As I sit here in my little home on the Pacific’s edge, I just looked up to the clock and noticed it’s 2 hours away from 2011.

A new year.  It always feels so hopeful doesn’t it?

I wonder …… how different your New Years eve is than mine?

There are no loud crowds here. Only the sounds of barking Elephant Seals on the beach below me.

I don’t have to worry about driving or finding a place to park. The only place I plan on parking is my butt in my computer chair.

No sound of tinkling glasses as they are raised in a toast to a hopeful new year. Instead, I hear the trickling of the creek beside my home.

No swaying bodies as they try to get the room to stop spinning. I watch as the Redwoods sway in the gentle breeze against a star filled sky.

No loud explosions of fireworks here. Instead, I saw the most amazing, long tail shooting star I’ve seen all year.

I’m a long way away from that sparkling light filled ball in Time Square, but I imagine, no matter what type of New Year’s Eve experience you are having, or where you are spending it, most of us have that same feeling of hopefulness.

Happy 2011 everyone!

After a couple of weeks with computer issues, I’m happy that Santa came early for me and brought me just what I needed to get back on line. Thanks Santa!!

I loved walking around Fort Worden so much. The colors, shapes, tunnels, windows, doors and history really made taking pictures a lot of fun.

So this post is all about the shapes, lines, and colors.

and one more…

That’s it for this time. I have more of my trip to share.

To be continued!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Exactly how much  snow does it take to cause mass confusion, school closures, road closures, planes sliding out of control on runways, abandoned cars alongside the road, and causes traffic to crawl at best? Apparently about 2 or 3 inches. We saw plow trucks everywhere but I swear, not a one was plowing or salting the roads. They had their flashing lights on. They looked official. But not one blade did I see drop.  It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. They should go to Northeast Ohio along Lake Erie and try out some of the lake effect snow sometime. Ya know the snow storms that dump 25 inches or so in a matter of hours.

The day after the fact, I arrived at SEA TAC safe and sound after our plane skidded a little bit right after landing. After a brief break for breakfast we jumped on the ferry to head to Port Townsend.

The view from the ferry ride from Seattle to Port Townsend. In the distance you see the Olympic Peninsula all covered in fresh snow.

The morning after I arrived the headlines read.

“We prepared for this for three years”

I laughed so hard. OMG! If they prepared for three years I hate to tell them…something went terribly wrong!

I’m sharing my sisters pic for the Thanksgiving feast because I like it so much.

The food was delicious. The people I shared it with, amazing. And the atmosphere full of laughter and love. There was much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Feast by: Sarah Nash

After T- Day we all went for a walk to Fort Worden.

Here’s the link if you want to check it out.  http://www.parks.wa.gov/fortworden/

“Fort Worden, along with the heavy batteries of Fort Flagler and Fort Casey, once guarded nautical entrance to Puget Sound. Established in the late 1890s, became the first line of a fortification system designed to prevent a hostile fleet from reaching such targets as the Bremerton Naval Yard and the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett. Construction began in 1897 and continued in one form or another until the fort was closed in 1953. The property was purchased as a state park in 1955.”

Left behind are concrete mounts for the massive guns, underground tunnels, rooms, windows, doors, awesome angles, and a photographers paradise. And you know what? With all the artillery, soldiers, and an armory…..never was there a shot fired in anger. I thought that was pretty cool.

This window and this building at the end of the rails are the same building.

In this building they housed a huge light for the ships. When needed they rolled it out on the rails to the point to guide the ships.

I was just playing around with light/darkness and color in this one.

This is a mount for one of the massive guns that pointed out to the Puget Sound

This is a close up of the door you see in the above photo. So fun playing with the shapes and colors.

That’s it for now.

To be continued…..

In the final post from my Mt. Shasta adventure we head out to the Dam. Keep in mind it is STILL raining. Fred & I drove up the Dam road and really we found ourselves saying…”Where’s the damn dam? The clouds were low and the rain continued. So we decided to wait a bit just to get a shot or two.

Mt. Shasta Dam

Mt. Shasta Dam again

After the Dam we had one more stop I really wanted to see.

The Sundial Bridge

is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California, and forms a large sundial. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2004 at a cost of US$23,500,000. The bridge has become iconic for Redding.

The shadow cast by the bridge is exactly accurate on only one day a year – The Summer Solstice, June 21.

Sundial Bridge ~ Redding California

The blue area where you walk is made of thick glass. Very cool to look at the river below but slippery when wet. I almost fell a few times walking on it.

Well…that’s it for the Mt. Shasta journey. Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Next journey ~ Port Townsend Washington for Thanksgiving with my seester!

The first day was spent on the mountain. When we descended the clouds really moved in and the rain began to pour. It poured all night and all the next day. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to get out and take some pictures.

The first stop on that rainy Saturday was the Mt. Shasta Caverns. Anyone that knows me knows, I’m not a big fan of going underground in caverns where bats live. But in an effort to overcome my fear I went anyway.

First we go to the lake, get on a boat, and cross over to the other side of the lake.

On the boat heading to the cavern entrance.

Once across the lake we walked up that hill, got on to a shuttle bus and drove further up the mountain.

This is the view from the cavern entrance.

Entering the cavers we walked up 241 stairs. The neat thing about these caverns are you don’t really go down underground. It’s more like you go up and into the mountain.

The entrance to the caverns was originally discovered by a young Native American when he was tracking a Bobcat. But then in 1828 Richardson & C.M. used explosives to open up the caverns to what they are today.

Of course there were the usual stalactites and stalagmites.

They call this curtaining. Some of the layers look like bacon.

I wish I had a good shot of the grand cavern they called the cathedral room. But the lighting and the size of the room proved to be hard for me to get a good shot.

At last we exit the caverns. To this beautiful view…

To Be Continued…………

I just got back from a 4 day trip to Mt. Shasta. I spent time with an old friend and despite the fact it rained almost the entire time, had a great time!

Driving to Mt. Shasta it was raining and the clouds/fog made it imposable to see the mountain.

That is until we reached the town of  Mt. Shasta. The clouds parted and for a brief  moment I got to look upon the sacred mountain.

Finally! The clouds part and I get to see the mountain.

Continuing up the mountain, we  knew the road was closed at about 8,000′. The clear sky moment we had just experienced was gone quickly. I took this shot just before we reached the road closure.

The next day, despite the continuing down pour of rain, we headed out to the

Shasta Lake Caverns.

To Be Continued…….

The first was when I was 3 1/2. I lived in Colorado at the time. I was in the back yard playing in the dirt and I somehow disturbed a Black Widow. She didn’t like that much and bit me. I screamed for my mom and all I kept telling her was a bug bit me. As the evening went on I got very sick and my mother took me to the emergency room. I don’t remember much but I do remember getting bit, screaming a lot, and I remember the doctor giving me shots.

The next experience I was about 9 years old. I went to camp. We were the first group of kids to arrive for the season. Our first night there we played “hide and go seek.”  I ran between two cabins and found myself in the middle of a huge web and got bit on the left side of my face. In a very short time the entire left side of my face blew up to the point of my eye being swollen shut and my ear look freakishly large. They never did determine what kind of spider it was and it permanently effected my vision and hearing on the left side.

Since then, any time I get a spider bite, I have a bad allergic reaction.

Now fast forward to today. A beautiful warm day in Big Sur. I’m sitting on my deck, taking a few moments to enjoy the peace when all of a sudden there are thousands of thin gossamer strands of spider webs floating towards me. They were back lit by the sun so they really showed up. On these strands were clumps of white. It looked like cotton.

They were landing on me, my deck, the house, all the plants and absolutely filled the railing on my deck.

Now, being the spider hater I am, this freaked me out! I wanted so badly to film it but the thought of these strands covered in spiders getting into my hair was too much for me to even think about it for more than a half a second.

I’ve lived in the mountains for more than half my life and this was the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this. I ran in the house and looked it up on Google.

I was sure it would say it’s the spiders from mars or something. But here’s what I found.

It’s called “Ballooning”

Ballooning Spider

Spiders lay eggs, and the young spiders that hatch use silk to travel with the wind, according to information available on a conservation Web site.

The spiders climb to the tops of grass or tree branches  (in my case the tops of Redwood Trees) where they release strands of silk into the air until they are long enough to catch the wind and pull the spider into the air.

This allows young spiders to fly without wings and be carried to new areas quickly. This increases survival chances. (Oh that’s just GREAT!)

Baby spiders have no wings, but can fly as high as the highest-flying insects and birds! They do this with the aid of light winds and rising thermals. In fact, ballooning spiders often hit airplane windshields. Spiders have even been seen by airplane pilots flying at about 10,000 feet.

I’m still itching my head and feel like they are crawling on me. Gawd I hope I don’t have spidey nightmares tonight. I will definitely be working on happy thoughts before bedtime.

So for those of you who still manage to visit my site with the few posts I do…I thank you.

And now for your viewing pleasure I present more Wildflowers from this years journeys.

Succulent in bloom Gorda Mountain

Different view of Gorda Mountain succulent - I have a thing for archways

Captured this hunny at Lake Naciemiento

Lupins on the Boronda Trail

That’s it for now. Have a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend.

STONEY VALLEY

Up and over County Road G 18 ~ other wise known as Naciemiento Road and on to the Fort Hunter Liggett Base and behold….Stoney Valley!

Continue on this road all the way to Mission San Antonio and this will be waiting for you..

Wildflowers at Mission San Antonio

And now for your viewing pleasure…

Lupins & Poppies

And one last sweetie to leave you with..

CLOVER FLOWERS

Hope you enjoyed the show. Brought to you by “Mother Nature”

First shot of the morning

Drive just a short way up the mountain, hop out of your car, make your way down this little trail and find yourself surrounded by popcorn flowers and poppies.

Popcorn Flowers and Poppies

A little further up the mountain looking back from where I came

Up and over the top which is 7 miles up from Highway 1.  Passing by the USFS Naciemiento Station.

On the other side of the summit these ferns and flowers caught my eye as they seem to grow right out of the rocks.

Ferns and Flowers

I wish I knew what these were called. Aren’t they amazing?

And one last image before I go….

Does anyone know what this flower is?

That’s it!

Next post will be my trip out to the California Valley.

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