# How I spent my summer vacation (wood porn is near the bottom)



## Sylvanite (Oct 8, 2013)

Last month, my wife and I (along with another couple) flew out to Los Angeles and drove up the pacific coast highway.  We stopped in San Francisco to watch a couple days of America's Cup racing, and then went to Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Forest.  Here are some snapshots from along the way:

We stayed at a motel on Morro Bay, and this was the view from the restaurant at breakfast:







We had dinner in Big Sur, right about sunset:






This is the roadside view of McWay Falls.  The beach is inaccessible but very pretty.






And, here's a shot through the trees at Point Lobos State Park.






The America's Cup (the oldest active sporting event in the world) was between 72-foot hydrofoiling catamarans this year, and they are impressive.  It's one thing to read that the boats exceed 50mph - but quite another to see them do it in person.  We chartered a sailboat and watched the racing out on San Francisco Bay.

This is one of the support boats towing a starting mark out to the course:






Team New Zealand up on their foils:






Team USA and Team NZ racing.  To give you a sense of scale, the wingsails on these boats are bigger than the wings on a Boeing 747.






Here is Team USA, approaching the edge of the racecourse and getting ready to tack.  We were watching from just outside the boundary.






We probably picked the worst time of year (autumn when the waterfalls are dry) and the worst year (the valley was full of smoke from the wildfires) to visit Yosemite National Park, but it was still spectacular.

Here's a picture of Yosemite from the valley floor, with the Merced River in the foreground:






And a view looking down from Glacier Point:






Of course, every photo journal of Yosemite has to include a picture of Half Dome:






And here's a shot of the moon rising over Cathedral Spires at sunset:






From there, we drove through Sequoia National Forest.  It's surprisingly difficult to capture the impressive scale of these trees in a photograph (you can literally drive through some of them).  These are a couple of my attempts.

Here's my wife next to a fallen sequoia:






And the two ladies posing with trees by the roadside:






Here is the wood porn I promised.  The burl on the side of that giant sequoia tree is at least 6 (if not 8) feet across:






One of our side stops was the Getty Museum.  Just before leaving, I stuck a fisheye lens on the camera, laid down on the foyer floor, and took this picture of the stairway and skylight.  People looked at me like I was nuts, but as I packed up, others started doing the same thing.  :biggrin:






I hope you enjoyed the pics,
Eric


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## sdoerr (Oct 8, 2013)

Eric, thanks for the pictures.  You did a GREAT job on taking them.  I did not realize how big the sails on those two cats were.  Thanks again for sharing.
Steve


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## randyrls (Oct 8, 2013)

Great pictures, but, did you wonder how many pen blanks you could get from that one tree?


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## Edgar (Oct 8, 2013)

Great photos - thanks for sharing.


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## Jim15 (Oct 8, 2013)

Awesome pictures. Thanks.


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## seamus7227 (Oct 8, 2013)

thanks for sharing! those were great! love the sequoia's


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## BRobbins629 (Oct 8, 2013)

Great pictures Eric - looks like fun.


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## walshjp17 (Oct 8, 2013)

Superb travelog, Eric.  Enjoyed the pix, especially those on the bay.


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## scotian12 (Oct 8, 2013)

Thank you for sharing your pictures. What a great trip.


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## Scott (Oct 8, 2013)

Excellent!  What a great trip you had!  I love the photos.  I hope you don't mind me asking about your camera.  We just got a new camera and are learning how to use it, so I am interested in what others are using.  I thought your pictures were spectacular!

Scott.


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## D.Oliver (Oct 8, 2013)

Wow everyone of those pictures could have been on the front of a postcard!  Great job!


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## robutacion (Oct 9, 2013)

Yes, some spectacular photography in those, thanks for sharing...!

I reckon, that sequoia tree on the ground, would do me for the rest of my days, just image me with a big chainsaw, hanging by a harness, slicing it like a cheese but, the part I would enjoy most, would be slicing that burl off that tree, it would give be about, a "hand full" of pen blanks...!

Geezz, I should have big hands, huh...???:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## OZturner (Oct 9, 2013)

Thanks Eric for the photo's. 

Great Trip, must have been exhausting, but heck someone has to do it, don't they?

A serious question, how did you get the Burl, and the fallen sequoia home?

Glad some of our Aussie's could assist with the America's Cup win, the way Team USA came home, I think a squab should be taken.

Brian


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## PaulDoug (Oct 9, 2013)

Great pictures!  Very exciting America's Cup although I could only watch it after the fact.  Only sad thing, to me is most American are just not into that sort of thing like other countries are.  I felt bad for the Kiwi's but they will come back even stronger next time.  

Thanks for sharing your pictures.  Glad you had a nice trip.


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## nava1uni (Oct 9, 2013)

Eric,
You took great pictures of my state. The places you went are really beautiful and your pictures give a good idea of what they are like.  I hope you had a good time in San Francisco, it is a lovely place to live and visit.  Next time let me know you are visiting and I will show you some restaurants that only the locals visit with some great food.  Aren't the Sequoias just amazing?  I go to a town just outside of the entrance and spend time every summer, it is an exquisite area.


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## Sylvanite (Oct 14, 2013)

randyrls said:


> Great pictures, but, did you wonder how many pen blanks you could get from that one tree?


I don't know about pen blanks - but when I saw that Sequoia burl, my thought was that with a big enough lathe, it could be made into a bathtub.



Scott said:


> I hope you don't mind me asking about your camera.  We just got a new camera and are learning how to use it, so I am interested in what others are using.


I'm in the Canon camp.  I took two camera bodies with me - a 30D and a 60D, along with a 24-105mm EF L IS lens, a 70-300 EF IS lens, and a Rokinon 8mm fisheye (all manual).  I'm toying with the idea of picking up a 70-300mm "L" lens, but honestly I don't think I'm at the level where the luxury lens would improve my photos.



OZturner said:


> A serious question, how did you get the Burl, and the fallen sequoia home?
> 
> Glad some of our Aussie's could assist with the America's Cup win, the way Team USA came home, I think a squab should be taken.


I wish I could have gotten some Sequoia wood (especially burl).  I'd have left something behind (maybe even have drunk more of the wine we bought) to fit it in my luggage.  I think, however, that the park rangers would have frowned on my cutting up the trees.

I'm a bit embarrassed that Team USA only had one American sailor on board in most of the races.  The America's Cup is supposed to be a "friendly competition between nations", not a battle between corporate sponsors.  Jimmy Spithill (skipper) and Tom Slingsby (strategist) are both Aussies, so thanks for your contribution!  Oh, and Glen Ashby (wing trimmer for New Zealand) is Australian too.



PaulDoug said:


> Very exciting America's Cup although I could only watch it after the fact.  Only sad thing, to me is most American are just not into that sort of thing like other countries are.  I felt bad for the Kiwi's but they will come back even stronger next time.


For those who didn't see any of the races, they're all on YouTube.  They said that 1/4 of the population of New Zealand watched the last race live.  I doubt that many Americans did anything together since the moon landing (if even then).  Sailing is a huge sport in NZ.  Dean Barker and crew are amazing sportsmen - yet very open and engaging to the public.  After sharing the bay with TNZ before the the America's Cup began, many of the SanFran locals were rooting for Team New Zealand to win.  I'm sure they'll be back in force for AC35.



nava1uni said:


> Aren't the Sequoias just amazing?  I go to a town just outside of the entrance and spend time every summer, it is an exquisite area.


Yes, the Sequoias are amazing, and the towns south of the forest are quaint too.  I wish that I had been able to better capture the massive scale of these trees.

And, thanks all for the kind comments.  It wasn't easy to limit myself to posting just these, but I'd hate to bore everyone with too many pics.

Regards,
Eric


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## TellicoTurning (Oct 15, 2013)

Eric,
Did you walk on the beach at Morro Bay... last time I was there the beach was covered and I do mean covered with drift wood... I still have a box of it in my shop or garage (not real sure where it is) that we picked up there back in '93 or '94.... had plans at the time for it, but have forgotten what now.

If you want a really great experience and can do it, there's a guest ranch up between Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National park that's at 7,000 foot elevation... the cabins are all hand hewn from local trees, the cook shack/dining hall is a nice hand hewn log structure that will seat about 30 or 40, some of the cabins are just tents, all along the San Joaquin river, with some great trout fishing... maximum guests allowed are about 20, each is assigned his/her own horse and you either ride up the mountain or down the mountain.  Access to the ranch is via the Sierra Queen (a large metal whaler) that crosses an Edison lake to the other side where the ranch picks up the guest on horse back and treks them in to the ranch.... closest telephone is 25 miles away once you get there... bathing facilities are two hot springs up near the cook/dining hall.. one is pretty hot, the second has cold water mixed with the hot to make it more comfortable for those who don't like really hot.  The ranch was owned by a fellow who was 2nd trumpet in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra before he retired... the ranch is run by his daughter and son-in-law now and only open from late June to early September.... it sits right on the John Muir trail through the California mountains.  

On the Sequoias, they are huge, but did you know that their root base is very shallow... not much over 6'... it's amazing that they will grow so tall and has such a shallow root base. 

The big fires in California this year threatened the Sequoias and Yosemite... did you see any evidence of that, or was your vacation before the fires started...


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## Sylvanite (Oct 17, 2013)

TellicoTurning said:


> Eric,
> Did you walk on the beach at Morro Bay... last time I was there the beach was covered and I do mean covered with drift wood...
> 
> If you want a really great experience and can do it, there's a guest ranch up between Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National park that's at 7,000 foot elevation...
> ...


We didn't walk the beach at Morro Bay - If I'd known about driftwood, I might have.  I did, however, climb Moro Rock (a different "Moro" - in the Sequoia Forest).

The ranch sounds interesting.  It reminds me of a lodge up in the Canadian Rockies (I didn't stay there, but camped nearby).

The Sequoias are amazing.  The roots are so shallow that you can't walk around the base of the tree for fear of damaging them.

We were in Yosemite during the wildfires.  The Tioga Road was closed, so we couldn't see the north side of the park and the valley views were poor due to the smoke.  It lifted a bit on our third (last) day, so I revisited most of the scenic spots to photograph them again.

Thanks for the interest,
Eric


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## Scott (Oct 18, 2013)

Thanks Eric!  We are Nikoners, so it was the 7100 we got.  I would really like to see others of your photos if you have posted them someplace.  I have been all through those parts of California a couple of times in the past five years, and seeing more of your pictures would almost feel like going home!

Scott.


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## Sylvanite (Oct 22, 2013)

Scott said:


> I would really like to see others of your photos if you have posted them someplace.  I have been all through those parts of California a couple of times in the past five years, and seeing more of your pictures would almost feel like going home!


I don't have my pictures shared anywhere online.  Would you like me to post some more of them here?  I hesitate to take up IAP storage with non-pen-related photos, but could if people want.

Regards,
Eric


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## Sylvanite (Nov 26, 2013)

I've created a Flickr account and added some of my trip photos.  You can view them at California Scenery - a set on Flickr, Yosemite - a set on Flickr, and 34th America's Cup - a set on Flickr.  Please let me know if you enjoyed them.

Thanks,
Eric


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## bobleibo (Nov 26, 2013)

Eric,
Wow, the memories! I grew up in Southern California and the Santa Barbara to San Francisco coastline was my backyard. Spent many weekends driving that highway. Nothing beats Big Sur on a Sunday afternoon watching the sunset. You caught it at the perfect time. 
And as for that fallen Sequoia, it has been there for quite some time. I tried to steal it once but had a tough time getting into the back of my car. Plus I was afraid they might see me with it so I decided to leave it  *W*  
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I feel a road trip coming on.


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