Into the Mist

Taken from Twin Lakes Road (near Bridgeport) at the turnoff for Hunewill Ranch. Black and white version below the fold (can't decide which I prefer).
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Travel Thursday: Napa

Yet another team-building offsite -- which, at least in this instance, is corporate-speak for "Let's get 30 people together on a bus and send them off to drink wine all day" -- has me heading up to Napa today to get my grape on. I'll try to keep the shots in focus, at least in the early part of the day, and then report back to the elders at some later date.

Crabapple

I Was Looking at the Black and White World

A window display for a leather shop on Howard Street makes a rather bold statement.

Line 5

Bus shelter at Park Presidio & Fulton.

Rainy Season

It can't seem to decide whether or not to rain today. The weather was much less indecisive last Tuesday.

Have You Seen Your Sofa, Baby, Standing in the Shadows

An abandoned couch casts eerie shadows in an urban alley. Have a seat, it's Shadow Shot Sunday! While you're relaxing, check out some of last week's entries here.

Bamboo Red

I was out shooting at sunset last night and came upon this doorway. The shot turned out even better than I'd hoped.

Sacré-Cœur

Glimpsed alongside a mimicking sculpture at Centre Pompidou

Travel Thursday: California Academy of Sciences

I went on a "team-building offsite" with my group last week to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It's a great museum that includes the Morrison Planetarium and Steinhart Aquarium, among other features. Here are a few of the shots I got while I was there.

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At Home He Feels Like a Tourist

Blue Angels practicing for their show last Friday afternoon.

We're So Happy to See You

The door to the Rite-Spot Cafe, 17th and Folsom Streets.

Pagoda Moon

Early morning at Grant & California.

Drink Up, Lads!

I know Tom needs a martini today, because he missed out on the Guinness here yesterday.

Wind in the Trees

Another of my "Impressionisms in a Hurry." This one, made with a tripod in my backyard, is better large.

Martini Monday

Posting it early, because it's going to be a very long day before I get a real one...

Shadow Shot Sunday: Mr Coffee Hits the Street

People leave the strangest things on my street. A late afternoon shot of this abandoned coffee maker seems like the perfect entry for Shadow Shot Sunday. To see some of last week's work, go here.

Having a Bad Dream

A juxtaposition of different types of art makes for something perhaps a bit nightmarish in Myrtle Alley just off Larkin Street...

Navets

At the Marché des Enfants Rouge

Travel Thursday: National Parks

Crater Lake National Park, designated 1902 (taken August 2005)

Yes, of course ('of course' to anyone who knows me) I've been watching the Ken Burns series (still making my way through it on DVR). It's perfect for me, not just because of my love of wildness and natural beauty, but because we were raised on the National Parks.

But it's bittersweet, because the happy memories I relive as I watch it are inextricably tied to our parents. I absorbed from them the idea that National Parks were special, that the magic phrase 'National Park' meant we were in store for something amazing. At home I would browse the big book with the pictures of the National Parks and dream of visiting Crater Lake or Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone or Bryce Canyon or Carlsbad Caverns.

In 1969 we did an epic family trip from New Jersey to Wisconsin to Wyoming to New Mexico to Colorado and back--visiting Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Flaming Gorge, Dinosaur, Carlsbad , Rocky Mountain, and probably some I don't recall right now.

In 1975, I first visited Yosemite on a drizzly weekend with my father and my best friend; at Glacier Point we watched patiently as the clouds parted a little at a time, revealing bits and pieces of the grandeur. In 1978, we spent a week visiting Sequoia-Kings Canyon. In 1993, all of us grown and some with children, we all got together in Yosemite. Again in Yosemite in 2003, the last time we were all together--parents, kids, and grandkids. And other trips in between.

Personal history aside, it's a great story, and Burns gives it its due. "America's best idea" might be hyperbole, but only just. The execution hasn't been perfect, but despite all the compromises, the well-intentioned mistakes, the philosophical confusion, and the often unclean hands, the National Parks idea is extraordinary and admirable.

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Mesa Verde National Park, designated 1906 (taken August 1969)


Half Dome and the Clark Range from the top of Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, designated 1890 (taken January 1991)


Manzanar National Historic Site, designated 1985 (taken March 2008)


Point Reyes Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore, designated 1962 (taken in 2000)


Redfish Lake, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, designated 1972 (taken June 2004)


View from Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, designated 1890 (taken August 2009)


At Chasm Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, designated 1915 (taken August 1969)


Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, designated National Monument in 1933 and National Park in 1994 (taken March 2008)


Marin Headlands, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, designated 1972


Grouse Meadow, Kings Canyon National Park, designated 1940 (taken August 1999)

Last Game of the Season

The Giants' season ended in San Diego on Sunday; my last home game was last Wednesday night. Late in the game, I took some time to wander around the concourse taking a few pictures. This one is my favorite.

Intertube

Girls Girls Girls

I see this on my way home from work every day. Yesterday I walked down to the neighborhood it's in to shoot some pictures of a crew filming an episode of NBC's Trauma, and decided I needed a picture of this place.

Martini Monday

Sorry--looks like somebody already drank this one. You'll just have to go make yourself another.

In My Neighborhood

Yeah, another shot of St. Ignatius. So sue me.

Shadow Shot Sunday

A tennis player at the Bay Club from the 28th floor of my office building.

It's fun to play along--learn how! And while you're at it, check out some of last week's.

Shadow Shot Shield

Hey, long time no Shadow Shot Sunday for me. Here's one to keep my hand in, taken at my friends Mike and Kris' place in Southern California last August. If you'd like to see some of last week's entries, just go here.

Pram

If you leave something interesting or unusual on the streets of San Francisco, chances are I'll take a picture of it.

Blue Hallways

Lobby of 180 Montgomery in San Francisco.

Travel Thursday: Chengdu Koi Pond

Just one today because I'm busy. But I think it's a pretty good one.