Yosemite, Mono Lake, Bodie 2018

Jean and I motored down to YoMoBo-Land for a nice birthday celebration. There was a bit of weather, so we raced to Mono Lake to enjoy it. Otherwise: clear skies.

2018 10 Yosemite, Mono Lake, Bodie Photo Album

San Francisco Zoo 2014

With a month-long African safari looming, I felt like I needed to shoot some animals. My wildlife photography skills are highly unpolished, so I signed on with Aperture Academy's San Francisco Zoo session.

After a brief intro, we headed into the zoo and wandered from exhibit to exhibit. At one point, I got separated from the group. I sent a text to the group leader, but his phone's battery had gone flat. We eventually reconnected. But it was post group photo, so I had to be 'shopped in afterward. It brought back a distant memory from being in the studio audience on Bozo the Clown. But I regress.

Timing was such that the Hewitt's were in San Francisco, so we had a nice get-together afterward.

2014 05 San Francisco Zoo

The Big AAPT Summer Loop 2013

Summer Travels: Leg 1 - Sacramento to Portland

This summer’s American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Summer Meeting was in Portland, OR this year. I took this as an invitation to create a summertime roadtrip with travel to the meeting as my first leg. Not as impressive as 2008’s roadtrip to Edmonton, AB, but we do what we can. This one had stops in Yreka, Bandon, and Astoria. Yreka so I could shoot some Northern California waterfalls and make attempts at a Mount Shasta shot worth keeping. Bandon so I could shoot sea stacks on Oregon’s lovely Pacific coast. Astoria as a transition from the coast to the Columbia Gorge. I also zipped a nearby zip-line circuit. There was physics!

Summer Travels: Leg 2 - Portland to Glacier National Park

With the close of the AAPT meeting, I was off to points east via the Columbia Gorge. I missed meeting up with Riverside alum, Pam (Krai) Pyrc in Spokane, but enjoyed lunch at Frank’s Diner. Spent a night at an awful hotel in Kennewick before heading off to Kalispell. My MacBook Pro decided it wanted to go on vacation and refused to start up. Apparently, one of the memory modules went bad. I had a second MBP with, and my iPad. And a local hardware store had the mini-screwdriver needed to get at the MBP’s innards. No data was lost, but I had to hobble along with 4GB (instead of the full 8) of RAM for the duration of the trip. I know: First World Problems! Glacier was the awesome spectacle that it always is, but there was very little sky drama that photographers hope for. I hiked out to Iceberg Lake to remind myself how non-trivial a 10+mile mountain hike can be (sometimes I forget). Spritely Zoe Zulakis would laugh at my geezerness. A subsequent walk along The Garden Wall put me up close and personal with a mountain goat.

Summer Travels: Leg 3 - Glacier to Yellowstone

It’s a good long drive from Glacier to Yellowstone. YNP’s North Entrance puts you near Mammoth Hot Springs, Rustic Falls, and various other treasures. I moved on to accommodations in West Yellowstone (late planning kept me out of in-park lodging). I crisscrossed the park in my days there and eventually met up with fellow skeptical teacher (and TAM veteran), Barbara Drescher and her family. They were in the park seeking out wildlife sightings and had done quite well. They tipped me off to the hike up (and I mean three miles of steep grade, lung-busting up) to the Mount Washburn fire lookout. I walked it near sunset and frolicked among the herd of bighorn sheep that grazed to mountain slopes. They were adolescents, so no big racks to shoot, but they weren’t exactly camera shy. I had never seen YNP so completely overrun with visitors. And these were well-fed, American visitors driving big Fords and Dodges, speaking with southern drawls. The economy is officially back!

Summer Travels: Leg 4 - Yellowstone to Grand Tetons

The Tetons were not so overrun as Yellowstone was. There was a bit of unhelpful haze that obscured some of the contrast in the views of the Tetons. But I found a nice new view to photograph, one that required a four wheels of my 4WD Nismo. And I tried my hand shooting a different dilapidated Mormon Row barn. Oxbow Bend wasn’t in full cooperation mode, and Schwabacher Landing was off limits due to the sequester. That would sting less if I had ever been down there for a shot. Restaurant find: Bubba’s BBQ—it’s a real-deal kind of place with a free-standing smokehouse, and they run out of meat if you show up too late on a busy night.

Yosemite Spring Getaway 2013

Once state tests and AP exams were done, I flew the coop for a four-day Yo-Mo-Bo weekend. (That’s Yosemite National Park, Mono Lake, and Bodie Ghost Town.) 

This was a chance to get in some more practice with the Nikon D800E, a new wifi memory card, and a new bluetooth “cable” release. When the technology is working, you can use your iPhone as a shutter release that also tags images with GPS info. Then that image can be sent to your iPhone’s camera roll for immediate sharing. 

A technical snafu (or oversight on my part) resulted in some school drama on the Monday of my long weekend. No sub showed up and I my iPhone had no wave. The school secretary worried I was face down in a pool of blood and sent teachers to my home looking for signs of life or the stench of death. They found neither. A chance Facebook connection and late breakfast at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls (with wifi) ended the drama.

2013 05 Yosemite Springtime

San Francisco 2013: Night Owls and California Academy of Sciences

I was getting itchy to shoot something, so I signed up for this evening photoshoot. We met at Baker Beach, but the Golden Gate was socked in. So we moved on to the Palace of Fine Arts (former home of San Francisco’s legendary Exploratorium). The Palace looks nice in the blue light of twilight (under the fog). 

Next it was Lombard Street, The Crookedest Street in the World™. We shot some 100+second bulb exposures when cars came through to get some nice carlight trails. I love what I got there! The final stop was The Embarcadero’s view of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Happy with what I got there, too.

The next day I visited the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. There were plenty of critter to shoot there!

2013 03 San Francisco Night Owls

2013 03 California Academy of Sciences Aperture Academy San Francisco Night Owls

Kings Canyon Sequoia 2011

Jean came out to spend some time in California, and we drove down to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park for a few days of nature walks and photo snaps. Jean navigated the tricky trail at Zumwalt Meadow, I bought really expensive gasoline from an old-timey gravity-driven pump, and we saw a bear foraging along the Congress Trail. Good times.

2011 08 Kings Canyon Sequoia Photo Album

Yosemite, Mono Lake, Bodie Springtime Getaway 2011

2011 06 Yosemite Mono Lake Bodie Springtime Getaway Photo Album

Sierra Birthday Getaway 2010

What better birthday gift to myself than getting away to Yosemite, Mono Lake, and Bodie?

2010 10 Sierra Birthday Getaway Photo Album

ORMOYOSF 2009

Jean came out to California and we motored up to ORegon to see some sights. We spent a day at Silver Falls State Park before heading to the Pacific Coast. 

We spent two days exploring the coast from Newport to Brookings before heading back to Sacramento. 

Then we bounced over to Lee Vining for a visit to MOno Lake. 

From there, we worked our way across Tioga Pass through YOsemite. Unfortunately, the valley was (once again) filled with the smoke of an ongoing fire. Seems to be the summer norm anymore. We revisited Taft Point and the Fissues; I navigated the rest of the Pohono Trail and saw what little was left of the Jeffrey Pine at Sentinel Dome. 

From Yosemite, we drove on to San Francisco. There we met up with Paul and Lillian Hewitt and enjoyed a lovely dinner and lively conversation. We even got a ride in their Prius!

2009 07 ORMOYOSF Photo Album

Yosemite Mono Lake Bodie Getaway 2009

My voluntary obligation as a member of the California's Assessment Review Panel impinged on my Spring Break, so I spent that week in Sacramento. 

When school let out, I motored down to Yosemite for a quick weekend. There was some drama in the skies, and of course, the guy with a birdcage (replete with bird) on his back. 

Since I got to Yosemite, Mono Lake wasn’t far away.

I also visited the ghost town of Bodie and made an homage to entropy photo shoot.

2009 06 Yosemite Mono Lake Bodie Getaway Photo Album

2009 06 Entropy in Bodie Photo Album

Yosemite Dressed in Winter 2007

Like it or not, we get a week off in February. Yosemite had been mostly dry and warm all winter. When the forecast called for snow, I booked a room at the lodge, loaded up the camera gear and hit the road.

As I drove in, it was still sunny and warm. But the temps dropped overnight and I woke up to wet, sticky snow. I spent a frantic day of trying to drive/hike to as many photo spots as I could get to amidst road closures and heavy snowfall conditions.

I caught a few keepers. And by the time I headed out the next day, Yosemite’s two-day Winter of ’07 was pretty much over. I lucked out on this one.

2007 02 Yosemite Dressed in Winter Winners Photo Album

2007 02 Yosemite Dressed in Winter Runners-Up Photo Album

Sequoia and Kings Canyon 2006

After sweating out a week of jury duty on-call status, I motored down to Fresno, then turned left toward the Sierras. I worked my way from south to north through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Explored a 25-mile, 700-turn, single-lane road, a cool cavern, a river roiling with snowmelt, ran across some merry marmots, a slithering snake and a breakfasting bear on the trails.

I also had to turn around a set of proof pages for the upcoming Conceptual Integrated Science lab manual. I worked that out from my motel room south of Sequoia.

2006 06 Sequoia and Kings Canyon Photo Album

Xmas in the Desert 2005

It has been long past my turn to host the holiday gathering, so I decided to invite the family to my fair state for Xmas in Death Valley.

Surprisingly, the valley is rarely more “packed” than it is over the holidays. Seems like a lot of folks think it’s the place to be for true yule cool. Jean, Heather, Mary, Bryce, Tyler, and I got to cruise the sites and scenery of the park for a few days.

We were joined by my buddy, Chris, and his fiancé, Mary as we watched the Alamo Bowl. Michigan put a resounding period at the end of its worst season in many moons by losing to Nebraska. But we had a great time during our first Xmas below sea level.

2005 12 Death Valley Xmas Photo Album

One Day in October 2005: Eastern Sierra

I headed out to the Eastern Sierra in hopes of catching some fall color on October 15th. I explored some new photo destinations in the region and eventually headed into Yosemite.

2005 10 Eastern Sierra

Yosemite Mono Bodie Summer Getaway 2004

Jean came out for a summertime Sacramento visit and we managed to sneak down to Yosemite, Mono Lake, and Bodie. Unfortunately, part of Yosemite was on fire and the smoke filled the valley and leaked out of the valley into the Mono Basin. Good shots were hard to come by, but we did our best.

2004 07 Yosemite Mono Bodie

Mono Bodie Reshoot 2003

Jean signed up for a photography workshop in Yosemite in October. I joined her on the weekend and we returned to Mono Lake and Bodie for better shots than we got in the summer. On the return to Sacramento, we drove across the Sonora Pass. Wild scenery and wild roads (including some with 26% grade.)

2003 10 Mono Bodie Photo Album

Super Summer Sojourn 2003

Arches National Park
Jean and I arrived in the early afternoon and decided to proceed directly to Devil’s Garden for baking-hot hike out to Landscape Arch and environs. I returned in the evening to get the required sunset shots at Delicate Arch. The next day we toured Balanced Rock, The Windows Section, Skyline Arch, and Park Avenue before motoring on to

Durango
We met up with Heather and Tyler. We rode the D&SNGRR train to Silverton. Caught some excellent scenery and a cinder for both eyes. It was the 4th of July, so we got a fireworks show as well. From there, we proceeded the short distance to

Mesa Verde National Park
I took an afternoon tour of Balcony House; we all took a whole-day tour of the park, ending with a hands-on tour of Cliff Palace. Ten days after we left, lightning strikes started fires in the Park that caused an evacuation and closure. But for the moment, we were off to

Grand Canyon National Park
to enjoy the sights from the rim. I also managed to sneak in a few hikes below the rim. Jean arranged for us to take a float trip along the Colorado River through the twists, turns, cold water and hot air of Glenn Canyon. Next we headed northeast to

Monument Valley
and Goulding’s Lodge. Jean and I snuck into the Tribal Park before closing and got some sunset shots of the monuments. The next day we got a full tour of the park with a Navajo guide. Then it was back to Durango where Heather and Tyler headed back to Michigan. Jean and I motored south to

Chaco Culture National Historical Park
It’s 17 miles of dirt road into and out of the park. The Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloan) ruins are amazing, though. On our way to Bryce Canyon we stopped off for a quick tour of the

Antelope Canyon Slot Canyons
Spectacular erosional sandstone geology. Extremely difficult to photograph. A quick photo op at

Red Rock Canyon before entering Bryce Canyon
We hiked the rim and drove to the distant viewpoints. Then it was off to

Zion National Park
Zion Canyon is a desert swamp with more varieties of plant life than can be found in Hawaii. Red rock scale model of Yosemite? After a scary stopover in Tonopah, NV (don’t ever go there), we landed in Lee Vining, CA for another installment of the

Mono Lake/Bodie
pilgrimage before heading into

Yosemite National Park
The sky had been uncooperative since Bryce Canyon. But now it was getting plain nasty. Our attempts at morning and evening shots at Mono were closed down by cloudy skies or outright electrical storms. We got more of the same in Yosemite. We shot what we could while we were there. That’s all you can ever do!

Kings Canyon 2003

Because of an apparent psychological defect, I have a need to be intimidated by my own camera. So I got a Canon EOS 10D digital SLR. With big travel plans looming just a few weeks ahead, I decided I needed to get out of Dodge and learn a few picture-taking basics on this beast of a camera. On a tip from Linsey, I headed to Kings Canyon (east of Fresno, north of Sequoia National Park). The scenery is beautiful; the air quality is not. Yosemite meets LA. Linsey’s eventually gonna fix the air there. Anyway, I snapped what I could on my self-inflicted crash course.

2003 06 Kings Canyon Photo Album

Yosemite Mono Bodie - Autumn 2002

I snuck out of town for a weekend getaway to Yosemite, Mono Lake, and Bodie. It was a bit smokey (there was a control burn in progress on the road across Tioga Pass), but the weather was nice and the crowds were surprisingly thick. I made it to Glacier Point, but the trail to Sentinel Dome was too packed to attempt. Proceeded to Mirror Meadow before crossing Tioga Pass to Lee Vining. Unlike what had been the case in March, Lee Vining was mobbed and noisy. There wasn’t a room to be had, so I stayed in Mammoth Lake. Visited the ghost town of Bodie the next morning. Then made the South Tufa loop in the afternoon. Then it was north on US 395 and over Monitor Pass and back to Sacramento.

2002 10 Yosemite Mono Lake Bodie Photo Album

Spring Break 395 - 2002

Spring Break 2002 I headed down US395. After driving several hours to get to Lee Vining, I recall a deafening silence when I emerged from the car. It was as if sound were being sucked out of my ears, it was so quiet. I visited the tuffs at Mono Lake, then headed down to Lone Pine, where I saw the Alabama Hills and Mount Whitney. I dipped into Death Valley (and got buzzed by a couple of Navy pilots) before making my final run to San Diego.

There I met up with Paul Hewitt, John Suchoki, and Leslie Abrams Hewitt. We gave a talk on the new Conceptual Physical Science Explorations textbook and lab manual. I also met Phil Wolf while at NSTA.

B&GER Entry: I hit the highway for backroad trip through the back side of California. First stop: Lee Vining and Mono Lake. In Late March, Lee Vining is a quiet, quiet town. I got some early and late morning shots of the tufas, had breakfast at Nicely’s, and headed down US 395 to Lone Pine. Woke up to a sunlit view of Mt. Whitney (highest peak in the lower 48). In a quest to get an unobstructed shot of the peak, I drove through the Alabama Hills, an evocative landscape where many of the old Hollywood westerns were shot. But I was due in Death Valley, where I was welcomed by an overhead salute from a pair of Navy pilots from a nearby base. It was a quick in-and-out in Death Valley, as I was next due in San Diego for a professional rendezvous with the authors of Conceptual Physical Science—Explorations. We co-presented a session at the National Science Teachers’ Association convention. Bedazzled by the enormity of the meeting, I stayed too long, and missed my date to see Natalie Merchant in Bakersfield. Oh well, it was an incredible spring break nonetheless.

2002 03 Spring Break 395 Photo Album

iMovie Bonus: Spring Break 395