Back to California

I've about run out of pictures from the California trip. Here's a panorama I stitched together of one of the historic bridges along Hwy. 1. The limitations of my blog template don't really do this justice.

More coast

Here's another picture from the coast south of Carmel. This is probably my favorite picture of the coast.

Surfin'

On our way to the airport, we stopped briefly in Santa Cruz. Unbeknownst to us, a "big swell" was coming in. The local surfing community was ready and waiting. From what I could tell, most of them wiped out but had fun trying.

Pacific Coast

Here's a few more pictures of the Pacific Coast along Highway 1 south of Carmel. It's an amazing drive. Looking at these photos now a couple of weeks after we were there, I'm a little bummed about all the haze. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to go back sometime.

If I had to guess, I'd say the bird is a golden eagle. I know birders get really testy when birds are incorrectly identified, so if I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

More California critters

A few more pictures from our recent vacation. Boats and sea lions. Spring is going to hit Iowa very soon. I'll have flowers and green stuff to shoot here, so I better finish up these California pictures soon.

Pebble Beach

Here's a tree on the Pebble Beach golf course. It's not the famous tree, but that's ok.

Lighthouse

Here's a lighthouse in Pacific Grove. If I remember right, it's the Point Pinos lighthouse. We didn't get a chance to go through it, but it looked pretty cool just after the sun went down. And, as you can tell, it's still a working lighthouse.

California Coast

Here are the first two of what could end up being a lot of pictures that I shot along Highway 1 between Carmel and Big Sur. I knew it would be pretty, but it took my breath away.

Aquarium

After whale watching, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. As it turns out, it was probably a little too much fish for one day. Either that or the Dramamine was working a little too hard. We both felt a little sleepy and a little wobbly while we were there. It had some cool exhibits though. I found the jelly fish to be especially appealing. Here are some pictures:

Whale watching

On our first morning in California, our ship set sail on a three hour tour. We were hoping to see some whales. After about two and a half hours, I was thinking we were going to get skunked. While we didn't see any whales, we did see what seemed like hundreds of these dolphins. They're Risso's Dolphins, and they were fun to watch as they swam through the swells and jumped out of the water from time to time. I'd still like to see a whale, but this was a pretty good consolation prize.

Carmel Beach

A couple of dogs had fun playing in the water while we were watching sunset on Carmel Beach.

Finally

I've finally got some new photos to post. I just got back from a short trip to the California coast. I took a lot of pictures, but it wasn't truly a photo trip. I'll start with the view from our hotel room.