San Clemente

Greetings!

On a recent trip to visit our friends Art and Anne in San Clemente, we took a walk out on the pier. While I spent most of my surfing days as a youth in the San Diego area, the life calls out to me whenever I'm close to waves. These photos were taken on a nice day with a small swell providing some good rides.










To see the rest of the photos I took that day, click on: San Clemente

Gregory

May 10th, South to Moro Bay

Greetings!

About 15 minutes into our visit to the Monterey Aquarium on Saturday, my camera battery gave out. But I did get a few shots of the otters and a school of anchovies.


Today, we drove south on Hwy 1 to Moro Bay. Along the way, we were able to view hundreds of young elephant seals sunning on the beach near San Simeon.





Slurping an ice cream on the boardwalk at Moro Bay, we discovered six California Coastal Trail markers affixed to the wooden fenceposts. Good work, Coastwalk!

For a look at more photos from the coast south of Monterey, click on: May 10th

May 8th, Seaside, Monterey Coast

Greetings!

We're driving down the California coast to see some friends in San Clemente. Leaving a wonderful Mother's Day fundraiser for Marin Abused Women's Services at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael, we inched our way through very slow freeway traffice south of San Francisco to the Best Western Resort Hotel in Seaside.

These photos are of the hotel and the beach just before we head to the restaurant for dinner. Tommorrow, we check out the area, and meet some friends for dinner and a walk.
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Monday, February 23, Santa Rosa

Greetings!

We're home. It was a very long series of flights from Northern Chile to Santiago to Dallas to San Francisco, and a bus ride to Santa Rosa. Thankfully, we were so tired from the bad bed in Atacama that we slept for most of the main flight. We're sorting through mail today after a great night's sleep on the best bed in the world.

Thanks to all who followed our adventure, and to Pat's brother and his wife, who watched over the house. We'll be local for a while until the summer when we drive the Airstream up to Vancouver for a month. In September, it's off to Paris and Africa until the end of October. Look for lots of photos and blogs again during those adventures. I may out some of the photos from this trip into videos for YouTube. I'll provide a post here to link to them if I do.

And I haven't forgotten my promise to put together some personalized photo sets for many of the members of our tour group. We'll be dealing with some personal family medical issues in the next weeks, but I will get them finished and sent off as I can. Thanks to all of you for helping make our trip so wonderful.

Friday, February 20th, Sky High Geysers in the Andes

Greetings!

Early this morning, we boarded a bus for a ride up the most rugged road to the highest point we've been without an airplane. Leaving the desert behind, we climbed to geyser field, where the precise temperature of the earth around them combines with the heat of the water to unleash the spurts and gushes that attract the tourists from all over the world. It's the highest such phenomenon known, and the only advise I can give you should you decide to make the journey is to wear layers. It was cold. I, like a complete idiot, wore sandals, thin pants, t-shirt, and a light golf jacket. Pat was smarter, and got to stay out longer and see a bit more.

The air at 13,400 feet is also thinner than I expected, and I wasn't as quick on my feet in pursuing the right shot angles. I think you'll get the point by what was captured, however. And no, we didn't swim in the large thermal pool near the parking lot. These people are far more rugged (or crazy) than we are.

On the way back down the mountain, we stopped to see vicunas (un-domesticated llamas), llamas, flamingos, and lots of great landscapes. A small town offered views of life at this altitude, and a chance to eat llama meat (we declined).

For a look at the photos of the day, click on: Sky High Geysers

Thursday, February 19th, Volcano and Salt Lake

Greetings!

The mountains so dominate the views around here that I had to take the morning on which we had no tours –and go get a picture of the volcano (Lascar, 5154 meters) which towers behind the town. I started with a photo from our room porch over the wall. When the telephone lines got in the picture, I decided to walk east through the town seeking a clearer picture with more mountain in it. An hour and a dozen photos later, I was on the outskirts of the town, and had found my way through many yards and neighborhoods where tourists rarely go. But the shots were better.

Our tour today took us to a failed agricultural experiment, an Andes river ravine where rhyolite is quarried to build local houses, and the Salt Lake to see flamingos. I’m a little tired, and going to let the photos tell the story. We’re getting up a 3:30am tomorrow to go to the geysers for our last tour.

To see the photos taken today, click on: Volcano and Salt Lake

Wednesday, February 18th, Garden of Eden

Greetings!

We’re sleeping at 8,000 feet above sea level. It doesn’t seem like it, because the landscape is flat with huge mountains off in the distance. Breathing isn’t difficult, but not a piece of cake either. When you drive up to 10,000, hiking up and down canyons can be a bit slower.



That’s what we did this morning. The thermal pools, which are called “Termas de Puritama”, are a stretch of a river which flows into another river which has its source in some hot springs. It creates about ten small pools along 300 yards of canyon which vary from 95 degrees to 80 degrees, and are surrounded by pampas grass and boulders. Many have waterfalls, and the locals have built a web of wooden walking bridges which lead you down to platforms from which to enter the pools. Nearby are changing rooms and eating areas.

It really is quite like being in the Garden of Eden without the apple tree and the snake.









It’s 3pm now. We’ve had lunch at small restaurant close to the hotel (goat cheese, tomato, and avocado sandwiches and fruit juices), and we’re resting in our room. A weird rain just hit, and the smell of it caught Pat’s attention before we saw it out the window. We have no tour for this afternoon, and will probably just hang out. Left for the remainder of our time are the flamingos at the salt flat, and an early morning-all day trip to another hot springs on Friday. Saturday, we fly to Santiago, visit the Archeological Museum all day killing time until the 11:30pm flight to Dallas and then SF. We arrive in SF on Sunday morning at 10am, and catch an bus back home. Next bed is our own.

To look at the photos for the day, click on: Thermal Hot Springs at 10,000 feet