The bay area is notable for its gentle climate but this is never more true than during the spring. Even Berkeley is full of color, with flowers everywhere. These flowers were just hanging out on the sidewalk.
Tag: outdoors
Coastal Battery
On the recent trip to Muir woods we took a trip over to an old coastal battery turned park overlooking the ocean. Well, not much really overlooks the coast on a foggy morning like this. It sort of makes one wonder how effective these overlooks were, at least early in the morning. Almost makes you wonder what’s hiding out there in the fog.
Even if it is more Silent Hill than Far Cry the view is a neat one.
Water Lillies
Another shot from UBC’s Nitobe memorial garden, this time of water lilies floating serenely on the surface of one of the pools. The arrangement of the leaves above the surface of leaves really does give the impression that every leaf, every petal on each flower has been hand placed for a specific effect.
Forest Bridge
This shot of, I believe, bridge 3 in the picturesque Muir Woods is proof that it really is the early bird that gets the worm. Early in the morning you feel almost like you’re the only person around, it is really a spectacular place which is definitely a spot to visit if you ever find yourself in the bay area. Having recently experienced it for the first time it really makes me wonder why I didn’t make it up here earlier.
Alpine Peak
This one’s another from my trip to Obergurgl this past fall and comes from a short hike just beyond Obergurgl proper. The trail was a bit icy and snowy in bits and the three of us weren’t super well equipped for the terrain but man were some of the vistas spectacular, looking up at peaks like this one, or down toward rivers at the bottom of the valley we were flanking.
Northwest Sunset
Sunset over Puget Sound are always something special (assuming its not too overcast!), with views towards mountains and the silhouettes of small pleasure craft anchored just off shore.
The Turtle
At the center of the Nitobe Memorial Garden lies a peaceful pool filled with Koi, and in the middle of that pool lies the “Island of Eternity,” a small island in the shape of a turtle, pictured here.
Vancouver Sky
There’s something magnificent about the views around Vancouver of the hills and the water. There’s something even more amazing about those same views around sunset when the sky just absolutely fills with color. For these reasons, among others, Vancouver’s got to be one of my favorite places on this planet.
That and if you walk around long enough you start to recognize locales featured in MacGyver.
Puget Sound and the Olympics
This view of the Olympics towering over Puget sound, from the community beach near where I grew up, always gets me. Just stunning.
The Olympics (the mountains)
Snow peaked, and with a nice alpenglow, the Olympic mountains in the morning are one of the more spectacular sights to be seen from Seattle (behind, of course, the massive Mt. Rainier which looms over the city). On this unusually calm, clear (not to mention cold) morning I was able to grab this shot of Puget Sound in front of the Olympics, along with two Ferries making the Fauntleroy-Vashon run.
‘Tis slightly past the season
There’s a holly tree in my parents’ back yard which in the winter seemingly attracts every bird in the area. It also happens to be about the most colorful thing in the Northwest (apart from the sunrises/sunsets).
Alpine Clock tower
Captured on the same trip that gave me the opportunity to capture the previous shots of Obergurgl I grabbed this shot from closer to the center of the village. I thought he combination of the pointy clock tower and the mountains which virtually encircle the village was pretty neat.
Beach Cairn
I went down to the beach to try out my new Christmas present on this fine PNW morning. I’ll have to admit that I constructed the mini-cairn myself, but I thought the texture in the rocks and on the rock surface was cool so I decided to post it anyway. I might have to try to pose things and create shots more often.
Merry Christmas! Obergurgl
Another shot of Obergurgl, this time in the morning from the University Center where the conference was that I was attending. Obergurgl was just spectacular, though a little resort-y and this shot gives you an idea of what the bulk of the village looks like.
I hope everyone is having a happy holidays!
Redwoods
Here’s a shot I captured during an excursion to Portola Redwoods state park in northern California. I didn’t have my DSLR with me and so I was stuck with my iPhone but I figured that I would see what I could do with an iPhone shot with my usual suite of photo tools.
Decaseconds 