Flowers

These were all in someone's garden down in Palos Verdes.

Carrizo Plain

Lee and I took the dogs for a day trip to Carrizo Plains, just outside of Taft on the way to the beach. It was a beautiful day! Breezy but sunny with blue skies and puffy white clouds. The dogs had so much fun running around in the outdoors, here are a few pics.

Sorry Rachel, you were too short to see out.

Gorgeous Blue Skies!

Day Two: Ferndale

July 18th, 2008
Second Stop: Ferndale

As we drove north, the day started to get a little gray and colder. We stopped in Ferndale to see all the Victorian Mansions, shop and have lunch downtown. There were so many amazing houses and churches so I hung out the car window taking as many pictures as I could. When we got out to walk around it was still pretty chilly, so it was time to get out sweaters and Uggs. The weather was a nice break from the 100+ temperatures we left in Bakersfield.

The clouds went away for a little while and the contrast of the blue sky and yellow paint was so pretty!

Many houses had wildflowers growing in the front yard and most had a single cat playing in the flowers. A lot of the cats were overweight which makes me think they find some pretty good meals in the grass.

I love the attention to detail that went into building these houses!

Day Two - Leggetts

July 18th, 2008

First Stop: Leggetts, CA
Friday we woke up in Ukiah and after a scrumptious breakfast at the famous Samoa Cookhouse, we set out for our next stopping point in Eureka, California. It was only a 5 hour drive up the 101 but we made a few stops along the way.

We were going to just stop at a gas station for a pee stop but instead I saw a sign that said Leggetts was the "Home of the Drive-Thru Tree" - who wouldn't want to drive through a big redwood tree? I took some more pictures on our way to see the tree and around the area. Unfortunately, the "drive-thru" part was created when cars were much smaller and narrower, so Lee's truck and trailer with quads and motorcyle were too big to drive through. But we did get out and walk through and take a bunch of pictures.

Before we got to Leggetts we drove through Willits...though every town we went through said that they were the "Gateway to the Redwoods"...

Even this mini-van didn't look like it was going to make it through...

Lee's truck definitely wouldn't make it...so we got out and took our picture in it instead!!!!

Day One

July 17th, 2008

So here are my favorite photos from the first day of travel. We stopped in Ukiah and were lucky to find a hotel since all the firefighters who had traveled to fight fires were based out of Ukiah and had taken up all the hotel rooms. We finally found one and after a late night dinner at the local 24-hr diner, we hit the sack.

And here is a slide show of a bunch more pics. Almost all of these pictures I'm posting were taken from the passenger side of my husband's truck, shooting out his window. Most the time it was closed, so you may see a smudge or two from the glass. Think of it as character.

Quick Update

So you may be wondering where my Oregon pictures are...well, my plan didn't exactly work out the way I wanted...I figured I'd have internet acccess in my two hotel rooms before we got to the main house in Oregon and I thought the house would have WiFi. I was wrong. While our first hotel did have WiFi, it was the SLOWEST internet connection in history. I guess that's why it was free. The other hotel on the way and the Motel 6 on the way back both charged for WiFi. The house, although it was amazing and had every other amenity known to man, did not have even an option of plug-in internet. So, all my photos from the road are on my laptop and I am going through them to get the most post-worthy pictures together for your viewing pleasure. Check back for a slightly-delayed pictorial of my road trip to Oregon.

Photos From The Road

Though I am just getting started in formal portrait photography, I have taken travel photos as long as I've had a camera. A large portion of those travel photos have been taken in motion - from a car, a plane, a bus, a boat, etc. I've always wanted to put together a collection of photos specifically taken en route, ie, photos from the road so I'm finally going to give it a try.

Thursday Lee, his parents and I take off for a long drive to Oregon for a week of fishing, boating and quad riding in the dunes up there. I plan on taking pictures throughout the drive and throughout our day trips. Some of them I will post here, but for the sake of space and formatting, most will be posted on my smug mug site. I'm really excited about this project! Check back often during the next week and a half for new photos from the road....

Here are a few from prior adventures: