We began going through the back country unaware of what we were going to get into. After turning off CA 25 onto New Idria Road, we stopped at the New Idria Mine to shoot some old mine buildings:

New Idria Mine building

The mine elevation is about 1,200 meters. Founded in the late 1800′s for it’s extensive deposits of cinnabar. Cinnabar is an ore rich in mercury, which was used to extract gold during the California gold rush. Later the mine produced mercury for manufacturing in the US

The above image is actually an HDR image of 4 exposures.

We continued on and the road eventually turned from gravelly dirt to a washed out, 4WD vehicle only road that switched back and forth up to an elevation of about 4,000 feet. Here’s a view from on the way to the top. The road (gullywash?) we were on can be seen carved into the hillside on the left:

Clear Creek Road (4WD Only) over the San Benito Mountain range

Further up the road near the top this image couldn’t be passed up:

This was about 5 miles into the off road journey. Heading down we followed Clear Creek. The rocks in this part of the mountains were either reddish, greenish, or very reflective like mica. This is a shot of Clear Creek with some of the rock colors:

Clear Creek off of New Idria Road

The green is serpentine and the bright reflective surfaces both on the front rock and on the hill on the left are from embedded asbestos which was also mined in the area. The red on the side of the creek and in the rocks is cinnabar ore containing mercury.

Finally, 4 hours and 12 miles later we made it over the mountains into Coalinga by the Hernandez Reservoir. It was nice to finally find some wild flowers:

Coalinga Wildflowers and Barn

Coalinga Oak

It was a really surreal day in a bizarre place. Glad to be home….

Matt wears his birthday well!

Zoe and Darra flew in for Darra’s bridal shower. The girls got fancy for the occasion and, of course, I think they look beautiful. I feel very lucky to be able to be with my three girls:

My Beauties!

Everyone was dressed up for the celebration:

Dragon Bride

Of course, not my cup of tea to attend a bridal shower, so I headed downtown. The Apple Store is usually interesting: mostly young folks convincing their parents to buy them the newest glitz. I think these parents were using their youngsters as an excuse…

Young iPhans

Finally, the day after it’s some shopping for school necessities before the youngest flies back. Sticker shock sets in:

Can you believe this?

No!

Tonight the house will be sadly more quiet…

First, however, one must be acutely aware of the dangers of garden photography:

Photographers Beware

Now for the flowers:

Tulip Patch

Space Buds

Mixture

Fruit Blossoms

Ranunculus (I think)

One Last Tulip

Lots of flowers: hopefully next post will be the wildflowers of the Sierra Foothills.

Darker Japanese Magnolia

Final Glory

Fallen Camelia

For some reason, walking around, I was drawn to the different entrance ways of people’s houses. Things seemed to be spruced and livened up a bit as if to begin the celebration of spring.

Porch Flower Pot

Everywhere There Little Piggies

Sitting Under The Flowers

Orchids and Sun

And my favorite was the miniature replica of the house. Like looking in the mirror image of a mirror image of a mirror image…

Wished they’d put a small replica in the front of the small replica.

Twins

Some, though, are just being neglected though still trying to retain past dignity.

Neglect

As for the pacificsm, it’s a bit of a stretch, but it made for a catchy page title…

Idaho Pacifist

And finally, nothing to do with petals, portals and pacifism; just Huddy having a ball:

Rush Limp Paw

Japanese Magnolia I

Japanese Magnolia II

Japanese Magnolia III

I have no idea what type of tree this is, but they were just busting out:

Bloom

Every now and again you run across a new breed of flower on a bush. I did find its Latin name:

Sub Ubi

It’s always a pleasure to run across the work of an artist who is happy with the world:

Happy Artist

Finally, Hudson hones his squirrel spotting technique in preparation for his first trip to Yosemite:

SQUIRREL!!

Hopefully some snow and rock pics for next week…

A heart, of course:

And flowers:

The days pass by so quickly…

Make everyday valentine’s day for those you love!

So here we go with just walking around photos and excursions for February.

Last weekend was mad. Finishing up matting and framing for an exhibit at the Gallery House in Palo Alto. Here’s what most of it looks like:

My First Installation

The rest of the week was very uncooperative weather-wise. Not only that but the day job was non-stop 10 – 12 hour days. So the only chance I’ve really had to walk around was Friday at lunch. Here’s what it looked like before the walk outside my office window:

Storm Headed South

At the beginning, it didn’t look good for continuing the walk:

Ominous Weather

But it did get better. It appears with all this rain and breaks of sunshine, the plants are getting a bit fooled and thinking it’s spring. I guess this is a good shot of Bay Area Snow:

Winter Snow Bay Area Style

There were a few other signs of spring. Rediculous for this time of year, isn’t it?

This feline seemed to be waiting around for assurance it wasn’t going to start dumping outside again:

Warm and Dry

Apparently others had ideas of how to keep warm…

Bottles

This guy was a bit braver:

Wary Adventurer

For some reason this view caught my eye. Though I don’t usually like images with cars and streets in them, I do like this one:

Through the Trees

The walk ended going back over the train tracks to work. With the clouds, the view warranted an image:

Track View

So off to a weekend of desk work. Sure wish I was in Disneyland!!