John & Anne Wiley

2011/08/10

Why We Fly

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 21:53

Flying to Oceano is a good example of why we fly. For about the cost of driving all day in mind-numbing freeway traffic to reach this beach, we did it all in a couple of glorious hours. The journey itself was refreshing, breathtaking… and far beyond what words (or photos) can convey are the array of much more powerful pleasant experiences during the flight. Even our precious memories of flights are vastly short of what it is to be there. Pick your fav photo from all our aerials, then remember it’s a tiny slice of what we saw at that moment and only captures a dim expression of what that little part really looks like. So after enjoying perhaps an hour of such scenes, here’s a slice of the dunes as we approached to land.

2893 Moment In Time

2893 Moment In Time

The shifting dunes of our perception take in the overwhelming beauty in ripples like these.

sigh…

So after dabbling in the surf we strolled the dunes. I picked up a plastic bag that had lodged in the grasses, and we started pausing to pick up trash. Felt good to honor one of our fav places by making it more pristine for others and perhaps sparing wildlife from harm.

2909 Color Me Happy

2909 Color Me Happy

It’s so sweet to share the glory of life, and the values that led us to clean up the swath of dunes along our stroll together. Back at the airport we saw a Piper Pacer taking off, and I mused about having considered buying one of those instead of Tripp. While it’s a cute plane, I’m very happy with our choice.

2916 Piper Pacer

2916 Piper Pacer

The paint is such a dark red that I had to overexpose the photo so it’s not mostly silhouette. Back in the air ourselves, we flew over Avila Beach before turning toward home. Avila looked so beautiful that even this photo that as usual doesn’t really convey the vista, still evoked in me the title of this post.

2929 Why We Fly

2929 Why We Fly

Imagine living in a time and place that permits ordinary people like us to share an experience like this!

2011/08/09

Just Right

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 20:11

Santa Barbara is the land of Goldilocks. Just Right. Not just the moderate micro-climate weather all year long, but the variety and mixture of micro-geology and city culture with open wilderness. On our Perfect Ten flight Sunday to Oceano, we chose a route along the edge of low clouds that keep Summer temperatures from reaching the uncomfortable levels common in LA.

2855 Air Conditioner

2855 Air Conditioner

It’s always a delight on such days, to climb quickly into clear blue skies and spot the beaches where sun reaches for sunbathers among the others, where quiet couples stroll in the cool quiet. The hills and reservoirs look all the more beautiful somehow, and usually the distant islands are poking their sleepy heads up for a look around.

On such days Vandenberg is often the last to clear up, though the curve of coastline out to low mountains at the North end can show a slice of water to complement the lovely rolling hills.

2882 Cloud Caress

2882 Cloud Caress

Just beyond, we crossed the coast at Guadelupe Dunes where clear skies opened beyond. I turned a lazy circle over the beach to look back at the mingling of colors and textures as we descended to fly along the waves toward Oceano.

2888 Dune Lagoon

2888 Dune Lagoon

Last Five

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:44

Today I’ll post the last five of my fav pix from Fiesta. Yesterday we enjoyed a Perfect Ten flight to Oceano, but I haven’t looked at those pix yet because today was meditation during a root canal. Though the procedure went fine, maybe it would have helped to meditate on yesterday’s flight or the colorful parade.

2761 Equestrian Bouquet

2761 Equestrian Bouquet

The dresses sometimes created an effect like slow moving floral arrangements. Some of the horses had amazing long wavy manes.

2778 Mane Event

2778 Mane Event

One of the groups in the parade represented the people who service our National Forest up in the mountains, both routinely and (to enthusiastic cheers when the sideline announcer mentioned it), during wildfires.

2786 Forest Servicers

2786 Forest Servicers

I was surprised how many mules were in the parade and, like the ones pulling the wagon below, they all seemed quite patient.

2792 Mule Wagon

2792 Mule Wagon

Maybe there are new good-tempered breeds or new tricks that belie the cliche, “stubborn as a mule?” As you can see at the bottom-right of that pic, an equestrian parade produces ample reason to watch your step. I was reminded of that as the end of the parade passed, and thousands of people surged into the street to walk up State Street.

2813 People Parade

2813 People Parade

Everyone was in high spirits, including the girl bottom-left who just walked through a memento. Guess these are all horse people.

2011/08/07

Equestria

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 08:58

We watched “Secretariat” before the parade, and it added to our enjoyment of all the equestrian variety in Friday’s parade. There was also some welcome diversity in the riders, and a variety of period costumes making it more interesting.

2722 Variety

2722 Variety

There was also a variety of wagons and carriages, plus I noticed a lot of mules like the one riding escort here.

2724 Mule Escort

2724 Mule Escort

Of course there were also a variety of musical offerings, including this marching band. I liked the expressions on the guy lofting a horn and especially the drummer behind him.

2739 Band Expressions

2739 Band Expressions

We were pretty far along the parade route, so they must have been hot and tired by the time we saw them. I was pleased to see that most everyone was still looking happy and enthusiastic by the time they reached us, and I wondered if this friendly group was in one of the stagecoaches that used to make the arduous climb from SB up to Cold Spring Tavern.

2747 Stagecoach

2747 Stagecoach

In addition to the equestrian magnificence, many women were wearing beautiful dresses of the period that I’m imaging were hand-made.

2756 Period Dresses

2756 Period Dresses

2011/08/06

Viva!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 03:34

We took a break from helping at a shop working on Tripp, and drove downtown for the Fiesta Parade. We took quite a few pix, but here are two favs.

2736 Colorful Fiesta

2736 Colorful Fiesta

The costumes and decorated horses make it so colorful, and everyone’s having such a great time.

2742 Rope Trick

2742 Rope Trick

Many of the riders put on a show, prancing their horses, having them show off tricks like walking sideways or backward, and several like this guy did rope tricks. One of them even threw a lasso around a photographer standing in the street. After the parade we walked over a mile back to the car to finish up Tripp. Then of course we had to take her on a test flight, so we went over the city and saw big crowds everywhere and several more colorful events. Downtown there’s a mercado.

2849 Mercado

2849 Mercado

Maybe you’ll notice the vertical row of blue umbrellas near the center-top as I did, and want to check out whether that’s seating for a restaurant. Across the street in the downtown outdoor walking mall there was a dancing performance in the courtyard.

2850 Dancers

2850 Dancers

So we’re happy and tired. Part of my happy is that a few minor problems with Tripp are now fixed, thanks to a new mechanic who had more time available to tweak her than our regular mechanic who’s swamped with work. Now we need to dream up somewhere to fly this weekend…

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