Sometimes in life, a whimsy invites the adventurous. Today we accepted the invitation, and a couple of hours ago we saw this.
3998 Old Gold
With good weather today and rain hopes in the week ahead, we’re glad. Now settling for the nite and tomorrow…
2014/03/31
2014/03/29
Temptation
This first pic shows a temptation pilots see often, and the last pic in this post shows something that adds to it in this particular spot just as other spots often have their own special cases.
1567 Teasing Tripp
It’s as if Tripp’s cousin here is saying, “I’m happy to be here, but you’re not invited.” But of course the plane’s not saying that. That message is spelled out in the little letter “R” at the top-left. That means despite looking so tempting this is a Restricted landing strip, only to be used by invitation or in emergencies. Flying over such spots, a few times friends have jokingly asked, “Doesn’t the engine sound a little rough to you?” But pilots respect the privacy of private airstrips, and have even dreamed of one day having one though with our meager funds that’s never going to happen. So instead I just take it all in from a respectful distance, and dream of living in a place like this just minutes by air from Santa Barbara.
1559 Airstrip Owner
The beautiful grass strip where Tripp’s cousin is parked, is just off the bottom-right end of this pic. There’s an old building that looks like a church and/or schoolhouse with a cemetery, so this was probably at one time a small town. It’s out on Santa Cruz Island, and across a ridge to the North is this smaller settlement that’s presumably related.
1561 North Shore Dock
As I said, many private and Restricted airports have additional temptations nearby. In this case, not just the little communities and the many hiking trails. There are also many sea caves nearby on the South shore of the island where raging storms carve the shore and giant waves nibble at the feet of tall cliffs.
1577 South Shore Cave
Comments Off on Temptation
2014/03/28
Home Tourism
We like it when visitors come, because it often gets us out doing the “tourist” things around town. It’s been a while since we visited the Harbor, for example.
140253 Rainy Harbor
So when dear friends from NYC were here on a stormy February day, we enjoyed the reflective views there again. We also discovered the viewing deck atop the Maritime Museum as clouds parted and a rainbow appeared offshore.
165252 Promise of Sun
From there, the gull’s eye view out past the Harbor to the city and mountains beyond is more expansive.
165258 Good Gull View
Over at Stearn’s Wharf which we do seem to visit more often between visitors, we swapped photo ops with our friends. Much more fun than Selfies. 🙂
120243 Looking At Friends
Comments Off on Home Tourism
Happy Redhead
We enjoyed discovering this happy red-headed woodpecker. Anne noticed the sound first, but a moment earlier I’d seen him fly to the tree. We both paused to watch him carefully store an acorn.
1498 Choosing Where
He hopped around looking for the perfect place, then after choosing he hopped away a few inches to admire the excellence of his choice.
1493 Admiring
He seemed completely oblivious to us standing nearby admiring him. It was only later looking at the pix, we could see how well-supplied his larder is. The tree is completely stuff with stored acorns, making me wonder if he’ll ever use even a small fraction of his supply.
Comments Off on Happy Redhead
2014/03/27
Cloudscapes
Clouds are like rocks, perhaps. Just as I’m fascinated by the glorious rock formations in our mountains, I love watching the clouds dance with the mountains as they thrill to the setting sun.
1457 Mountain Wave
The show often begins with a cloud like this waving at the mountains. The aviator in me also knows that it signals an interesting ride for planes crossing the mountains, because of the wave of air uplifted to create those lenticular clouds. Then looking West, the cloud shapes and textures are completely different as the day continues fading.
1447 Texture
Just before the colors begin to magically drain away, darkening edges sound a final pipe organ chord of deeper blue and brassy orange announcing the coming enchantments of Night.
1454 Final Notes
Comments Off on Cloudscapes
John & Anne Wiley 
You must be logged in to post a comment.