John & Anne Wiley

2011/07/12

All Kinds

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 03:12

One of the things we love about SB is the way cultures and classes mix more readily than in many other communities. On our 7/8 flight we got an aerial glimpse of that. Goleta Beach near the airport & UCSB is popular with a wide variety of people from across the spectrum.

1646 Goleta Beach

1646 Goleta Beach

Just a mile or two away, most homes in Hope Ranch are owned by gazillionaires, and we got a rare directive from ATC to fly relatively low over it for this closer look.

1652 Hope Ranch

1652 Hope Ranch

In between though, we enjoyed again one of our fav local sites just past Goleta Beach. Does this look like a scene from Maui?

1648 Maui, CA

1648 Maui, CA

So lush and “beachy” looking. I like to imagine sitting on the veranda sipping a mai tai listening to the tropical birds and gentle surf, watching a small plane slide past offshore.

2011/07/06

Desert Sunset Memories

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 22:01

When I was a kid living on the edge of the sun-baked SoCA desert, we often had intricate sunsets with layers of finely textured clouds. Last night I enjoyed watching one here in balmy coastal SB, and it reminded me of those austere desert skies of my youth.

1598 Desert Beach Sky

1598 Desert Beach Sky

The crescent moon flirting with the clouds in gentle SB breezes created the feeling of a desert oasis.

1602 Desert Moon

1602 Desert Moon

Over the mountains a gathering thunderstorm worked up a grumpy clump of clouds towering into the last light while our quiet town seemed to hunker down in anxious silence.

1606 Grump Tower

1606 Grump Tower

2011/07/02

Deep Breath

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 23:08

We took a quick and quiet flight over SB today, and even more than yesterday’s sunset flight the views were breathtaking. But a better word might be breathmaking, because several times we each would take a deep breath looking at the scenes. Tripp finally got out of her annual inspection last night at sunset, so of course we immediately went on a short flight. In the Santa Ynez Valley, some smoke from recent small fires was still hanging in the air to give magical accents to the sunset hues.

1530 Smoky SYV Sunset

1530 Smoky SYV Sunset

Today we stayed over SB, and it was lovely with fog hanging along the beach. Alas, I’d left my camera set at high-speed from last night so most of my pix are overexposed. This one of Tangerine Falls came out ok, and if you click it to see the large version (or better yet click my Photo Page link in the right column here and see a larger one) you can make out people who’ve made the hike up to bathe in the rock pool at the base.

1564 Tangerine (Flip) Falls

1564 Tangerine (Flip) Falls

Until readers on Edhat had shared the name, I called it Flip Flop Falls because after a heavy rain it flips several times on the way down. Looking at the Summer growth of tangerine-colored moss on the rocks, I guess that’s how it got named. I also like this shot of Hope Ranch with a cozy fog blanket close to shore. Maybe Anne will share some of her pix later.

1585 Hope Ranch & Fog

1585 Hope Ranch & Fog

2011/07/01

Scenes of a Planet

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,MeriTimes Adventure,Random — John @ 05:15

Back on 4/29 when we flew from MD to CT for a visit with Molly, I snapped this Philadelphia scene I’m enjoying anew.

8563 Philly Rerun

8563 Philly Rerun

That was a hazy day, like many we’ve seen when flying that region, but still plenty of interesting sights like these two islands in the river. One looked like it might have once been a fort. I like how the dappled light on the water makes shapes that dance with the island outlines.

8567 Peeking Sun

8567 Peeking Sun

One of the things I like about reviewing aerial pix is googling stuff to figure out what it is. Example: In the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn I was curious about the shape of South Shore High School, that in the mid-70s was the second biggest in the U.S. The wiki article I linked above seems to fit with the disheveled look of the building, since it’s apparently been closed due to low performance.

8578 SS High Brought Low

8578 SS High Brought Low

I asked Anne to snap this view of Floyd Bennett Field, NYC’s first airport (now closed aside from a police helicopter base) from her side. What did it look like when Lindbergh was there?

0299 Floyd Bennett Field

0299 Floyd Bennett Field

Just after that she snapped this jet taking off from one of the other two airports. Like many big cities, NYC airports now cater to airlines and a few small jets. The likes of Tripp are banished to the suburbs now that smaller airports are closed.

0303 Takeoff

0303 Takeoff

A few minutes later she snapped this as we lined up to land in New Haven. Flying in a small plane is so delightful, it’s amazing more people don’t do it. Maybe they think it’s like airline flying, where you don’t really see where you’re going. Just cram into an aluminum tube and suddenly find yourself somewhere else without the joy of really looking at our beautiful planet, overflowing with scenes like this.

0307 Near Earth

0307 Near Earth

2011/06/28

Memories

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,MeriTimes Adventure,Nature,Random — John @ 17:20

Our sweet niece the history teacher is visiting, and last night she asked about the highlights of our MeriTimes Adventure. It was a little surprising how many moments came to mind. Maybe like trying to describe an especially good meal or artwork: we tend to savor the whole rather than think about the parts.

Returning to where I left off reviewing our photo collection from the trip as she catches up on sleep this morning, memories rushed back from that Pittsburgh to MD flight. Like the discovery that Gettysburg is a town. You’d think ending in “burg” would have been a clue, but somehow photos from the Civil War gave me the impression of a solitary house amid miles of open fields. It would make sense that tourism would have created a town since then, but the beautiful Gettysburg College was used by both sides during the war.

8165 Gettysburg College

8165 Gettysburg College

Our takeoff that day offered only hazy views of Pittsburgh and weather en route was forecast to be unsettled, so we had decided not to fly over the city for a photo better than this one.

8159 Pittsburgh Memories

8159 Pittsburgh Memories

At this distance all our memories of the fun we’d had there with Molly’s relatives, seemed to blend into one warm feeling in the soft air. Along the way we wove a circuitous path among clouds and small storms, with hazy air making it seem we were more part of the sky than of the green fields and small towns below.

0212 Cloud Dance

0212 Cloud Dance

Approaching the Martin State Airport we were directed by ATC to circle over this small dam while some military jets landed ahead of us. It was fun to imagine the story of the dam and then watch the formation landing in the hazy distance.

8176 MD Dam

8176 MD Dam

Reducing power to descend, the song of Tripp’s engine changed to a warm hum. Anne took this snap of the airport, and the mingling of air with water softened by misty distance evokes memories of being there as our story mingled with the generations of U.S. history and ancestral times beyond.

0215 Invitation to Memories

0215 Invitation to Memories

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