John & Anne Wiley

2014/04/07

First Park

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 06:59

The idea of a nature park began here in California, when John Muir helped to protect the area now known as Yosemite. All these many years later, it’s still beautiful both from the ground and from the air. We drove in from Pine Mountain Lake today with my sweet aunt, and then flew over it on the way home. The noonish drive offered clearer air, and brighter light for these first two pix.

5101 Yosemite Intro

5101 Yosemite Intro

There are some great views on the drive in, but this first glimpse up close and personal that like a few other drivers I stopped and ran back to snap it. Then there was this other spectacle across the valley.

5165 Spectacle

5165 Spectacle

A few hours later we were there again as sunset approached, lighting the rocks around Bridal Veil Falls in a different hue.

5209 Lifted Veil

5209 Lifted Veil

Though the haze had increased and we were much further away to preserve quiet in the valley, seeing it all again from the air lifted the veil of isolation between points. We savored the day’s delights for the whole beautiful two hour flight home to SB. I wish we could share a pic of the whole breathtaking Yosemite aerial panorama with you!

2014/03/29

Temptation

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 22:36

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

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

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

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

1577 South Shore Cave

2014/03/28

Home Tourism

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 23:09

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

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

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

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

120243 Looking At Friends

Happy Redhead

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 00:25

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

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

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.

2014/03/27

Cloudscapes

Filed under: Aviation,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 04:47

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

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

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

1454 Final Notes

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