John & Anne Wiley

2011/10/20

More Home

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 03:26

We’re feeling more Home than usual tonight. We flew to San Diego to bring Dad back for a visit, and our place feels so filled with Family! Having been a pilot in WWII he of course loves to fly, so that adds to our fun too. There were low clouds along the coast, so we detoured via El Monte rather than our usual route along the coast. That coupled with smog, higher than usual altitude and afternoon sun made it so hazy I didn’t snap a single pic! I do have one to share of our departure past the Stevens Bridge, which as you may recall is our favored driving route into town because when crossing we vote on the best view (mountains or coast, and mountains usually win). We enjoy looking down at the pathetic view it offers when flying past like this, because from Tripp the view is almost always spectacular in every direction.

7392 Leaving Home

7392 Leaving Home

So anyway, here’s a glance toward the bridge where the two cars currently on the span are probably oblivious to our passing. I’m guessing that because we often pull over to let the traffic go by before crossing the bridge just below the speed limit. I wonder if anyone else actually takes the time to enjoy those views from the bridge, because most seem quite intent on getting somewhere. Maybe it’s unusual how thoroughly we enjoy our beautiful Home.

2011/10/19

Groups

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 06:20

I chose three more pix from our SJ->SB flight for posting, and got curious what theme connects them. Maybe you’ll see something different, but what I see in common is groups. First the groups of people who jump out of perfectly good airplanes.

7079 Skydivers

7079 Skydivers

Rather than a leisurely descent to take in the sights after their free fall, these two seemed to be in a hurry to get down as they corkscrewed toward the beach to more quickly lose altitude. Guess the fun part for them is the fall. Next is a shot that includes groups of people enjoying the beach at Big Sur, some perhaps unaware of how dramatic the seaward side of those rocks are.

7149 Rugged Rocks

7149 Rugged Rocks

Last up is the groups of gulls gathered near the falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park as if they’re somehow fascinated by the sight or sound. Maybe it provides food or fresh water for them?

7194 Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun

7194 Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun

2011/10/18

CA Coast

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

Our recent flight along the Oregon coast was magnificent, and it was refreshing to fly along part of the California coast this month. The two areas are quite different, and I’m glad that we don’t have to decide which is more beautiful. 🙂

Check out this rock spire on the coast just North of Santa Cruz, unlike anything we saw in Oregon.

7005 Rock Spire Beach

7005 Rock Spire Beach

It’s actually a thin blade of stone, as you can see from another angle. I love how the spray is splashing up at the bottom edge of the platform. I’ll post some Big Sur pix on the Photo Page and probably send some to Edhat, but here’s one of our beloved Nepenthe. How many times have we dined out on the deck and watched the gliding gulls or seen a plane pass by?

7166 Nepenthe

7166 Nepenthe

2011/10/16

Delights

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 02:28

Life has many delights, and we’ve been enjoying a bounty. Dear friend Julie is here, and we took her flying again as a followup to her short tour of the valley between Stanley & Smiley Creek, ID. This time it was over an hour slowly wandering the skies above the Santa Barbara area. Afterward she said, “I’ve moved from survival to enjoyment.” Quite a rapid shift, given that she was scared of flying before these two delightful jaunts.

We also delighted in the flight from San Diego to SB last week. Passing the Mt. Soledad area where Anne’s family lived years ago, La Jolla and the Shores looked especially colorful.

6785 La Jolla Delight

6785 La Jolla Delight

In the “Every Flight, Different Delight” department, this time we went high. Usually either 3,500′ or 4,500′ is our altitude crossing the LA airspace, and our route is Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor to Santa Monica. This time we were at 10,500′ and well offshore past San Pedro, where we got a view better than this pic shows of Catalina.

6796 Catalina Delight

6796 Catalina Delight

Then we turned North to cross toward Laguna Beach, and got a whole new look at the point we usually see only in the distance.

6798 Palos Verdes Delight

6798 Palos Verdes Delight

In this zoomed view you can make out the lighthouse, and the ocean bottom contour that makes for a fluffy margin along the shore.

6801 Light Delight

6801 Light Delight

Even the LA Basin was a delight, since we could see the whole towering city and its less tall siblings like Sherman Oaks and Santa Monica and the mountains beyond.

6817 LA Delight

6817 LA Delight

Before long we delighted in the rock outcrops near Camarillo, with Pt. Mugu and Port Hueneme drawing our eye to the Channel Islands beyond.

6824 Camarillo Delight

6824 Camarillo Delight

It’s boring when I keep saying that after flying every state and province in North America we most enjoy Santa Barbara, but here it is again. It was especially delightful to quietly descend from our high transit past the harbor, and feel our hearts swell with love of Our Town.

6880 SB Delight

6880 SB Delight

2011/10/12

Boundaries

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 07:58

We flew to San Diego last week, and saw some boundaries along the way. First we crossed the mountains dividing the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica and L.A. Looking across those peaks, it was a clear boundary between two worlds. One still mostly wild like it was centuries ago, the other totally tame.

6581 Distant Downtown L.A.

6581 Distant Downtown L.A.

Another contrast was between “the basin” of urban sprawl that we call L.A., and the downtown core floating in the sea of city up toward the mountains. It was a “clear” day by L.A. standards, but of course there’s still quite a bit of haze. Just having that many people breathing in the valley probably produces a lot of visible smog, so maybe at some point all city residents will wear gas masks to clean the air inhaled and exhaled. Why do I notice the smog here more than in NYC?

6586 L.A. Basin

6586 L.A. Basin

Next up is the San Diego border, enforced by I.N.S. It seems that enough people from Mexico have managed to cross the U.S. border, that people driving on the freeway from S.D. to L.A. are inspected here. I’m no longer surprised that U.S. citizens don’t object to this, but it’s still a small pleasure being able to fly past it without being inspected. Yet.

6668 Redundant Border

6668 Redundant Border

Flying offshore along Camp Pendleton I spotted a giant hovercraft that crosses the borders between air, water and land. It’s remarkable that such a big and heavy device can carry troops and equipment, while still floating on a cushion of air. So cool!

6682 USMC Hovercraft

6682 USMC Hovercraft

Along the way we saw many spots where the “red tide” reported in news media makes the waves glow at night. We had hoped to walk one of the S.D. beaches after dark to see and play in it, but didn’t find the time. This one at La Jolla Shores was quite a strong one, so it probably was spectacular that night.

6748 Boundaries

6748 Boundaries

In daylight the boundaries are between sea and shore, red and blue. After dark there is a magical boundary between movement and stillness in the water that becomes a boundary between light and dark.

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