John & Anne Wiley

2011/08/15

Smiley Adventure :) :)

Filed under: Happiness,Random,Smiley Adventure — John @ 19:47

We’re off on another Adventure with Tripp, this time for a camp-out with delightful Julie along a grass strip in the Idaho mountains by the name of Smiley Creek. Such a happy name seems perfect to tag this trip even though that’s only one among many fun places and people we’ll see and visit. I’ll put our planned route map at the bottom of this post, but in essence it’s a trip up the glorious west coast to Seattle with many stops along the way and that detour over Crater Lake and the “Sisters” range near Bend, out to the Sawtooth Mountains. We’re excited, and very Smiley! 🙂  🙂

Smiley Plan

Smiley Plan

2011/08/14

Shell Memories

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:05

One of my warm childhood memories is the moment during long family drives from the Bay Area to SoCA, when we came through the pass from SLO to catch first glimpse of Shell Beach. The dull brown interior hills and hot valleys suddenly gained a brilliant blue and green top as the breezy Pacific came into view.

2954 Memory Beach

2954 Memory Beach

So when we flew past these hotels near that spot, those memories mingled with new ones from our anniversary stay in one of the hotels. The rock spire between lanes on the freeway (top of pic) looked so much bigger as a kid than looking down on it now, and the brilliant white bluffs tell of ancient marine life. Along with some wide sandy beaches the whole shoreline is riddled with sea caves like these, and the nearby residential area has several places where you can climb down bluffs to explore.

2947 Secret Shore

2947 Secret Shore

Added to my memories of Shell Beach now, are more recent ones in the adjoining towns of Pismo, Grover, Arroyo “Dinky” and of course our new fav Oceano. As you can see in this next pic, there’s a nice park at the lagoon next to the airport.

2959 Oceano Airport

2959 Oceano Airport

A block or two beyond the bottom of the pic is the beach, and just off to the right is the beginning of the vast dunes. It’s such a delight to fly around this beautiful area, land there and stroll to one of the cafes or Mama’s Italian restaurant, wander the dunes, wade the beach, and explore at whim until we find ourselves back at the airport. There we might chat with the owner of that yellow biplane parked next to the white hangar in the middle of the pic (click to see it on the full-size pic). Maybe meet other people who’ve flown in, talk to those waiting for a skydiving jump, or the ultralight flyers who sometimes fly there. Then we take off and often fly around the area again before heading past this lagoon along the beach to look at the crowds enjoying the all terrain vehicle area of the dunes, and the large nature preserve in the dunes beyond.

2962 Dune Lagoon

2962 Dune Lagoon

2011/08/12

Castles Made of Sand

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 02:12

As you probably know by now, I’m fascinated by rock formations and by creative homes & gardens. Flying provides exceptional opportunities for discovering them, and this snap has all three attractions.

2949 Shell Castle

2949 Shell Castle

Shell Beach area has many fascinating rocks and sea caves, and this is perhaps my fav waterfont estate there. I wonder if that was ever an actual lighthouse, and whether the people living in the neighborhood ever go up there for the view. Looks like under the green roof at the top is a massive open air jaccuzzi, but it must be something else because it seems to be made of bricks.

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

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