Hermit Crab with a Camera Bag: 2011

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Jalama Beach State Park: Point 'n Shoot

Hmmm...what to say about Jalama Beach? A state beach surrounded by Lompoc greenery and a minimum of mobile trailers definitely sounded like a good idea for Memorial Day weekend. So where'd we go wrong? Going by Yelp and campground reviews, we were expecting wind...just not so MUCH of it!! As soon as we were out of the car, the freezing wind was whipping around our faces. We doubled up on jackets and took the afghan throw down to the beach while we waited for a tent spot, then climbed back up the beach to the camp store. I was dead set on trying their "World Famous Jalama Burger." A massive patty,a massive bun,ample cheese & shredded lettuce, and a sauce tasting similar to the In-N-Out special mix. We finished in about 2 minutes, and took the fries back to wait in the car.

Of course, I forgot I'd left the fries on the car roof, until the seagulls dive-bombed us.

What else is there to say about Jalama Beach, other than try visiting Labor Day weekend instead? Not much! For the 2 nights we camped, the wind shook the tent so much you'd have thought there was a blizzard outside, and I think we got a thorough face and ankle sand exfoliation trying to take a windy beach walk our last day there. So here I'll let the photos show the few standouts of the trip:

Chili bread bowl & clam basket

Beginning of sunset,and...

...the end of it.

Lompoc sculpture garden

I hope to have the shots from the Holga developed soon, but these from my SX 120 will have to do for now.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Wine Country, Part II

We left through Sonoma, which definitely had some interesting roadside statues:

Right next to the San Francisco Solano is monument to the Bear Flag Republic battle:

And yes, we did hit one more winery and the final, 21st mission I needed. That was a detour in Fremont:

Wine Country, Part I

Probably not a destination you would choose to go to at the end of December, but Sonoma was the location of the last mission I needed for my California missions photos, plus...there's wine! So into North Central region the man and I headed.

Started out around 5am, and didn't get off the 101N until mid-afternoon,then cut across several known "wine towns": Yountsville, Healdsburg, St.Helena. We had made another interesting choice for winter: camping in Bothe Napa State Park. No surprise, there were very few people hiking around and we were the only people there camping. The ranger doing his drive-by offered that "it was 22 degrees last night." Nevertheless, we set up the tent, and then went off on a short hike, and a drive a few miles down the road to visit the mini version of Old Faithful.

New Year's Day had us hopping around St.Helena and Rutherford to the few wineries open. But it was nice to come in from the drizzle outside, have some wine & breadsticks, and see who else was spending a holiday this way.