On The Beach

On a cloudy day at Ventura back in November, I was interested in what had washed up with the previous high tide. There was nothing spectacular but here's what I found. The light was very flat so the pictures don't have as much definition as I'd like.

Seabirds

Here is a picture of some type of seabird coming in to land, and a couple of pictures of a very friendly gull. These were taken on or near the pier in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara

It was less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (that's about -17 C) and snowing this morning, so I thought I'd post some warmer pictures from our California vacation. We spent a day in Santa Barbara, near the waterfront, and it was very pretty.

A working, traveling replica of the Columbus ship Niña was moored and we went aboard, so here are a couple of pictures. I can't imagine how so many sailors made their home on a ship this size for so long.

And finally, I found the following lamppost intriguing. I'm guessing that all the spikes on top are to stop the birds from landing on it. The birds will be the subject of another post.

Christmas Lights

One of the great American Christmas traditions is to decorate your house with lights. And, like everything, some people really get into it. When I was dropping my kid off this evening I noticed the following house, so I brought my camera when I picked him up. They even had Christmas music playing!

Unexpected Snow

The forecast last night was for a 50% chance of snow showers. So far there's at least a foot of fresh snow on the ground, and on the deck too.

Ojai

I just got back from a few days in the Los Angeles area visiting my wife's family, where (except for one day of rain) we had fairly nice weather - I'll be posting pictures from this trip over the next few weeks. It was quite a shock to go from t-shirts and this, taken on our last day there at Ojai:

To this, which greeted me at the car at Denver International Airport upon arrival:

Ice

We had some freezing fog and drizzle over the last couple of days but the sun came out again this morning. I love winter - it may be cold but it's the most beautiful season of the year.

After Sunset

It's at times like this that I really wish I had a super-telephoto lens. We had a great moonrise, but I don't have the equipment to capture it properly. In any case, the first picture today is right after sunset, looking towards the road that runs near our house (15 second exposure). The squiggle in the upper right is an airplane.

 The second picture is the moonrise just as it topped the trees, but the best I could do was trim a wider picture, and I'm not happy with the result.

First Snow

It's late in the year for it but we finally had our first snow. They're not the best pictures but there's something special about that first snow of the winter.

A Recent Sunrise

Here's a recent sunrise, looking out my front door.

Aspen Trees Changing

I wanted to see the fall aspen colors as they approach their peak, so I took a drive up Gold Camp Road today to Victor and Cripple Creek, two old mining towns (Cripple Creek is now filled with casinos). Gold Camp Road is a dirt road that passes to the south of Pikes Peak, and it is a favorite for viewing the aspen as they change color in the fall. Some storms started building but I was lucky enough to get enough sunshine to see the colors spectacularly. We don't have the fantastic variety of colors found in other parts of the country, but the aspens make it worthwhile. In some of the shots you can see how clearly the aspen groves stand out in the mountains as they change.

Ouray Waterfalls

Ouray includes a couple of great waterfalls. On one side of town is Cascade falls, a fairly tall but relatively thin waterfall in a very pretty setting.

On the other end of town is Box Canyon. A thundering stream falls through the rock, reappearing in a crack at the end of a steep box canyon. The canyon is so steep that the only way in is over a metal walkway. It's hard to get a good picture because so little of the fall is visible, but it's an incredibly impressive feeling to be there. The first picture is of the bottom section, just as the water is coming out of the crack.

The second picture is a long exposure (8 seconds) taken with a tripod (using a neutral density filter to get the extended exposure in daylight), to try and capture the roiling water after it comes out of the fall.

Ouray

The next day we went on to Ouray, a town in a beautiful valley.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

The Black Canyon itself is spectacular. Unfortunately there was substantial cloud cover much of the time, but I was still able to get a couple of shots that give an idea of the grandeur of the setting. Here's one looking into the canyon.

This shot is of Painted Wall, Colorado's tallest wall with a height of 2,250 feet. You can't get an idea of its size from this picture, but believe me, it's an impressive cliff!

Road To Black Canyon

After the Dunes we drove to the Black of the Gunnison. On the way we stopped by this pretty little mountain stream.

Along the road we saw this thunderstorm formation ahead of us - the classic anvil shape is very obvious here.

Great Sand Dunes At Sunset

Finally, just before dusk, the weather broke and we saw the dunes the way they should be seen, with the beautiful light and dark contrasts of a low-hanging sun.

Great Sand Dunes

Thanks to those who have commented, I'm glad that people are enjoying my pictures.

When we got to the dunes it was mostly cloudy, but the sheer size of them still stood out. The highest are over 700 feet tall, making them the biggest on the continent. It's strange and amazing to see dunes right after a rainstorm, with water running through a creek next to them.

Wildfire And Road To Great Sand Dunes

I spent a few days in the middle of Colorado with family members, and I'll post some pictures from this trip over the next couple of weeks. First we went to the Great Sand Dunes. On the road to the Dunes we were fairly close to a wildfire (which was controlled rather quickly), and saw some spectacular clouds and sun.

Local Sunset

Here's one of our fiery sunsets from a couple of weeks ago.

Red Rock Canyon Open Space

I went for a walk this morning in Red Rock Canyon, a relatively new city park just south of Garden Of The Gods. The weather was threatening initially but lifted, making for a couple of interesting photographs. The first one is looking towards Garden Of The Gods.

I thought the light in this one was interesting.

And I found a wild cactus in bloom, something I don't see very often.