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Okay... I know that this is a PHOTO thread, but these photos need a story beforehand and during to make it make work the best.
My wife, Sharon, and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary by planning a trip to the Napa & Sonoma wine countries and then a trip down the PCH from San Francisco to Cambria. From there, we planned to go into Paso Robles and wine taste a little more before heading home.
Great plan... But not so keen on the execution.
On Sept. 24th, we were on our way in our truck (not Jeep) to the planned NorCal destinations. We stopped for the night in Lost Hills only to find that the truck's transmission was seriously slipping. I couldn't get it to go into reverse when I went to park.
I called a friend in San Jose area who was willing to help find a transmission shop in the Bay area. The trip to ultimately the Sunnyvale area was 'dicey' to say the least. Upon inspection, a transmission rebuild was in order.
I had to put the truck into the shop. My friend was willing to tour us around while the truck was being worked on, so the photo adventure begins with a crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge:
By the time that I dropped off the truck to be worked on, the day had slipped into the afternoon, so wine tasting was limited to only a few places in Sonoma before we stopped in Novato to stay the night. The next morning, we took a trip to the Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. I have just got to say that the whole area is a photo extravaganza! Here are a couple of my favorites...
A shady stump and some uprooted tree roots in the background:
Looking up between a couple of the giants:
That evening, we found that our truck would not be finished in time for the drive home. We stayed with our friend in Sunnydale and then rented a car to drive home in on the next day.
We took the PCH, but we started south in Santa Cruz instead of San Francisco due to the delay. The trip was full of photo worthy sites, but my favorite was the McWay Falls:
I know that this is a photo thread, but the tide was coming in while we were there and the best way of capturing the moment was with video. Please check this out:
Further south along the PCH, just north of San Simeon, we captured the waves crashing:
We found Elephant Seals basking in the late afternoon sun:
You think it sucks when YOU have a head cold. Try dodging sharks with a nasal drip...:
The worst part of this trip (besides the dead transmission) was that we missed Napa completely and that we only had a short window to taste wines in Paso Robles by the time that we got there.
We headed home with the knowledge that we would have to return the next weekend to get the repaired truck.
The first trip to the area had record high temperatures set across all of California. We were lucky to have been along the cool coast during this heat wave!
The next weekend was diametrically opposed to this in weather for the season. We arrived in the cool, foggy weather that the bay area is infamous for. Crossing the Golden Gate bridge looked like this:
We headed for Napa to do some wine tasting and I have to say that this was a complete waste of time. If you care to know why I feel this way, catch me on a trail sometime and I'll share my observations. In a nutshell, we went back to the Sonoma area to taste and then stayed the night in the Bay area.
On Sunday, we took the PCH from Pacifica south to Santa Cruz. The day was cold and foggy. This didn't keep us from getting some cool photos along the way. Some of my favorites were at the old WWII bunker before the Devil's Slide area:
At the fantastic rock formations in Bean Hollow State Park:
And at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse:
Other than the 2200 dollars to get the transmission rebuilt, I have to say the the two weekends along the PCH were a wonderful (and quite photogenic) time.
My wife, Sharon, and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary by planning a trip to the Napa & Sonoma wine countries and then a trip down the PCH from San Francisco to Cambria. From there, we planned to go into Paso Robles and wine taste a little more before heading home.
Great plan... But not so keen on the execution.
On Sept. 24th, we were on our way in our truck (not Jeep) to the planned NorCal destinations. We stopped for the night in Lost Hills only to find that the truck's transmission was seriously slipping. I couldn't get it to go into reverse when I went to park.
I called a friend in San Jose area who was willing to help find a transmission shop in the Bay area. The trip to ultimately the Sunnyvale area was 'dicey' to say the least. Upon inspection, a transmission rebuild was in order.
I had to put the truck into the shop. My friend was willing to tour us around while the truck was being worked on, so the photo adventure begins with a crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge:
By the time that I dropped off the truck to be worked on, the day had slipped into the afternoon, so wine tasting was limited to only a few places in Sonoma before we stopped in Novato to stay the night. The next morning, we took a trip to the Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. I have just got to say that the whole area is a photo extravaganza! Here are a couple of my favorites...
A shady stump and some uprooted tree roots in the background:
Looking up between a couple of the giants:
That evening, we found that our truck would not be finished in time for the drive home. We stayed with our friend in Sunnydale and then rented a car to drive home in on the next day.
We took the PCH, but we started south in Santa Cruz instead of San Francisco due to the delay. The trip was full of photo worthy sites, but my favorite was the McWay Falls:
I know that this is a photo thread, but the tide was coming in while we were there and the best way of capturing the moment was with video. Please check this out:
Further south along the PCH, just north of San Simeon, we captured the waves crashing:
We found Elephant Seals basking in the late afternoon sun:
You think it sucks when YOU have a head cold. Try dodging sharks with a nasal drip...:
The worst part of this trip (besides the dead transmission) was that we missed Napa completely and that we only had a short window to taste wines in Paso Robles by the time that we got there.
We headed home with the knowledge that we would have to return the next weekend to get the repaired truck.
The first trip to the area had record high temperatures set across all of California. We were lucky to have been along the cool coast during this heat wave!
The next weekend was diametrically opposed to this in weather for the season. We arrived in the cool, foggy weather that the bay area is infamous for. Crossing the Golden Gate bridge looked like this:
We headed for Napa to do some wine tasting and I have to say that this was a complete waste of time. If you care to know why I feel this way, catch me on a trail sometime and I'll share my observations. In a nutshell, we went back to the Sonoma area to taste and then stayed the night in the Bay area.
On Sunday, we took the PCH from Pacifica south to Santa Cruz. The day was cold and foggy. This didn't keep us from getting some cool photos along the way. Some of my favorites were at the old WWII bunker before the Devil's Slide area:
At the fantastic rock formations in Bean Hollow State Park:
And at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse:
Other than the 2200 dollars to get the transmission rebuilt, I have to say the the two weekends along the PCH were a wonderful (and quite photogenic) time.
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