My Birthday & Moss Landing

Yesterday was my birthday. In addition to having dinner with friends last night, today (Sunday) Laurie and I drove over to Moss Landing, a small fishing village about half way between Santa Cruz and Monterey, for lunch.

What a funky, colorful, little town it is.

On one short block, which is the whole of downtown,
there is an art gallery,
various antique shops, and several restaurants.

Not all of the art is inside the gallery.

And not all of the antiques are inside the shops.

(How did this ship get here?)

This is from the same boat, above, from the other side.

The wrought iron side of a park bench

All in all, it was a very good way to celebrate a birthday.

Coyote Creek Trail Ride

I haven't been on my bike in a long time, maybe even a year. It was time to dust it off, add air to the tires, and take it down to the trail head. I picked a perfect day to ride.
The morning overcast lasted longer than usual and since it was a Sunday, I shared the path with other bikers, many runners and walkers, and a few dogs. I even saw a Bobcat. I stopped and took his picture, but he had already turned his back on me and was walking away. so I didn't include it here. You can ride all the way to San Jose on this bike trail. Notice I said "you."

My original plan was to turn around at this bridge, but it appeared sooner than I expected and I was still feeling pretty good, so I pedaled on.

This is the view from the bridge looking north.

This one looks to the south.
I was surprised to see so much water in the creek.
I expected it to be pretty much dry.

I didn't want to overdo it on my first time out. I turned around at the 6 mile marker. This was farther out than I had originally planned, but since I had made many stops to photograph and drink and stalk bobcats, I figured I was still OK.
My bad.
The scenery along the trail is not all bucolic.

The sun did eventually come out and both sky & water turned blue, but the breeze that helped keep the morning cool, became a strong headwind on the way back. (See the ripples on the water?) What was I thinking to have ridden out so far? My one hour ride was going to take over two hours.

I was so relieved to spy this bush with the first colors of fall.
I'm a photographer.
I had to stop and capture it with pixels.
My quads were quite pleased with the respite.
This is a self portrait. Do you see me?

I'm going out again tomorrow.

I Love My Car

I love my new car. My bike easily fit in the back, just like with my former Escape. I play around a bit while I'm driving in town to see how long I can keep the engine running on electric power. This is usually under 25mph so I can only do this when no one is behind me. Sometimes if I have some momentum going, and the road is flat, I can get the electric to take over at 35 to 40mph.

I love my car.

Point Lobos

The Morgan Hill Photography Club held a shoot-out at Point Lobos State Reserve just south of Carmel. This ragged headland has been described as "...the greatest meeting of land and water in the world." The landscape contains craggy cliffs, irregular coves, pine studded bluffs, water-filled caves, sandy beaches, and, according to the map, grassy meadows. Our group never saw the meadows because we stayed on the trails that hugged the shore. It would take several visits to walk all the trails available. We started out hiking around China Cove to Gibson Beach.

The morning sky was overcast, but also very bright. The contrast between the white sky and the dark rocks was too great for the camera, so I mostly zoomed in on land features.

The wildflowers were past their full bloom,
but still added some subtle color to the scenes.

Nobody told me a giant crocodile lived in the reserve.
He slept as tourists walked along his back.

After lunch, we drove to Whalers Cove on the north side of the park and hiked around Bluefish Cove. The fog had burned off by then and an amazing transformation took place. The ocean turned from gray to a vibrant blue. It was just beautiful.

The blue sky and water didn't last long.

After several hours of trudging up and down steps, and climbing over rocks and tree roots, I was tired and decided to call it a day. I turned around and headed back to my car. This is definitely a place that deserves a return visit.

My Escape

This is my new car, a Ford Escape Hybrid, Kiwi Green.

I pulled off a very good deal.

It took several hours and I left the dealership twice (and was called back). At one point Jesus (my salesman) said, "You are good. You are really good." At 6pm on Friday, the manager said,"I'm sorry, I can't sell it for this price." Just as I was leaving, Jesus made a new offer. I said I was tired and I wanted to go home, but as I was driving away, I knew I was going to accept it. At 9am the next morning, Jesus called and we closed the deal. This is the exact car I wanted.

I love it when a plan comes together.