Spring Break & Allison

I haven't been out to photograph much this week. My niece, Allison, is visiting from Virginia. We drove up to Harvey Bear County Park to hike and have a picnic. Great day, sunny but with a cool breeze. I was hoping to see lots of wildflowers, but they were a bit sparse.
We hiked the Mendoza Trail that has views of the entire south valley. This is a composite panorama of 5 photos. It is so small, it hardly does the scene justice, but it shows enough to give you an idea. It was about a 3 mile hike, up-up-up at the start and then level and down. A good way to spend a cool, sunny afternoon.

Finally, by Thursday it warmed up enough to go to the beach. Spent the afternoon at Capitola. The beach is very messy with washed up, dried out seaweed, and therefore, lots of flies. It is also cut by a fairly fast moving stream that must be crossed to get to the ocean. On Friday we headed to Santa Cruz and the Boardwalk. Just as I imagined, a parking space was waiting for us on the street next to the beach. Gorgeous day, sunny and warm with a perfect cool breeze. We are both a bit sunburned, but just enough for Allison to return to the east with a California tan.