After leaving Baker Beach, I continued south. I could cut over to to the freeway and drive directly home or stay on Lincoln, which would eventually lead me to Highway 1. Since I had never traveled this road before and I didn't know exactly what I'd see along the way, I stayed on Lincoln. I wanted to be near the ocean and I had a vague idea that I might stop in Davenport to photograph the sunset. I knew what towns were along this highway, but I didn't know the mileage. I could have looked on a map, but I decided to just wing it. The biggest town along the way was Half Moon Bay. I drove right through. Then I saw the lighthouse. I had totally forgotten about Pigeon Point Lighthouse. If sunset hadn't still been hours away, I would have stopped here to shoot it. I'll come back another time.
The lighthouse was surrounded by an unsightly, wire fence, so I walked around the grounds looking for better views, but I didn't stay long. I still had quite a stretch of highway between me and the sunset. I got all of a quarter mile down the highway when I spotted a turnout with a rutted road that passed right through the wildflowers. No sign told me I should stay off it, so I slowly ventured forth toward water's edge. This was perfect, exactly what I had been hoping to see, and no hiking involved. I had to switch into 4-wheel drive to get back on the highway. Fun stuff.
I took this with my iPhone (propped on top of my Nikon), processed it in Snapseed, and immediately posted it on Facebook. (I always add a frame to my iPhone photos.) Here's an interesting side story. One of my Facebook friends tagged the photo. Her Facebook friends saw it, one of whom is a life long friend of my sister. Kinda makes you want to break out in song: "It's a small world after all."
I arrived in Davenport around 6pm. Sunset was still over an hour and a half away, but the clouds held the possibility of a colorful display, so I decided to wait it out. The town is very small (pop. 475) and I had no idea where to set up my tripod. I wanted a view of the cliffs, but a large field loomed between the highway and the ocean. I pulled into a dirt turn-out and saw a road that led across the railroad tracks toward the ocean, but this time an "Authorized Vehicles Only" sign stopped me. I walked down the road, crossed the tracks, and saw a path that skirted around what turned out to be a field of artichokes. I hesitated because this would put me on an isolated path, by myself after dark. The safe thing to do would be to walk back to my car and go home. I didn't.
The sunset was not the spectacular show I was hoping for, but still, the water and the cliffs were beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment