3 posts tagged “camping”
If you drive up to Santa Rosa, about an hour north of Oakland, cut west along the Russian River, and then take a short zig down the coast followed by a short zag back east along the other side of the river, you'll come to Pomo Canyon, a sweet little stand of redwood trees rising out of the chaparral and grass of the region. They don't take reservations, so it's first come, first serve. This shot was taken as Gandalf revealed himself to be the White Wizard.
We took tons of pictures in May, but very few of them turned out well. This was mainly due to the very bright sun. Whether we were swimming in our apartment pool or camping in the Sierras, the sun was just too damn bright. But we did get this rare, picture of all of us together. This is on the Stanislaus River in the Sierras. The campground has some wacky Indian name, but it was a fantastic campground. Clean, peaceful and not too crowded.
April saw us take our first camping trip as a family. I had taken Harlan to Gerstle Cove by myself in February while Tala was in Beijing for a week. Yes, it was butt cold in February. So April was better.
However, Gerstle Cove -- about a half-hour's drive north from Sonoma County State Beach -- is fiercely windy. The campsite is in a clearing on a gentle slope about a quarter mile from the ocean, so the wind just comes whipping straight in. I was starting to get worried that it would be a chilly night, something that could have had negative implications for future camping trips involving Tala.
I had awoken my long-dormant camp cooking skills and was wowing Tala when the sky began to redden. We were treated to a spectacular, 30-minute long light show. This shot was taken on high zoom about two minutes before the sun dipped below the horizon. The trees are bare because a forest fire started by campers cleared out most of the area a few years back.
The crazy thing? As soon as the sun vanished, the wind stopped blowing. Abruptly, just like that. It was calm the whole evening, and our sleeping bags were more than adequate for the warming task at hand. So a good precedent was set and Tala got on board with the whole camping thing.
