I took the risk and brought the DSLR with me (in baggies none the less) and before we knew it the seals found us, posing for pictures! The harbour seals, sea lions, and sea otters all hang out together on a peninsula near the wharfs and the kayakers definitely pique their curiosity. We had shadows for most of the trip, but took care not to get too close a we didn’t want that huge fine for interacting with them. (but that didn’t stop the critters from checking us out)

We worked our way towards the aquarium where there is a nice kelp forest. The water was a spectacular deep green, and the kelp flowed with the currents in hypnotic waves. We took some time to enjoy the view, the fresh air, and give our muscles a break from working our way out against the wind.

Eventually the breeze started to chill us so we made our way back, with no spills and cameras still dry.

Fisherman’s wharf was calling (Chowder, chowder, chowder! come eat me!) and so we did. After a few tastings we decided to get a bread bowl and warm up on a couch with its own fireplace. After exploring the wharf a bit more we determined we didn’t have enough time for both the aquarium and Point Lobos, so we decided to hit the point… those jellies are coming to chicago so i wasn’t too disappointed.

After a short drive and parking scuffle, we were hiking out to the beautiful points of Point Lobos. Once again the water is just a beautiful deep blue, crashing into the cliffs.

The famous cyprus trees surrounded us… taking our time we walked the loop stopping so many times to enjoy the views.

I found some paintbrush wildflowers (orange!) and enjoyed snapping pics as i saw them. On our way back the light was shining just wonderfully through the trees and it felt almost like Middle Earth… the trees weren’t talking to me, but with a bit of imagination the ents would have said, sit down and stay… don’t rush!

After a fun afternoon of hiking we decided to try to drive the 17 mile drive, but then detoured when we realized you had to pay and realized the houses in the area were awesome anyways… there were some crazy roofs (wavy!) and just some cute rock homes, very gingerbready…

We made our way home, fixed some yummy food, and finished the night watching a movie all cuddling together on the couch.

Time to head home

So my last day of my trip we decided to head back to San Fran/Oakland after a leisurely breakfast. We made good time and stopped in to grab Mariana’s ID, as it was the Peruvian voting day. We made our way downtown and realized there are a LOT of peruvians in San Fran! We dropped her off to get in line to vote and went off to try to find parking… after much circling we realized there were too many voters and opted to head a bit more west and found a great ramen place. YUM!

We were just heading back when we heard voting had been completed, and Mariana had a plan… crazy ice cream at Humphry Slocombe. And when i say crazy, i mean crazy… Salt & Pepper? yep. Foie Gras? Yep (but not that day), honey thyme, jesus juice, corn… it goes on.. You can taste any of them and they ran out quickly of the best flavors (salt and pepper wasn’t one of them) but i ended up getting Secret Breakfast… corn flakes and bourbon! WTF? oddly good, even though i’m not a bourbon fan!

a perfect end to my trip, a fun city day with basically no pictures haha! Thanks to both Geoff and mariana for a wonderful finale!

One thing that was ideal during my stay was that all the road work (due to mudslides) was south of where I was staying in Lucia (and it closed off the area after 7pm). In addition the road was also closed semi-permanently to the north of Bixby Bridge due to the slip out (aka the road fell into the ocean), which meant absolutely no traffic from 7pm to 7am. We were kind of trapped, which was actually pretty cool. On my drive out I had to document all the construction… (1 stoplight, and 2 stop signs)

I learned that the road i’d taken in Nacimiento-Ferguson had a nickname.. the Nasty-Ferg or something like that which i found kind of funny but also indicates some not so nice accidents had happened on that road. I was reminded of that even more as i was enjoying the crazy roads when i happened upon 2 fedex trucks and the big UPS Van in the middle of a tight curve each time. Note to Heidi, don’t be a moron and drive safely. With fewer stops on my way back i made fairly good time back to King City.

I had to make 1 pitstop in King City… this is where Bela and our friend Geoff lived for a while over 10+ years ago. Bela had worked at the Denny’s right off the highway and I felt it was only fitting to make an obligatory driveby, which worked out well as i got gas literally right next door. I was meeting Geoff and Mariana in a few short hours so i didn’t stay to explore their old town.

After returning my rental in San Jose, i found Geoff and Mariana and we headed back out to the coast, only this time to the north a bit into Santa Cruz, another fun coastal city known for its surfing. I was amazed at how many surfers would be out at one time fighting for the waves. At one spot i swear i saw possibly 100 surfers. It was a bit chilly so we didn’t stay to watch them long.

After a quick stop at Bridges SP we decided it was time for some food and to retire for the night. A friend of theirs has a house nearby that we were very lucky to be able to use. We had a great home cooked meal and i cuddled up in a down comforter on the couch to veggie and turn in early for the night. After all these long crazy days I think I’m almost ready to head home… well almost 1 more full day to go!

So our last morning we slept in yet again, but then again that would be the case for getting up anytime after 6am! Kay had enjoyed the ranch the day before and suggested we do the same. Although I didn’t explore very far it was a very cute place with lots of fun animals and adorable cabins. We wandered for a while looking at the animals and buildings before deciding we had a long drive ahead of us with a few pit stops to make. We eventually packed up, said our goodbyes to Barb and Chuck, and got back on the road.

Ashcroft Ghost Town

Our first stop was Ashcroft – a little ghost town in the Castle Creek Valley just south of Aspen. It has some interesting history… in 1880 the town started booming due to mining and had up to 2500 residents, but within 20 years it was down to 2! The info boards also stated that many of the homes had been wheeled in, and in turn wheeled back out – most to Aspen further down the valley.

A reflection in the saloon windows.

You can tell i liked this house with the yellow curtains- they matched the yellow aspens!

Just 4 days earlier that mountainside was all yellow, what a difference a few days can make!

On the road back to Aspen we stopped again to enjoy the beautiful fall color.

After hitting aspen for a quick lunch and tripod return, we were headed up to Independance Pass. After our week of beautiful mountain passes I thought it was pretty, but in a different way… many more evergreens and above tree line for much of it – in addition to the crazy skinny roads that you had to share. It was a fun ride, but i think i’d take Keblar any day! After a few hours we were back in Frisco.

My final images of the trip – more aspens! This pretty tree called to me while i was filling some time waiting for my shuttle. We stopped at a cute little park where some teens were slack lining (fitting i thought!) and just enjoyed the views for a minute before i headed back to Denver.

A wonderful trip, and a highly recommended location for anyone who loves fall color, aspens, or just getting into the mountains and being awed around just about every bend in the road!

So after two long years my photo gals and i have finally been able to plan a photo trip. After a big of deliberation we decided that a Fall Colors trip to Aspen and the Redstone area would suit us perfectly. I’d gotten a taste of CO fall color last year in SW CO and Kay had helped out at a Cystic Fibrosis Fly Fisherman event similarly around the same time last year. I noticed that the timing would be right around peak fall color for the Aspen and other colorado areas so we jumped on it and decided to help out this year as well and then wander a bit to enjoy the aspens and vistas.

Barb and Chuck started their trip a day before as they were driving out to begin a long road trip of their own (continuing on to Vegas, Sand Diego, LA and then back to IL).

My trip began with a flight into Denver, followed by a shuttle into Dillon where Kay would pick me up. Everything worked out pretty well and after landing at about 5:30 and catching a 6:30 shuttle I got to watch the sun set beyond the mountains west of Denver. The shuttle in went pretty quickly as i was enjoying the views until it got too dark, smiling almost the whole way.

Kay and the whole fam pulled into the parking lot literally seconds after I got dropped off (where kay almost snagged a box of wine from another passenger thinking it was mine) and we headed up to Lake Dillon where they live. On the way, we see a cute little fox running along the road with a vole or mouse in it's mouth... i got a bit excited! They were like oh it's just a fox.. apparently they get them in their backyard and it seems everyone in colorado has the same response.. "oh it's just a fox". But it didn't matter - i was still excited as it boded well for the rest of the trip

Friday morning we took off towards Frisco to start working our way towards Aspen. I required a few “grabshots” where i yell, STOP! and Kay is like what do you see? “oh more aspens” haha. We made a few stops near the house but then got on I-70 and booked it until Glenwood Springs.

We stopped in Carbondale and Basalt to scout our locations for our fishing day. We watched Tim of Taylor Creek Fly Fishing feed the fish and enjoyed taking a few pics. AFter a quick lunch we finally arrived in Aspen. (A fish and a flyfisherman practicing)

Barb and Chuck were waiting for us and we soon were back in the minivan for a exploration afternoon – many of our top spots are morning locations so we decided to see what Snowmass Creek and Capitol Creek had to offer.

As it turns out, not a lot of what we wanted – awesome hay bales and grand vistas… but we did find another cute fox (”oh it’s just a fox”) who posed for us by the road and eventually decided to take a nap right there. We found the back route into Snowmass Village (a not quite 4WD road but interesting none the less) but many of the aspens were past peak or not even close so not a lot of ops there.

We make a sweep back up to Capitol Creek Rd and found a few aspens but mostly some cute cows and a possibly picturesque barn but not quite enough to tempt us to camp out for a long time.

We ended up giving up for the day and coming back to Aspen for some yummy food at Little Annie’s (great trout!). So far i’ve only taken 400 pictures (i know gasp) and we haven’t even hit what we deem our best locations yet

So we’re sitting at LAX and already thinking fondly back on our trip. We’ve been debating which parts were our favorite and we’ve dwindled it down to 1 day at each location… canyoning in the blue mountains (which might actually take the gold), diving/snorkeling the great barrier reef with the heli ride back, and off-roading on Moreton Island. You’ll notice our faves tended to be off the beaten path – literally

While reminiscing we were also remembering some of the fun (or not so fun) things from our trip… starting with the unlimited movies on the V Australia flights (a 6 movie marathon on the way back), the “Virgin Loo” at the Brisbane Airport, the 18% grade hills going up to Tamborine Mtn (with the flood detours). We thoroughly loved the people watching and have determined we are definitely not in style, but don’t necessarily want to be.

We also determined that if you are planning a visit to Australia make sure you are early for everything! Even our flights were early… for our return flight from brissy the info boards all said boarding in 15minutes – which in the states means it actually might start boarding 15 minutes from then… NOPE! We get up to the counter and almost all 400+ people are already boarded and they were making final call! Similar scenarios for shuttle pickups and most things in general, always plan ahead!!

While making our final way through security we also were thinking back on the inconsistencies of the security in all airports. Shoes off, boarding pass in hand, no boarding pass in the bin, no wait shoes are ok, no dumbbells (i had a weight similar to a dumbbell), no water or other liquids, water ok (or at least it made it through), umbrellas out, umbrellas in, under 7 Kilos, no weight limits (think goodness they didn’t check this for us). Nothing was the same, but it definitely made it interesting!

And finally our casualties… my waterproof camera that stopped working but might now be functioning again, my 18-200 lens that fell apart (warranty to be checked), my SD card that failed (recovery TBD), and the flat stanley that never got placed…  nothing that couldn’t be dealt with, just makes the trip more interesting!

In summary, a super trip! Thanks Jess for being my “partner” – in crime of course    Now back to reality, real shoes, sweaters, and our hubbies – now that part was nice to come home to