Thursday, April 19, 2007

 

We Did Get Out Of This Place!

And we ended up in a cute little town called Guerneville. It's very near the California coast on the Russian River, maybe seventy miles or so north of San Francisco. The whole area is riddled with rinky-dink one horse towns, treacherous, one-lane, winding roads, and, if you look closely, just the hint of Deliverance in the air back in the darker hollows.

Having said all that, you still can't beat the scenery, and because it's north coast, you know there 's gotta be big trees, and plenty of them. This is an example of what we saw as we left the cottage where we stayed:



Ok. ok. So it's more impressive in person. Just don't blame the views for my shoddy camera work. Here's another view, almost straight up:



Here's a more modest tree. Sure, it's never going to be one of those goliath trees, but it has some pretty flowers, and Miss Tori likes purple:



If you head west from Guerneville, you'll eventually hit the coast at the town of Jenner, home of one of the deadliest beaches in California, but we'll get to those pics another day. Heading north from Jenner, you travel the Pacific Coast Highway. Unfortunately, going north means you're on the land side of the two-lane highway. For the best ocean view, you have to be heading south. Miss Tori was kind enough to take us up a ways, and then come back south. We stopped here just above Jenner to take a few ocean pics. First up, Pointy Rock:



Pointy Rock anchors the left side of the view, and Holy Rock stands watch on the right:


Get it? Holy Rock? Oh, where do I come up with these names? Anyway, in between, we have, you guessed it, Pyramid Rock:



Put it all together, and you have Panorama, North of Jenner:



Incidentally, I picked up a nice book about famed comic artist Jack Kirby at a little bookstore in Guerneville. I learned that he picked up the technique of placing something in the foreground of a panel to create a sense of depth in his drawings. Sort of like those little yellow flowers in this pic.

That's just a taste of what we saw; there's plenty more to go, maybe another eight or nine posts worth. Overall, I was pretty happy with how the camera performed, and its ability to overcome my flaws as a photographer.
Permalink posted by Lord Floppington @ 4:45 PM
Comments:
I thought the pics were very woodsy and oceany. I have to compliment you on your Jack Kirby choice. Do you draw? I don't but my friend is a comic artist who regaled me into the wee hours about Kirby.
# posted by Blogger Julia Phillips Smith : 5:00 PM, April 20, 2007
 
The Kirby thing was just a bit of serendipity. I was a decent comics fan back in my teens, and it still interests me. However, it's not likely that I would know who your friend is. Unless it's Alex Ross. Him, I've heard of.

We got back from the trip a few days ago, but I never got around to preparing that post until last night. Conveniently, I had just finished the Kirby book the night before. It's by Greg Theakston, who seems to be a pretty major Kirby biographer.

I have minor drawing skills, but just at the doodling level; it's not even really a hobby. I could probably draw most things in a recognizable form. As for people, I don't know if I could such that most people would know who it was. Except maybe Vader. Or Yoda.

Thanks for visiting.
# posted by Blogger Lord Floppington : 6:13 PM, April 20, 2007
 
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