Friday, May 15, 2015

California Calendar 2012

We enjoyed California so much we thought that a Calendar would be a good reminder of our visit. So we searched through the photos of our visit and came up with this selection.
Having produced one we thought that our friends and family may also like one as well.
However there is very little space on the Calendar for any explanation about the pictures, so we have produced this interactive page to say a bit more about the different pictures, with links to information about the places as well as to more pics that we took and published on Picasa.
If you are enjoying the calendar we hope that you will also enjoy discovering more about the places we visited and join us California Dreamin'


January- Mount Shasta.
Mount Shasta is a mountain like very few others I have seen. It is an extinct volcano which rises 14,400ft above sea level, however its majesty comes from being a peak which dwarfs the surrounding countryside, as no other land close by is higher than 4000 feet.We first saw Mt Shasta on I5 at Orland, which is 120 miles to the south. It came that every time you oriented yourself in the North of California you look round to see where Mt Shasta is.
We stayed in the area for several days with friends Steve and Mary Tilden, they have a house which is a mere 7 miles from the summit. This photo was taken from the shore of Lake Siskiyou.
The Mountain itself is a classic shape, with the long curves of the lava flows on the lower slopes and the jagged peaks which were the edges of the crater, except that further eruptions have blown the sides away. The mountain has a slightly smaller sister called Mt Shastina, which grows from the West side, so there is a col between them.
Because of its height it has permanent snow fields, which feed five glaciers. The highest that we got to was 8800ft when we drove up to Bunny Flats to get a closer look.

February - Crater Lake
Crater Lake is in Southern Oregon. It is also part of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.
We visited here straight after Mount Shasta, driving up through the area we had no idea of the breathtaking scenery that explodes as you come over the rise which forms the southern wall of Crater Lake and see it for the first time. As with much of Americas scenery photographs do not do it justice, Crater Lake is 6 miles across. It is 1900ft deep, and rises a further 1200ft up its sides. It is a completely self contained ecosystem. The water comes from rain and there is no outlet, so the level is a balance of rainfall and evaporation.
It is the deepest blue imaginable, a result of refraction/total internal reflection of such clear, deep water.
The crater was formed when a huge magma bubble burst from the side of the volcano, leaving a huge cavern beneath a thin crust, the crust collapsed leaving the massive crater. Difficult to imagine the scale of it.
Within the Crater is another smaller volcano which forms an island, beautifully named Wizard Island.
See more pics of our visit to Crater Lake. Short version and Long version

March - Burney Falls
Between Lassen Volcanic Park and Mt Shasta is a small state park called the McArthur-Burney Falls State Park. We stayed there for a couple of nights and visited the falls, which are only a few yards from the car park. It is a spectacular water fall, not just because it is big, but because it is set amongst beautiful trees and falls into a huge rock pool, which it has eroded over millions of years. Like many igneous features it is a result of several episodes of activity. The falls flows over a basalt rock, which overlays a soft, but impervious sandstone. The sandstone has been easily eroded, leaving the basalt exposed, so it has crumbled, allowing the waterfall to progress up stream more than a mile from its starting point. Water can also be seen issuing forth from the basalt/sandstone layer, making a wide curtain of water as well as the more obvious flow from the river.
See more pics of our visit to Burney Falls

 On our visit to Northern California we very nearly did not visit Lassen, it was October and it was by now getting colder and our journey would take us up above 8000ft and the weather may break at any moment. Many of the campgrounds were closed and the supply of fresh water had been turned off for the winter. One fall of snow could trap us up there for weeks. However we took the chance and for us the weather held out.
Lassen is another area of volcanic activity, although not erupting at the moment it is still classified as Active.
Lassen Volcano itself is over 14000ft high, its most recent eruption was in 1915 and was filmed by observers.
Activity can still be seen as you travel through the park in the form of a number of fumaroles and boiling mud holes.
We camped here for three nights and saw many fascinating volcanic phenomena as well as some beautiful views.
See more pics of our visit to Lassen Volcanic NP Day 1 and Day 2.

May - Views of San Francisco
San Francisco is such a fascinating city that we could not sum it up in a single photograph, so instead we created a memory montage.
Although they are all places we visited, we did not ride on a trolley for some reason!
Lori's Diner? that is where we ate breakfast as a family when we stayed at the Clift in 1997. See some more pics here
Alma Spreckels not only modelled for the statue in Union Square, but following that she married the Spreckels Sugar millionaire and became heir to a fortune and is a well known figure of SF History.
There are several Chinatown pics, as we really enjoyed our tour there. See more Chinatown Pics
We also spent a whole day exploring Alcatraz, which is an amazing place. See more of our Pics of Alcatraz
The Painted Sisters is a row of Victorian houses, identical, but different colours on the East side of the Alamo Square, but there are many more excellent houses there. See more pics of The Painted Sisters and SF
Fog and sunsets some of the City's great attractions - See some interesting views and sunsets here.

June - Waves
I just loved taking pictures of the seas on the West Coast, the waves are definitely different to the North Sea, or the Atlantic. They seem to be able to build out of nothing.
Most of the photos came from Samuel H Boardman SP, Or, Brookings, Or, MacKerricher S.P Ca, and San Francisco Bay
There are more pics on the Picasa site



July - The Bay at Brookings
 The sea was our constant companion for the second part of our California trip, This little lump of rock was just off the Chetco Headland and was covered with pelicans, all jostling for position at the top. Fog and haze are often found on the coast.
The rocky coast is very romantic and makes for beautiful scenery. See more pics here
Brookings is the first town you arrive at when you cross over into Oregon. It is a pretty fishing village built a a river mouth.

There are many famous light houses on the Pacific coast, many were built to guide the timber ships that plied their trade down the coast. This one was built after a ship, The Frolic, was driven on to the rocks beneath the present site of the lighthouse. The lighthouse is very close to Mendocino a small coastal town which is famous for its architecture and being the town they shot Murder She Wrote in. See more pics of Mendocino here

September -  The Japanese Tea Garden
On the coast to the west of San Francisco is a very large park, called the Golden Gate Park. In the park are a number of smaller parks each with their own theme. One of the oldest and most famous is the Japanese Tea Gardens. It is quite small but has many twisting pathways between shrubs and flowers, which even in November were full of colour. Just like the Willow Plate Pattern come to life  there are willows, ponds, bridges and temples to walk among. Right in the middle of the garden is a Tea Room which serves Japanese food and tea.

October - Big Trees
California has a number of the biggest trees in the world. Either the tallest, or just the largest volume and we saw several of them. From Kings Canyon and Sequoia in Southern Sierra Nevada, where the two largest Sequoias are, General Grant and General Sherman (277ft).
Further north to the Sequoia of Yosemite. Across to the coastal Redwood trees, which are taller, (379ft) but slimmer. Walking amongst these trees gives the feeling of timelessness and tranquility. See more pics
We even went to the Chandelier Tree, which is large enough to have a hole cut into it through which you can drive a car (not ours as it was just too big). See more pics

November - Yosemite
Yosemite is a breathtaking experience. It is a narrow, but deep gorge through massive mountains. Surrounded by cliffs on feels dwarfed. There are many places to visit in Yosemite, we only managed a few in the three days we were there.
There are several waterfalls, the Yosemite Falls are the highest in North America. The flow over them was quite small when we visited, however on the last night there it rained and when we left we were able to see the falls in full flow, which was very exciting. See more pics.

There is no doubt that this icon of California is amazing. Its sheer size takes your breath away, coupled with the wonderful views of San Francisco from the bridge and the bay below it is a wonderful site. Views of it were constantly changing, fog would 'instantly' appear or disappear. You can see it from lots of different places, walking under it at Fort Point is also exciting. It is constantly surrounded by people, Japanese tourists, bikers, joggers, surfers, all enjoy being on or under the bridge. Visiting on a Saturday meant that these people were out in force, It is just a fun place to be. See more pics
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