We had Tariq and Andrea visit us last weekend; with their recent move to New York City I’d been encouraging them since they moved to take a trip out to the west coast so we could show them San Fran and our digs.  We planned a trip to what I think is northern California’s most awe-inspiring natural wonder, Yosemite National Park, only to get rained out and turn our two day, three night adventure into a one night, afternoon-only trip.  Que, sera, sera…  We did get to take them into the park and quickly walk into Bridalveil Falls, view Yosemite Falls through the clouds, and have a drink at the Ahwahnee.  But Half Dome was cloaked in clouds and we could only venture out of the car for short periods without getting drenched.  Ah well, at least they got to experience some of Yosemite’s grandeur, even if we couldn’t do all the hikes we’d planned…

Upper Yosemite Falls (top left), the eastern side of Yosemite Valley (top right), fall colors in Yosemite Valley (left), the Merced River in Yosemite Valley (right), and where we unfortunately spent most of our time whilst in Yosemite National Park (below left)

We cut our losses and headed back to the Bay Area with forecasts of rain and more rain in the mountains, on our way back stopping off at Muir Woods National Monument in Marin to show Tariq and Andrea some of our giant redwoods and also in Berkeley to show them the UC.  Luckily it had cleared up and we were able to hike through a good portion of the park as well as the university.  Cafe Intermezzo on Telegraph Avenue still doesn’t disappoint, good memories of many a lunch eaten there during 2006 and 2007…

Tariq and Andrew at the beginning of the Ocean View Trail (left), Muir Woods ferns and redwoods (middle and right)

Mossy tree trunk (left), the Muir Woods canopy (middle), and Tariq and Andrea on the Lost Trail (right)

Mossy tree trunk (left), enjoying the sun after hiking in the damp shade (middle), and steps down the Fern Creek Trail (right)

Redwood Creek (left), and an amazing breeding ground of ladybugs alongside Redwood Creek (middle and right)

 
More ladybugs (left), clover along Redwood Creek (middle), and the Hillside Trail (right)

The Muir Woods canopy (left), feeling like a dwarf amongst giants (middle), and the forest along the Hillside Trail (right)

Sprinkles greeted us again the next morning, but we decided to tough it out and venture to Point Reyes National Seashore to hike out to one of our favorite spots along the coast: Arch Rock.  We started the 10.5 mile loop with relatively overcast but friendly-looking skies, they unfortunately turned to a torrential downpour about halfway through our hike!  Luckily we all had jackets or ponchos but still arrived back at the car with some very wet feet and pants after hiking for the better part of five miles in the rain.  Sorry about the rain guys, you’ll have to come back some time when it’s a little more friendly on the weather front!

Walking in on Bear Valley Trail (top left), Tariq making his way up Old Pine Trail (left), hiking into the redwoods on Old Pine Trail (middle), and the Sky Trail canopy (right)

Wet lichen hanging across the trail (left), a lone mushroom sprouts through the moss (middle), and the Sky Trail canopy (right)

 
The group on Sky Trail (left), and Tariq at final destination Arch Rock [at which point the camera went away due to rain!] (right)

The wedding at Saint Mary’s Church in Visalia

The wedding party awaits the bride (left), Paul and Hilary lighting their candle (middle), Brooke and Mrs V out the front of the church (right)

 
The newly married Hendersons (left), and the Ramona girls (middle and right)

 
Connie and Javi at the church (left), Brooke and Kevin at the reception (middle), and the Cal Poly girls (right)

 
Bosom buddies (left), and the Cal Poly girls with the bride (right)

 
The Bakkers with Hilary (left), the Kasbergen backyard (right), and Michele and Jim (right)

 
Jim and Tony (left), Michele and Tracy (right)

 
Connie and Nick (middle), and the newly-engaged couple (right)

 
Long time no see for Jen and Marcy (right)

 
Michele and Andi (left), father and daughter dance (middle), and a nice pink tie (right)

 
Jim and Michele with the Valtenbergs (left), another nice pink tie (middle), and the bridal party gets down (right)

 
Dan, Nick, Katie and Robin (left), Andi, Jeffrey and a nice pink tie [spot the out-of-place head] (middle), and the Machados with Nick (right)

 
We’re getting drunk (left), and a couple of shots with Baby Barbera (middle and right)

 
Gettin’ down with Wonderbread 5 (left), Paul with Jim and Michele (middle), and another nice pink tie (right)

 
Cheers to the bride (left), and more Cal Poly girls (middle and right)

 
Andi with Baby Barbera (left), Tony and Andi (middle), and Mrs V with Tony and Andi (right)

 
Yes, that is Connie dancing, I have it on film (left), I believe we’re officially drunk now (middle), and Andi kicks it with the boyz (right)

 
Beer goggles and a nice pink tie (left), a drunk hug with the groom (middle), and Nathan with his girlfriend (right)

We took a trip down to Visalia last weekend to attend the Zimmerman’s wedding, we stayed at the Bakker’s on Friday night before the wedding.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen Anna-Marie, she enjoyed showing us her chickens and the other ins-and-outs of the dairy…

Sales of stock photos online recently funded the purchase of something I’ve been eyeing off for quite some time: an ultra wide-angle lense.  In the mail on Monday I received a new 10-22mm Canon EF-S lense and had a chance to give it a bit of a whirl on the way home today.  I’ve ready a little about having to be careful with lenses this wide, the tendency of people to use them to "get everything in" and thus shooting photos with a great deal of empty space in them.  The second I aimed it at the Golden Gate Bridge from one of my usual spots I got the idea…  The lense is just so wide that it made Golden Gate puny from a spot where it would usually fill my other lense at 18mm.  I had to walk over a mile so I was standing literally on the edge of the water underneath the bridge to make the span fill the lense (the photo on the left above).  It provides amazing depth of field, a lot of fun to use, you can really get it up close and personal to objects in the frame.

Every day on my way home I pass a dairy that’s spread across the 101 freeway in-between Petaluma and Novato and marvel at the fantastic old gnarled California oaks in the dairy’s pastures.  Today the traffic was light so I drove into the dairy and asked the rancher if he’d mind me cruising through his property to take some photos; he was nice enough to oblige.  Some great trees on the property, I had a bit of a laugh trying to get back to my truck at one point as it’d become surrounded by cows who were about the most inquisitive bunch of heifers I’ve ever come across (the last photo)!

Been a busy week, so haven’t had a chance to put these up…  Anyway, Carol gave me a ride up to the mountains last weekend to pick up the LandCruiser before the snow starts.  We’d planned to take a 4WD trail from Hermit Valley Campground up to Sunset Lakes and Wet Meadow Reservoir, but when we got to the trail it was quickly evident that not even the LandCruiser would be able to handle it.  It was definitely ATV or dirt bike only!  So we kept going on Highway 4 and made our way over to the Kinney Lakes trailhead just past Ebbetts Pass.  When it started snowing on the way back from the lakes we couldn’t get back over the Pass quickly enough!

 
Kinney Reservoir (left), and Lower Kinney Lake (right)

Some very persistent high sierra tress growing out of the granite on the trail to Upper Kinney Lakes

Another persistent tree (left), an aspen tree showing its fall colors (middle), and Upper Kinney Lake (right)

Wood along the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway.

Some black-and-whites I snapped on the way back from the Sierras last weekend.

I’ve been searching for some time for a better way to display images on The Lemon. I recently came across a Java-based plug-in from a guy named Rupert Morris called Lightbox II, which is built on top of the ever-popular Loghtbox JS. The thing is awesome… And talk about easy to use: it automatically attaches the necessary HTML to new and existing images to display them in a very aesthetically pleasing Java pop-up, click on any images in Lemon posts and you can see for yourself. Rupert’s web page is here: http://stimuli.ca/.