After nearly one week the storms have finally departed as Saturday started off with a perfectly blue sky (probably the nicest day I’ve had since I left California in September). Santa Barbara’s East beach was littered with numerous beached boats which were torn loose from mooring just off the coast; where the sea is normally calm and placid. Some of the boats might be salvageable while others seem to be a complete loss, unfortunately.
Several big storms have been blowing through southern California over the last days causing quite a bit of chaos to a place that is normally used to sunshine. High seas have torn several sailboats loose from their moorings and washed them ashore on East Beach near the Cabrillo Bath house. Went down to the beach early this morning in a brief pause in the rain to take a few photos. Now back at the house at 8:00 am, rain is pounding the windows and low rumbles of thunder can be heard every few minutes.
Today (Friday) at noon was the annual Fiesta parade here in Santa Barbara. It is mostly an equestrian parade riders from different organizations from around the area taking part, many dressed in traditional Spanish or Mexican costumes. Only a couple photos for now. I’ve made a Fiesta photo gallery: HERE, which I’ll add photos to during the next days.
La Fiesta Pequeña ( the little Fiesta) On Wednesday night marks the beginning of Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days, otherwise known simply as ‘Fiesta.’ Fiesta occurs every August here in Santa Barbara and is the biggest festival of the year. Traditional music and dancing combined with open air markets and parades attract thousands of people from the world over. I’ll be out and about taking photos during the next days…
Images from tonight of dancers on the steps of the Santa Barbara mission at La Fiesta Pequeña:
For perspective, I’m 1.83m (6 ft) tall. Redwoods are some big trees. Bad self portrait, I know…
Further down highway 1 from the Redwood national park area, yet still a few hours north of San Francisco, is Salt Point state park. The waves here crash against rocky beaches and cliffs, rising into coastal bluffs and forests.
In the rugged beauty of places like this, one is often reminded in the frailty of the life that lives there. While the never ending crashing of waves may look good for my photo’s, they can be deadly obstacle for a young seal pup. I counted 4 of the little guys along the short stretch of coast I walked along at days end. The wind was blowing so fiercely that I would only pickup the smell when walking immediately down wind. A quick search among the boulders and the source would be found.
Cool looking erosion in the sandstone rocks, called Tafoni.
After a night in the Mt. Shasta Area I headed west, through the winding mountain roads of the Trinity Alps and out towards the coast north of Eureka, almost to the Oregon border. This area is the home to Redwood national park and numerous smaller state parks. My favorite being Prairie Creek Redwoods state park, a mixture of thick redwood forests and beautiful beaches. This area is so from my home in southern California (it is a shorter drive from Seattle, Washington than from Santa Barbara) that I only first came through here a couple years ago in the summer and then again in the autumn of 2007.
There is this super cool campground at Gold Bluffs beach, set amongst coastal dunes with the endless crashing waves of the Northern Pacific ocean just a couple hundred feet away.
Roosevelt Elk lazily wander and graze throughout the tents and campsites. I would have liked to get a photo of them walking along the beach, but I never saw them there this time. More reason to go back again.
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4th of July fireworks over Santa Barbara Harbor.
Mount Shasta is one of my favorite mountains in California. Unlike the chain of rugged granite peaks of the Sierra, Shasta is simply a giant volcano rising 10,000 (3,000m) above the surrounding landscape to a height of 14,179 ft (4,322 m). The mountain is at the southern end of the Cascade range, a series of (mostly) volcanic peaks surrounded by endless Bigfoot-roamed forests starting in northern California, through Oregon and Washington and up into British Columbia.
