Crescent City, CA

July 18, 2010

Today was a day off.
There was early morning fog around the city. This is a photo of the lighthouse.
Some guy was enjoying the morning flying around the beach.


These birds are all over....

I could hear the sea lions again today but still couldn't see them. I did find a painted picture so I think this will have to do.

Crescent City, CA

July 17, 2010

Today I spent the day working in the hotel room. After working I took a short walk around the Crescent City Harbor and took a couple of photos. I can hear sea lions but can't see them. I've tried three times to find them while I've been here but no luck yet. I saw a small hawk flying over the harbor with a fish in hand but I wasn't able to snap a photo of that. The walk was nice, but short. The smells around the harbor can be a bit unpleasant, very dead fish like. The boats also creek and make noises that you wouldn't expect. I think that might be a spooky place to be at night.

Redwood National Park

July 16, 2010

Today we finished our recollection of the park. We finally got some images that look good in the dark tree cover. What a relief! Productive days are always nice. We also had great weather so today was almost perfect!

I didn't take many photos today. I did get a couple photos of some HUGE yellow slugs hanging out on a gate post.

Made it to Redwood National Park!

July 15, 2010

This morning I was up at 5:30am, hit the road at 6:30am and we made it to Redwood National Park around 10:30am. We did a distance calibration on the truck and then drove South a bit to some dark routes in the park. It was a frustrating afternoon to say the least but things did turn around by evening. While we were transferring data I got out of the truck to take a quick photo and here is my question of the day....How many locks does a gate really need? You can decide but I think this is a little much.

We ate dinner around 7:00pm. We decided to sit outside despite the chill in the air. Being right on the ocean makes a great dinner view. After dinner we headed to the beach for a short walk. We didn't find any shells but I was amazed at all of the critters we saw! I tried to get some photos to share with my blog readers. One thing I decided while on the beach was that when I got back to my hotel room I'd be turning up the HEAT! That lead to a funny thought for the day "I turn up my heat in July, do you?" Most of the country is in a heat wave and we are here in pants and a long sleeve shirt needing a jacket. It was 59 degrees according to the car thermometer when we left the beach this evening. I'll enjoy it while I can, before I head back East with the humidity.

Still Making Our Way West...

July 14, 2010

This morning I woke up in Utah and ended up in Oregon. I drove 9 1/2 hours but it felt like at least 12 hours. I-80 (Eisenhower Highway) wasn't bad. I saw a Hendrickson truck and finally snapped a photo. Some day I'm going to figure out how I'm related to the owner...who is based out of Sacramento, CA. After a couple hundred miles on I-80 we headed North at Winnemucca, NV. We then drove 208 miles though open wilderness. There wasn't much to look at and it seemed never ending. I've been on roads like this before, they all look the same, open wilderness with nothing in sight. We were lucky that there was one rest area! It was a welcome sight and it was nice to get out of the truck and stretch a little. Can you imagine 208 miles of looking at the picture below? Yeah, it does get old after about 30 minutes.

We finally made it to the Oregon / Nevada border and we got out to get a quick photo of the signs. The geologist in me quickly surfaced. I looked down at the sided of the road and saw black rock...could I really be seeing this! I looked around and it was every where...obsidian! It was really cool. It was a nice surprise and I wanted to spend the rest of the day looking for cool rocks.
The drive was far from over so back in the truck we went only to realize that since we were now in Oregon the speed limit was only 55mph! Uhhhh! A long drive just got longer. The last hour and 1/2 were pretty slow going. The scenery did get better with trees, farms and some small lakes here and there. We finally made it to Klamath Falls, OR and it was a very welcome sight. I was trying to remember how many times I've stayed in this town...I think this is at least my 4th time. If all goes well at Redwood National Park (yep we are going back) I'll be back in this town again in a couple of days when we collect Lava Beds...