kv0925

As promised, pics and thoughts from my time in California last week!

So this is how I spent the afternoon after flying into Bakersfield: driving the 150 miles or so to loop around from Porterville back down to Ducor. At this scale the map only hints at the twistiness of the road, and of course you don't get a feel for the elevation changes and breathtaking views along the way. It was a great drive and I enjoyed it. Only got scared once, when I whipped around a hairpin turn a bit too fast and had to slam on the brakes and squal the tires a bit. :) I was glad my rental was an all-wheel-drive Subaru!

But before that I stopped by the Porterville ranger station for the Sequoia Nat'l Forest. I knew it would be closed due to the government shutdown, but I figured they'd have a map and some info outside that I could check. And this modification to a notice in the door tickled me.

Near the ranger station was a little airfield with some firefighting aircraft, which I don't see too much of. I kinda liked the effect of this one through the fence.

Obligatory down-the-road shot. Not much traffic out that day, which was great.

I kept stopping at little turnouts along the road to grab shots of the views. This one wasn't even that great, but I couldn't help it!

Interesting terrain, semi-arid with golden grasses and scattered trees. Colors and textures I'm not used to.

Came upon this campground area and thought I'd take a look, especially once I heard the sound of water. My girls would have absolutely loved this spot--lots of big rocks to clamber around on, and little waterfalls cascading into crystal-clear pools of shallow water. And not a soul in sight!

Same spot, larger pool.

Near Belknap Grove. I'm less than thrilled with how my HDRs in the woods came out--no matter how I tweaked, they have that artificial look of bad HDR. But HDR is required because of the dark shadows and bright highlights. Might have to keep tweaking.

My first look at sequoia trees! Pretty amazing organisms. I'm used to huge old cypress trees around these parts, but I loved these just about as much.

Obligatory self-timer shot.

Way up around 7,000 feet elevation I stopped at a place called Quaking Aspens. Gorgeous colors. And it was chilly up there--the thermometer in the car got down to 55F before I started heading back down the mountain and it warmed back up. I didn't really notice that the air was thinner until I climbed a hill or two and found myself breathing harder than I should have been. Kinda cool. :)

An unidentified local resident, checking me out.

Heading back down the mountain.

Loved the rolling golden hills.

I was coming out of the mountains at sunset, and this little stand of trees by the road grabbed me.

Again with the iffy HDR.

The next morning I was up way too early, so I headed out even before sunrise to see what I could see. And I was not impressed, but eventually I did find some connection with the scenery. I call this series The Sublime Beauty of Bakersfield: you have to REALLY want to see it.

After leaving the office for the day, I spent some time at the Kern County Museum. Lots of neat stuff there.

A clocktower like this stood in the center of a Bakersfield intersection for years, until a 1952 earthquake damaged it and it had to be torn down. Years later the remaining parts were recycled into this reconstruction. I found that neat.

The museum mainly consists of old-timey structures like this, some genuine that were moved from their original locations, some reconstructions. Very cool, though.