kv0925

I'm just gonna say it: Despite what you see above, Bakersfield, California is not, generally speaking, a pretty place. It's bleak and run-down and industrial and largely colorless and just generally not a nice place. So I almost look at it as a challenge to find and record bits of beauty there. And even though you really have to look for it, I think there's some beauty to be found. What do you think?

So on Friday morning, despite not getting to bed until 11:30pm Pacific (2:30am my time, after waking up at 4:45am my time), I still popped awake at 4:12am Pacific/7:12am Eastern, which is about my usual waking time at home when left to my own devices. I knew that would be the case, so I laid there for another hour and tried to get a little more rest, but sleep was not to be had. So I figured what the heck, may as well take a drive and see if I can snap some photos!

The park I'd picked in case I woke up early enough was The Park at Riverwalk. See, the Kern River cuts through Bakersfield, but "river" is a bit of a misnomer. I think most of the water is diverted into canals or dammed up into reservoirs, so the only way I've ever seen the Kern River is as a dry riverbed full of dead vegetation and old trash. But the city has apparently been working hard over the past few years to clean up the "river" and make some nice "riverfront" greenspaces. And I do mean green, they're a lot more verdant than the rest of the city landscape. There's also a really nice paved bike/hike trail that runs along the river and goes through a few of these parks. It all frankly seems a bit wasted on the place, but it's a nice effort. :)

That's the Kern "river"--I don't think diving will be a concern.

This shot kinda makes it look like water on the other side of the bridge. Nope, that's all sand.

Sunrise.

I've yet to see many live flowers when roaming around, but the dead ones and their seed pods make for interesting photos, especially at sunrise.

Spotted a few bunnies hopping around in the rocky river bed, I guess they have burrows down in there.

And a watchful hawk would surely love to catch one of those bunnies!

Robin!

Great egret!

I didn't know it, but my company has naming rights for this amphitheater in the park, so I thought that was an interesting find. :)

After leaving the office, we had some time before dinner and heading to the airport, so I just drove around town for a bit. We happened upon a place called Panorama Park, and with a name like that I had to stop and check it out. It was a strip of land way up on a bluff, sloping down (quite steeply) to the bike trail along a branch of the Kern River (this part actually had water in it!). In the distance we could make out some peaks of the Tehachapi subrange of the Sierra Nevadas. Pretty nice spot.

After leaving there we went to In-N-Out Burger for dinner. We'd heard great things, so our expectations were high, but it was quite disappointing. I thought the burger was pretty good, but the fries were dry and textureless, and the shake was somehow warm (how can a shake be warm? I dunno, but they did it!) and not very tasty. Maybe we got a dud location, I dunno. But people kept swearing by the place and it did not live up to its reputation. Luckily I'd gone to Schlotzsky's the night before, so that made up for it. :)

And that was this visit to Cali. Next time: who knows? :)