Photo Dump, Part 2: California

[kv0925]

The nice thing about racing the sun westward to California on a big ol' jet airliner is that I can leave here at 7am, spend 6 hours on a plane, and still have it be 10am when I get there. Even so, I was at a bit of a loss for what to do with my time, since my initial driving-tour idea turned out to be untenable. But since I was flying into Los Angeles, I figured what the heck, why not check out Hollywood? So for a first stop, I headed down to Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave, where there was a museum that sounded reasonably interesting. But when I got there, I didn't much like it, nor did I like the look of the museum, so I just walked around the area for a few minutes and decided that was enough. There are probably parts of Hollywood I would enjoy, but that was not one of them.

So instead, I headed for Griffith Park, since the observatory there seemed like a nice landmark in itself, and a great place to get a look at the Hollywood sign as well.









The observatory really was pretty nifty--I wouldn't mind going back there to check it out more properly. It was packed, though!









A little way down the hill from the observatory was a small picnic area and bird sanctuary, so I pulled off to check that out. Lots of hummingbirds!



But I'd had enough of crowds and auto exhaust, and I was famished, so I headed out of town and stopped for lunch along the way. In-N-Out Burger. My second time trying it, mainly to verify my impression from the first time, which is that the hype is not justified. The burgers are good, don't get me wrong, but not THAT good, and the fries are just plain awful. And when all you serve is burgers and fries, they should both be pretty damn good, amirite? Anyway.

I'd wanted to check out Vazquez Rocks Natural Area for the past few visits, because it looked like a neat place, and because of its connections to television and film. Most notably the "Arena" episode of the original Star Trek series, in which Kirk is obliged to face the Gorn in combat with nothing but his hands and wits. Good stuff. And it was a really neat place with an almost alien feel in places. Plus I was the only person there, which always helps. After the hustle and bustle of LA, it was a nice change.







Compare:




I headed back to I-5 towards Bakersfield, and along the way spotted a sign for a park (Placerita Canyon State Park) featuring something called the Oak of the Golden Dream. Sounded too good to miss, and I had time for a detour, soo...




And this is the oak. The name refers to the story of a man who fell asleep beneath the tree for a siesta, and dreamed of gold, then woke up and found gold flakes clinging to the roots of the wild onions he was there to pick. This was in 1842, 6 years before Sutter's Mill and the subsequent Gold Rush, making this the first discovery of gold in California. Nice story; the tree itself, not very impressive. But I'm clearly spoiled by the Southern live oaks down here.


Nice little hike in the park, too. After that I headed to Bakersfield and it was dark, so I just grabbed a quick dinner and hit the hotel to relax.

The other nice thing about going to California is that thanks to the time change, I always wake up way early and find myself with time to go catch the sunrise somewhere before I need to head to the office. This time I ranged a little further, to Hart Memorial Park outside of Bakersfield--dating back to 1921, it's actually the oldest park in town, and used to be a full-on amusement park and zoo. These days there's not much to it, but it was still nice for a morning stroll, and nice to see a section of the Kern River that actually had water!












Note the graffiti. Punks everywhere!

After leaving the office, I again had some time to mosey down to Santa Clarita--I was flying out of Burbank in the morning, so I wanted to overnight fairly close. Along the way I stopped at Pyramid Lake--unfortunately I got there right after the visitor center closed, but the view was still lovely. I'd come back here to check it out more closely.



Once I hit Santa Clarita, it wasn't really late enough to just head to the hotel and crash, but it was too late to venture very far. So my initial thought was to try to make it to the coast and eye the Pacific again, but along the way I decided that was too far and I didn't want to waste what little daylight was left behind the wheel. Around that time I happened to spot an old steel-truss railroad bridge off to the side of the road, and I dig those. So I turned off to check it out, and that turned out to be a pretty good decision, photographically speaking.




The bridge was obviously retired and defunct, but safely negotiable on foot down to the point where you see foliage. There the plywood dropped off for a good 15 feet or so, and I could have tried my luck on the narrow beams, but I'm not quite that adventurous when exploring alone!









A few iPhone snaps from the plane:


The Grand Canyon is down there somewhere, I think.






Good ol' Orlando!


Thanks for looking, again!

Comments

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

THAT is an amazingly clear day! You lucked out! When we went to the observatory, the Hollywood sign was pretty hazy and not worth photographing.
Hey, did you take a Tom Tom to get there? Yeah, ours is pissy because a lot of times you have to stop and get gas and Bitchin' Betty complains that we need to turn around and get back on the highway. Or worse, she gets shoved into a glovebox when we get out of the car. Well, trying to get to the Observatory, she tried to kill us several times. "Hey, drive off this cliff!" "Don't worry about this narrow one way road, I'm sure you can go the wrong way. This is TOTALLY the best way to get there." Did your device try to kill you off too?

[cp.livejournal.com]

It was very clear indeed! Pretty damn hot, but dry and with a breeze that swept out all the schmutz. I was glad for that!

Ha, I love stories of people who drive down railroad tracks or off the road because their GPS told them to. Are there people THAT dependent on technology, that they won't trust their own eyes telling them there's no there there? Don't answer that. :) Anyway, around LA I used my iPhone with the Waze app, which is my navigator of choice these days. It's not always as good as Google Maps when it comes to finding places and picking the easiest route, but I like the interface, and I like that it's a community of users who actively report on traffic conditions, road hazards, police activity, etc. And it will automatically re-route around traffic slowdowns, which can be nice. It worked well enough to get me to Griffith Park, but from there I just followed the signs up to the observatory. And found a parking spot, thankfully--it was so busy cars were parking along the road for half a mile leading up to the top, which did not bode well.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Spouse just told me that he had that last time, the no parking, and was just getting ready to leave when they opened the parking lot because enough people had left.

Did you get your kids stuff from the giftshop? It's a pretty good giftshop. Not Smithsonian good, but pretty good.

[cp.livejournal.com]

They hadn't closed the parking lot, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to cruise it once before parking on the street, and happily I got lucky!

I did take a glance in the giftshop, but I didn't browse long enough to get anything. I keep feeling bad, I should really get the girls something when I travel, so they have a treat when I get home. But souvenirs are usually overpriced garbage, and anything else we can find around here or on the Net, you know?

[anfractuousity.livejournal.com]

So glad that someone out there agrees with me about In-N-Out.

[cp.livejournal.com]

My first visit, I thought the burger was fine, fries were mediocre, and I got a milkshake that wasn't cold. How on earth do you make a not-cold milkshake?! But any place can have an off day, so I thought I owed them one more try before writing them off. Again, burger was fine, fries were terrible, and I was too thirsty to risk another tepid milkshake. Anyway, yeah, I don't get the cult. :)

[anfractuousity.livejournal.com]

Next time you're in the area, find a Fatburger instead!

[cp.livejournal.com]

I will indeed! I see there's actually one in Detroit, which is my next destination. But it's downtown, and I wasn't planning on going there. My afternoon plan for tomorrow is set, I guess we'll see what I feel like doing with my evening. :)

[anfractuousity.livejournal.com]

Since Fatburger is a California original, I'm skeptical as to the quality of burger you'd get in Detroit, of all places... o_o But it would be interesting to compare and contrast with an LA area location, as well! Be sure to get cheese, bacon, and an egg on your burger!

Oh, and if you're ever in Los Angeles itself, definitely check out Master Burger, too. I think there are only three locations? James and I go to the one that's right near where we live on Crenshaw and Adams, and they're really good. They're not much to look at, but don't be fooled. They make gooood burgers.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

I agree.
I've always thought 5 Guys was better. Their fries suck too but the burgers are better.

[anfractuousity.livejournal.com]

Gimme Fatburger any day.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I haven't heard of them! I'll look for them tho

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like 5 Guys, but I wish they had a little more variety. Still beats the pants off In-N-Out!

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

I really, really loved looking at these. Beautiful places. What a great view you had from up on high!

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you liked! I was lucky to get such a great day for exploring, having been told that the smog could really mess things up. Luckily not, so it really was a great view from up there! Still, I was much happier once I got out of the city. That many people in one place is really not my scene. :)

[goblue.livejournal.com]

You always find the coolest places to take pictures.

[cp.livejournal.com]

That really is a good deal of the fun of it, isn't it? Wait until you see what I have planned for tomorrow! :)

[invincible.livejournal.com]

That's a great picture.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Photography is a big thing for me, so I love to indulge my inner shutterbug, especially when I get to travel (which I'd like to do lots more of!).

[waitingonsunday.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god, these pictures are amazing and I want to be there. Some of the landscapes don't even look real! Thanks so much for sharing.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was a very nice trip, I love finding neat off-the-beaten-path stuff to photograph. :)

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! LA is so huge.. I would love to visit, but don't think it would ever work for me to live there! Too many people. I can't believe people sprayed graffiti on a tree! Jeesh.

Love old tresses! I like to imagine what was carried on them long ago, when they were new.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I rolled the dice on where to go in LA, and wasn't terribly impressed with where I ended up at first. Griffith Park seemed very nice, but still pretty crowded. When I go to a park I tend to want there to not be so many people, you know? Definitely a crowded and dirty place.

Bakersfield is definitely less so, but there's not a whole lot to do there, which I guess is why spraypainting graffiti on trees is a thing. :)

I don't know what it is about old bridges like that. I can't even call them beautiful, really, since they're definitely a case of function over form. But there's something about the patterns of the beams and struts, it's just nice. And the history, of course. I especially like finding old bridges detached from everything, the tracks they used to carry long-gone. Years ago in Texas we came across one that was literally a bridge to nowhere, standing there with nothing around it and nothing at both ends. Kinda cool. :)

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

For me there is something about bridge lines and the texture they produce with the rivets... I just love them!

Isaac really wants to visit LA. I suspect we'd spend a lot of time checking out the music scene. In general, though, I've had a hard time finding things to do/good places to stay.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that reminds me, on one of my visits I do want to visit the Fender guitar factory, which isn't too far outside of LA. It would be cool to visit the place where my guitar was born. :) I shoulda thought of that before this last trip!