A daily snippet of a young British man and his life in Santa Cruz, California

Washington: Strait of Juan de Fuca, Elwha River, Crescent Lake, Hurricane Ridge, Dungeness Spit

Monday 31 August 2009

Photos from my recent trip up north to northern Washington


It was actually a work trip this time - here's our field vehicle parked at the top of the beach we were surveying - a vintage suburban truck. It's shabby, but it has a bench seat and I want one more than I can express.



The field team - from left to right: me, Ian, and Dr Jon (looking very professional with his starbucks cup - well, it was about 6am and the 'boob shack' was shut). Taken with a camera on a 4m pole with a remote control. The wonders of modern technology.



The guys thought it would be funny to shrink me to the size of a pea. It was harsh navigating over those large pebbles, but gave me some nice perspective shots ...



Only Ian could find digging a hole in a beach just after dawn with hands so funny!



The beaches next to the mouth of the Elwha River are strewn with trees, which make them very beautiful (not to mention morphodynamically very interesting ...)



The sun sets over northern Washington - the boys are still trudgin'



Olympic National Park on a very foggy sunday morning



Crescent Lake



Hurricane Ridge (about 6000 ft). The stillness and fresh air was indescribably good, and the views were limited


Crescent Lake


On the way home I travelled in style, catching a tiny 9-seater plane from Port Angeles on the Olympic peninsula to south Seattle. Once the fog cleared the views were amazing - a perfect end to a wonderful trip with great company


Dungeness Spit. Now I've seen both of them (there's one in south England too)!

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Santa Paula to Santa Cruz

Monday 3 August 2009

... and here are photos from the way back. Includes: Santa Barbara Mission; the coastal hills around Lompoc, Vandenburg, and Jolon; and the agricultural towns of Guadalupe and Castroville. Music: well, any 80's film fan will know this one! Not quite Beverly Hills, I know ... but be a darling a turn those speakers up LOUD!



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Santa Cruz to Santa Paula

Sunday 2 August 2009

This weekend I took a road trip south from where I live in Santa Cruz to Santa Paula, near Ventura just outside suburban Los Angeles. And very nice it was too! Having lived here for 9 months, and many trips north and east, I thought it was high time I ventured south (the furthest south I had been thus far was just south of Big Sur). Here are a few pics from the way down. And no, I wasn't tempted to go to Neverland. Nor was I tempted to hit the sprawling mess of Los Angeles - I'll save that for another trip - preferably one where I'm not behind the wheel! Instead I opted for the gentle hills of the low sierras, the arid valleys crammed with intensely irrigated farmland, the picturesque coastline, and the prosperous towns of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

As ever, turn up your speakers ...



Music: 'The Past and Pending' by The Shins

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