Day four started with a little snafu over the motor coach not picking us up on time. So, our time in Santa Monica was cut a little short. We had time to see the ocean and take 
a quick walk to the pier but no time to linger. I could have spent an hour or more photographing at the pier.
Then we were off to the Getty Villa which features a collection of art fro
m the Greek and Roman era. The Villa itself is a work of art having been inspired by a villa partially excavated from the ashes of Mt. Vesuvius, not in Pompeii but nearby.
happens I was so busy traveling I didn’t have time to complete my blog the last couple of days. Day three was all about the stars. In the morning we took a trip via subway (Who knew L.A. had a subway system?) to Hollywood and walked among the stars along the walk of 
fame. We also stopped by Grauman’s Chinese theater to see the footprints and handprints and sometimes (hmmm) gunprints and horseshoe prints. And no, I didn’t see anyone famous and doubt that they hang out around there anyway. We also spent some time looking at the artwork decorating 
the subway stations.
fore I came, I would have scheduled a few more days to spend there. 
Bodie, California, one of the best ghost towns ever, has been on my photographic bucket list for at least 25 years. Today I finally got there and it didn’t disappoint. Well, not too much. Unfortunately, it has gotten very popular and unfortunately the timing of my trip put me there on a Saturday so I didn’t exactly have the place to myself. 
car in line at 8:45. By the time I left around 11:30 the parking lot was full, there were about 10 cars lined up to pay the entrance fee and I must have passed at least 20 more coming up on my way down. There was a photography workshop there getting in the way of many of my pictures but still I persevered and got some good shots in spite of it all. I am thinking of giving it another go on the way back to catch the afternoon light and see if it is a little less crowded on a weekday.
I haven’t yet finished processing my pictures but I have enough to give you a taste of Bodie. Gold was first discovered here in 1859 but it wasn’t until the 1870s that a vein was found that made large scale mining profitable. Bodie boomed for about 10 to 15 years but by the 1890s the mines began to play out. A couple of fires put a few more nails in it’s coffin and by the 1940s the town was deserted and most of the land fell into the hands of the family that owned the bank.
assumed an attitude of what they call arrested decay. Things have been left as they were when the residents left town and the rangers repair but do not restore the buildings. The cold dry climate at over 8000 feet elevation helps to keep Bodie somewhat intact.
Leaving Bodie to make my way to my next stop in Bishop I saw a lot of aspen, some past peak, some beautiful but surrounded by sagebrush so not very photogenic. I only found one patch worth stopping for and somehow the picture just doesn’t capture what I was seeing. I also tried to stop at Mono lake put I didn’t have the right parking permit and I couldn’t find where to get one and since it was mid day I didn’t expect the photos would have been that great anyway.
After a long hard day of driving I ended up in Bridgeport, California without significant incident. Fortunately, I think this will be my longest day of driving the whole trip. After a short rest I took the M3 out for a walk to see what I could find. It turns out my motel is right next door to the Mono County courthouse whose architecture I would have to describe as Italianate meets Greek revival. It is a pretty building, in spite of its schizophrenic design. Aside from being the county seat Bridgeport’s main claim to fame is being the gateway to Bodie, California’s most famous ghost town. That is, after all, why I am here.
historic buildings, neon signs, and old mining equipment I headed down a side street where this hawk cruised into a tree right beside me. Yes, I did have to do some serious cropping as I only had a 18-150 zoom lens with me but I think he came out pretty well, all things considered.
useum which, sadly was closed. But there was an assortment of mining and agricultural equipment from days gone by outside. None of the photos made the final cut for tonight though. I preferred this wagon wheel I found back at the motel.
e mood tonight. Maybe it is just the subject matter. It turns out the courthouse plays bells every half hour. I hope this doesn’t go on all night as I need to get my beauty sleep before heading up to Bodie tomorrow.
Today has been fraught with frustration. Largely because of my nemesis on the left here. I am still puzzling over how it is possible that I could pick the one day in two months that the cruise ship comes into Santa Barbara to be my one day to explore the city. Curses, curses, curses.
Well, I did make it to the courthouse in spite of them but before I had finished capturing it’s amazing beauty my battery ran out. And I immediately realized I had forgotten to charge the spare. So, one caution about the M3 is that it is a real battery hog and you may need three to get through a day of serious shooting. The tile roof shot is taken from the clock tower which also offers great views of the town.
s also impressed with this spiral staircase and the gallery was my first peek inside. Unfortunately the battery crapped out before I finished shooting the exterior.
possibilities but is losing its Funk to trendiness. I finally stopped into a wine tasting room for a little attitude adjustment. I did find a little funk, including this bicycle sign and its shadow.
And somewhere on my walk I found these stairs that spoke to me of the essence of Santa Barbara. I can see now that one or two days is not enough time to get to know this city. Guess I will just have to come back again, and again, and again. Don’t think I would want to live here though. SLO town is more my speed.
I had a busy day of touristing yesterday and was too tired to process any images so had to make up for lost time this morning. My first stop enroute from Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara was the Santa Inez mission in Solvang. There I found the kind of detail I love in the old missions. Solvang itself is fascinating with a Scandinavian theme but I decided to save that for another day.
beautiful of the missions and you can see that this may be true.
Roman columns and such. I don’t know if this is true but it does make some sense as this does not look very Spanish.
Sorry, I had to take a day off from the blog yesterday. I didn’t have many great pictures anyway because it was either pouring rain or we were inside. But today I had a chance to revisit the Sea Otter haunts in Morro Bay with the big girl camera and long lens. Pretty happy with the results. Here is a mama with her baby riding on her s
tomach. I think this one is about ready to solo.
uring down rain when we set out but by the time we arrived at our first destination it was clearing up but too muddy for our bird walk. So we proceeded on up the road to a less muddy place where we found few birds but lots of young male elephant seals separating themselves from the herd to avoid confrontation with the alpha males. This one won the prize for cuteness.
After a delicious lunch and a talk about whales we proceeded to the main elephant seal rookery where we found mamas and baby’s as well as alpha males and wanna be alpha males. This first shot looks like a slumber party of females without pups.
is one to prove it. Life is harsh on the beach though and the survival rate is not high. This fellow had been nursing but stopped to take a nap. We learned that the moms do not feed while nursing and lose 450 lbs before leaving the pups to wean. A newborn pup weighs about 75 lbs and grows to 300 lbs before Mom cuts off the milk supply.
But things got pretty exciting on the beach just as we were about to leave. To Alpha males, also known as Beach Master’s got into a fight over territory. It was still going on when we had to head out to our next appointment at the Natural History Museum in Morro Bay. There we saw a video about Humpback whales before proceeding to the Embarcadero for dinner.
is is the sunset that was happening last night as I was finishing yesterday’s blog. This, by the way was shot from my hotel room balcony.
found 15. It was still pushing the envelope for the M3 and how I was wishing for my 150
ho actually showed up to try and steal the otters food.