Islands in the Autumn

 
Mosteiros beach in rain. São Miguel Island.

Location: The summer was over and dark clouds from the western Atlantic appeared on the Azores skies. I stood that night taking photos in the rain, beaten by wind and waves. My camera and filters were soaking. But it was all worth it. Awarded the front page of http://onephoto.net/?p0=2&p1=6 Photographed at the beach of Mosteiros, Westernmost part of the São Miguel island, Azores, Portugal.

Gear: Nikon D80, ND hard 0.6

Aperture: f/11 Exposure bias: +1/3 EV

Shutter speed: 2 sec

Focal Length: 11 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: October 20th, 2010, 19:55

PS. Also awarded the front page of http://www.obiektywni.pl/

Maciek.

Day 9 and 10: The Napa Valley

We spent two days riding up and down the Napa and Russian Valleys. We´ve tasted old Zinfandel wines, been to small family run wineries in Dry Creek Valley and visited big Disneyland-like wine producers in Oakville. Just two days of fun, talks in tasting rooms, meeting nice people, eating in Don Giovani restaurant. Swirl, sniff and spit...

Photos from the Robert Mondavi winery.

Maciek.

Day 11: Sacramento and Columbia State Historic Park

After leaving city of Napa we drove to Sacramento, a capital of the California State. Sacramento old town turned out to be very pleasant. We parked the car, walked the streets along the riverfront with19^th century style beautifully renovated shops, cobblestone roads, antique houses. It was all simple and rustic beauty that used to epitomize the Old West the way I like it very much. Afterwards we went to the small Rush Era museum where we meet a very nice lady who was working there. She told us a story of Sacramento as the epicenter of the 19^th century California gold rush with such an enthusiasm that we fall in love with Sacramento at ones. There are many wonderful things about the United Stated we have been slowly discovering during out trips to this country over the last 6 years. World-famous natural landmarks, big cities, nice restaurants with free refills, general feeling of safety while you travel and many more, but none is more outstanding than the friendliness of the people. All the people you meet are friendly, kind and with an immediate will to bing you help.

Sacramento old district.

From the Sacramento we took highway 41 scenic road south. The landscape was nice with groves of trees, old farm houses and pastures. This was the land when California Gold Rush took place. In 1984 the gold was discovered in the creeks here up the mountains and people went crazy. Almost overnight 40.000 people poured into this area. In a decade 400.000 people looked for gold in this hills. Some of the towns are being preserved as they were at the time. One of the most intriguing places to explore is old Columbia, now turned into a State Historic Park.

Gold Rush Era general store at Columbia.

Maciek.

Day 12: Yosemite National Park, the Tunnel View

Tunnel View.

This is one of the most photographed views of the Yosemite Park. We are standing on the west edge of the valley looking east. From the left: El Capitan with its massive 1400 m wall of rock ( the world´s largest exposed rock ), Half Dome in the middle standing 1600 meters above valley floor, Cathedral Spirals peaks with its Bridaveil Fall merely visible in the summer.

Maciek.

Day 13: The Yosemite National Park

Valley View near Pohono bridge, Merced river, late afternoon. From the left: El Capitan, Cathedral Spires with a Bridalveil falls.

We have already been to Yosemite in 2005 but that year only managed to see its Northern part: the Tuolumne Meadows. This time we were coming to see and explore the best of the Park: the famous Yosemite Valley. It is an extraordinary experience to find yourself face-to-face with what is considered one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. The panoramas, white-granite monumental walls of rock, denim blue lakes and rivers, meadows, falls: all was sensational. In the afternoon I drove to the Park. With a dying sun behind me, long shadows from the trees and expansive views of the Yosemite I stopped at Valley View ( above ), took off my camera and shot a picture. Unfortunately there is no camera in the world that can picture the true beauty of the Valley I have seen from the bank of the Merced river that day. Maciek.

Day 14: The Big Sur, cont.

Bus Sur close to San Simone village.

We spent the night at Fresno, in the middle of San Joaquin Valley. In the morning we drove west crossing the vast valley with never ending fields of corn and orange trees stretching up to the horizon. The landscape didn´t improve until Reef city. Finally the big plain has finished and we started climbing the lazy hills of Diablo Coast Range. Paso Robles is a famous wine growing region. The vines were introduced here by the Spanish settlers as early as 1797 but gained more notoriety when Ignacy Paderewski, the famous Polish statesman and concert pianist became enchanted with the area, and planted Petite Sirah and Zinfandel on his Rancho San Ignacio Vineyard. From Paso Robles the winding road took us down to the Pacific coast and soon we entered the Big Sur. The views over the rocky cliffs, fog and angry sea below were splendid.

Big Sur squirrel.

Maciek.

Day 14: The Big Sur, California.

McWay Falls where we stopped and walked through the State Park. Highway 1, Big Sur, California.

About 200 km south of San Francisco the US Highway 1 ( also known as Pacific Coast Highway) drives through a magnificent scenery. Welcome to the Big Sur. The area is flanked by the steep Santa Lucia Mountains to the east and the rocky Pacific Coast and vastness of the biggest ocean on the planet to the west. Dozen of state parks, hundreds of vista points, some wilderness areas, a few beautifully located cafeterias ( in one of them we had a wonderful lunch with our friends ), falls, lighthouses and some spectacular bridges; it all makes the journey unforgettable.

Big Sur is famous for its thick summer fog.

Maciek.

Day 15: The Google headquarters

We spent the night at the hotel at the Marina Beach, California, somewhere between Monterey and Santa Cruz. It was raining a little ( that kind of rain that humiliates you and makes your umbrella completely useless ) and some wind was blowing from the ocean. From our hotel window we should have been able to see the beach but all we could recognize was dark skies and pale sand dunes rotten by the wind. After breakfast we left the hotel and headed north, passed Watsonville and soon arrived at the famous Silicon Valley. The valley is quite vast stretching from north to south between the Diablo Range and San Mateo coastline hills. It is home to many of the world´s best Internet and IT companies. We headed for the Mountain View to see the headquarters of Google.

My son Lukasz at the Googleplex.

To our little surprise Google occupies a modest number of 3-stories high office buildings, not so fancy and not so special as you can expect from one of the world´s biggest companies. There were bicycles and scooters lying free on the grass in every possible corner of the lawn and beside the office entrances, some volleyball courts and a lot of green areas to keep the Googlers healthy and productive. Although nothing exceptional but I liked it. It was like actually "touching" and "seeing" the virtual reality of the Internet. I also hoped that the actual proximity to some of the best and beautiful Googlers minds will make me a little smarter. Maciek.

Portugal in mid-September

Sunset at the Ria do Aveiro lake, Portugal.

I am taking a small break with my holiday diary to present one of my latest work. I will be back with "2010 Trip to America" the first 10 days very soon. A story behind: I went back to my favorite photo location where peace and serenity prevails. Enjoy the gorgeous sunset as I did that night. Location: Ria do Aveiro, Portugal.

Gear: Nikon D80, Tamron 28-75 mm

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 2 sec

Focal Length: 30 mm

ISO: 400

Date Taken: September 21th, 2010, 20:07 Maciek.

Day 30: Beaver

City Hall, Beaver, Utah - perfect small town America.

That was to be our last day of the trip. The next morning we were to embark on the flight to Boston. On our way back to Salt Lake City we stopped for the night at a small hotel in the town of Beaver.

Elk Meadows in the Filshlake National Forest.

Beaver turned out to be an excellent small town. One main street, clean rich houses, nice XIXth century old red brick city hall, a golf and a football fields, nice people, old fashioned restaurants. All put in the shade of the Fishlake National Forest. That was the most perfect "small town America" we have ever encountered.

Wild animal warning.

In the evening we drove up the mountains to the Puffer Lake. The lake was nothing special but the road up and down the hill was scenic. We passed the Elk Meadows ski area, meet some wind animals wandering by the street and later got back home.

A small, by the road hotel we stayed.

What a pleasant and relaxing day it was. Maciek.