Leon Turnbull Photography

Bodega Bay is an interesting place. Everyone seems to know each other, and everyone seems to smoke, drink, and/or do drugs. I guess if you live in such a small place, there’s not much else to do except those three things.

We saw plenty of wildlife when we were there, much more than I usually see when I am at the coast. We saw seals, sea lions, deer, and even a whale. We also saw plenty of birds including pelicans, egrets, herons, osprey, cormorants, you name it we saw it. The birds did not seem to display any sort of killer aggressiveness towards human-kind. When you are in Bodega Bay, you have to say that. This is where they filmed “The Birds”, after all. The did display aggresiveness towards each other and towards the sea lions, but that is something else.

One very cool location is at the Inn at the Tides restaurant. The sea lions hang out right there at the docks, waiting for handouts from the fishermen. I was able to get some great close-ups of them (while my wife was spending lots of money in the gift shop), and also of other birds there.

Here’s another one:

We just returned from a fabulous weekend in Bodega Bay, on the coast of California. It was a quick get away for my wife and I to celebrate our 10th anniversary.We left the kids with Tara’s parents and headed over on Friday afternoon.

We were staying at the swanky Bodega Bay Lodge. It was a very special occasion and I wanted to stay some place very special. My wife would rather me spend that kind of money on a nice place like this every once in awhile, rather than spending it on jewelry or something like that. That’s good, because I’d rather spend it on that too. Our stay at Bodega Bay Lodge was wonderful. The room was immaculately clean, nothing out of place. The only negative thing I can say about it is that it could have been more “luxurious”. For example, they had rather cheap pictures on the walls. Perhaps I can talk them into buying my photos for their walls. 🙂

The idea was to hit sunset at Bodega Head on Friday evening. Well, it may have been a fabulous weekend, but it was not perfect weather-wise. I think Friday and Saturday were the two most color-less sunsets I have ever witnessed. There was nary a cloud in the sky either night, and it was kinda hazy out on the water, so the sunset just fizzled, the sun just plopped down into the haze and that was all she wrote. My friend Brian must know something more than I, because he had fabulous clouds at the coast the weekend before. Whenever I am there, it seems there is just nothing. Blah Blah Blah. And not to mention, on Friday it was COLD! Coming from 100 degrees in Sacramento, you would think it would be somewhat warm at the coast. But it felt like winter, very cold and very windy, and I was definitely not dressed for it. We had to sit quite a while out in the cold waiting for the sun to come down, it was definitely not worth our efforts and I was not pleased with any of the photos I took on that first evening.

Well, things picked up quite a bit after that first sunset. We went to see St. Teresa of Avila church in Bodega. The schoolhouse behind the church was made very famous in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie “The Birds”. The church was briefly seen in the movie as well, but it was made more famous by Ansel Adams. I wanted a different take on this church, and my idea was to photograph the church at night. I thought I would have some light from the half moon to illuminate the scene; we did not, but we were here early enough that I did not need it. I think it turned out fairly well. The exposure was 53 seconds at f/4.

When I woke up on my last morning in Yosemite, I was very very sore and very very tired. I could barely walk because of blisters on my feet. I knew I could not go on any more extended hikes. Maybe I could, but I didn’t want to. I decided to pack up and go home, and make one detour in the process.

That detour was to Carlon Falls on the South Fork Tuolumne River, which is located just outside the park. It is an easy 1.5 mile walk to the falls along the river. I started hiking at about sunrise, which was enough time to make it to the falls before the sun rose above the canyon. Carlon Falls is a nice 26 ft. drop, and it was an enjoyable hike, which I took on the slow side due to my blistered feet.

I didn’t see any bears this weekend at Yosemite National Park. The lady at the campground told me there were three bear break-ins (to cars) the previous night I arrived. It amazes me that people would leave food in their cars, thinking that was okay. It is interesting to note, that I have never ever seen a bear in any national park I have been to. Supposedly, that is the one place you should be able to see bears commonly. But not me. I have seen bears in California in other places, out hiking, or driving. But never in national parks. So it didn’t surprise me that I didn’t see any bears this time around. But for some reason, I had a feeling that I might see a bear this morning. But I did not. The only wildlife I did see in Yosemite was a coyote, and a couple deer. Perhaps my eyes were too fixated on all the amazing waterfalls to notice the bears and cougars right behind me. 🙂

My adventure this past weekend started out at 4AM and ended up with a 7 ft. high waterfall. That’s a lot of effort for not much payback.

It is always a big effort getting up so darn early in the morning. But with sunrise now at 6AM, and considering it takes at least an hour and a half to drive anywhere interesting, it is a necessity.

My plan was to explore the Silver Fork American River at Kyburz. I was hoping to find a decent sized waterfall on that river. I had no idea, really, if there was one or not. I just had a thought that there might be one, there should be one, and I was meaning to explore it. I had a couple possibilities marked out on my map. When I got there, and arrived at those possibilities, I realized that my big effort was for naught. No waterfalls. But I didn’t want my day to be a total loss, so I scrambled down to the river anyway. When I got down there, I found a 5 ft. high waterfall. Eh. Not too exciting, but I took a photo of it. It was pretty steep scrambling down there and took more time than I wanted to. I had a second destination in mind as well.

That was Alder Creek, 5 miles down the road from Kyburz. When Rob and I were driving home from Bassi Falls the other day, way up on Ice House Rd., we noticed a waterfall off in the distance across the canyon. It looked like a big one. Was it really a waterfall? It was hard to tell from so far away. When I got home, I studied my maps, and saw that yes there a possible waterfall. But I wasn’t sure which drainage it would be. I thought maybe Alder Creek was the ticket. It wasn’t. The correct drainage was Mill Creek, and yes there is a waterfall on that creek. A big one. But I’m not sure (yet) how to get to it. I’ll be working on that. In the meantime, my idea for this day was to explore Alder Creek. I think there might be a waterfall on Alder Creek as well. I found a trail leading up the creek, and at first it looked very promising and very easy going, but then it stopped. At this 7 ft. high waterfall. Continuing to bush whack up the creek for another mile was not on my list of things that I wanted to do this day. Maybe another day. So anyway, I just stopped here at this mini falls for a quickie photo. Then off home I did go. And arrived back at the house to find my wife still sleeping. ha ha.

Although Tunnel View is perhaps a more dynamic view of Yosemite Valley, I think I prefer Valley View shown here. There are always way too many photographers at Tunnel View for my liking, you have to duel tripods just to find a spot to set up. I hate crowds and I like my photography without the fighting. Valley View usually doesn’t have very many people around.

I had a fabulous evening at Yosemite after gorging on pizza at Curry Village. it was most certainly the best part of my weekend. Firstly, I drove out to Valley View for sunset light. It turned out to be not much of a sunset. The clouds rolled in, blocking the sun. I think I got the very last of the good light with this shot here. I really like this one though.

After Valley View, I packed up and went over to Lower Yosemite Falls. I intentionally left my camera in my vehicle and walked up to the falls. They have built new walkways there now, and you can park along the road. I like that very much. As I approached the viewing area at the falls, there were quite a few people there. I went straight by them, up into the wooded area beside the waterfall, to my favourite viewing location. There was no one else there. I just sat down on the wet rocks and enjoyed Yosemite Falls immensely, with the large amount of spray from the falls getting me quite wet in the process. It was awesome, and the most enjoyable experience I had all weekend. And to think, I wasn’t even planning to go up to Yosemite Falls this time. I’m so glad I did.