The foreground is an island, from which I took this canal view, so I get to categorize it in this series if I want to. Plus, it’s my blog anyway so I can categorize how I like :-). But I do need to get out and explore some bigger islands again soon, or this series will have to go into hibernation… 😦
This, friends, is the ranch house at the LBJ Ranch, also known as Lyndon B Johnson State Park & Historic Site. While LBJ (a great Texas democrat, lest we forget that such have existed) was president, this building was also informally known as the Texas White House. The county we’re viewing here, in case you’re curious, is Gillespie County :-). As you’ll deduce, the historic site includes an earlier incarnation of Air Force One; my cousins felt it might be fun to photograph me attempting a presidential-style wave from the stairs, with my nephew beside me after the tough flight 🙂
A number of small wonders from the lovely days in Texas with my extended family, to which I introduced our readers in an earlier post. These photos were all taken on (as you may deduce) a cool, slightly-rainy morning at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. Above, a flower I can’t identify; below, bluebonnets many times over. 🙂
These views of SF and the greater region are from the take-off ascent when we flew back to Amsterdam two weeks ago. The photos at top and bottom were selected as highlights for two reasons. First, because they both show the atmospheric effect of heat in the central valley (more than 100km east – right – of what you see here) pulling cool, moist air — aka fog — in from the vast, cold and wet Pacific directly through the Golden Gate (not the bridge, but the small gap in the coastal mountains which the bridge spans) and then inland, following the river that drains the valley then flows into the bay, in the process flowing over both the city of San Francisco, and some of the surrounding cities to the north and east. Second, because they both also show you the lovely north bay and – if I had that degree of resolution – they likely look right over Sonoma Mountain and the other coastal-range mountains to show Santa Rosa, in its little bowl about 65km north of the Golden Gate. FYI, the bridge you do see is the Bay Bridge, its two spans connecting SF with Oakland and the east bay, forming the western terminus of Interstate 80, just as the George Washington Bridge forms its eastern terminus at the Hudson between NYC & NJ. The Golden Gate Bridge, by that particular Monday afternoon, was already well-wrapped in the fog you see :-).
I had enough miles to get a cheap night at a nice hotel on the coast south of the Hague, but 20k of them were going to expire end of March. Out of that circumstance came a two days / one night exploring the coast. We found walking the dunes and beach quite invigorating, and the weather was generally conducive.
Look closely and you’ll see a snow-capped Snow Mountain peeking above the tops of the closer range of hills around Clear Lake, here in Lake County’s capital city of Lakeport. I’d only once grazed the very southernmost corner of Lake Country, on a wine-tasting trip to a vineyard that straddled both Lake and its more renowned southern neighbor, Napa.
Bangkok, and me in BKK to remind myself I was actually there at the start of this latest trip. Was too busy in Hong Kong to take any photos worth posting, and in BKK to take more than these on my first evening…such is work travel as opposed to the lovely vacation weeks in CA and TX 🙂
Back to Fort Ross State Historic Park in my old home county of Sonoma. This time we visited during the early stages of a school overnight trip, which added to the fun.
This, friends, is the ranch house at the LBJ Ranch, also known as Lyndon B Johnson State Park & Historic Site. While LBJ (a great Texas democrat, lest we forget that such have existed) was president, this building was also informally known as the Texas White House. The county we’re viewing here, in case you’re curious, is Gillespie County :-). As you’ll deduce, the historic site includes an earlier incarnation of Air Force One; my cousins felt it might be fun to photograph me attempting a presidential-style wave from the stairs, with my nephew beside me after the tough flight 🙂
These views of SF and the greater region are from the take-off ascent when we flew back to Amsterdam two weeks ago. The photos at top and bottom were selected as highlights for two reasons. First, because they both show the atmospheric effect of heat in the central valley (more than 100km east – right – of what you see here) pulling cool, moist air — aka fog — in from the vast, cold and wet Pacific directly through the Golden Gate (not the bridge, but the small gap in the coastal mountains which the bridge spans) and then inland, following the river that drains the valley then flows into the bay, in the process flowing over both the city of San Francisco, and some of the surrounding cities to the north and east. Second, because they both also show you the lovely north bay and – if I had that degree of resolution – they likely look right over Sonoma Mountain and the other coastal-range mountains to show Santa Rosa, in its little bowl about 65km north of the Golden Gate. FYI, the bridge you do see is the Bay Bridge, its two spans connecting SF with Oakland and the east bay, forming the western terminus of Interstate 80, just as the George Washington Bridge forms its eastern terminus at the Hudson between NYC & NJ. The Golden Gate Bridge, by that particular Monday afternoon, was already well-wrapped in the fog you see :-).
(so much world, so little time....) 