United States

City Views.184

Our farewell, for now, to SF on the blog, ’til next visit & new pics.

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Urban Entrances.74


Coasting.54

Yes, the wharves by SF’s ferry building can count as “coast” on my own blog if I decide they do. And yes, this means I’ve an urgent need to get to some “real” coastline again asap, or we may run dry on images for this series even sooner than the previously-noted country canals. Second to last post from that March – April US swing, already two months ago, goodness me but time flies when you’re chasing postable images. 🙂

County Views.124

Nikos leading the way on the steeper ascent of Henry’s Knob, in Annadel, a fitting last photo from the most recent visit to good ol’ SoCo. 🙂

Coasting.53

Last Pacific coastal shots for a while…though I might have something left from Hong Kong that I could drag out if I had to, but not a very high-quality shot, for sure :-). Bodega head, looking south toward Point Reyes peninsula in the shots below.

County Views.123

View from a Lake County Winery with some of those hills also in northern Napa County. Second-to-last evening of my most recent stateside visit.

A Family Interlude

 

In the early 1930s, my mother’s parents moved in the middle of the great depression from Nebraska down to Texas so my grandfather could take a job in the chemistry department at Texas A&M. Both my mother and aunt were born there, and for that reason my aunt, cousins, one brother & my nephew all returned four years after my mother’s passing to Texas to enjoy time with each other and think about memories and family history. When we made it to the campus of Texas A&M, Aunt Judy was delighted to notice a bench dedicated to the memory of a professor whom she recalls my grandmother mentioning often when she was younger. The family moved on in the early 1940s to Long Beach, CA, and hasn’t had any ongoing contact with Texas A&M or as a state since, so it was fun to realize that our grandfather would near-certainly have taught in that very building you see, since the plaque says it was opened in 1929. 🙂 Also, we found the address they lived in at one point (us all on the porch of a house), though we suspect this building was built more recently. And as you see above, we did recreate our own new family photo in a field of Texas bluebonnets, in tribute to the photo of Mom & Judy as youngsters, likely by the side of the road as we are here.

 


Small Wonders.182

From a building façade in Austin. The marvels one can enjoy when wandering the streets!

Gallery

City Views.182


County Views.122

Yes, we’ve shown you Bodega Head before. But can one really have too much of such beauty? 🙂

From the Air.2

Albuquerque from the air, en route to that lovely long family weekend in Texas at the end of March & early April. We’ve shown you similar views before.

Coasting.52

Those are pacific harbor seals at the mouth of the Russian River in Jenner, plus a surfer or two.

County Views.121

On the drive up to Humboldt, we took the coast road which meant we got to stop at one of my favorite county parks with its lovely seaside redwood forest :-).

Coasting.51

Herewith, sadly, the last photos from our few nights up in Humboldt County with my big(gest) brother last month, thus the end with a sunset. (Thanks for coming down, Chuck!) I don’t have a ton more “coasting-appropriate” photos left, so either I’ll need to get back to a visible coastline again soon, or this series will also go into hibernation like a few others for which photos are getting thin in the folders. Original reason I started these series: to get myself out the door looking for things to post! 🙂

Village Views.40

The cluster of houses in the middle distance, on the far side of Bodega Bay, is the village of the same name. This photo was taken from the high cliffs on the ocean-facing side of Bodega Head, some of which you saw in the last “Coasting” entry a bit further down.