California

Mountains.43

Hood Mountain as seen from Annadel, above; other shots of the peaks and valleys in and around Annadel and Santa Rosa in these last photos from the time I spent in SR itself during that April visit. Plenty more from California still to come (think Redwood Forests in Mendocino and more of the coast line, etc.)…but these are my last visuals of my once and presumably future home for the time being 🙂

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Small Wonders.243


Lake Living.33

Above, Spring Lake; at bottom & in the  middle below, Lake Ilsanjo as seen from close up and then near the top of one of my favorite trails. All from April, first day back in these parks whose hiking and biking trails I do so love, on that lovely visit in April and early May.


Gallery

Coasting.103


Small Wonders.242


County Views.142

Sonoma County – turns out I didn’t manage to identify all the photos with Mt St Helena somewhere in them when I tried to put them all in one big post early last month. So herewith a few more images from the place that’s still the home of my heart 🙂

From The Air.52

Definitely Mt St Helena top right corner – Mt Tam top left edge, and for anyone who doesn’t know the Bay Area, that’s the Bay Bridge connecting SF (left) to Oakland – Berkeley and the east bay then on to rest of the US. (That’s I-80, connecting from the GWB in NYC to the Bay Bridge right across the whole continent. Though, given how things are going in the US, one must consider that perhaps SF and the bay area might by next year prefer to not be so well connected to the rest of the US, which might make sense considering what so much of the rest of the US seems to think of our part of the country. Hmmm….any younger voters reading this who think there’s “no difference” between the two main choices you’ll have in November: please do not let the perfect be the enemy – and very possibly destroyer — of the good.)

From the Air.51

Since I’m scheduled shortly to be flying off again for very distant parts for work reasons, I thought I’d fondly remember another of these lovely moments as our plane gained altitude after departing from my beloved spiritual-home airport of SFO. If you follow the line of the lower fin on the plane’s tail, I’m pretty sure it’s Mt St Helena that you’ll see as a bump on the far horizon.

County Views.141


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Mountains.41


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Village Views.80


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Signs of the City.90


Coasting.100

Pacific Coast top left, SF bay above and below, city of SF skyline quite visible below, to the right of Mt Tam(alpais) which is on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Both from my flight out on May 3rd.

Small Wonders.240

Some of the flowers enjoyed on my last day in SF, early May. 🙂

City Views.230

All but the third photo in the gallery below taken from the top of Twin Peaks in mid-April.