The last shots I’ve not yet posted from our May departure from SFO en route to Pittsburgh. Still plenty left, of snowy Sierra and Rocky mountains and so on. But this is another farewell to the bay-area shots from my most recent trip. For those unfamiliar — open a map of SF and the bay, and then it’ll make sense. SF city itself is that white area in the upper left, while Alameda island is in the middle right, below the wing. The rounded bay you to the top middle is San Pablo bay, which we’ve shown you before – it’s part of the SF Bay but separately named b/c as you see it’s a bit distinct, having various peninsulas and such to define it a bit more clearly.
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 🙂
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.
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 🙂
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.)
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.
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.
If look closely at the above photo, you’ll see a bay coming in from the Pacific at the top right, carving inland to the top-center. That’s Monterey Bay. I’m posting all the remaining photos from our mid-April approach to SFO, following the flight from Amsterdam which, as we’ve shown you in prior posts, cut over the norther half of Greenland before plunging south along the Pacific Coast. This photo was taken in the midst of our complex circling in order to line up for (north-facing) approach to SFO. If you’re interested in better understanding the geography, just open a map and see how the “peninsula” sits between the (more enclosed) SF bay and the open, further south Monterey Bay. Here we’re beginning a clockwise circle from our southbound course, so I’m looking south and we’re still turning west and north. The shots below follow the rest of that trajectory in order, although the first shot was taken a minute or so before the one above. Enjoy 🙂
If look closely at the above photo, you’ll see a bay coming in from the Pacific at the top right, carving inland to the top-center. That’s Monterey Bay. I’m posting all the remaining photos from our mid-April approach to SFO, following the flight from Amsterdam which, as we’ve shown you in prior posts, cut over the norther half of Greenland before plunging south along the Pacific Coast. This photo was taken in the midst of our complex circling in order to line up for (north-facing) approach to SFO. If you’re interested in better understanding the geography, just open a map and see how the “peninsula” sits between the (more enclosed) SF bay and the open, further south Monterey Bay. Here we’re beginning a clockwise circle from our southbound course, so I’m looking south and we’re still turning west and north. The shots below follow the rest of that trajectory in order, although the first shot was taken a minute or so before the one above. Enjoy 🙂
(so much world, so little time....) 