Light painting on GP

January was again exceptionally dry with no rain at all. But now it has finally come back again and the dirt gets washed of the roads and houses. At least a little and it wouldn't be bad if it continues for some time. On the other hand currently is really perfect weather for sunsets and the lab offers a great view over the bay.

And there are some other nice spots in Californa too. Just drive around on Highway 1 and stop randomly at sunset. Quite likely you'll find a very impressive view.

Berkeley itself has also another great view point. We observed many sunsets at Grizzly peak. But last time, it was already dark when we went up and I brought my tripod to do some long exposer shots. Well with a few unsuccessful tries, we had a lot of fun:

Long weekend Roadtrip

One good thing here is that the Holidays are usually placed not on a specific date, but on a Monday or Friday to make a long weekend. Thanksgiving is on a Thursday and for more convenience Friday is also off. Thus a lot of time to do something.
For last years thanksgiving we actually started planning early enough, but as it is when too many people try to figure out what to do the planning didn't go as smoothly as could be. We still ended up with a good plan and decided to drive to San Felipe, Mexico, for the Thanksgiving weekend. Sounds like a good plan, doesn't it?

It might be, but not for only four days. Google maps says something like 12h driving, so not to bad...
But what you shouldn't forget is time for breaks, gas, traffic, boarder, crazy drivers and other problems. So actually leaving on time we managed to get to LA where we tried to camp on a free campsite. Only problem, it was 3am and the road to this site was blocked. Slight change of plan and after another hour we ended up in a random Motel.
"Well" rested the drive continued and somehow we managed to cross the boarder.

Another couple hours driving, which included crossing a military control and we arrived in San Felipe. Somehow we managed to get the two cars back together, find the manager of the house and actually get to the house. Even though it was already dark, jumping into the sea was the first thing to do.
And then we could enjoy the night sky with a late dinner

Rewarded for the long drive with an amazing house, we stayed there most of the time.

Unfortunately the time down there was much too short and so we had to drive back after only two nights. Again driving through the desert, we managed to get to the boarder. Where a fence waited together with a long line of cars. A quick control of the passports, and then we were back in California.

So in total we drove more than 1700 miles within four days, had some crazy things happening and did a pretty mad trip. But it was fun and looking back makes it even more fun.

And last but not least, the flying beaver, our guardian for the road

A random Sunday

Many things happen but because of that there is not enough time to write about it. A big road trip happened on Thanksgiving, but this will be reported in a future post. This time I just want to write what can happen on any random Sunday in the Bay Area.

Starting early in the morning we went to Oakland Zoo. Hungry from watching apes, lions, elephants and other animals we ended up on the Golden Gate Fields where there was 1$ Sunday, i.e. admission, food and drinks each only one dollar. You need to change money to special wooden 1$ coins to buy the food and drinks. After watching some horse races, we drove up to the Lawrence Hall of Science to watch the sunset.

And here some impressions:

Cars of Berkeley

The summer is coming to an end and finally I have time again to write something here. There are just to many things to do and by doing as much as possible i missed documenting them. This goes from surfing, visiting Chicago, running half and full marathons and do more surfing.

The center from where I'm exploring California is Berkeley. It is a nice little city with many great places to eat and drink.
Because there is no real winter, it also happens that the cars can get quite old. By just strolling through the city you can find at many corners quite unique vehicles. Some of the more extraordinary examples I'd like to share with you:

In Berkeley you can find...

... German Cars ...

... American Cars ...

... rusty(c) cars ...

... tiny Italian cars ...

... old cars ...

... electric cars ...

... French cars ...

... and bird friendly cars.

By the way, one of the better destinations where you can drive with those cars, is Big Sur. Best reachable on driving down on Highway 1.