A few weeks back I headed up to Crescent City for another kosher cheese production (for the first time around, check out this post). This time, however, I decided to outsmart myself and drive up instead of flying. It's a long drive, but I did save a few hundred bucks (with which I promptly bought a new lens). To put that into perspective, by the time I hit San Francisco, I wasn't even halfway there. Figured that if I took my time and stop along the way, I could see some parts of California I never saw before, take some nice pics along the way etc. I took the 405 to the 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) which I then took all the way up to San Francisco (with many a stop along the way). Funny thing was, it was ridiculously foggy the whole way up and the only part of Cali I got to see was the 100 feet on each side of the freeway as I drove along (that's a slight exaggeration).
Highlights of the trip:
1. Pulling off the shoulder to take some pics and having this cop roll over with this HUGE gun (some sort of M-16 or something (EM Shesh Esrei in Hebrew)) and ask what I was doing (told him I was shooting something... well not really, but that does sound pretty macho of me).
2. Stopping at this camera store in Palo Alto (Keeble & Schuchat) where I picked up this ridiculously old and good looking lens (late 1960's). The dude that owns the place has a Leica collection on display worth well over 2 million buckaroos.
3. Sleeping.
4. Giving my new George Foreman to the clerk at the motel so I could then borrow it indefinitely and get out of toiveling it (she definitely now thinks I'm nuts).
5. Forgetting the Kosher stamp and having to sign my name and write Kosher L'Pesach on over 700 boxes.
6. Getting over 4.1 miles on neutral somewhere on the 101 (through the redwoods).
7. Getting over 6.2 mies in neutral somewhere on the 5 (and would have gotten more but there was this cop on the side of road making sure no one was speeding because the state needs money to pay it's police force to make sure people aren't speeding so the state could get money).
8. Losing half the tread of my tire shortly thereafter.
9. Discovering what it means to multi-task (driving with my knees, while adding some water to a vitamin water bottle (I like the water aspect more than the vitamin part I guess) and watching out for the fore-mentioned police men, all while taking a power nap).
Lesson learned: IF I am going to drive again, choose one place Id like to see, head straight there, spend a few hours, and then go straight on to my destination.
I also figured out how to use the mirror up function when shooting on a tripod. Yay. Of course I could have read the manual and such, but that would hardly be manly now, would it?
On to some pics. The first two are from my trip up. The rest are just some random black and whites.
Every time I go up to Crescent city (all of two times) I plan on taking a bunch of pictures of all these wonderfully dilapidated houses up there (and many in full technicolor glory). But I don't.
The last two where in good old HB. I should clone those spots out. I will, I promise.
If some one could explain to me why I shot this one wide open, I would greatly appreciate it.
Tehillim on Hoshana Rabbah.