End of Summer

Well, technically not the end of summer (which is Sept. 22 in my neck of the woods). But what better defines the end of summer than going back to school, which my granddaughter did this week? So humor me while I share a few of my favorite Lilly shots from the summer of 2018!

It was a hot summer for sure. The newspaper said the hottest July on record. Ever!! It was also a humid summer (by S CA standards, where we usually have very little humidity). I can take the heat, but not the humidity!

Best neighbors ever!! Our neighbors have a pool and we have an open invitation to swim whenever we want. We really took advantage of it this summer, and Lilly has developed into a strong, comfortable swimmer. 

View from the Huntington Beach pier (looking N). This was taken on a weekday. Weekends are much busier!

Spent some really fun days at the beach. Mostly near the Huntington Beach pier. The shot above was taken by my wife when the US Open of Surfing was taking place.

Just hanging around at one of the local parks. We spent a LOT of time at parks over the summer!

Working on her "lego-license"!

A visit to Legoland!

The morning before her first day of kindergarten (showing off her new backpack)!

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View from the Sand Dunes

There are some sand dunes that we like to visit from time to time. Just a small area, but my Granddaughter likes to hike and play in the soft sand and the skies are always beautiful.

My favorite photos are the ones that capture my granddaughter playing in the sand! Fun times!!

Sand in my shoe!!

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Don't Die Today

I was going to call this post "Blood Moon", but according to Mr. Google, a blood moon is when a moon in total eclipse appears reddish in color as it is illuminated by sunlight refracted by the earth's atmosphere. Since I couldn't view the lunar eclipse, I wasn't actually viewing a blood moon. "Buck Moon" is another name given to the July full moon. It signifies the new antlers that emerge on deer buck's foreheads around this time of year. That might have been a better post title.

Regardless of what we call the full moon in July, I made plans to take a short hike starting from the Boy Scout Trailhead off Indian Cove Road in Joshua Tree National Park to take some moon shots. Moonrise was scheduled for 7:55 PM. I planned to begin my short hike (about 1 or 1.5 miles each way) at 7 PM to a spot that would give me a good rocky backdrop for the moonrise. It was a brutally hot day, but it should be much cooler by 7 PM, right? Wrong!! At 7 PM, it was 103 degrees!! Here's the sign that greeted me at the trailhead. When I saw this sign, I knew what the title of my blog post would be!

The "don't die today" is certainly good advice and definitely caught my eye!! Hiking the length of this trail, which from this location is 8 miles and almost all uphill, would be just plain stupid, and probably deadly. My short 2 mile round trip hike, taking it slow and easy and with plenty of water, seemed more reasonable, although I'm certain some would call THAT stupid!

After exploring the area and finding some cool rock formations (future post!) I found a great spot to set up the tripod and wait for the moonrise. It was 8PM and I should see the moon rising over the rocky peaks at any moment. I also used the timeanddate.com website to get the compass heading (113 degrees) so I could compose the shot. By 8:15 PM I was getting antsy, and by 8:30 PM I figured something went drastically wrong with my calculations!!

Finally, at 8:34 PM, the moon peaked over the ridge. Not only was the moon late, but the 113 degree compass heading was off significantly! Some of this was due to the fact I'm not viewing the moon on a flat horizon, but also worth noting that websites that predict this sort of thing are only approximate. Anyway... things were moving quickly now and it took the moon <10 minutes to rise above the distant rock formation.

8:35 PM

8:36 PM

8:37 PM

8:38 PM

8:38 PM

8:39 PM - Clear of the rocks, but still low on the horizon and yellowish in color.

9:25 PM- Higher on the horizon and the yellowish tint is gone.

PS: This was my first significant hike in desert darkness. For my hike home, the full moon was on the horizon so it wasn't providing much light. I used a headlamp which worked great and I highly recommend. I was hiking on a trail that I was very familiar with and which was super-easy to follow (even at night).

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Sliced Bread

I only have time for a quick post today. On my last hike I was out searching for some petroglyphs and pictographs in Joshua Tree National Park. I'll do a full post on this hike at a later date, but I came across this funny rock formation that reminded me of a loaf of bread.

Then again, I had been hiking for quite a while and was feeling hungry, so my brain might have been playing tricks on me! What do you think... sliced bread? Perhaps stone-ground wheat??

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