Two weeks before this trip was supposed to start, my new Honda van was totaled in an accident on the freeway. I was fine, but the car alongside me was rear ended and pushed into my lane. I sweated out the process of determining fault, reviewing my car damage and making a final decision on what they would do. I didn't really want to do this trip with a rental car. I was informed on Monday that they would total the car and the money would be in the bank in a couple of days. I bought a new Honda Pilot Trailsport on Wednesday and started the trip on Saturday.

The workshop started midweek in Oregon. I decided to take a few days to get up there. First stop was Lee Vining. I visited Mono Lake that first evening and setup the Seestar 50 to try and capture an image of C2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) which was visible then. It had been naked eye visible but I couldn't find it without the telescope.

The full route from San Diego, up 395 cut over to Oregon and Hwy 101 and then head south.

For a couple of years now, I had been reading about the Crowley Lake Columns, an odd geologic formation between Bishop and Lee Vining. The purchase of the gave me all wheel drive and some extra ground clearance over the van I was driving previously and I decided to give it a try this time. It is not too far off 395 and it is an interesting drive before you cross over the dam. A mile or so past the dam you hit the main access problem. There are some nasty ruts and holes in this little dip. I think they don't repair it so it keeps down the crowds that might otherwise visit. It is a good mile or so from that point to where you get to the top of the cliff which you have to then climb down to get close the columns. If you don't want to deal with that obstacle there is some parking. The scramble down the cliff is not bad, the walk back up is a little more difficult. People seem to come in waves, so if you are patient enough, you can get some clear shots of the columns and beach; at least that is how it worked the day I was there. I spent another day in Lee Vining and got out early to catch the sunrise as I got to the to of Tioga Road headed into Yosemite. I went on over to visit the valley and hang out around the Ansel Adams gallery. There is a cemetery, museum and other shops in this area that I hadn't visited before. From Lee Vining I went to Klamath Falls, Oregon to stay there for a night. I left the next morning to go through Portland, Oregon on to Seaside which was the starting point for the workshop.

I had traveled the Oregon coast once before on my own. You drive down Highway 101 and see these different signs for beaches and parks but you are generally too far from the beach to see what is there. I first did this route with paper maps and trying to find your way through some of these places wouldn't be fun, so I didn't see much on my own. Having a guide and GPS made it much easier to get around and the internet and Google maps helps with exploring areas ahead of time. The workshop used Seaside as our base camp for a couple of days and visited Canon Beach, Indian beach, and Fort Stevens Park with the wreck of the Peter Iredale. From Seaside we drove down to Newport. Along the way we visited the Garibaldi pier and the old Coast Guard Boathouse.

From Newport we drove down to Bandon where we stayed a couple more nights. We visited Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, then stopped at Sunset Beach for sunset. I probably enjoyed Bandon Beach the most and we got a great sunset on the final day. I stayed here for another day and drove back up to Florence to visit the Oregon Dunes, Heceta Head Lighthouse, Coquille River Lighthouse, and Umpqua River Lighthouse.

I took a couple more days to return to San Diego. I drove down to Crescent City, California to stay a couple of days. It had been 10 years since I had been here last, that was while I was still shooting with film. I stopped in at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park which is generally a nice loop drive, but unknown to my there was a tree that had fallen and blocked the road. The following day I visited the Redwood National park and the Prairie Creek area where I saw some Tule Elk.

From Crescent City I headed south to Fremont for the night. I tried to pull into the Marin headlands and take some shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the area I want to get to was blocked off. It would have been a great evening with a nice sunset and storm clouds. I planned to just head home from Fremont but decided to visit another location I had driven by many times but finally stopped this time. I visited San Juan Bautista where part of Hitchcock's Vertigo movie was shot. This is a small town with one of the California Missions.