We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming…for a quick trip from the West Coast over to the East Coast.  West Virginia, to be exact.  ”Wild and Wonderful,” as they say.  So, I realized that I forgot to post a couple of photos from my Blackwater Falls State Park last year (and I can’t believe this photo is one of them, as it’s one of my favorite photos!).  So, ladies and gents, here you have it:  a snap-shot of the Upper Elakala Falls.  Absolutely beautiful location.  You walk across the falls on the bridge in the picture, then follow the trail.  If you’re daring like Jay and I, you then off-road yourselves and climb down the slippery dirt and wet rocks to get to a place closer to the falls to take a picture and then prop up your tripod with rocks, jam one of the legs deep in the soil, and use the camera timer so as not to disturb the shot but then slip and fall as you back away from the camera too quickly (again, so as not to disturb the shot).  :-)  I used a wide-open shutter and neutral density filter to get this one.  It was crazy-tricky, as the sun was just starting to fade for the day and it was hard to find a balance between the shutter time and the use of the filter.  But…I got it!   Taken with the Canon Powershot G12 with the built-in neutral density filter.  Specs (just because it took so stinkin’ long to get them right!):  f/5.6, exposure 10secs, ISO 80.   Enjoy!  I do believe I have one or two more from WV, but stay tuned to find out if they get posted next or if we jet back to the California coast!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

The skinny on this post:  Happy Cows Come from California.  ‘Nuff said.  Eat cheese, drink milk, and be merry.

Taken with the Canon Powershot G12 on our way up to Santa Rosa, CA via Highway 1.  Indeed, the hills are alive, with the sound of…cows.

I don’t know about you, but I think that these cows look like some of the happiest cows I have ever seen.  How could you not be happy when you live in such beautiful sun-drenched scenery?  This reminds me of a mildly related, brief poem by a dear friend of mine:

I wish I were a glowworm

For they are never glum.

How can you be unhappy

When the sun shines out your bum?

I found it!  I really did!  The hills from the famed Windows XP “Bliss” background!!!  As we were driving up the Pacific Coast towards Santa Rosa on Highway 1, I decided to snap some photos from the car.  As the highway curved inland a bit, I remember saying how it looked like we were driving through a Windows XP desktop!  Well, when I looked at my photos later on, this one in particular looked a lot like the “Bliss” wallpaper.  Upon taking my query to trusty Google, I was directed to the all-knowing Wikipedia…which informed me that I had, in fact, been in general vicinity of where the photograph for XP’s “Bliss” was taken!!  Score one for awesome chance photography!!!!!!

Of course, taken with the Canon Powershot G12, and edited in Adobe Photoshop CS5 to remove one stray cow in the photo that looked more like a spot of schmutz on the computer screen than an actual cow.

Stay tuned for more photos from my time in California!

So, after leaving sunny Sausalito and a lovely lunch behind, we hopped in our Prius and took the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) all the way up to Santa Rosa.  Let me just say, this was one of the best things I have EVER done.  The winding road (very, very, very sharply winding road) clinging to the cliffside, wind in my hair, great music blasting on the radio…what more could a girl ask for?  A cute guy in the driver’s seat?  Check!  Suffice it to say that around nearly every curve I would squeak with joy and say how gorgeous the view was!  Fortunately, Jay was quite amenable to stopping as soon as I would yell, “I have to take a picture!”…how lucky am I?  So, there are lots and lots of photographs heading north on the PCH (and later, lots and lots of photos going south on the PCH).  So many wonderful memories created in that 4 hour drive!

This portion of the trip checked several things off of my bucket list:  drive Highway 1, see the Pacific, dip toes in the Pacific, and take in a rocky coastline.

This photo was taken somewhere between San Fran and Santa Rosa…and is of the aptly named “Hole Rock.”  Beautiful, eh?  I would just like to mention how insanely windy it was from atop that cliff and that this was one of the few shots that was not blurred by a blowing camera!  Of course, taken with the Canon Powershot G12.

Stay tuned for more snapshots from my California escapades!

Wow…I can’t believe its been a month and a half since my last post!!!!  So much going on!  I’m officially in the thick of my fourth (and last!) year of med school.  Rotations have been keeping me super-busy, as well as studying for the USMLE Step 2….and working on residency applications!  So, its 11:30 on a Saturday night and I’m missing my photoblog and I actually have a few spare minutes to post a post!

So, back to the California trip series of photos!  This shot was taken from our lunch table at Bar Bocce in Sausalito (right across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco) the day we arrived in California.  Not a bad view to enjoy with a bite, eh?  A nice leisurely lunch to fortify ourselves for what would become an amazing (and mildly frightening) drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Rosa!!!

By the way, did I mention that I didn’t realize we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge until we were halfway across in our rented red Prius (what else would we drive in California?  A Corvette convertible?  Yup, had that booked for our trip until we realized that the trunk would hold ONE carry-on suitcase…so not-compatible with a week-long trip encompassing about  three climates.)…at which point I started squealing with glee (which I did quite a lot on this trip).  Sorry, Jay.  You didn’t need to hear out of your right ear, did you?  Nah…you can be a great pharmacist with one ear.

So, obviously the photo was taken with the Canon Powershot G12.  I officially was on vacation with my two loves:  el boyfriendo and the camera (shall I name it Cameron?).

Stay tuned for more (hopefully more frequent) posts…I have so much to share!!!

Click here for my original post of this photograph –>  Original Glutamine Post!  (will open in a new tab)

http://www.scienceinseconds.com/episodes/Life-in-Space

I almost forgot to post this one first!!!  Obviously, we had to fly over the Rocky Mountains to get to California, but I was beyond excited about this.  See, getting to see a “rocky” mountain (as opposed to the “softer” Appalachians out East) was one of the things on my “Must Eventually Accomplish/See In Life” list.  What better way to start a trip than to tick off an item on that bucket list??  Little did I know that it would be the first of many tick-marks made on this trip!

A little info on the photo:  Taken at 37,000 feet with the maximum zoom on the Canon G12.  I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to make the photo black and white to bring out all of the detail in the mountains.  A very excellent few hours of flying:  sandwiched between a view of the Rockies and a boyfriend who thought my continuous excited squeals about seeing them were endearing and not annoying.

Well, world…I finally did it!  I crossed the USA to the other coast!!!  Think of it as East meets West…coast, that is.  My friend from med school was getting married in Santa Rosa (shout-out to the happy couple!), so Jay and I figured, heck, if we’re going that far away, we might as well make a vacation out of it!!!  Thus ensued a week of fun in the sun!

Our amazing itinerary was as follows:

Land in San Francisco (got to see the Rockies & Yosemite from the plane!)–> eat lunch in Sausalito–> drive up the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) to Santa Rosa–> Wedding!–>Trek to Sonoma Lake in Napa Valley plus some wine tasting in the Napa Valley –>Drive to San Francisco–> Sight-see!!!  Take Photos!!!  Quality BF-GF time!!!–> Drive to Pillar Point Beach to collect sea glass–> Drive south on Hwy 1 to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur (stay tuned for the amazing views from here)–>  Continue on Hwy 1 until encounter massive landslide–> take 4 hour detour through a military base at the top of a mountain range (via a one lane road clinging to the edge of the mountain…without a guardrail)–> finally arrive in Long Beach, CA and stay on the Queen Mary for the night (!)–>Ferry to Avalon, Catalina Island!!–> ZIPLINE 500 feet above ground between mountain summits (!)–> beach–>  LAX–> Home (got to see the Grand Canyon from the plane!)

Soooooo much fun!!  I’ll try to post photos in the approximate order that I took them so I can slowly tell the story of my travels   This one is out of order, though, as I will be posting a photo of the Rockies (so excited to finally see real “rocky” mountains, not the worn (but pretty) tree-covered mountains of the East).

Can’t wait to share my trip and photos with you!  I truly believe it is impossible to take a bad photo in California!

Quick story behind this photo:  En route to Sausalito, I realized that we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.  After many squeals of excitement that may have left Jay partially deaf in the right ear, I started snapping photos like a mad woman.  Luckily I got a nice skyline shot.  The Bay Bridge is at the left-most edge of the photo.  Naturally, there was a ton of fog in the Bay, so I adjusted the contrast in Photoshop CS5 to sharpen up the photo.  Taken with the Canon Powershot G12!

ENJOY AND STAY TUNED!!!!

So this photo was taken in Canaan, West Virginia during a horseback ride through the mountains.  Jay and I planned a lovely day of horseback riding followed by waterfall hunting and hiking in Blackwater Falls State Park.  The ride was lovely–it was a cool day, but the sun was warm on our backs as our trusty steeds followed along on well-worn trails in the mountains and meadows.  As I was riding, I saw this tree all by itself and knew I just had to take a photo…even if I was on a moving horse.  I one-handedly wrangled my camera out of the saddle-bag, pointed, and shot…and fortunately was able to get a nice photo, stay on the horse, and have the horse stay on the trail.  Hooray for multitasking!

Anyhoo, when I looked at the photo later on, I decided that it was just entirely too brown…leafless tree with a backdrop of brown grass and brown mountains.  So, I changed the photo to black and white and hand-colorized it in Photoshop CS5.  I added in a vignette blur and desaturated the tree by hand to really make it pop.  All in all, after spending entirely too much time fiddling with a photo, I’m pretty happy with the results.  It still has that slightly cool, forlorn feel of approaching winter, but a little added interest.

Taken with the Canon Powershot G12!!  )  Stay tuned for more West Virginia trip photos!