Sunday, April 10, 2011

What's going on Downtown?

It's CicLAvia Spring 2011, the community event that opens Los Angeles streets to cyclists, walkers and other people engaged in outdoor activities that don't involve motors.  It is a great experience with people of all ages, from lots of neighborhoods, with every concept about wheeled transport. As diverse as Los Angeles, everyone was out there.
This was the second CicLAvia. I missed the first one. I hope to make it to all the others.
The CicLAvia website has route and calendar details.  


 


















Way top: eastbound on 7th Street near MacArthur Park. Near top: eastbound on 7th approaching Westlake Avenue. Right above: eastbound on Heliotrope Avenue leaving the Bicycle District. Left: westbound on 4th Street leaving Boyle Heights. Below: the extreme east end of the route in Hollenbeck Park. Way at the bottom: Watching the bike stream at City Hall on 1st Street.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

How to Start a Decade

New Year's Weekend 2011 at Panamint Dunes
longitude W117.8, latitude N36.8
Step 1:  Collect a posse like this one;
Me, Carole, Bob, Norm, Minh, Alison, John, Janice
Step 2: Get out to the campsite for Panamint Dunes just north of Highway 190 on Lake Hill Road.  Set up camp;
View of the hill in the lake.
Step3: "Plan" your cross-country walk from here to there;
View of the dunes from camp
Step 3: Walk the walk and spend a lovely day watching the light change on the dunes;

View from the "backside" of the Dunes, looking southeast.

AB + JB up on the Dunes
Step 4: Walk back and relax. No pictures of relaxing, but you get the idea.


Panamint Resort breakfast debris


The relaxing part is very important. Have a beer, eat a good dinner. Hit the sack early, because the next day after a yummy breakfast at the Panamint Dunes Resort (with all the bacon you can eat) . . .
You may find yourself driving through a snow storm that threatens to close the highway and the alternate routes. 
It could stress you out.



The drive home was a trial for most of us. For my part, I figured I could pull over and snuggle into my sleeping bag with plenty of snacks to keep me comfortable until morning. No need for that. The snow let up at the 3000' marker.

Happy New Year! 
Welcome to the 'twenty-teens'!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Ghosts amongst the Saguaro


Saguaro National Park abuts Tucson on two sides and preserves an ancient landscape and more recent artifacts.

While distant views of the cactus call to mind historical and fictional episodes from westerns on black & white TV (yester-year), walking amongst these giants and their bones, I heard the voices of human and cactus ancient ones who passed through and may linger here.

In Saguaro, the rocks have their own stories to tell.