Zach’s mighty kayak is taking shape in his garage.
The kayak builder with his craft. I look forward to the maiden launch of this vessel into the world’s waterways!
Station Fire from the Freeway
On the way down to the IDETC09 conference in San Diego, we passed the massive Station Fire. The smoke cloud looked like a thunderhead. We could even see some ribbons of flames course up the mountainsides from the freeway a good ten miles away.
Earlier this summer I had been hiking up around Mount Wilson and had visited the Mount Wilson Observatory. Also up the Big Tajunga Canyon I had visited the construction site where Jesi spent most of her time. While the observatory was saved, Jesi’s dam construction site got pretty burnt out. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was threatened for a while but it managed to avoid disaster.
Here are a few pictures of the cloud from the freeway.
Trip to Los Angeles
For those of you unaware, I am living and working this summer in Pasadena, California. My professor connected me with some people at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a summer internship. Along with the internship came housing in the CalTech dorms. I was assigned to live in Lloyd where I live in the “Virgin Islands” area. The photos below are of my drive down to Los Angeles.
The packing process proved somewhat challenging. Luckily I found the perfect box for my SCUBA gear. This is how I packed my gear and two tanks into my trunk. The rest of the space got filled with clothes and whatnot.
About 20 miles outside of Grants Pass I nearly ran out of gas. Going up the hills became a very exciting experience! Good thing my Taurus has a two gallon reserve.
I sent this photo to Emily as I was driving south of Grants Pass. Notice the vintage Serengeti Aviators. Sometimes you just have to look the part.
There were some big thunder cells building on the Oregon/California border. I got a few drops of rain when I descended into the high valley near Weed, California. Had I been a few hours later it probably would have been a deluge.
Goodbye Oregon!
Hello California!
Shasta was obscured by clouds. It wasn’t far from here where I got rained on. The Shasta valley must have gotten some good rain after I passed through.
South of Stockton on Highway 99 in the central valley I saw this odd sight. At first I didn’t know what it was. This big green mass was sitting on a truck.
Upon closer inspection I found it to be a palm tree! This is not all that uncommon of an occurrence in California. Everyone wants a full-grown tree without having to wait for the growing process.
At my grandparents house in Fresno I found this picture of my uncle on the motorcycle he rode to Alaska and back. It was back in the mid 80’s. That’s my cousin standing next to him. She’s a couple years younger than me. As I understand it, that bike didn’t make it back to California. The engine blew up somewhere along the road in British Columbia. He abandoned it and rode a bus the rest of the way back.
This is at the crest of the Grapevine. The mountains to the north of LA are a pretty effective barrier for old crappy cars. This photo was taken on a good smog day.