the route i took was 101 south from SF to gilroy, where i took 152 east over the mountains to the central valley. from there on out it was I-5 all the way south. this first pic is taken on the 101 at mountain view or so -- about the first time on the trip that i saw Los Angeles on the freeway signs:
this being the bay in the spring, it was stormy and grey-skied. as i passed san jose, it began to rain. the quality of light shafting through the clouds as they broke against the coastal mountains was incredible, and i managed to snap this picture:
as i got off the 101 and onto the 152 east to cross the mountains, i found this fallow field with ... i don't know what they are. at first i thought they were wildflowers, but i think they're some sort of crop blossoming. just these incredibly yellow flowers under a grey sky --
soon enough the road started to wind through the mountains. by summer these will all be sere and gold-brown, but right now the hills were amazingly lush and green, dotted with these old wild oaks.
i love this picture. just -- the graceful sweep of the road, the rain, the mountains :) behind those mountains is the central valley!
as you're passing through these mountains, state route 152 passes by this huge lake. actually, it's a reservoir, but every time i just blow right past. this time i actually stopped to take a few pics. since 152 is a state highway, not a freeway, i initially just pulled off a turn-out to grab this shot:
after a few more miles, though! i saw a turnoff for a visitor's center. i can't for the life of me remember what this reservoir was called, but there's this wonky little museum there talking about the waterways and reservoir systems of northern california:
i love this picture i took of the lake. it looks like something out of scotland or something, all grey and green:
when you look eastward you can see all the way into the valley:
leaving the visitor's center, i snapped this pic of a raven (or is it a crow?) atop a windswept pine:
coming down out of the mountains, 152 joins I-5. i think you might be able to see it very far away in this pic, but it's honestly hard to tell *LOL*
the speed limit goes up to 70. honestly on this road everyone pretty much goes 80-85. a few brave souls go 90.
:D
weather in the valley was more variable. this is a view east across the central valley, in the sunlight:
and west to the mountains, in the rain:
and a sky that's a dappled mix of both:
it's hard to overstate just how vast and flat the central valley is. i think i may have mentioned this before, but apparently something like 90 or 95% of the country's produce and fruit comes from california's central valley. it's just this incredibly fertile valley between the coastal range and the sierras. in fact, in this pic you can see the sierras in the distance, white with snow:
i took about a bijillion pics in the central valley, but i'll skip most of 'em. these are taken from the south end, when the san bernadino mountains close in. there's a great pitstop here, near a little town called Buttonwillow. i drove a ways down the one-lane country highway crisscrossing the I-5 here and took a few pics. the sky had pretty much cleared up by now -- this is sort of blazing blueness is what i usually think of when i think central valley:
i love this pic. END!
and a view of the mountains i'm about to cross:
i love how they look with the sun coming in at an angle -- so contoured and textured, almost organic.
after i got back on the 5, it was pretty much time to go over the mountains. i'm always a little sad when i get here. there's something awesome and fun about racing straight down the vast open spaces of the central valley. you can just set cruise control on and just ... go.
in case you're wondering, these ARE the mountains where there was that insano blizzard the last time i came through. look how ... non-snowy they are now! this is normal! in fact, this picture was taken right about where i took the "OMFG" pic:
these mountains are pretty green with the winter too, but their character is quite different from the norcal ones, imho. a little big craggier, not so soft and rolling:
there's a lake here, too. it's also a reservoir, though it's called Pyramid Lake. it also has a visitor center with a little waterways-of-cali museum:
tbh, it's a little better kept than the one on pacheco pass. damn LA money!
two gorgeous shots of the lake, though:
i can't believe i managed to get my thumb over the camera in one. how is that even possible? these were taken with a cell phone. the camera lens is the size of a PIGEON'S EYEBALL.
as i left the pyramid lake visitor center, the shadows were getting long. this didn't bode well for me, since i was heading into LA:
hee. gaiamobile:
the clouds were gorgeous as i descended into LA. i'll say one thing about the smog: it makes for spectacular sunsets.
annnnd i managed to time it so that i was RIGHT in the middle of downtown LA at the stroke of 5 pm. so needless to say, this pic of LA's skyline was taken into the middle of the parking lot that the I-5 had become. i got stuck in LA traffic on the way up, too.
i really hate LA >_<
smog and sunset and traffic:
this is the last semi-clear pic i managed to take on the first day -- it was getting too dark by this point. traffic had let up, and i was around the Irvine area. this pic just defines socal -- and more specifically, gaudy LA consumerist culture -- for me: a shopping plaza so huge they needed to make it look like a goddamn castle.
i think it's actually called The Citadel *LOL* THE CITADEL OF SHOPPING!
next up: awesome pics from san diego! :]
0 comments:
Post a Comment