Perseid Meteor Shower 2011

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Every year we have a chance to stay up a little bit late & are guaranteed one of mother nature's wonder. Just about 16 miles into the Angeles National Forest on Hwy 2 we found a wonderful private turn out to set up camp in.

 

There was intention behind our antics though. Closing in on 1am, we had come to view the Perseid Meteor Shower in it's full glory. Parked on the side of the road, perched on the hood of a warm car we starred at the sky to behold a universal wonder.

Before leaving we were able to capture a photo of the guys, but with some interesting results. After a 15 second exposure & a closure look at the results we were all astonished. 

There is still debate if I had captured a meteor flaring up in the background of the photo. With a large white robust head object & what looks like green gases trailing off... it could be?! We believe the red & white horizontal dots were a plane of some nature flying by as well. Lot's of fun things to see. Click photos to enlarge.

What do you think?

Horse Flats - BBQ Mission

Bit of a late post, but fun to look back all the same. Last month my friend Andrew had the supplies for a beach bonfire, but no pit. So what do we do? Take it to the mountains. Barley hitting an hour outside of LA, we found ourselves backing into a campground at Horse Flats for what was going to be a wonderful bbq dinner amongst the trees.



Hours passed & a wonderful sunset bathed us with light at 6,500ft. Food was devoured & a few good adult sodas were enjoyed. With no intention of staying the night, we said our goodbyes to mother nature & head back down the windy Angeles Crest Hwy to Los Angeles. All around a successful evening mission.

Horse Flats - A Second Journey

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After only four days back in Los Angeles, after Georgette & I's frozen over night adventure... Here I was. Circling Horse Flats Campground again with Carlos Flores this time.



With such a close proximity to LA, any drive up Angeles Crest Highway is going to be a great time out of the city. With any number of hikes that will take you to peaks over 6,000ft or to hidden valley waterfalls.



Carlos & I took a similar route as previous & were thrown into a whole new experience.



Hollyer Peak - Angeles National Forest



Station Fire 2008 burned large portion of the Angeles Nation Forest. While crucial to a forest natural growth, it leaves an interesting trail in its path.



With another great hike behind us, grilled pineapple cheese hamburgers in our stomachs & the fire at our feet, we set in for the night.



All throughout the night Mother Nature tested us in a completely different way than just four days prior. Hours before bed the clouds blew into our campground at 5,600ft & proceeded to cover us with 'heavy moister to light rain' all night. Waking to a beautiful morning, but a chore ahead of us.

Horse Flats Camping - First Days of Summer

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After the adventure Georgette & I had in Big Sur, we decided to try for a one night camping trip into the hills outside Los Angeles.



With a loose plan of traversing Angeles Crest Highway & stopping in at several campgrounds to see what options we had as far as availability. Hwy 2, recently reopened after 2008's Station Fire, wanders through Angeles National Forest to absolute solitude from any semblance of city life.



Eventually deciding on Horse Flats Campground, which is at the mid point of a nice 5 mile one lane paved road winding off Hwy2, helping to get us out into the wilderness more so than before. Setting up camp to a totally empty surrounds was unreal. We had no neighbors & no people, the entire time Georgette & I were camping, hiking or exploring. Total seclusion.



After a great afternoon hike to Hollyer Peak (spelling?), we build a fire & kept warm to the best of our ability. This adventure brought a bit different type of cold in our direction than previously in Big Sur. This was an alpine cold, sleeping at 5,600 feet, waking to crunchy frost covered meadows & a fine layer of snow/ice on everything.



Alas, this was indeed a new & great adventure with a determined co-pilot all throughout the journey.

Only four days later I found myself setting up camp at the same place with a different adventure. NEW POST SOON.


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Vacation Time

"Summer time and the living is easy." A line sung by numerous artists all throughout the decades from jazz, to reggae, to street performers. I must say this last week of Summer has truly been living easy. I spent my first full week off work since August of last year! Six days a week for a year.......... anyways. I wanted to share a short overview of the events that took place b/c I made sure to fill each day with activities.

SUNDAY - Abbot Kinney St in Venice

My parents came out to Venice from San Diego for lunch and an afternoon visit. My Mom is staying in LA with my sister who just gave birth this past week to my new nephew Jackson Armstrong Geller. Congrats!

My Dad & I spent some time looking through records which was a good time. He bought me Cream's Goodbye album on vinyl.

MONDAY - Found a deserted skatepark in Burbank

Thanks to a tip online, TheDude and I checked out a new skatepark in Burbank, which we found to be closed with no one rolling around. Well, the fence was only 6ft high so what do you think we did? Hoped that, and rolled around. The Cops showed eventually, but posed no threat.

TUESDAY - Walt Disney Concert Hall Tour & THE FLAMING LIPS

Designed by Frank Gehry, the Disney Concert Hall is a terrific display of imagination and engineering. It is free to take a 'go at your own pace' audio tour of the whole building. This is a must do tour!

PICTURES FROM THE FLAMING LIPS CONCERT SOON!!

WEDNESDAY - More skateboarding & Friends

The Usual*

THURSDAY - Angeles Crest & Beyond

Stepping back into the past for a moment, to February 2009. My friend Carlos & I took and adventure out into the mountains via Highway Two aka Angeles' Crest, only to be met by a road block 40 miles deep amongst the trees. Flash forward to vacation 09, packed the car with more friends to shoot some black and white photogrpahs.

Ed, Collin, Carlos and I made or way over the sixty plus miles of mountains to meet the town of Wrightwood on the far side for an ice cream. There will be a post soon with a lot more details about this trip. It was primarly for photography purposes... hint hint.

FRIDAY - Six Feet Under House & The Farmers Market

At roughly an hour an episode, 12 episodes a season, and five total seasons, it would seem that I know the Fischer family pretty well. My girlfriend Georgette sure does. Well, since she was the prevailing influence in my appetite for this HBO show entitled Six Feet Under, I only found it fitting to give a little back to her. On my last day of vacation I took her on a surprise visit to the funeral home that the Fischer family lived & filmed at for the duration of the show (2000-2005). You should have seen her smile!

Then it was off to the food paradise that Los Angeles' Farmer's Market on 3rd. After making a slow lap and working to decide on a food choice, we opted, before even buying the first round, to come back later that week to try others. On a full stomach I spent the rest of my last day of vacation relaxing. Saw good friends that night with some good music.