Temecula Balloon Festival

Photo Club outing synopsis: For the 5 of us awake enough to attend the Temecula Valley Wine and Balloon festival on Saturday, June 2, we had plenty of opportunities to catch that elusive Balloon Launch shot that only happens in thefirst few hours of daylight. We arrived at the venue at 6:00 AM and milled around with about 50 other spectators while the event organizers hunted around for the key to let us in. The key finally arrived about 15 minutes later and it looked amazingly like a 3 foot long bolt cutter. Once they cut the chain and let us in, we took the obligatory group shot in front of a balloon gondola. 30 minutes later - things started happening - but not where we were. Due to the low cloud ceiling and the prevailing winds, the balloons were trucked about 7 miles away from the venue in hopes that the balloons could eventually land at the festival location.We all piled in a car and headed out to the spot where the balloons were launching. On the way we were entertained by one of our members who spent 4+ years working for a balloon company and was part of the very first Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. He explained how balloon technology has changed over the years. It was fascinating to learn that one of the reasons that the Albuquerque, NM area is so popular with balloonists is due to the wind pattern found in the area. They call it the Box. Winds are from a constant direction at a specific altitude, a different direction at a different altitude. We arrived at the spot (a dirt field - no admission $$ required) where about 35 balloons were setting up and preparing to launch. We set a time to meet back at the car for about 90 minutes in the future. Our unnamed balloon expert said that they would all be gone in 45 minutes (he was exactly correct on this count). We were able to get quite close for photos of the launching process of many of the balloons. Some members ofthe group even helped with launch procedures! We saw balloons take off in ones and twos until they were all in the air. None of the balloons were able to go very high in the air due to the low clouds.We then drove back to the festival location. Along the way, we saw most of the balloons coming down well short of the festival grounds. Back at the festival - we rode a tethered balloon approx 30 feet inthe air (about 4 minutes total). We spent some time walking throughthe festival displays and shops and taking pictures along the way.



Here are some of my favorite pictures that I took that day.

La Jolla

This month my photo club went to La Jolla. While most of the club went in the afternoon, Harvey and I went in the morning. It will be interesting to see how the different pictures came out with the different light.

We spent about 3 hours photgraphing on a beautiful morning. There were lots of others out enjoying the sun and the surf.

Click the link above to see the photos that I took that wonderful day

La Jolla in Spanish means "The Jewel". It is the Jewel of America's finest city, San Diego. La Jolla is an exquisite combination of a southern European resort atmosphere and Southern California fun. While La Jolla is known to be one of the most affluent communities in the United States, it has a down to earth feel due to the beautiful natural scenery and the helpfulness of its residents. Moreover, in addition to fine restaurants, beautiful beaches, hotels and art galleries, La Jolla is home to renowned institutions, such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Stephen Birch Aquarium & Museum.

Point Loma National Monument

Today my photo club went to Point Loma National Monument to get some shots of the Tide Pools. We did not know it at the time - but the USS Ronald Reagan was pulling out and we were able to see it go past us. Here is some information on the USS Ronald Reagan:
January Hundreds of friends and family members of Sailors assigned to the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (CSG) watched as the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), embarked staffs and squadrons departed San Diego Jan. 27 on a surge deployment in support of U.S. Navy operations in the Western Pacific.
The Ronald Reagan CSG was deployed under the Navy’s Fleet Response Plan (FRP), which provides the U.S. with the ability to respond to any global commitment with flexible and sustainable forces and the ability to rapidly respond to a range of situations on short notice.

We also spent some time at the Tide Pools. Here are some pictures that I captured while there.

On the western side of Point Loma lies the rocky intertidal zone, a window into the ocean ecosystem that lies along of San Diego's coast. During periods of low tide, pools form along this shore in rocky depressions. In them you may see flowery anemones, elusive octopi, spongy deadman's fingers, and a myriad of other creatures.

4th of July Fireworks

You know - everyone has to post thier 4th of July fireworks. Well - here are mine. I was pleased with the way these came out. Not terribly exciting - but not bad for a first attempt. These are shots of the Lake Murray Fireworks. We were about 3 miles away in our old neighborhood near SDSU. We have an annual tradition where we spend the day with JoEllyn's aunt and uncle. We usually go for a hike, then grill hot dogs and watch the fireworks from their back deck.

I like the way the hills show up in these shots. Since we were not at the lake itself - we were not able to see all of the fireworks. We only saw the bigger ones that came up over the hils of Del Cerro.

Vista Gas and Steam Engine Museum

On the 24th of June, my photo club went to the Vista Gas and Steam Museum. Wow! What a great opportunity for photos. Here are some of the many pictures I took that day.


Since this was a Saturday - there were lots of exhibits and engines that were brought in for the day. All of this stuff works - These are more than static displays. We breathed in so much unburned fuel from the engines that we probably all needed smog checks by the time we were through for the day.




This rake looks like it has not moved from this site in many years.


This McCormick Farmall was small - but in great shape.

Mission Trails with the Photo Club

My photo club went to Mission Trails park at the end of May. It started out as a very dreary day - with some people saying that they had to turn their wipers on driving down from North County. As the day progressed - we had more and more sun.

Mission Trails Regional Park encompasses nearly 5,800 acres of both natural and developed recreational acres. Its rugged hills, valleys and open areas represent a San Diego prior to the landing of Cabrillo in San Diego Bay in 1542.





















This is a picture of the visitors center from our hike that we took. What a wonderful place.

This is a view from the visitor's center looking North-East towards Santee.

This is a view of the north side of the dam looking at what they call the "Grasslands" section of the park.

Last Saturday - we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for a day of seeing the animals and photographing them. We had a great turnout for the club. The day was great - cool - but with lots of sunshine. This is a picture that I never expected would turn out. I was shooting into the sun and I expected the colors to be completely washed out. As it turned out, I ended up liking it a lot. I like the contrast of the pink birds against the dark green background and the dark brown water.
What do you think?


Here is a picture of Jesse in the petting zoo. He loved the time there. He has such a tender heart for animals. He was able to feed some of the deer and I was able to get some good shots.