Nate at Dockweiler

Yesterday, my wife and our son, Nate, walked around the tidal pools and collected a bunch of sea glass.  Nate was so excited about it that he wanted to find some more sea glass today.  We didn’t have time to make it back down to San Pedro, but we had a 0.5 ft low tide just after 5PM so he and I headed down to Dockweiler to see if we could find some sea glass.

We found a few pieces of glass, but they hadn’t been rolling around long enough to take all the sharp edges off so we just ended up throwing those pieces away.  Instead we collected some smooth stones of various colors, some sea shells, and a couple of nice sand dollars.  Afterward we climbed up a berm and I was able to get a shot of Nate against a colorful evening sky.

Nate at Dockweiler

San Pedro Sunset

We had a family trip down to the tidal pools in San Pedro this evening.  We were treated to a beautiful sunset as the waves broke over the rocks.  Hope you had a wonderful Presidents’ Day!

San Pedro Sunset

Millard Canyon Falls

Just north of Altadena is a great little hike called the Millard Canyon Trail.  I met up with my friend who suggested this hike for what is normally about 1.5 miles hike roundtrip, but today it was more like 3 or 4 miles with some significant elevation gain in the early going.  The recent rains had caused sufficient damage to the roads and the parking lot that the entry road was closed to motor traffic.

The good news is that the rains also made the falls much very picturesque.  I’ve seen a few pictures of the falls online and it is little more than a trickle in most of the images.  But today, it was a full-fledged 50′ waterfall!

I eagerly set up my tripod and pulled out my camera only to find that I had taken the tripod mount off of my camera!  Bummers.  So I had to make do and simply rest the camera on the tripod and hope that I could hold it steady as I snapped my long exposures.  I think they came out fine despite not having a rigid mount.

I hope you enjoy today’s images.

Millard Canyon Falls

A mid-trail cascade

Temescal Canyon – Second Attempt

As you may recall, I had a post about my first attempt to see the Temescal Canyon waterfall.  I wasn’t able to get past the creek due to the recent rainfall.  Today, I went back and was able to get up to the falls before sunrise.

I had started off at 6:10AM so it was still dark and I have to admit that I got a bit sketched on my hike.  I saw a coyote in the parking lot – that didn’t bother me too much.  But the first 1/4 mile of the trail from the paved road was pretty muddy and squishy.  I was just concentrating on my footing when an owl or some other big bird flapped its wings and flew by me from about 6 feet away.  That really got my heart rate going!

By the time I got to the falls, the sky provided enough light to get some shots using a slow shutter.  Here are my results.  I hope you like them.

Temescal Canyon Waterfall

A Temescal Canyon Cascade

A serene pool downstream from the waterfall

I thought it might be fun to show you the part of the path today where I was stopped on my first attempt to the falls.  What a difference the rain makes!

What it looked like today

What it looked like on February 6th

“Man, I Need Vans”

I think I got my first pair of Vans back in early grade school.  They were the classic lace-ups.  I think they were ridiculously cheap -  like $5.99 a pair or something like that.  I also remember the old ads where some kid at the end of the commercial exclaims, “Man, I need Vans!”

After I had gone through a couple pairs of lace-ups, Vans introduced the Slip-Ons.  The memory I have of Slip-Ons is that if I was playing kickball and wasn’t careful, my shoe would go flying off my foot especially if the shoes were new because mom always bought them a half size too big so that I’d grow into them.  I was reminded of this last month when my son’s shoe flew off as he tried to kick a soccer ball.  He thought it was the funniest thing.

Since I first started wearing Vans, the Vans company has changed ownership a few times.  The company spends a ton of cash on marketing sponsoring events such as the Warped Tour and the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing so the shoes are much more expensive.  But they are still every bit as cool in my opinion.

Tonight’s photos are of my kid’s beaten up pair of Vans shoes – the classic checkerboard slip-ons.  This is actually Nate’s 4th or 5th pair.  I need to see if I we still have his first pair somewhere.  That might be another post for another lazy photo day.

Do you remember your first pair of Vans?

White Checkerboard Slip-on, Perspective 1

White Checkerboard Slip-on, Perspective 2

Matthew Harris of Dagmar Customs

Meet Matthew Harris, owner of Dagmar Customs.  He specializes in building custom hot rods and restoring classic automobiles.  With all the metal fabrication that Matthew does in the process, his shop is filled with all sorts of really cool looking machinery.  All that equipment served as the backdrop for today’s portrait.

Matthew and some very heavy equipment

Matthew and his 1951 Mercury

Hand-built running boards and fender for a classic fire truck restoration