As part of our latest adventure, we rented a townhouse on the California central coast. Why? Wine, Walking, Photography among other things. I’m a firm believer in the idea of making dramatic life changes to rekindle and draw out new interest and creativity from old, semi-dormant passions. The central coast of California offers the best of all worlds in terms of an environment to do just that. I first moved to California and experienced it’s charms over 40 years ago when I took a job near San Diego. Now we return in a different phase of life hoping to bring new life to the same passions that motivated us so many years ago.
A good bottle
4th Morro Sister
Of course, we needed a homebase from which winery tours and other activities could be initiated. The townhouse we rented sits at the foot of the Irish Hills Reserve – a large “semi” wilderness park most famous for it’s mountain bike trails. Of course, hikers are more numerous than the bikers and all but a few of the bikers are very courteous and considerate of us walkers. The other few? Well …….. I’ll keep silent on those knuckleheads. Easily accessible by foot from the townhouse, the reserve is convenient. In the last couple of weeks, we walked close to 50 miles there in all kinds of weather. Views from Morro Bay and Montano de Oro state park to the west all the way to Big Pine Mountain to the east near Santa Barbara, make any walk in the reserve a visual delight. Shown here is the fourth of the nine “Morro” sisters as seen from the trail. It’s part of a volcanic chain of peaks that runs up the Oso valley from Morro bay up to the IH reserve.
California Jay
Along with the move I invested in a new camera to replace the Canon 7D I’ve used since 2012. The Canon R5 is a true birders camera with a super improved autofocus that really helps capture crisp, clean shots of wildlife subjects. It’s compatible with all of my Canon L glass so my previous investment in lenses will enhance my capabilities with the new camera. According to some, the central coast is a birders paradise so we’ll see how it stacks up to the Mississippi flyway over the upcoming months. I hope the R5 will help me record sightings of many new birds that this new landscape has to offer. Even though birds were not very active on this cloudy day, a California Jay appeared to add some much needed color to the scene.
Samys in Beverly Hills
So, it’s back to California after all these years. We’ll wine, walk and record some of the most intersting parts of it with the R5. I can’t wait. Thanks to Samys camera down in LA for all the help getting the camera put together.
If you are interested, use this link to check out a few more photos from recent central coast hikes as I begin to learn how to operate the R5: https://adobe.ly/3OtkGQ4