Tag Archives: albion

Llamas

wpid8501-AU0E9732.jpgNo long story for this one.  A llama farm was beside the road in Albion and I wandered over to see the animals one morning as they grazed.  They seemed mildly interested in me for a while and then kept eating.  I grabbed some shots of them and then went on my way.  I know llamas are hardly a rarity these days but it is still interesting to see them.

Albion’s Trestle Bridge

wpid8532-C59F1609.jpgAlbion was our resting place for the trip to Mendocino and it has an interesting feature itself.  It is the last remaining wood trestle bridge on the Pacific Coast Highway.  It is quite a height between the river and the road so this is quite an impressive structure.  Of course, I wanted to get some shots of it.  From where we were staying, we had a view of the bridge.  However, we were on the coastal side of the bridge so it was in shadow in the morning and in the evening, at least by the time we got back, the sun was below the headland so it was in shadow again.

wpid8505-C59F1434.jpgOne morning I did head down to the river to see if that provided a good shot.  Unfortunately, the area is a campsite so getting access was difficult.  I did go back up on the hills looking down and got a better view but the campsite is a little distracting in this view.  My best effort was an oblique look along the bridge from the road leading down to the river.  A little frustrating photographically but very cool to see anyway.

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Sunset

wpid8534-C59F1610.jpgSitting on the deck of our room in Albion provided a beautiful view across the Pacific as the sun was setting.  As is usual with sunsets, you never knew exactly what you were going to get.  One night it all looked quite promising but the cloud cover low on the horizon meant it all went dull rather than getting dramatic.  On another evening, though, we had some high level clouds that started picking up the low evening light very nicely resulting in some great skies.

wpid8538-C59F1637.jpgOne evening the sun set in front of us with nothing much to obscure our view.  While I was happy to be sitting on the deck watching it go down, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to grab some shots of it.  A long lens meant some bigger views of it as the atmosphere distorted the view of its last gasps of west coast light.  After that, someone else was getting the benefits.

wpid8540-C59F1646.jpgThe strange shapes the atmospheric distortion produces were really interesting to watch.  The roundness was replaced by all sorts of shapes including one that looked more like a Mayan pyramid.  It changed so often that I had to keep shooting.  Only as it was almost done did I realize that I really should have been videoing this as well to show just how quickly it retreated below the horizon and how much it changed apparent shape while doing do.  (As an aside, I do know that the refraction of the atmosphere means that I am seeing an image of the sun on the horizon when it has actually already fallen below the true sightlines.)

wpid8542-C59F1654.jpgHaving missed this video opportunity, I shall have to be ready to try that out in future.  Meanwhile, I shall continue to enjoy the memory of the speed and rapid changes that the sun went through in the last moments of the day.