Monday, May 31, 2010

Nature of the East Bay



I absolutely love capturing nature in her truest form, all natural. It is amazing what this world has created on her own, not to mention beautiful to photograph. Being in the presence of nature is soothing and peaceful, and that is what this post is all about: two separate places that naturally create the same relaxing and calm atmosphere. The first is Round Valley Park in Brentwood, only about 4 miles away from the house.


















And now we're at Muir Woods again, over near Mill Valley, California. My dad came out to visit me back in January and I knew he'd love this place. The trees were all covered in moss this time, so that made it a little different (for me) from the first visit.














That last picture isn't from Muir Woods, if you couldn't already tell. That was just a random shot that I noticed while driving back from the Napa/Sonoma wine country area, from the same day that my dad and I went to Muir woods. It was a really nice visit and I enjoyed spending some quality time with my dad, even though he was only able to stay for two days. I hadn't realized exactly how much I miss him, now that he lives 3,000+ miles away from me.

During his visit, we also visited San Francisco, with Jacques as our tour guide... but those pictures will have to wait until another day, seeing as I currently have a pounding headache and need to get away from the intense brightness of this computer screen...

Monday, May 24, 2010

John Muir's House

Moving on to October of 2009, this time we were headed out to John Muir's house, the founder of our National Parks. Remember a previous post with a visit to Muir Woods? Yeah, that place was named after him. He lived in Martinez, California.



Perfect palm tree outside of the house. I happened to catch an interesting view of the sky at the same time.



Here we see John Muir's house peeking out from the path.



Looking back from right in front of the house, we see that perfect palm tree again.



And here's the house, built in 1883 by Muir's father-in-law, Dr. John Strentzel.



Front entry into the house.



One of the many fireplaces in the house. I think I heard them say that there were 7 of them at some point.



Dining room, with another fireplace in the background.



Upstairs hallway. There's something kinda creepy about this picture...



One of the bedrooms upstairs.



John Muir's study, or "scribble den" as he called it.



Perfect palm tree yet again. I just couldn't get enough of it!



Some of the surrounding grounds owned by the Muir family. That little building is the carriage house.



Walkway through the surrounding area that they owned.



Huge tree that John had brought over from another area he visited (I can't remember where exactly).



Rebel red?!
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