Yeah, the whole "no bears" thing? Turning into the most annoying mantra. We got up at 5:30 a.m. and headed up to Tahoe to look for bears. We found none. We found, as usual, EVIDENCE of some .. but no !&*^%@$ bears. This, after my friend Kathy told me that her friends who camped up there last week got pics of a mama bear, complete with mama being able to jump over a fallen tree and baby so small he was unable to follow. *SIGH*
What we did see:
After a mile hike very steeply up and then very steeply down, an intriguing stairway down the side of the mtn ...
... leading to ... no, not an outhouse .. a LIGHThouse, believe it or not. The Rubicon Point Lighthouse, to be exact. In 1918, a lighthouse was built at Rubicon Point - "A flashing light on a small wooden lamp house at an elevation of about 200 feet above the surface of Lake Tahoe." The keeper was paid $180 annually, and was "required to furnish his own launch for visiting and recharging the light and in addition to shipping and receiving supplies for the light will be required to make a short trip each night to a point from which the light can be observed, there being no year around resident on the lake who can properly inspect the light from his residence."
(Department of Commerce, August 18, 1919). In 1919, Rubicon Point was lit at a cost of $800.
It's amazing to me to think that less than 100 years ago, there was no year-round resident in Tahoe who could make sure the light was still lit from their residence. Now the place is PACKED!
As we looked out over the water we saw an odd thing, but it was so hard to see what was going on. It was pretty far away and the smoke was fairly thick today. Here's an image of what it was like (bottom) and what I was able to extract in Photoshop:
It looks to me like the balloon is landing on some kind of carrier out there in the water ... WEIRD! I've never seen anything like it. You should be able to click on the image to see it larger (at least until the premium Multiply thingy takes effect).
On our mile hike again back up and then back down (it was only a 2 mile hike, but 500 feet up in elevation .. enough to make my calves ache) we saw ...
A bundle of twigs and branches! No wait ... there's something else in there ... REALLY well camouflaged!
Yep, a very patient little sage grouse who let us shoot her while she ate breakfast. Click
here to see the wikipedia page for an awesome image of a male strutting in mating plumage.
When we were done with the hike, we were both drenched in sweat (the smoke also helps trap some of the humidity so according to the internet, the humidity up there was 25%. Ha. I know, I can hear those of you in humid states laughing, but given that our average humidity is usually under 5%, that was pretty heavy for us. So that, plus the hike itself .. we were pretty gross) and wanted to sit in the a/c of the car for a bit. So we went for a drive to the area we'd taken Vikky to last week, to see if we could get some waterfall shots.
Unfortunately the sun was too high in the sky, so we'll have to go back to get some better shots.
Oh, and the foodscapes? Eh, I lost interest. In photography I've found that I have to have a glimmer of encouragement, of hope for success, for me to remain interested in a project. This foodscape? No such luck. In the effort of sharing failures with you as well as successes:
It was supposed to be a kind of swampy thing in the front (with fallen logs with moss on them) and then in the background was a path with rocks and bushes. The swamp was this absolutely awful green "health" drink + kale + horseradish. The background was wheat penne noodles, 16 beans (from 16 bean soup mix) and brocco-flower (broccoli-cauliflower mix). Luckily most of the rest of what I bought for the rest of the foodscape (mushrooms, bread, herbs, prosciutto, asparagus, melon, shallots, potatoes, dried fruit) is stuff that we'll eat. I bought it specifically with that in mind. Jeremy is making a kale with shallots side dish for dinner right now, so at least stuff won't go to waste. And at least I can say I tried it (foodscapes) and I suck at it. :)
This is my happy rhino. :) Those of you who were wondering what I shot for Picture Perfect this week, this is the rope you saw.
