GUEST BLOGGER TOM: My trip through the Sierras

Guestblog from The Husband:

It's fall and that means the aspen groves up and down the east side of the Sierra Nevada are in color.  I drove up from the Bay Area and over the mountains at Lake Tahoe.  US 395 runs from the Canadian border to San Diego, and I drove south on it as far as Bishop.




 

This is a large grove just before Conway Summit, a little north of Mono Lake.  There's a matching grove just south of the summit, but it was in shadow.

I drove past Lee Vining to go through the June Lake Loop a little before sunset.  This is probably June Mountain.  Not much farther is the village of June Lake, and the Tiger Bar, est'd 1936.  That night I stayed at Lee Vining.

And here's the same picture the next morning.

Aspens above the lakes in the June Lake Loop.

Trees in the canyon between Grant Lake and Silver Lake.

Next to Silver Lake.

Moving on down the road, a prominent mountain looms in the distance.  How to get to it?  It turns out, it's on the far side of Convict Lake, two miles up a road from the highway.  The best color is at the far end.

And the prominent mountain?  Mt. Morrison, here in the distance.  12,241 feet tall with an imposing east face, Wikipedia says its nickname is Eiger of the Sierra.  It also says the east face is loose and dangerous.

Here we are entering McGee Canyon, just west of Crowley Lake.  This is the pack station that serves McGee Creek Pass, Red and White Mountain, Red Slate Mountain, and dozens of lovely high Sierra lakes.

The grove just past the pack station.

Farther and

farther up the canyon.

Down the road a piece to Rock Creek Canyon.  You enter it by stopping for lunch at Tom's Place, a Sierra fishing and hiking resort that's been there since 1917.  The people are friendly and the food won't kill you.

The road head at Rock Creek Canyon is at about 10,200 feet, high enough that you run out of aspens.

At the head of the canyon is Bear Creek Spire, 13,713 feet high.

Rock Creek.

And back down into the desert.  Coming down the road to Bishop.  The big mountain on the right is probably Mt. Tom.  The one to the left with the hatchet-shaped crest is Mt. Humphreys.

This is in Bishop Canyon just past Aspendell.  Lamarck Col is up there on the left somewhere, not far from Paiute Pass to the right.

Just at the outfall at Lake Sabrina, the highest of the power plants in the canyon.  Notice the electric wires coming through the trees.

Lake Sabrina.  They more or less empty it after the summer to produce more power from the Bishop Canyon hydroelectric complex.


The next day, my third and last, I woke up in Bishop to heavy rain.  I left to come home, and drove through off-and-on rain to Lee Vining and then Tioga Pass, the east entrance to Yosemite National Park.  It was rain to 8,000', where it turned to snow.  At 9,000', the snow was sticking to the ground.  At 10,000, at the pass, it was snowing hard and starting to pile up.  I began to worry that the road would fill in before I got across it.  But below 9,000' at Tuolumne Meadows, all was well.  Home by 3:00 PM.

Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay-de-Saintonge

There was so much to see at various points on our visit to France that many were skipped in the day-to-day posts.  One in particular is worth its own entry -- the church St.Pierre d'Aulnay-de-Saintonge.  We found it on the way from the Vendee to Bordeaux, near the auto-route   Jeanne suggested we stop there for lunch during our road trip.  We were very glad we did.

The town was originally Roman.  The church was originally constructed in about 1100.  It shows many Romanesque features, with a clear Oriental influence.  The carvings represent many devils and monsters, as well as elephants.  Some of the non-figurative carvings looked almost Islamic in style.

The front facade of the church is mostly Romanesque, but the tower is Gothic.

The graveyard across from the facade contains unusual structures above the graves.

The entrances are deeply carved, this one featuring a central figure of the upside-down cross.

 All of the exterior carvings show great detail and imagination.  We did not see any repetition in the hundreds of figures.

A side entrance.

A detail of the side entrance, showing an owl among the real and fantasy creatures.

The kissing figures reminded us of Brancusi's "Kiss".  Do you suppose...?

The interior of the church at first appears typical.

But then one notices the extraordinary carvings. We thought at first these were Vikings, but the book at the church said they were devils.

This is a devil with its head between its legs.

A photographer  set up to get some long shots.

Those elephants.

 

 These are part of a frieze on the capitals near the altar, we think showing John the Baptist.

 A remarkable visit.

Au revoir, Paris!

Our final day was a treat. Two new exhibits opened that very day at the Musee Pinacotheque, one of Hiroshige prints and the other of van Gogh's works inspired by the prints of Hiroshige.  We had hoped to attend but were worried that we would not be able to get in on opening day.  Anne worked her magic and scored 4 tickets, so Anne, Jeanne and we had a wonderful final day in Paris.

See Tom in the mirror?

See Tom and me in the mirror? 

The museum is not much to look at, being in two office buildings made over for exhibits on the inside, and of course, no photos allowed.  But after Hiroshige, to strengthen ourselves for van Gogh, we stopped for lunch at Fauchon, the ultra-chic gourmet haven.  We had a lovely lunch, shared a single magnificent dessert, and returned to the museum for the second half of the show.

Finally, we said good by to Jeanne and Anne, made our way back to the apartment for our last evening.

Our cab arrived 7:30 the next morning in the pouring rain.  The sun was not up yet, but the sky was a deep purple, lightening to mauve.  How very French!

Au revoir...a la prochaine...  (Good bye....until the next time...)

A bientot Montmartre

Tuesday we spent more time walking through our neighborhood, finishing up last-minute shopping. 

We also visited the Musee de Montmatre.  It had just reopened after renovations, with a spectacular new exhibit based on Le Chat Noir and the rise of other clubs in the area.  It featured a collection of zinc and wood shadow theater cutouts.  These cutouts showed silhouettes of figures and scenes that could be moved.  They were used to produce theatrical events which were the television and movies of the day, with music, voices and lights. We had never seen them before.  The exhibit included a video of a shadow-theater reproduction of a show of the time. 

The Museum has annexed this garden and the buildings behind the fence which will house an expansion of the museum to open in 2013.  

The swing in the center of the photo is the spot where Renoir painted "The Swing." 

The new entrance for the museum is on the downhill side, next to the famous Montmartre vineyard, which we are told produces the worst wine in France, sold for some of the highest prices.  

As part of our farewell walk I finally took a couple of photos of the art nouveau awning across the street from our apartment.