I’m still thinking about it. Here are some more gems I found on my recent vacation to The Ranch. I hope you enjoy these.

619 Profile.

Amazingness.

In the desert.

Something must’ve been funny.


Found House.

Oasis.

I killed a rattle snake. I cut off it’s head and it’s rattle in less than ten seconds. I wonder if that’s a record? Later we found arrowheads. At least one was estimated at 60,000 years old!


Desert Flower. Go Dodgers!

Desert Jokes.

This is one of my vacation destination spots. We call it “The Ranch.” It’s way far away with no cell service, tv or internet. We meet there with friends and family and we read books, fish, stare into the horizon for hours and we usually do some exploring. Watch out for rattle snakes. These images are from this Spring’s expedition.

Welcome

619

The Back Pasture

Driver

The Desert

The Reservoir

Evening Drive

Found House

Found Wood

Lost Country

Trapper Tools Undisturbed

Joel listening to Antonio Clouseau

Toy Repairs

Frita

Antonio

Fresh Biscuits

Found Cow Head In The Brush (Smells Bad)

Eagle’s Nest

Marksman

Steep Shadows

Resident

Named after the famous bounty hunter Boba Fett.

The Ranger

The Ranch

If you know the story then you know these are historic shots. If you know them you know this is “so Danny and Suzy..” They were in town last week from Santa Barbara and stopped by. I love you both. The Central Coast is full of surprises.

While in Santa Barbara I had unique exposure to the Tea Fire aftermath. The thing that sticks with me most is the smell of wet ash and charcoal. It reminded me of the Painted Cave Fire. Almost like a monster had been through and at any time he would be back and there was nowhere to hide, exposed and helpless.

Someone once told me that we live by inches and seconds. Most of the fire victims are happy to have escaped with their family safe. There is an image down there of the metal frame of a Harley Davidson, left in the garage to burn while the family escaped. Rusty metal is everywhere. It comes when the intense heat of the fire burns all protective coating off the metal, then the firefighters soak the zone with water to put out the fire. The rust sets in immediately.

One of the lucky neighbors whose house did not burn was driving around giving hugs and pumpkin bread to all of her neighbors who had lost their homes.

I’ve known Charlie for a long time. We lived together in the Garden Street house during the early nineties in Santa Barbara. The Garden Street House was when he was at Brooks along with Mark Gordon, Thayer Allyson Gowdy and Catherine Manzella. But I had been surfing with Charlie for years before that and I pretty much grew up with Mark. It was such a rich time of learning for all of us. I was never a student at Brooks, I was studying design at the time, but I’ve learned so much from this crew over the years and I am continually inspired by their work.

During the holidays everybody seems to make it back home for a few days. And nothing says Thanksgiving like surfing with your friends. This year brought Charlie Langella, Jan Martinez and myself back in the water together. These shots are the guys telling surf stories of old. Charlie ended up giving me an early Christmas present this year. It’s the red 6′8″ pin tail. Thanks Chuck. The Central Coast Goleta is full of surprises.

There are so many great reasons to live on the Central Coast. One of them is Big Sur. The afternoon exploration found us under the sun above the fog. On the way home we stopped at Tree Bones for a great meal and wonderful conversation. Tree Bones is a destination in itself. It’s worth stopping in just to watch the ocean from the nest. The Central Coast is full of surprises.

Today it was all about “who you know, not what you know.” We were invited to the annual swim in the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle State Park. The Neptune Pool is not open to the public and in fact it is way off limits for almost everyone. This was a super special event for employees of the castle and a few of their selected friends. Our friend Chuck works there and he invited us. Just think, thousands of people a day walk past this pool on their tour and just imagine swimming in the deep blue water…and, well, the water was about 70 degrees, the sun was shinning and smiles were out. Thanks Chuck for such an unusual and fun gift. The Central Coast is full of surprises.

This is Chuck.

This is the second installment from my recent trip to Nevada and a second equine encounter for my camera. I seem to find friends along the fence just as the sun is setting. There are so many shapes on a horse. I find myself exploring the unending lines. I feel like horses are really smart. One of these guys seemed to look right through me.

Horse