Knapp’s Castle, Santa Barbara circa 1980

I have finally got around to looking at my old black & white photos from the late 1970s and early 1980s. I was given a film scanner for Christmas in 2020 and so have been able to turn these old Tri-X Pan negatives into digital images, bringing them into the 21st century. It has been a great walk down memory lane.

One set of pictures were taken at Knapp’s Castle, a ruined mansion in the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara. I was visiting friends in Santa Barbara around 1980, and we headed up the San Marcos Pass road, turning onto East Camino Cielo at the top of the hill. The road to Knapp’s Castle is about 1.5 miles down the winding Camino Cielo. As we walked out to the ruins, the view of the Santa Ynez Valley and Lake Cachuma were spectacular. (Click on any picture to get a full-sized view.)

Lake Cachuma seen from Knapp’s Castle

The ruins are just that — ruins. The mansion was built in 1916 by George Owen Knapp, the founder of Union Carbide. It burned in a wild fire in 1940. As you drive around the back roads of the Southern California mountains, you will occasionally come across the remains of a burned structure. Ironically, the most common thing left after a fire is the fireplace. The rock structure of the fireplace survives. Lake Cachuma is in the distance.

The remains of a fireplace

Some other rock walls survived the fire. Here the Santa Ynez Valley is visible through the small window in a surviving wall.

The Santa Ynez valley seen through the window

The USGS had come through in 1956, dutifully marking the location. I tried to look up the marker using the word “BURRO” which is inscribed on top of the marker, but had no luck.

1956 Azimuth Marker

The friend who accompanied me is silhouetted against the western sky as we make our way back to the car.

Taking in the view of Lake Cachuma

It is interesting to note that, while I did take a full roll of 36 photos that day, today I would have taken far more. I do admit I like the ease and convenience of modern digital photography.

Cranberry Lake, Anacortes, November 2021

Last Thanksgiving we travelled to Anacortes to be with family. My in-laws moved there over 10 years ago and we have come to like this small community in northwestern Washington. A great feature of Anacortes are the Community Forest Lands. The Community Forest Lands are almost 3,000 acres of forested lands and lakes on Fidalgo Island where Anacortes is located. Cranberry Lake, the largest lake in the Forest Lands, has a parking area very close to my in-law’s house. On a cool and damp but not wet day, I took a walk around Cranberry Lake.

Cranberry Lake is at the north end of the Forest Lands, near the Washington State Ferry terminal that connects the San Juan Islands with the rest of the world. It also connects to Canada too, but that’s a different story. There is a steep dirt road up to the parking lot at the north end of the lake. The spillway is next to the parking area and you have a beautiful view south over the lake.

The Cranberry Lake dam is next to the parking area at the north end of the Lake. This view is taken from the dam looking south.

At the parking area there is a nice map that shows the local Forest Lands (this view only includes Cranberry Lake). The trails are well marked and very well maintained.

This map is posted at the parking area (“You Are Here”)

On my hike, I took the the trails that closely followed the shoreline. There are some beautiful views of the lake.

Looking south across Cranberry Lake
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Return to Lovric’s Sea Craft, Anacortes Washington

Back in 2016, I took a stroll through Lovric’s Sea Craft in Anacortes and wrote a post about it. I had a chance to go back last Thanksgiving so I through I would post some new photos. But first, a little more background on Lovrić.

Founded in 1965 by Croatian immigrant Anton Marion Lovric, Lovric’s Sea Craft is a full-service maintenance and mooring facility with extensive facilities for maintaining sea-going vessels. It is the largest private dock north of Seattle. Located along Oakes Avenue, it is just a mile or so from the Anacortes Washington State Ferry terminal.

I was there last fall on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It was a nice, cool day, with the Sun peaking through the clouds. There are several old buildings on the property, all in some form of use. Since it was a work day, I stuck to the public areas of the facility. (Click on a picture for a full-sized version.)

Lovric’s warehouse

The facility is packed with boats, as some appear to be berthed there permanently, others are awaiting work.

Boats of all shapes and sizes are packed along the docks

There is old equipment all around the facility. I came across this story about Lovric’s published last March. It describes some struggles at the facility with a major wind storm and a filing for waste clean up from the State of Washington. That there is clean up needed is not a surprise.

Some of the masses of old equipment rusting away

The neighborhood above Lovric’s is nice, with great views north across the Guemes Channel with views of Guemes Island, Cypress Island, and, on a clear day, the Canadian Rockies.

The hillside on north Anacortes is packed with houses looking across the channel

The weathered wood on the old buildings looks nice.

An old building at the wharf

This lift has seen better days.

This lift has seen better days

Repeating the first photo so Facebook picks this one for the thumbnail.

Lovric’s warehouse

Alaska 2006: Glacier Bay Whales #2, Breaches

I promised last month to provide some more pictures of whales breaching. So here they are. While I usually try to tell a story, since I find myself with so many similar photos of whales breaching that I am just going to post the photos.

I know that is a little lazy on my part, but it was amazing seeing all of those whales and I couldn’t stop taking pictures or even not scan them off of the negatives.

Breaching Whale 1

They are impressive creatures.

Breaching Whale 2

Here are a whole bunch.

Breaching Whale 3
Breaching Whale 4
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Alaska 2006: Glacier Bay Whales #1

After three months off I am back with more Alaska photos. This month is the introduction the whales of Glacier Bay. An earlier post covered Johns Hopkins glacier. Since the photos were not ordered by time, I do not really know if this is before or after the visit to Johns Hopkins. Click on any image to see a full-sized version.

Clouds among the mountains surrounding Glacier Bay

We were in Alaska in late June and whales were everywhere.

Whales spouting in the dusk

There are humpbacks but also orcas.

An orca racing through the water
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Alaska 2006: Johns Hopkins Glacier

This is the second in a series of posts based around our trip to Alaska in 2006. The first post covered our visit to Denali National Park. This post will cover our visit to Johns Hopkins Glacier, deep in Glacier Bay. It also includes a fun video of the glacier calving, that is dropping off a big chunk of ice into the sea.

When we left Denali Park, we traveled south by train to Anchorage and stayed overnight. The next morning we flew to Juneau and boarded our ship, the Spirit of Alaska. Run by the now defunct company Cruise West, the Spirit of Alaska was a small ship with only 70 passengers. This is quite a difference from your traditional cruise ship that carries 2,000 or more passengers. It is more intimate and in Alaska, you get to be much closer to the sights and wildlife.

This is the view up into Glacier Bay, looking to the northwest. This picture was taken as we were leaving the bay, but it is an accurate picture of what it would look like when we entered the bay. Click on any picture to get a full-sized view.

The view looking northwest into Glacier Bay

As we got into the bay leading to Johns Hopkins glacier, we could see the classic glacier shape snaking up the valley to the mountains beyond.

The flow of Johns Hopkins Glacier can be clearly seen in this distance shot
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