Bigger Than Life (Photocentric)

Today's shot is from a highway side tourist attraction in what I call Way Northern California. Usually I write these chintzy attractions as third rate stops that happen to have something a little more than your average rest stop. I use their restroom, check out the overpriced giftshop, then it's back in the car. Then I saw the Trees of Mystery. Well actually I saw Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox.


Just to be clear, that is a full sized Toyota Camry on the left. So just how big are Paul and Babe? Their plaques answer those questions:


Aside from these big things, Trees of Mystery boasts some trails showing off some very large and very old Redwood trees, and a gondola ride to a ridge some 500 feet up. Admission for a place as out of the way as this is is admittedly steep, but it's not something that will leave you feeling ripped off. 
Location: Trees of Mystery, California 95548, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Burney Falls

Image
Burney Falls, in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, has been on the list of waterfalls to shoot from the second I discovered it. This made all my previous waterfalls look like little trickles. But shooting here exposed a number of issues with gear and timing and so I left with photos that I was pleased with, but not thrilled with. In fact, it has taken me about a month to come back to these photos, that's how disappointed I was with them.
Burney Falls is a unique waterfall in that it has the typical waterfall action of a river falling over a 129-foot cliff, but it also has underground springs coming out the side of the cliffs, which you can see off to the sides of the main fall. So the falls look like this pretty much year round, which is good when trying to plan a trip.

I had originally planned to shoot these falls in late fall/early winter of November 2017 on my Thanksgiving trip that ended in Lone Pine, CA. Due to time and weather issues, that was abandoned. At that tim…
Read more

The Golden Arches

Image
Thanksgiving saw me on a trip through the Eastern Sierras to visit some longtime family friends. Along the way were a lots of photography spots to choose from, but knowing this wasn't a photo vacation, I picked and chose a handful of spots I wanted to hit. Day 1 of travel had a stop at Burney Falls, a wonderful waterfall just north of Redding, CA before checking in at Reno. Day 1 was nothing but rain and hard rain, so Burney was pushed to something to check out on the way back. Day 2 started off bright, sunny, and promising. Sadly, Bodie State Historic Park, my hopeful stop for Day 2, was closed due to the road leading to the park being washed out. Lone Pine, CA was our final stop and where we'd be spending 3 days. I had 1 thing on the photo checklist for Lone Pine, Mobius, and it's nearby neighbor, Lathe Arch.

Read more

Panoramas From the Road

Image
Before we get into the meat of this post, if you're viewing this on a mobile device, these photos really don't translate that well on it. These are large panoramic photos and really need a large screen to do them justice. Now on with the post.

Occasionally during my Eastern Sierra trip I had the idea to take panoramas to try and take in the full view of what I was seeing and feeling. I tried to focus on a part of the view I was seeing that would fill up my frame, but I felt that it didn't full get the whole feeling with only part of the view, but this led to other problems. All the panoramas I took were literally on the side of the road, meaning I was in the middle of driving, with someone who's not a photographer. So, not wanting to annoy them I left the tripod in the car and took these panoramas free hand. When taking handheld panos my general rule is to take many photos and to go well beyond and after my intended start and stop points so that the photo software has …
Read more