Visit the kelpforest....

By way of Dirt du Jour - In Star Trek: Wrath of Khan I think they must have based the Genesis Cave on on this place. If they even knew of its existence then...

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/largest-cave/peter-photography

Gorgeous photos! It seems like most of the caves that get coverage lately are the kind people get stuck in, or do dangerous cave diving in, or are filled with awesome giant crystals but are 130° F in, which I prefer to watch other people do, thank you.

4:55 pm. Oh wow. That's kind of a big one. The building was swaying quite a bit and it went on for at least a minute.



( ETA )

Hmmm, the Iceland volcano is having some local fallout here in CA. I heard on NPR yesterday that a number of bands booked for the Coachella Festival are stranded in Europe because of planes being ground by the ash cloud. They're having to scramble to fill the spots with local bands. The organizer said glumly that he'd never thought about having to buy volcano insurance. Not that CA isn't fairly volcanic itself; just that most of them here have been dormant for quite a while. I think the most recent was Mt. Lassen in 1915 (but it's part the same Cascade Mountain range that contains Mt. St. Helens).

When I was a kid, I used to read the encyclopedia for fun - I read about Lassen and Crater Lake National Parks, told my parents about them, and the following summer we made a family trip to both parks. We camped in Lassen and climbed to the top of the mountain. We did go to Crater Lake, and explore a little, but if I remember rightly, we were running short on time, and were only able to spend a day there. I think my main reason for going there was I wanted to see the little island called the Phantom Ship, which supposedly looks like its name in fog or low light; however, it was a bright sunny summer day, and it only looked like the rock spires that make it up.

I had to go to Portland last weekend for a Council meeting, and it was very cloudy in Oregon the day I flew up, but I think I saw Crater Lake out the plane window.

As for the festival; it's funny, I was asked a couple of times Thursday if I was going to Coachella, but I feel like I'm too old for the music festival scene (if I ever was young enough). They always seem to put them out in the desert - I don't do well with heat - then restrict access, don't allow you to bring in anything of your own (including water), and charge outrageous prices for comestibles (including water). Apparently at this Festival there are at least a few water fountains and grassy areas - it's at a Polo grounds, and you can bring a tent and camp. I did think of going a few years ago when Crowded House reformed and that was the first place they played, but I was content to stay home and watch it on live webcast.

I didn't feel the larger one yesterday afternoon, the one centered near Mexicali, because I was driving home from the grocery store. The kids had just gotten home from spending the day with their grandma, and ran to the car as I parked, yelling "Did you feel that?!"

This morning I woke up early and was doing some work on my laptop - I wanted to send something to my boss before I actually went in - and suddenly all the furniture gave a short, sharp creak. I didn't really feel anything myself, and had the lights out so I didn't notice if the lamp over the desk started swinging, but the sound came from several directions. Sure enough, there was a small one under Fountain Vallery (2.9, so considered a microquake) at 5:57 am.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/ci/14613044/us/index.html



(sciencedude sez...)

According to NOAA the Tsunami from the Chilean earthquake should be passing our coast right in the next few minutes a few hours ago (someone distracted me before I posted this). However, since the waves are mostly perpendicular to the flooding, the major warning here is for strong currents.

( OC warning... )

The tsunami wave is perpendicular to the coast, so shouldn't affect us too much. Not so sure about Hawaii or parts of Alaska though. I can't believe another strong earthquake so soon after Haiti...

Meanwhile, we're getting another El Niño storm and it's been downpouring off and on all day. The high surf warnings from that seemed to be higher priority than the tsunami advisory.

Mustard
Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
30 August 2009

Mustard is a non-native plant, and the sky is colored by a combo of L.A. smog and a forest fire, but together it makes for a good picture, I guess...

( More Station Fire... )

I noticed a strange-looking cloud out of my office window. Turned out it was smoke from the Station Fire, north of Los Angeles. The strange spots are from the tempered glass window and the polarizing filter on my lens.

Pyrocumulus cloud
Los Alamitos CA
EOS Canon 1000D
28 August 2009

(Mostly written yesterday afternoon)

We hadn't been to Dismalland in a while, not since we'd gone with (Uncle) Doug, and I was convinced we need to go a few more times before the passes get blocked out for the summer (unless you get the most expensive passes, Saturdays, most school holiday breaks, and all of July and half of August are blocked out). We'd spent some time at CA Adventure, then went over to Tomorrowland where one of us expressed a desire to take in Innoventions - which I haven't been on since it was America Sings, what 15 years ago? - but it had just closed. The line for Star Tours was out the door - which it never is, at least the times we usually go, so we decided to make our way over to New Orleans Square. Indiana Jones, also a 45-minute wait. Ick. I suppose we're spoiled. So Avalon charged up the Tarzan's fake tree (also renamed about ten years ago, because no one remembers Swiss Family Robinson, do they?). You don't realize how tall that treehouse is until you climb to the top and you're up higher than any other surrounding building. The kids had gone on ahead of me, and I was coming down to the second highest "room" (where Tarzan's gorilla mom is playing with him as a child), and I felt the tree swaying a bit. I looked ahead of me and there were several larger-sized people on the walkway ahead of me, and thought maybe (being larger-szied myself) I should wait until they moved on a bit before I joined them; I also looked around to see if someone was jumping on the structure. At the same time, I was thinking "Hmm, you don't usually feel this thing moving around..." - it may look like a tree, but it's concrete and it's pretty solid.

After we descended, we noticed lots of people exiting Pirates, which seemed a little odd, but we continued on our merry way to the Haunted Mansion, an Angus requirement. It still had a small line, just the front walkway, but the door was open and it seemed to be temporary. We joined it and it was then I started hearing people on their cell phones talking about an earthquake. Huh, we hadn't felt anything, I thought. I told the kids we'd give them until we finished the oatmeal cookies I'd brought as a snack (which were pretty big). Alas, we finished and no movement, and it was getting late on a school night. runsamuck wasn't feeling well, and hadn't wanted us to stay too late, so I stated we should probably hit the shop I wanted to visit and then head home. Much protest was heard, but I reminded them we can always come back later. As we walked over to the HM store (dispite my distaste for most Disney merchandising, I'm pretty hypocritical when it comes to this outlet), we heard someone asking why the HM was closed of one of the train conductor cast members. He responded that all the rides were closed, and it's standard procedure after an earthquake, just to inspect everything and make sure everything's safe. I called home and runsamuck told me they had definitely felt it - he had just lain down in bed, and suddenly felt dizzy, but looked up to see the lamp pulls swinging.

I bought a T-shirt for runsamuck - anniversary's coming up - and I asked the salesperson if she'd felt anything - she said no, she'd been walking somewhere at the time. While waiting for the tram to the parking lot, I had to calm Gareth down; he is a worrier, that one, and had worked himself into tears thinking THE BIG ONE is imminent. Lots of hugs all around and I assured him it's not going to be immediately, and the best thing we can do is be prepared. On the drive home, it finally dawned on me that we had felt the temblor; it had been while we were up in the treehouse. Funny, it was subtle enough, and sort of what you might expect to feel while up in a tree (even a fake one), that I didn't recognize that's really what it was.

Yeeks, just another one - 3:49 pm - a sharp jar, like someone dropped the building an inch or two. The person in the cube next to me and I are the only ones who felt it here...

Smoke from the Santa Barabara fire. We heard later that even downtown SB was very close to a mandatory evacuation.

Oddly, I thought the horizon was tilted in this photo, but when I went to straighten it, it really wasn't that far off (less than a degree).

Wildfire smoke trail
Huntington Beach CA
Sharp VE-CG30
6 May 2009

Did not realize there was a wildfire going on until I looked out the bedroom window and realized the sky was black.

Freeway Fire (in Anaheim Hills/Yorba Linda)
Huntington Beach CA
Sharp VE-CG30
15 November 2008