2008 March archive at andipantz

Archive for March, 2008

Mar

Rural Pennsylvania

By Andrea 1 Comment

Categories: Landscapes, architecture, Pennsylvania and Photography

On the day that my flight got back into Pennsylvania, I took my family out for breakfast. It’s been a long time since we’ve all done that. My dad and I spent a good deal of time driving around to a bunch of places near our house checking out things that I could photograph. We first stopped by the old cemetery where some of our ancestors are buried. The cemetery is in a patch of woods and was covered with overgrown weeds, but my dad and some other people in our family have cleaned it all up and removed the weeds, found and fixed the broken tombstones, and did research to find out who the people were. There’s one little boy buried there who was 12 years old and was a drummer in the war of 1812. In the photos below, his stone is the one with the flag.

cemetery

The cemetery is located on a farm and overlooks a huge field. There were some pretty horses and a neat old barn. The sky looked so cool. I like when the sky looks all stormy, but there’s sun shining through to light up the landscape. This was also when we discovered that we had ticks on us. Man, I hate ticks.

landscape

horses

barn

Then we went to visit an old abandoned mill. Part of the mill is being torn down and other parts of it are being reconstructed to look as it did when it was first built.

meters

mill

wires

brick wall

mill

nails

mill

tire

mill

Then we headed to an abandoned flint mill that was also nearby.

There’s a school house where my grandparents and my dad went to school. It’s a really cool building, but it’s starting to get in really bad shape.

Then we went for a drive to a spot that overlooks the Susquehanna River and some other really cool locations before hwe called it a day.

house

river

field

Mar

my remaining days in california

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: California and Travel

After I visited the Salton Sea, everything else was pretty low-key. I stayed overnight at a hotel in Palm Springs. I stayed at hotels a lot more than I had expected on my trip, but I have no complaints (except for the bargain hunter that I almost stayed at in Barstow).

I spent the last day in the LA area with my friend Robyn who I had stayed with on the beginning of my trip. It was good to have one last hurrah before my butt shipped out of the state.

I am back in Philly now. Not so happy about it. This weather stinks. And after photographing such great things in the desert, everything else seems so boring in comparison. I need to get out of this city more often.

I’m still not well, but I will be going to the doctor on Monday and hopefully I’ll be on the mends soon.

Mar

Day 14: The Salton Sea

By Andrea 2 Comments

Categories: architecture, California, Animals, Cars, Environment, Photography, nature and Travel

I woke and hit the road for the Salton Sea. It was a 3.5 hour drive to get there. My route went through a super dooper windy road through hills of a previously burnt forest and fields. Then I hit Anza-Borrego State Park. Anza-Borrego is one place that I’ve always wanted to visit in the spring because it’s one of the best places for desert wildflowers in southern CA. However, since my itinerary was changed a bit due to being sick, I wasn’t going to be able to stop. But the view of the flowers from just the road was amazing! I saw a lot of Indian paintbrush, desert marigold, lupines, beavertail cacti flowers, cholla cacti, apricot mallow, sand verbena, and so much more…just from the car. I arrived at the Salton Sea and suddenly filled with excitement. I’d lived so close to this place for a couple of years, but I’d never been there. For years and years I’ve wanted to visit the Salton Sea. I was finally there!

The Salton Sea was accidentally created over 100 years ago and is now a huge ecological disaster. The New River, which flows north out of Mexico, provides the Salton Sea with the freshwater that it needs, but is also a huge threat to the Sea as well. As it flows, it has picked up agricultural run-off with pesticides, dead animals, industrial waste, and raw sewage. There are high levels of DDT and selenium that are residual within the silt bottom of the sea. The pile worms on the bottom eat the silt, which are then eaten by fish, which are eaten by birds. The New River is the most polluted river in the US. And since it flows north out of Mexico, many illegals will swim in the river, popping up for fresh air along the way. But Border Patrol won’t even touch them because they’re so dirty. ick! Anyway, the Salton Sea is 30% saltier than the ocean, which is the biggest risk to the wildlife and overall health of the Salton Sea. Coupled with the pollution brought by the New River, The Salton Sea is a key part to the Pacific flyway for some of the greatest bird populations in the world(over 400 species). The very very pricey Salton Sea Restoration Project will reduce the lake to a fifth its current size, but create ponds that would continue to support the wildlife species.

Seeing all of the effects of the pollution and salinity first hand was quite a site. In the photo below, you can see lines of brown, tan, and white: these are dead fish. BILLIONS of dead fish.

dead fish

And then I drove around the upper half of the western and eastern shores of the Salton Sea…

trailer

house

hotel

truck

sign

chairs

hotel

marina sign

cafe

trailer

doll

house

As the sun started to set, I made a quick exploration of Salvation Mountain and Slab City.

Afterwards, I drove to Palm Springs where I spent the night in a hotel. I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time in the Salton Sea as I wanted to. I could have easily spent weeks taking photos there. I must go back.

Mar

Day 13: San Diego

By Andrea 1 Comment

Categories: California and Travel

I stayed at the hotel until the very last minute that I could check out. I went to grab some lunch and hit the road. I stopped at a Barnes & Noble to kill some time and then took a nap in my car. Then I made the drive to San Diego. I met up with my friend Andy (not the same Andy from my previous posts). We were both pretty hungry so we went to a really awesome Japanese restaurant. Andy gave me a small tour of San Diego afterwards. I’ve been to San Diego about 4 times, but I feel as though I’ve never really seen what the city has to offer. We went to the harbor and walked up to the USS Midway, which is an older aircraft carrier that was a flagship in Desert Storm in 1991 and decommissioned a year later after 47 years of service. Surprisingly, I’d never been that close to an aircraft carrier that I could recall. I can only imagine how today’s aircraft carriers just tower this one. We also went to a hill where you could see 360 degrees in all directions. It was so neat to see all of a city from one single location. Other than that, we just hung out and talked since we haven’t seen each other for at least 8 years. I should have taken my camera along to dinner with me, but didn’t. So no photos for the day.

Mar

Day 12: The outlying areas of Barstow

By Andrea 2 Comments

Categories: California, Photography and Travel

I spent two years of my life living in Barstow and I’m still fairly familiar with the area, but I never really did much photography of the outlying desert communities….which are really just houses scattered here and there with lots of abandonment in between. So that was my mission on this trip. I had some idea of the locations where I wanted to go so I headed in that general direction and just drove around for a while.

Although it’s so easily recognized and I’d been there before, I stopped to take the token photo of Peggy Sue’s Diner.

Peggy Sue’s

At this point, I already had to use the bathroom so I thought I’d drive to Newberry Springs and visit my next stop: the Bagdad Cafe. Why I didn’t think to use the bathroom in Peggy Sue’s is beyond me. The Bagdad Cafe was the set location for the movie of the same name. I’d never been to the cafe so I decided that I’d check it out since it was along my route. Of course, I stopped to photograph a few things along the way there.

house

I arrived at the Bagdad Cafe. When I walked in, I was immediately greeted by the two men who were working there. There was a family from Europe visiting the cafe as well. I was asked if I wanted something to drink so I asked for a hot tea and sat down. One of them men asked if they could cook any food for me. I said “no”, to which the other man (who we’ll refer to as “creepy dude”) replied “That’s good cuz we ain’t got nothing. We ran out of just about everything.”

Bagdad Cafe

Creepy dude continued to tell me about his life and experiences he’s had. Raised as an Air Force brat in Europe where the school system is much more strict than it is here. When he was back in the states, he went to MIT for grad school, but thought that the place was a shit hole so he left. He then decided to work for the FDIC and repossesses people’s shit that they can’t pay for (houses, boats, cars, etc). Said that he only works a few weeks out of the year for them. Said that he lives in Alta Loma, but comes to the area on vacation…but in the same breath said that he moved here for real estate. He was going to buy the hotel next door (which was also in the movie) ; it was in escrow but he couldn’t afford it…and maybe someday soon he can buy it (see photo of hotel below).

bagdad hotel

He makes $1,000 per hour. He likes to fly planes.

Bagdad Trailer

The guy had chatted it up enough with me so I decided it was time to leave. I was in awe. I forgot to use the bathroom.

I was quickly reminded that I needed to use the bathroom when I left so I made a quick escape to a gas station not far away. The gas station had a convenience store and a grill where you could get food made to order (keep in mind that this IS the desert). When I left, I spotted one of the female employees who had no front teeth. She smiled and continued to play with the huge gap with her tongue. Gross. I continued my journey…mostly along Route 66.

Route 66

abandoned

I reached the town of Daggett where I took some photos of buildings, but also paid a visit to a Pioneer Cemetary. I had known (and forgotten) that it existed, but I don’t recall ever being there in the past.

sportsman club

desert market

cemetary

I could have stayed out taking more photos, but I really wanted to pick up my new prescription…and I hadn’t really eaten much all day. I wasn’t feeling too great that night and had a little fever so I decided to stay at the hotel one more night. I’m glad that I did and I felt much better the next day.

Mar

Day 11: Off to the Desert

By Andrea 2 Comments

Categories: California, architecture, Photography and Travel

I left Morro Bay in the morning. I didn’t sleep to well due to numerous trips to the bathroom, kids laughing and yeling at 2am in the campground, etc etc. It was cold, but I stayed pretty warm in my sleeping bag. But I seem to have developed a rash all over my arms and legs…possibly from the antibiotic that I was prescribed. I stuck it out and hoped it would go away.

Though I love the central coast in all its beauty, I was starting to get fed up with the colder weather and looking forward to the warm weather in the desert. I drove for 6 hours…through rolling green hills, hills covered with wildflowers, through the San Joaquin Valley orchards and farms, through the Chevron oil pumps, and finally onto Route 58 that leads to the desert….through Tehachapi with the wind generators, past Edward’s Air Force Base, and the airplane graveyard in Mojave.

oil pumps

I stopped at a rest area where there were only restrooms…and this little brown van selling espresso and coffee…in the middle of the desert. I talked to them for a while. I bought some hot tea from the Cruzin’ Coffee truck and then hit the road again.

coffee truck

I stopped at Four Corners where Route 58 meets 395 and took some photos of an abandoned hotel.

hotel

I arrived in the Barstow area and decided to drive around for a while scoping things out and seeing what has changed. Let me just say that there’s a Home Depot now! I stopped and took some photos of more abandoned places before I decided that it was time to find a place to sleep for the night.

abandoned

I thought about staying at another campground, but really wanted to be close to a bathroom and have a good night’s sleep and a hot shower. So I stopped by a Motel 6 where I thought I found a bargain room for $37/night. I should have known better. When I got to my room, it looked like the bed had been slept in, the towels didn’t look clean, the sink was dirty, there were dead bugs floating in the toilet, but the icing on the cake that made me leave was finding hairs scattered throughout the room. Not to mention that there seemed to be sketchy characters lingering around. So I went to a hotel down the street that I knew was good and I had stayed at in the past.

The whole hospital ordeal really seemed to rain on my parade for this trip. It is such an inconvenience to have to always be close to a bathroom. And let me tell you that it ain’t fun when you’re driving around in the desert where there are no bathrooms. Anyway, I relaxed in my room, contemplated what I’m going to do about the rest of my trip, looked at some photos….while I also felt an earthquake. I wasn’t sure if it was one or the building shaking and there was no data on USGS for it until yesterday. It was a small 1.2 (according to USGS)…not very strong, but I did feel it.

The rash still hadn’t gone away and I was itchy. I decided that I was going to stop taking the prescription and call my Philly doctor the next day for a new prescription.

Mar

Day 10: Do I Stay or Do I Go?!

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: California, Animals, Landscapes, architecture, Photography, nature and Travel

My first night of camping in the back of my car was not fun. Although I am small, the car is not big enough with the seats down. And when they’re down, they’re on a slope. I bought some foam to sleep on (I have my sleeping bag along, too). But I woke up with a sore back….and incredible fog! Although I didn’t get a photo of the amazing view from my campsite, this was my campsite in the morning.

campsite

I was intending on heading down to the desert…took Route 46, which goes through the hills and valleys…through many of the vineyards of Paso Robles. It was gorgeous. I realized that there was no way that I could leave the central coast yet. Nor did I really feel up for a 6 hour drive.

view

I reached the 101 and grabbed some lunch. I also made a trip to pick up a tent because this car camping thing was not going to work out. Since I had decided that I wasn’t going to leave, I decided to revisit Mission San Miguel, which was just north of where I was. The mission is undergoing renovations so not as much was accessible to the public as it had been when I had visited several years ago. Nevertheless, still beautiful.

san miguel

Then it was time to find a place to stay for the night. I had already stayed in the Cambria area for two nights so decided to go a little further south to Morro Bay. I had looked into a few campgrounds in the area. I ended up staying at an RV park that was about 200 feet from the beach! It was lovely. Here is the view from outside of the RV park and an opposing view of the beach, facing the RV park. I had free wifi at the campground and it made me laugh that I could sit in my tent and be online.

morro rock

morro beach

After I had my tent all set up, I wandered to go get some dinner. On the way, I found a couple of sea otters that were mating. And then a couple of more. It’s a crappy shot and doesn’t do the justice of how cute they really are!

sea otters

Mar

Day 9: The central coast

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: flowers, California, Animals, Plants, Landscapes, Photography, nature and Travel

After treating myself to a nice night at a hotel, I felt well-rested and ready for an adventure. This was probably my most adventurous day so far. I wasn’t going to let some stupid infection get in my way. Ok, so it was difficult being sorta in the middle of nowhere with no bathroom when you really needed one.

The central coast is probably my favorite place in the whole world. It’s absolutely gorgeous…especially this time of the year when the hills are just covered with patches of yellow, purple, and orange wildflowers. And where there aren’t wildflowers, the hills are rolling green. Put that next to a rocky coastline! I lived in this area for a year. Sometimes I still ask myself why I ever left. But if I had never left, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today.

Anyway, my first stop was Moonstone Beach. The beach is littered with the most beautiful stones! It’s legal to collect them so I grabbed some for a keepsake. It was quite foggy, but I tried to grab what shots that I could.

Moonstone Beach

stones

rock

I had hoped to stay at an amazing campground in San Simeon State Park while I was on the coast, but the website said that they were full. I decided to stop by to see if they had any spots left for the night and snagged one! I chose a great spot on top of a hill above the ocean, though my spot overlooked rolling green hills and a big valley. I wish I had taken a photo.

Next was a trip up to Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seal rookery. There were mostly pups on the beach and they were so cute!

There’s a lighthouse in Piedras Blancas, but it was foggy for most of the day so I couldn’t get a clear shot.

ighthouse

I drove up the coast for about 20 minutes to get lunch at Ragged Point. There’s a beautiful view from there, but they’ve changed the area since I’ve been there. Anyway, I just have to share that I had the best veggie burger of my life at the restaurant there! So tasty!

And all I’ve gotta say is that I’M ON VACATION!

Mar

Day 8: I went to the hospital

By Andrea 2 Comments

Categories: California, architecture, Urban Decay, Photography and Travel

So that night I mentioned in my previous post….Went to sleep around 9:30. Around 10, I started to have insane pain on my inside parts. Possibly another kidney stone. All I know is that I spent 4 hours praying that the pain would go away and hoping that I’m not waking up the family from numerous trips to the bathroom. At 2:30am, I knew that the only person who might possibly be awake is my cousin. After a text message, she convinced me that I needed to wake someone up and go to the hospital before it got worse (if that was even possible at this point). So I woke up Andy and Melanie and then jumped in my car, headed for the ER. Thank goodness I bought that GPS! I never would have found the hospital without it.

I was seen almost immediately, they did some tests and concluded that I did not have a kidney stone but a really bad bladder infection of sorts. They gave me a shot in the ass with some heavy duty antibiotic for the worst of infections, and some pain medication.

An hour and a half later, I was out of there. I drove around with the goal of finding a 24 hour pharmacy to fill my prescription. Not a chance. Nothing was open. But a donut shop was open so I stopped in to grab two donuts. After deciding that I wasn’t going to go back and wake up the family, I found a grocery store parking lot where I curled up in the backseat of my rental car with my sleeping bag for 2 hours before Andy called me. They were awake so I went back and slept for a few hours. I had to go out to get gas in my car and get my prescription filled. On the way back, I decided to photograph an abandoned Drive-In theater.

theater

I felt tired and groggy for the day, but I needed to get up the coast. I had made a reservation at a hotel for the night and man, was I happy about that. It had a fireplace, a couch, a huge bathroom, and a king size bed and was along the beach. I took full advantage of everything that night. I started to feel quite a bit better.

hotel

Mar

Day 7: Leaving LA

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: California, children and People

I left LA in the morning and headed up the 101 with my next stop in Lompoc, CA to visit my old roommate Andy and his family. Andy and I lived together for the two years when I lived in the Mojave Desert working as a biologist for the U.S. Army. It’s been at least 4 years since I last saw Andy and in that time, he and his wife had gotten married and had two little boys! Time sure does fly.

After getting settled, we went to a great Japanese restaurant and stuffed ourselves silly. When we returned, their oldest son found great interest in my camera. We had a fun time taking photos (both serious and goofy). It was fun just hanging out and then it was sleep time. I went to sleep much earlier than I usually do, but didn’t really sleep. Little did I know what the night had in store for me….

nathan