Sunday, August 31, 2014

San Clemente Surf
























Rolled out early, and all the way to San Onofre...I wanted to see how much it costs to camp there at the State Park...35 dollars a night...and to see if my day use senior discount annual pass is good there after Labor Day (it is it seems)...Rangers didn't know, and would check, but I said I would on the web...rolled back to San Clemente Pier...parked around 4pm and paid up to 11pm, which I think I didn't need to do, as sign seemed to indicate parking was free after 5pm...this in the big lots overlooking the Pier...hungry, so went to the Pier restaurants...prices high...more a dining out place...fish chowder, bread, and coffee, like fifteen bucks...but very nice restaurant, and crowded in evening...thought to fish, but got to fiddling with the 70-300 DO lens...it's really broken now...the extending part is just wobbling loose, and auto focus can't work at all...and I was really surprised I could manually focus it by aligning it while it rests on my forefinger, and focusing it by turning the ring with my thumb and second finger...time was before auto focus, this must be how photogs managed these long lenses...it still works, but sometime shutter doesn't go off, and sometimes, if it dips, or moves, the extension I mean, it goes out of focus...hmmph...found a repairman in San Clemente in last visit, and they're about on Mondays...this Monday holiday, so following one, I'll see about repairs...and I sat on the Pier taking surfer pictures with the lens until sunset...practicing...surf was like a foot...what a difference!...you know, I thought from times when I saw the Wedge years ago, that I had seen it big...but I've never seen it like it was on Wednesday morning...reviewed my clips this afternoon, and there are some okay ones, and it'll be a lot of work to process them for posting...for sometime...Sunset came, and I switched to the D10, which took pics up...clear warm light breeze...on the way back, bumper to bumper through Laguna, and pretty much all along the coast...listened to Angels and Padres...both won...Laguna has a thriving upscale nightlife...sidewalks full, restaurants crowded, lots of shops still open...very festive!...San Clemente is the furthest south Orange County Town, and I think the most peaceful...south of it, the nuclear power plant and the marine base have preserved the coastline from development all the way down to Oceanside...thanks to President Nixon for the State Park!

quote

Created in 1971 by Richard M. Nixon’s presidential decree and supported by then-California Governor Ronald Reagan, San Onofre State Beach is among the top five most visited State Parks in California, with annual attendance exceeding 2 million.

http://www.sanonofreparksfoundation.org/site/

unquote

No comments: