A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
037: Pacific Ocean beach
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
California
All posts tagged California
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
036: Downtown San Francisco
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
035: Snowy mountain
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
034: Lake Tahoe panorama
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
033: Natural trail
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
032: Bridal Veil Waterfall scenery
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
031: Bridal Veil waterfall
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
030: Yosemite landscape
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
029: Manhattan stalactite skyline
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
028: Small car, giant trees
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
027: Trees at a lake
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
026: Blossoming trees
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
025: Bad Water
Death Valley is not only one of the world’s hottest and driest locations, but it also hosts the lowest point in North America: 85 m above sea level. At less than 140 km is one of the highest peaks in the USA: Mount Whitney with its peak at little more than 4400 m. The precise location of the lowest point is not far from Badwater, a limited drainage basin that is very small and shallow. It was once fed by lake Manly, that once has the size of 1600 square km, and a dept of about 300 meters. About ten thousand years ago, the lake disappeared through evaporation. Nowadays Badwater only measures 8 by 12, with only a small fraction filled with water. You cannot miss badwater: there are many signs that may direct you directly to the shallow pool of heavily sanilized water.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
024: Tumbleweed
Death Valley in the state of California was formed about two million years ago when the earth shifted by plate tectonics and opened a huge fissure that eventually formed a valley. Surrounded by mountains, hot air cannot escape from the valley, and rain clouds coming from the Pacific Ocean are blocked by the mountains. As a result, Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest places on earth. And without doubt, one of the most beautiful places in California, because of the great variety of landscapes, and a broad range of natural colors of the stone formations. Because of the extreme climate, hardly anything grows in the valley. One of the few living things that you can meet in Death Valley are tumbleweeds that roll unstoppably, driven by the wind.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
022: Mushroom Rock
Not far from Badwater, where we observed a shallow pool of water in the immense desert of Death Valley, is a strangely shaped basalt rock that once had the name “Devil’s Throne”; with time, and due to human intervention, the rock had become much smaller and is now known as “Mushroom Rock”, referring to its shape.
It was once described as: “This mass of old basalt has been eroded into its unusual shape by temperature extremes, water, rain, and wind-blown sand and salt.” Until recently, the rock was included in the list of 49 highlights of Death Valley, but now it no longer appears on that list, since many tourists touched and climbed the rock, causing further crumbling of the basalt rock.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
021: Wheel track
Death Valley, located at the border between the states of California and Nevada, is one of the lowest, hottest and driest locations on earth. The air temperature can reach almost sixty degrees, while the surface temperature may hit almost a hundred degrees. It hardly rains in the valley, that has the lowest point at 86 meters below sea level. When I was in the Valley, it was a cool day, with a temperature just above forty degrees. The air felt hot and dry, als if you were in front of an oven wide open. We walked around, and it was easy to imagine, in this dusty environment, how it would be to walk on the moon, albeit that the gravity force is much lower on the moon. Because of the lack of rain, it is really hard to estimate the age of this tire track. It could have been made yesterday, but even long ago: who knows, years ago even!
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
003: Giant panda
One of the main touristic locations in San Diego is Balboa Park, a 490-hectare urban cultural park. The park hosts many museums – among which Museum of Man, Natural History Museum, Museum of Air & Space – cultural centers (such as Spanish Village) and the world famous San Diego ZOO. This 44-hectare park hosts over 3700 animals of more than 650 species. Most animals are no longer kept in cages, but in open spaces. It is one of the very few zoos in the world that has a breeding program for giant pandas. When I visited the ZOO in 1999, it was possible to see the black-and-white pandas. However, I had to queue, and it was not allowed to pause, to have some time for a picture. I took this picture while I was walking slowly, following the long queue. It was really worth the effort to see these unique animals!
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
002: Amtrak train
In May 1999, I stayed in San Diego for a scientific congress, which lasted ten days. An unforgettable experience to meet principal scientists of my research area, from all over the world. I had two days left to explore more of San Diego, and then it was about time to travel to Los Angeles, where I was to meet my friend from the Netherlands, who would join me on our two-week travel through the national parks in South-West USA. My first intention was to catch a plane, but a last-minute travel was very expensive. A better alternative was the train. It was a very comfortable journey, which lasted less than three hours.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
001: East Harbor Drive
In 1999, I was attending a large scientific meeting in San Diego. It was my first stay in the United States. When I arrived at the airport, I got trouble to direct the cab driver to my hotel, because I was pronouncing ‘Ej Cajon’ in the English way, and not in the Spanish way, as it should have been. For me, it was a pleasant stay in the American border city. I enjoyed my visits to Balboa Park, where I was amazed to see many buildings in the Spanish colonial style. I frequently visited Seaport Village Shopping Center, where I took a decaf (with some refills), when I was preparing my schedule for the following day at the scientific meeting. The picture shows the East Harbor Drive with Children’s Park on the left, and the Marriott Hotel on the right. The San Diego Convention Center is located behind the hotel.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 1999, 2017
Adriano Antoine 