On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youâre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good morning everyone,
As always, it’s a good Wednesday when we have something special from Bill to share. Please do look at his site and become a patron.
On a political note, I’ve seen a rumor that Bernie will be suspending today or tomorrow, but we shall see. That would be a momentous development, to put it mildly.
Joe wasn’t my first or second choice, but he’s a decent man and we can use some of that. I know we’re all on team Broken Glass.
It’s the down-ballot race, really state legislatures I’m most concerned with, TBH, and it’s all because of redistricting based on the 2020 Census data (new legislative boundaries are drawn after initial Census estimates are produced). This literally writes the map for a state for a decade (nasty Republican shenanigans to do additional redistrictings aside, of course) and so getting any and all potential D voters out to vote for all these seemingly less-important candidates is of utmost importance, even if we lose the White House or don’t retake the Senate. So when talking to prospective voters, please do encourage them to support their state D candidates because it’s so very important that we have fair political boundaries to enscourage responsive, representative politicians.
I drove up to Vasquez Rocks north of the San Fernando Valley in the small town of Agua Dulce. While I’ve driven past them(you can see them from The 14), I’ve never stopped. They’re rocks that have been upthrust to the surface and are quite a sight even from the distant freeway. They’re now a county park that unfortunately closes at sunset(the parking lot closes at 5pm so you even miss the sunset). The rocks were a hideout for Tiburcio Vasquez in the late 1800’s and his name has been associated with the rocks since then. The rocks may look familiar since they’ve been in a number of movies and TV. Probably their most famous appearance is in the first season of Star Trek in 1967 in an episode called Arena, where Capitan Kirk is transported to a planet and battles a lizard creature called the Gorn. The largest rock is unofficially known as ‘Kirk’s Rock’.
Since the skies up there(as opposed to the basin) were clear and blue, I’ve taken some liberties with the sky in some of the photos and replaced it with something more interesting with Luminar 4’s sky replacement feature.
Wide view of ‘Kirk’s Rock’ from the north after leaving the parking lot.
Looking west from the main rocks.
The rocks are tilted at a 45 degree angle by tectonic forces.
Close-up looking up one of the rock faces.
‘Kirk’s Rock’ sunlit.
Afternoon sun falling below Vasquez Rocks.
‘Kirk’s Rock’ in shadow.
Sab
Those are really wonderful photos. Taken aback that it’s not stars.
eclare
Very pretty photos!
Sab
Don’t want to politicize this thread, but Ohioans: Jennifer Brunner is running for S Ct in Ohio. Please consider her.
Sab
BillinGlendale: Please do a comment sometime today to link to your shop. These are wonderful. I want a print.
Sab
@Sab: I am EStT and you are PST. Hours later I will see it.
HinTN
@Sab: Click his nym in any thread.
Beautiful, as always, Billin
JPL
Beautiful pictures and they do remind me of the old cowboy movies that aired on tv during my youth.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sab: Well there is a star in one of the photos(the Sun), no other stars for right now, mainly a problem with weather. Next one will have mountains.
@eclare: Thanks.
@Sab: As HinTN noted below, just click on my nym and it links to my shop. If anyone wants to support my work on an ongoing basis, my Patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/BillinGlendaleCA. Patrons get to see a good deal more than what you see here. The latest set were posts on the Spanish Missions of Santa Barbara County. Here’s a taste of what I posted for my patrons in February: https://www.billinglendaleca.com/Patreon/n-mGsjRt/Basic-Level/February-2020/ .
@HinTN: Thanks much.
ETA: If you follow the link to my February Patreon sample photos there is my first Milky Way pic of the season.
rikyrah
All of them… gorgeous ??
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Thanks, they were probably filmed there, Blazing Saddles filmed a number of scenes there.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Thanks.
Baud
Very nice.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks.
arrieve
Really wonderful, Bill.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@arrieve: Thanks.
West of the Cascades
There was a nice shoutout to the Original Series in one of the early episodes of Star Trek: Picard where a long scene was filmed at Vasquez Rocks. Thanks for the beautiful photos!!
Origuy
Vasquez Rocks is amazing. I’ve only been there once, when the LA orienteering club held an event there. The map is covered in the black blobs that represent large rock formations. Those pictures are fantastic.
J R in WV
Great photos, Bill.
The rocks and geology out west are fabulously interesting to a rock collector/geologist from back east, where the vast majority of rocks are sedimentary. My oil-field and coal bed geologist cousin had an amusing derogatory term for sedimentary rock, which stubbornly refuses to come back to me right now.
We had a great time last winter tooling around South East Arizona looking at features and speculating about which ones were volcanic and which ones were merely igneous.
Tehanu
Lovely pix!