United States

I didn’t see any rocking cradles, but anyway I took this snap just a few meters from a spot called Bodega Head, on a cliff high above the Pacific Ocean, near Bodega Bay, California:

What you can’t see here, but what I find amazing, is that this tree is leaning almost 90 degrees to shoreline.  If I simply turn around, this is what it looks like behind my back:

So even though you’d expect the wind would travel perpendicularly to the shoreline, in fact the local geography and hills somehow influence the wind to run south, parallel to the coast.

(By the way, I am no expert on trees, but I suspect this is a Cypress tree.  Cypress trees are amazing – and I hope to write a number of photo blogs (PHOGS) about them soon!)

Because it is so amazing, here is a close-up of the tree:

I find again and again that a terrific side-effect of a photo blog (also known as a PHOG) is the chance to learn lots of interesting trivia.

Everyone knows Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay,

But at least in my case, I only just now learned that the island was named “Island of the Pelicans” by the Spaniards in the 1700’s.

A lone black crow sits on a sign and contemplates an interesting landmark at Bodega Bay, California, which is nothing more than a hole in the ground:

But unbelievably, this water filled hole – or more precisely formulated, this water filled hole sitting directly on the San Andreas Fault – was originally planned to be the location of the largest nuclear power plant in the United States.  Until, of course, sanity triumphed over business interests in the end.

You can read more about this hole on the sign:

This is a remnant to the bygone days of the Gold Rush in San Francisco, when ships would dock here and transfer their goods to waiting trains.  I think it is wonderful that they’ve kept this intact, although a close examination of the wood and steel shows it will soon be in need of restoration: