There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
October this year has been a month of two halves. In the first half we were in California, road tripping around several stunning national parks, and, for a couple of days at the end of our trip, in Las Vegas. In the second half we were back home, getting over the jetlag, sorting a virtual mountain of photos and picking up the threads of daily life.
That daily life was punctuated by a book launch we organised for a cookbook published in support of Plan Zheroes. And by my birthday at the end of the month, when we had a fabulous lunch at Angela Hartnett’s Michelin starred restaurant Murano, a very special treat. We also spent a lovely family day at my nephew’s house, meeting my new great niece Verity for the first time (she was born just a couple of days before we left for California). In addition we had a morning at the Saatchi Gallery where my favourite exhibition was of textile sculptures by Nigerian Samuel Nnorom who creates his pieces from hundreds of bubbles made from traditional African wax printed fabric.
In my slideshow below I’ve included just a few photos from our trip as I know I’ll be sharing very many more in the weeks, even months, to come! My feature photo is one such, taken by King’s Creek in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Technical notes
My California photos were all taken with my Panasonic Lumix bridge camera, while the ones from later in the month in and around London were taken with my phone. Most have been at least a little edited with Photoshop Elements and some more heavily edited with Nik Color Efex.
As always I am linking my selection to Ju-Lyn’s and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge. Use the arrows to navigate the slideshow if you want to see all the images.
50 Comments
wetanddustyroads
Your October sounds like a very successful (and busy) month. Happy belated birthday and wishes for many more discoveries of new places. Beautiful photo of Yosemite Valley.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Corna 🙂 It was a very good month indeed, and revisiting Yosemite was just one of many highlights!
Annie Berger
Belated happy birthday – happy that you enjoyed a fine meal at a favorite restaurant. How fun meeting your new grand niece on your return from California -lucky you.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Annie 🙂 It was good to have those treats waiting for us at home as otherwise I think I would have been wishing myself back in California. Actually, scrub that – I WAS wishing myself back there, treats not withstanding!
Pat
Happy birthday, Sarah. So glad you enjoyed your trip to the U.S.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Pat 🙂 We had a wonderful time on that road trip!
Amy
A beautiful gallery! I love the lake photo, so peaceful and very well captured.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy – the light was perfect that morning and the lake so still 🙂 You’ll no doubt see more photos from there in due course!
Rose
Lovely October photos, I especially liked the lake reflection photos. Happy belated birthday and congratulations on your new great niece! Can you tell me more about the cookbook, is that something the public can buy, or is it meant for professional cooks?
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Rose 😊 The cookbook is very much aimed at the general public but we’re not set up to sell abroad unfortunately, as the postage costs and general hassle over distribution would make it not viable for the small scale we operate on!
Ingrid
Sounds like you had a very busy yet fun month. I loved my Lumix FZ300 and would still be using it, but I think I wore it out. I now shoot with a Panasonic GX8, but if we were to start traveling again (especially by air), I would probably get another bridge camera. They take great photos as evidenced by all the images you share on your blog.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Ingrid 🙂 Yes, the bridge camera is ideal for travelling which is when I do much of my photography. My current one is the FZ330, having been very happy with earlier models.
Klausbernd
Hi Sarah
We like your second picture. It reminds us of Zen paintings of mountains.
Thanks and happy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you for the feedback 🙂 But I think you must mean the first photo in the slideshow, as the second one is of a man?
Anonymous
We stayed in a cabin just like that one in Kings Canyon, at Easter in 1967, except that when we were there the snow was about 5 feet deep
Rosalie
Sarah Wilkie
That must have looked amazing but made exploring more challenging! If it looked exactly like this one it must have been the same one – all the others are attached pairs while this one stands alone, and it’s the only one made like a log cabin rather than planks. It’s the only original one and they call it the honeymoon cabin because it doesn’t have close neighbours! Although I suppose it’s possible that back in 1967 there were more of the original ones around, thinking about it …
margaret21
A fun, and often lovely – or surprising – selection. What a month eh?
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret 🙂 Yes, a super month!
Anonymous
Such striking shots, Sarah, and so diverse. I, too, am impressed with your organisation. Thanks for sharing your travels and gaze.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂 No real organisation involved apart from for the road trip which did take a lot of planning – but I love that task!
grandmisadventures
Great collection between California and England. Lassen Volcanic holds a special place in my heart- that was the first place Brad and I went to together
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Meg 🙂 What a great place to choose for your first trip together!
Easymalc
Unlike me Sarah, you seem to be extremely efficient with your time. How you cram it all in I don’t know 😄
Sarah Wilkie
It’s not efficiency Malcolm, and in fact the second half of the month wasn’t especially busy apart from the last few days!
Alison
Stunning as usual Sarah. I love the photo of the tattooed cowboy, very colourful. I always enjoy your people photos. Happy belated birthday
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Alison 😊 I was happy to spot that guy as we were wandering around Nevada City (a lovely little town which I’ll share more of in due course)
Vicki
A fabulous and varied collection of images. Love them all.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Vicki 🙂
the eternal traveller
Another busy month! Our October has been all about our new baby grandson, born in the middle of the month.
Sarah Wilkie
Busy indeed, just how we like it 🙂 Congratulations on the new grandson!
the eternal traveller
Thanks. He’s gorgeous.
bushboy
So fabulous and varied photos Sarah. I hope you had a wonderful birthday
Thanks for joining in The Changing Seasons 😀
Sarah Wilkie
I did thank you Brian 🙂 Always a please to join you and Ju-Lyn!
Alli Templeton
Wow, you crammed a huge amount into your October, Sarah, as this collection amply proves! 🙂 The Yosemite valley looks quite literally awesome, as does the Bumpass Hell view and all your beautiful landscapes. The ‘bubble’ art also looks stunning – what a dazzling rainbow of colours! And, of course, I hope you had a great birthday – it certainly sounds as though you did – so from all of us in the Templeton household, a belated ‘Many Happy Returns’! 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Alli 😊 It was a very packed October, especially the first half in the States! Yosemite was indeed awesome, as were many of the other landscapes we saw there.
thehungrytravellers.blog
A nicely varied month, ending with a birthday treat which is always good! Any picture we ever see of Yosemite takes us straight back there, what a wonderful, wonderful place it is. By the way, we have a niece named Verity, too.. see you in December!
Sarah Wilkie
Oh yes, Yosemite was wonderful! We were a bit worried about going back as we had such great memories and I’d heard it was becoming overcrowded these days, plus our itinerary had us there at a weekend. But we went into the valley early and had our first few stops almost to ourselves. Even later in the day we were able to get parked where we wanted to and to escape the crowds with a relatively short walk.
Yes, looking forward to December 🙂 Drop me a line with some dates when you could be in London, when you have a spare moment!
thehungrytravellers.blog
Will do!
Monkey's Tale
I love the Mono Lake picture. It has such a perfect reflection. I also love the Yosemite picture, it is such a great park.. Maggie
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Maggie 😊 Mono Lake is perfect for reflections, especially early in the morning when we were there, and of course Yosemite is stunning!
Marilyn Armstrong
I always appreciate it when I am told what camera and lens were used, especially when I have the same equipment. I used to use that bridge Lumix MOST of the time, but eventually I felt it was time to really use my cameras. The 300 I had was a really great camera in all the ways that mattered. Good Elmarit lens, slightly wide to very long … and f2.8 across its range. I still have one, but I use my Olympus and my 25-200mm most of the time. It’s wide enough and long enough. Just a bit slow for working in shadow, so I keep a fast 50mm just in case.
Beautiful, misty volcano. We have never made it to the far western national parks, but up to and including Grand Canyon, we’ve seen many others. We have been very lucky to have these places — and I hope we manage to keep them. Wildness matters.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Marilyn 🙂 My Lumix is the FZ330, a newer version of the 300, and has an excellent Leica Elmarit lens too. I gave up on carrying multiple lenses when I switched to digital as I was finding that a) carrying them was becoming a pain, literally (and as you know, I do most of my photography while travelling) and b) I never seemed to have the right lens on the camera for those sudden serendipitous moments so I was sticking to just a single flexible zoom like your 25-200, so having the others was becoming pointless!
Yes, you’re very lucky to have that wonderful national parks system, we’re huge fans. We bought the America the Beautiful pass for this visit and got good value from it as we visited four in total, plus it also covered us for parking at Mono Lake 🙂
restlessjo
How perfect is that Mono Lake shot, Sarah! And I love the misty blues, though I know you said it was due to smoke. I like the zany building too. Obviously a good month coming up.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Jo 😊 Mono Lake is wonderful for reflection shots, I have plenty more where that one came from!
Anne Sandler
There’s so much to like about this post. But I think my favorite has to be the peeling wallpaper. I’m glad you enjoyed your birthday and I’m sending you belated birthday wishes. I’m also glad you enjoyed California. Mono Lake is beautiful at sunset, and you got to see three beautiful NPs.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne 😊 I took loads of photos at Bodie but there was something about that paper that captured the feel of the place for me. I also took loads at Mono Lake of course, although we were there first thing in the morning rather than sunset. As for national parks, we actually got to four as we were also in Death Valley near the end of the trip – I just haven’t got to that point in my editing yet!
Heyjude
The textile exhibition looks extremely interesting. I don’t think I will be buying any of his work though!
Sarah Wilkie
It was – I actually thought of you and your recent posts from Tate St Ives when we were there 😀 Look out for him if he comes your way, I think you’d find it interesting.
Terri Webster Schrandt
Incredible images, Sarah! October was good to you and Happy Birthday 🎂 I was delighted to see the Mono Lake Tufas and the shot of Yosemite Valley in your collection. I also loved the image of the autumn leaves cascading down the wall. 🍁
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much, Terri 😊 We loved seeing both Mono Lake and Yosemite again, and I’ll have loads more photos of both to share in future posts!