a bit of historical benicia...

this morning...we were out with my photography meetup group.  today's location -  the benicia arsenal.  more specifically - the commandant's quarters and the clock tower.  i'd shot the clock tower before...but never the commandant's quarters.  

this is the front of the commandant's quarters...

a reflection of the columns and the steps leading up the porch...

side of the clock tower building...  

not historical...but i like it.  danger.  high voltage.  

i'll have to go back another day to visit some of the other places of interest at this historical site.

yolo in september...

today...we went up to yolo basin...and drove through the grounds.  

since it was a weekday...and we went in the middle of the day...there were no crowds.  in fact...we only saw two other vehicles the entire time we were there...and i think they were people that worked there.  

we saw quite a few egrets and a few heron...but as you can see...they saw us too.  the only other thing we saw a lot of was dragon flies.  i really wanted to see the pelicans...but i'll have to do a bit of research to find out when they are most likely to be there.  

another item that was plentiful were the organic sunflowers...and we know how much i've been captivated by them lately.  

on the way home...we stopped off in suisun to see some sculptures that ingrid had shown me once before.  i was very excited to see that there was now a camera sculpture...and i wanted a photo of it.  

when we were leaving...a gentleman came out of the house...and i asked if he was the sculpture.  he was.  he gave me his card...and a brochure...and told me of an open house they'll be having in november.  i plan to be there!  

tomorrow...i'll be attending a photography meetup.  stay tuned! 

playing tourist...

 

my daughter is visiting from new york...and we have so many things we've planned to do...we're scheduling our days.  today...we visited the east bay. 

blue bottle coffee company - she'd seen this on either the food network or the cooking channel..and wanted to give it a try.  i ordered a regular coffee...as i wanted the pure coffee experience.  

peerless coffee - no...i wasn't in need of another coffee.  they roast coffee AND peanuts.  since we were in the area...i thought i'd pick some up.  

bakesale betty - they were closed (and we knew this) but i had told her about it...so we drove by. i've never been here...but have read about the chicken sandwiches.  one day...i'll give them a try. 

masse's pastries - we went here because i wanted to try macarons (after seeing them on tafari's blog).  

while in the area...a few other places caught my eye...all in epicurious garden:  kitchen on fire (cooking classes), kirala (japanese cuisine) and imperial tea court (dim sum). i'll visit them another day. 

taylor's refresher -  we drove out to the st. helena location for dinner.  i had the regular hamburger, onion rings & a glass of red wine.  after all...we were in the napa valley.  :)  

next...we're heading east!  there's a sangria i had a couple of weeks ago...and we're going straight to the source!  

stay tuned!