It was a beautiful Summer’s day at the beach in Northern California, late July.

If you are looking for a beach that isn’t quite as popular as the ones that are closer to San Francisco, travel South of Half Moon Bay a few miles – there are some small, characterful beaches that may suit your need for quiet. A nap on the sand can be perfect.

Barstow train station

The train station in Barstow California is rather lonely, like most train stations in the US. It is, however, the home of the Route 66 Museum, so if you find yourself in Barstow with a little bit of time to spare, make the drive through town, over to the station, and take a look at some artifacts of the Great American Highway.

Due to some last minute changes, we had to postpone our going-out-of-California vacation, replacing it with a stay-at-home vacation. Today was the free day (3rd Wednesday of the month) at the California Academy of Sciences, so we drove to Golden Gate Park to finally see the new building. There is a lot to like, certainly. Though it was filled to capacity, it was comfortable.

I took the photo above with my iPhone, using the Pano application for stitching together panoramic photos. I enjoy using Pano for building these quirky, bent-perspective montages. The ghosts of people add a nice touch too, I think. This links to the full size, 6929 pixels wide image.

I liked the odd perspective of this scene. And the silvery, leafless trees.

So, I plan to figure out how to make a simple astrolabe, and try it out sometime in the next few days.