Germar's Monthly Updater

July 2000: San Francisco, Chilao Campground, and Mount Wilson In the first week of July 2000, I attended the 13th International Congress on Photobiology convening in San Francisco. Most talks of the conference were about the effects of UV radiation and visible light on life. I stayed with a friend who lives in San Rafael, a small town east of San Francisco. The picture below shows me on the porch of my friend's house together with him and his wife. There is lots of incredible good stuff on the table and I certainly gained weight during my visit. In order to get to the conference I took a ferry boat. This was very convenient since the ferry terminal in San Francisco was only a 3 minute walk away from the conference venue. It was always rather windy when I crossed the Bay and many windsurfers enjoyed the good conditions. I was jealous! The shot below is taken from the boat on the way home to San Rafael. My friend was so kind to show we the vicinity of San Rafael in my spare time. We drove on a mountain and had a gorgeous view on San Francisco Bay. The city itself and the Golden Gate Bridge were shrouded in the fog providing a dramatic view. One leap to the right and would have fallen 500 meters down! One day later we drove to the China Camp State Park, just a view miles north-east of San Rafael. It is a very idyllic and peaceful place. It's difficult to believe that a cosmopolitan city is close by when watching a small river meandering towards the Bay: The next shot was taken not far away from the river above and shows a part of San Pablo Bay. We couldn't figure out the reason for the strange stack of straw in the middle of the water. It looked mysterious. Behind the mountains in the background is Napa Valley, where the well-known Californian wine is produced. My short travelogue is completed by some of my best shots of San Francisco's landmarks, starting with the Golden Gate Bridge. I drove several times over the bridge when the schedule of the ferry was inconvenient. It's quite a thrill! Next is the Transamerica Pyramid, the most outstanding skyscraper of downtown San Francisco: And finally, a photo taken in the middle of San Francisco, close to the Moscone Convention Center and the Yerba Buena Gardens. Thanks to the red truck, which gives the picture an interesting touch (I think): After I had returned from San Francisco, my colleagues hauled me to a baseball game. It was my third one! I have been to one professional soccer game, one American Football game and three baseball games in my life. I think it is hard to find a second German citizen with this combination! Another highlight of July was a weekend that I have spent in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. I stayed one night at the Chilao campground. My neighbors were rather scared when I arrived because a black bear was walking through the facility just five minutes before I came. I talked also to someone else on the next day. He told me that he was hearing something outside his tent in the middle of the night. He got up, switched on his flashlight and was looking in the eyes of a bear, which was standing only few feet away. The light fortunately scared away the large animal. Both neighbors told me the truth. Bears are rather common in the wilderness of California, as the following flyer proves: In spite of the roaming bear, I stayed and slept in my car. The next photo shows be barely awake on the next morning: Before I went windsurfing the other day, I drove up to Mount Wilson, which is 5710 feet above sea level. At the summit of the mountain is the "Mount Wilson Observatory". Much of our understanding of the Universe came from research done at this facility. The photo below shows the "100 Inch Hooker Telescope", which was just serviced during my visit. Mount Wilson is not only a great place for astronomy. It also provides great vistas on Pasadena and Los Angeles. Like in San Francisco, fog is also common in Southern California and the view is equally spectacular. It feels like flying when standing on the edge of the parking lot well above the mist. From the elevated position one can even look down on planes. There is a lot of air traffic over Los Angeles and usually more than one aircraft is in sight. In the foreground on the photo below is a Boeing 747.

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