Blurry Briones

This morning as I gave John the blogging report for the week and admitted that I had several blog entries that were started but not complete, his comment was, "...you know there isn't an auto-fill function on the computer for blogs, right?!"

So...my first goal for today was to figure out how to embed a slideshow into this blog. Quite honestly it was far easier than I expected once I did a little research. Truly the biggest challenge was to figure out which photo software would best suit me. iPhoto, Picasa, Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, Shutterfly...????? You'll see I finally made the decision to move forward with Flickr, but I'm still not sure I made the best selection. There are simply too many choices. And what if you don't make the right decision? The paradox of choice, of course, is a dilemma that warrants its own separate and lengthy discussion. For now, let's focus on photos. Oh, and the hike that prompted all this in the first place!

Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny day--perfect for a day on the hiking trail with friends. Some quick research (including a write-up in the Sacramento Bee) brought me to the conclusion that the rolling hills and sweeping views of Briones Regional Park was the place to go. As anyone who lives in the Bay Area knows, its best to hit the wide open spaces of the East Bay before summer when the hills turn brown and the heat can create unbearable hiking conditions.

The drive to the trail head took us through the winding back roads of Lafayette where a unique mix of historic farms & ranches and castle-sized new homes spot the lush green hillsides. With the exception of visiting friends who live there, I hadn't spent much time in Lafayette. It is really a spectacular slice of country. A bikers paradise, I suspect.

Briones did not disappoint. Our hike began at the Bear Creek entrance. It was slow and steady to the top of Mott Peak where were rewarded with sweeping 360 degree views of the Bay Area. Next we passed the Sindicich Lagoons where we spotted a stately blue heron who taunted us with his poses...knowing full well his location as it related to the sun made it impossible for any of us to capture him on film. We followed the ridge, determined that it would keep us high above the hills, dropping only to bring us back to our starting point. But after 3 or 4 steep drops followed by tough uphills, we realized our assumption was mere fantasy. Finally...the last long downhill traced a path straight back to our cars where we conspired on where we could imbibe in celebration of our first 6 mile hike of the season!

Why the "blurry Briones" title? The good news/bad news about iPhones is that they've got a built-in camera--making it very convenient to capture images on the fly, but...with no zoom and relatively low resolution, it's not the highest quality. So, with apologies..........here's blurry Briones: