
For a long weekend, one usually plans to visit national parks or other famous attractions. But the intelligent one knows to avoid such places, because he knew that he won't get parking. So, I knew better to avoid Yosemite park for this memorial day long weekend.

Instead, I went on a drive through [**CA 130**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_130), a state highway that runs between San Jose and Mount Hamilton.

[![CA-130 Trip](http://i.imgur.com/K9IS0eP.png)](https://veerasundar.com/route-planner/)

I started my journey from my home at Fremont and instead of 680, I drove via Sunol, Calaveras road. I started early in the morning hoping for some sunrise photos, but unfortunately I couldn't find a better spot at Calaveras road.

However I continued my drive up the Quimby road to get to CA 130. I did not expect Quimby road to be challenging, but to my surprise, the road was winding and narrow. I almost lost my control in one of the hairpin curve. From that point, I started driving very slowly even in the straighter part of the road.

After reaching CA 130, the road became little wider, but still it was only two lane. Even though the road was winding, the curves were easily drivable. I took couple of breaks here and there while taking photos.

[![Mt Hamilton Road](http://i.imgur.com/NOaCrrG.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/NOaCrrG.jpg)

## Lick Observatory

As I started very early, when I reached the [Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton](https://mthamilton.ucolick.org/), I was the only peron there. So I had the whole parking lot to park my car. :)

[![Lick Observatory Parking](http://i.imgur.com/l4YKY5m.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/l4YKY5m.jpg)

The observatory was not open at 8 in the morning though. I wasn't disappointed either, as visiting the observatory wasn't my plan. But even from the outside, one could get a good a view of the Santa Clara valley and the road leading to the Mount Hamilton.

[![View from Lick Observatory](http://i.imgur.com/bu1osDX.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/bu1osDX.jpg)

By the time I started from the observatory, there was only two other people came there, one in motor bike and the other person in a bike. So, it's good to have a early start, to enjoy the nature without the crowd.

From the observatory, I continued to drive through CA 130. I saw some signboard warnings that there are no gas station or auto services for next 40 miles. My car had around half tank of gasoline, so I didn't worry much.

## Del Puerto Canyon Road

From Mount Hamilton, CA 130 goes through a remote and lightly populated forest. I could hardy see any signs of civilization (except the road that I was driving on). From time to time, I see some ranches and cattle, but zero humans until I reached the point where CA 130 meets the Mines road. At the road junction, there was a shop. My assumption is that the shop is the only social place that the locale use.

From that junction, I turned to the **Del Puerto Canyon Road** which goes to Patterson. The canyon road is again a isolated area, with very few humans in sight. However, the scenery was beautiful and breathtaking. I managed to find a spot to pull over my car and took couple of photos. Here's the best one from the lot.

{" "}

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/155941195/m%3D900/78573f1e993789e6fb2bed63adedcba7"
      alt="Clear sky and clear mountains by Veera Sundar on 500px.com"
    />
  </p>
</div>

After reaching Patterson, I stopped for a coffee break at Starbucks and headed my way back to home (via I5 and 101). The whole drive tough only around 6 hours. I will be going back soon on the same route, especially to the Del Puerto Canyon, to take some of the photos that I missed.


A travelogue about the driving from Fremont to Patterson via Mount Hamilton.

Driving through CA-130


It is my sixth time that I am visiting Unites States and have been to San Francisco several times on each of my trip. Somehow, the **Golden Gate Park** was never in my destination. But last week, I managed to spend a Sunday, hiking in the beautiful Golden Gate park that lie amidst the bustling city.

As usual, I started very early in the morning to catch the first Caltrain from Hillsdale to San Francisco. My initial plan was to roam around the market streets and China town and take lots of photographs. Here's a photo that I took from the Pier 14. You can see some of the well known landmarks here: **The Transamerica Pyramid, Ferry Building and the Market street skylines**.

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103356807/m%3D900/51817fc13d6f2de088df237a885148ff"
      alt="Photograph San Francisco Skyline by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103356807/san-francisco-skyline-by-veera-sundar">
    San Francisco Skyline by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
</div>

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very sunny day and the light was very harsh as you can see in the above photo. So I changed my plan to visit the Golden gate park and return to the market street in the evening for the sunset.

As a popular opinion, The best way to explore a city is to walk. If the city is too big to walk, then the second best way is the public transits, in my opinion. So, I bought a day pass from the **SFO Railway museum** which is located just opposite to the Ferry building. It costs $17 (as of April-2015) and you can use it to board all Muni transport (Buses, Rail and Cable car). I boarded a bus from the Market Street to Golden Gate park which took around 50 mins to reach.

I started my hike from the north east corner of the Golden Gate park. My first stop is the **Conservatory of Flowers** center, a domed building that houses flowers and plants from around the world. You need to buy tickets to get in. Photography is allowed and no extra fee for the cameras. I went in and managed to get couple of good photos.

The light was low since its a closed structure but in some places, the light was well diffused due to the see-through roof that was made to let in enough light for the plants to survive. Here's a nice bokeh I took inside that building.

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/104017473/m%3D900/54864362adb3a6ba7199ed8ec5d8672e"
      alt="Photograph Backlit leaf bokeh by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/104017473/backlit-leaf-bokeh-by-veera-sundar">
    Backlit leaf bokeh by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
</div>

After spending half an hour in the conservatory, I got out and continued my hiking towards the western end of the park. Given it was Sunday, the park was flocking with crowd of people. But once you take the off route and go inside the park, you should find some lone time.

An hour of hiking led me to the **Botanical Garden**. Again, you need to get a ticket to get in. At the entrance, they asked me whether I was living in San Francisco or not. I guess, it was free entrance for a San Francisco citizen. Otherwise, need to get $7 ticket. Photography is allowed and no additional fee for cameras (I believe charging extra for cameras is only followed in India, because I hardly see this custom in any of the US attracttions).

Since it's the start of the Spring time, the garden was filled with colorful flowers everywhere. Here are couple of photographs that I took in the botanical garden.

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103321579/m%3D900/807d715d23904f0465b5b8c17666d5ce"
      alt="Photograph Crazy how nature make dat by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103321579/crazy-how-nature-make-dat-by-veera-sundar">
    Crazy how nature make dat by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
</div>

This one is my favorite. Took this under a shade of a tree. The sunlight was only falling on the flower and rest of the areas were dark. Loved the result.

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103418285/m%3D900/1d7203e803b5f05429b09acd1811b99a"
      alt="Photograph Flower in the sunshine by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103418285/flower-in-the-sunshine-by-veera-sundar">
    Flower in the sunshine by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
</div>

A Black rose,

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/104025339/m%3D900/b8b49d6715eb57d4b59dba25f220534c"
      alt="Photograph Black rose by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/104025339/black-rose-by-veera-sundar">
    Black rose by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
</div>

After spending almost all the afternoon, I was totally exhausted. So had to cancel my plans to return to market streets for the sunset. Took the train to catch my 7'O clock Caltrain. While returning, managed to take this one:

<div class="pixels-photo">
  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103609479/m%3D900/26a49f927372940ed0bf23f79278a0b0"
      alt="Photograph Windows by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103609479/windows-by-veera-sundar">
    Windows by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
</div>

Wasn't that impressive when I shot this in color but after converting this to monochrome, it has become a beauty.

With that, my Sunday was over. But need to go back to the Market Street and China town. May be another weekend.


#500px (2)