Sacramento Finds
I made it a mission to go drive around Sacramento to find dope locations to take photos of. In my couple hours of aimless driving, I ended up under a freeway. This was pretty dope as it required climbing up a pretty tall ledge but once up, the view was good. If you do come across this location, please be careful. It's a good 15-20 ft drop down to jagged rocks.
Archive: Santa Maria della Salute
The Santa Maria della Salute, commonly known as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church located in Venice, Italy. Widely seen by visitors of Venice as it is perched right on the Grand Canal before the entering the Piazza San Marco. In 1630, Venice was devastated with an unusual plague outbreak. The Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate this church to Our Lady of Deliverance (Italian: Salute).
Discovery Park
It's apparent that in my day in age, things have really changed in how kids are brought up and the things they do in their leisure time. For me growing up, as soon as I got home from school it was tossing my backpack in the house and hopping on my bike and just looking for things to do with my brother. We would always be outside just finding stuff to do for hours and hours until it was time for dinner, then we went home. Nowadays, the thought of letting your kids run off and play outside on their own is just scary. So much of the crazy shit you hear just really makes you want to shelter your kids.
It's tough though. I will be one the admit that sometimes I do let my kid play Xbox or sit on his iTouch far too often because it's convenient and it keeps them busy while I get work done. However, I do feel its my responsibility to get him out of the house and play outdoors. There's just so much shit you can do and learn from from being outdoors. It was nice taking Jayce to the river today. It's the closest we're going to get to a beach living in Sacramento. Just watching him being a kid running around getting dirty, throwing rocks and picking up sticks was just awesome.
Off The Tracks
Found this very dope set of railroad tracks by accident today. Was actually hunting for another bridge and realized this guy was tucked under. Despite the trespassing signs, warning signs, and a bunch of pedestrians walking by and staring at me, I couldn't resist. One guy even stopped and said, "I didn't even know people were allowed in there."
Nature's Takeover
With all the attention we set on the sights around us, we kind of forgot about the stuff that was surrounding us in proximity. I honestly didn't pay much attention to it because I was so caught up in the views of everything else far away but then my fiancé shouted out to me and told me to look at this weird transformer looking spider. She hates spiders and I could really care less for them unless you find one that looks like a TRANSFORMER! I did some research and I believe it's classified under the "Spiny Orb Weaver" family of spiders.. They are very interesting looking. Does not look like a spider at all when curled up like this but that's the beauty of nature.
Hagia Sophia "Holy Wisdom" of Istanbul, Turkey.
Footbridges
So Sacramento is full of foot bridges everywhere and I have only tapped into only a few of them. The Sacramento River and American River cut up the city with a bunch of zig zag divides which means... Bridges! I plan on visiting all of them. Some are easy to spot right off the freeway but the others will take some hiking.
A New Look
After two long months of being in the shop, I finally got her back. Definitely missed driving this machine. It used to be "TiAg" which is Bimmer talk for the OEM color Titanium Silver. As much as I loved having TiAg, I had an opportunity to change up the color so I did. Went completely on the other side of the color spectrum and ended up with Macadamia Metallic.
Valentine, Be mine.
Definitely an easy-going Valentine's Day this year, which was necessary. With the traveling and our constant work schedules, it was nice to just relax and take it easy.
Moole Valley
There are countless accessible waterfalls near the Old Pali Highway that I would have loved to explore but due to time and weather constraints, it just wasn't possible. With the rain steadily coming down and a exposed camera, I didn't want to risk it. Definitely have to be more prepared next time. This is just one of the waterfalls that were visible right off the old road. It could be seen from a distance of where it starts and you can follow it down all the way to the road where it passes under the highway. From there, it was a good a good 30-40 ft descend.
Haleiwa North Shore, Oahu
During our drive up to North Shore, we passed by an endless number of beaches and each were equally breath-taking. It's just crazy to see such clean sand and bright blue water. North Shore is known for its massive waves, some reaching up to 50 feet during peak season (Winter). I am sure being caught in the water with these killer waves would not be so pleasant but being able to be in the clear and watching them crash to shore is so peaceful. The sounds of the ocean has always been the most peaceful to me. I can sit and listen to the ocean and watch the water all day.
Rainy Oahu Days
About 80% of our trip in Oahu, it was raining. It totally sucked because it just didn't feel like we were in Hawaii with all the rain. Especially since we decided to not rent a car this time around and to also stay a bit ways away from the main Waikiki strip, it meant that we had to walk everywhere or catch a cab. Despite the wet weather, it didn't stop us from enjoying the trip the best we could.. Of course, food was the main reason why our trip was well worth it. Here is a spot that is easily ranked on my top places to eat at in Waikiki. Marukame's cafeteria style restaurant serves the best Udon I have ever had. Not to mention, a regular bowl costs $5 and a large bowl costs $7.. You can't beat god-like Udon for that price.
After we ate, we wanted to walk over to the International Market, which has been one of Waikiki's staples for so many years. Come to find out, they recently shut down with plans to build a Saks Fifth.. That really sucks, to see a big name just come in and kick out all those people who hustled for so many years out of a tiny stand to make a living just so that they can build a damn department store. Shame.
Old Pali Highway
The current Pali Highway is actually the third roadway to be built here. The original Pali "highway" went along much of the same route and portions of the old road still exist, although closed to vehicular traffic. When the current Pali Highway and its tunnels opened, the original roadway was closed and is now used by hikers. The "Old Pali Highway", as it is now called, is noted in the popular culture of Hawaii for being a place with strong spiritual connections. Many ghost stories have settings along this old highway. A large portion of the old highway was built over the ancient Hawaiian foot paths that traversed the famous Pali pass, which was the most easily accessible route to take from the Windward to Honolulu side. This was because much of the Koʻolau range on the Windward side has steep cliffs that make it nearly impossible to traverse over safely.
It is said there is a moʻo wahine (lizard woman) who lingers around the pass. A moʻo wahine is mythical creature who takes the form of a beautiful woman and leads male travelers to their deaths off the cliff. She is similar to a western poltergeist or mermaid.
Hawaiian folklore holds that one should never carry pork over Nuʻuanu Pali, especially at night. Motorists reported that their cars mysteriously stopped and would not start until the pork was removed from the car. Pele (a more powerful and influential goddess than the moʻo wahine) was said to be responsible for this to prevent the passage of pork over the Pali. It was said Pele, the volcano goddess, was responsible for preventing passage due to her contest with Kamapua'a, a half human, half hog god, and would not allow him (in the form of pork) to trespass on her side of the island.
-Wikipedia
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Finding this small hike was by total mistake. We had only planned to hit the Old Pali Road only to reach the top of the Pali Lookout. When we were up there, we saw a small path that was tucked away on the side of the mountain with a bright orange striped sign, usually meaning to stay out or be cautious, but those signs for me mean "Welcome." So of course, we went around the sign and found our selves on what used to be the Pali Highway, also known as the Hawaii Route 61. It was surreal to walk on this abandoned highway just knowing that it used to be used by cars. It was super narrow and tons of sharp turns and bends, no wonder they put it out of commission. Although it was raining on and off during this short walk, it was more definitely worth it. I was running around ducking and hiding under dry spots trying to keep my cameras from frying.
Wekfest Hawaii
I'm a bit biased when it comes to taking photos of cars at the shows.. I tend to only take photos of cars that I really have a personal interest in rather than the most popular or what others may consider the best cars.. For me, it's strictly BMWs but there is always those select few that really stand out to me that are well put together in my opinion. So don't judge, Wekfest is one of the better quality auto shows around. No Pimp My Rides or DUBS here, strictly builds and well sat cars. If you want more info on upcoming Wekfest shows, stop over to there site for tour dates. Next up... Japan.
Bridges + Tracks
Came across some photos that I forgot to post a while back from my roam around Sacramento. I've been doing quite a lot of research on places to go to in Sacramento to take some dope photos. These are some of the bridges and tracks that you can find in North Gate area in Sacramento. Pretty easy to access but just look over your shoulder cause this area is pretty sketch. There's usually a bunch of homeless people in the area just hanging out, none of them bugged me but I can't say the same will happen for you, just saying.
Haunted Old Pali Road
The Old Pali Road in Kailua is haunted. And not by just any old ghost. The road is home to a grotesque, half-faced phantom.
The spectre is said to be the wandering soul of a teenaged girl who was raped and killed, and whose body was left to decompose in the bushes along the desolate road. She was strangled using her most beloved toy--the jump rope she brought with her wherever she went.
Visitors to the Old Pali Road report seeing the floating apparition of a young girl with long black hair, solemnly skipping rope as she floats down street. While this image is disturbing enough in and of itself, those who manage to look at the ghost’s face are truly in for a shock. According to eyewitnesses, her cheeks, nose, and mouth are completely non-existent. Yet her eyes remain not only intact, but wildly bulge out of their sockets. Her eyes are said to protrude this way because this is the how she appeared while being strangled in her last few terrifying moments on earth.
While this theory about the poor doomed girl’s ghost may explain the condition of her eyes, it does not say why is her lower face is gone. The reason for that, as the story goes, is that the before the girl’s body was discovered, scavenging animals had already found her and eaten away a portion of her face.
Now she is doomed to wander forever on the Old Pali Road.
-Weird U.S.
- - -I don't find it surprising that there are so many haunted places in Hawaii. The islands are rich with history and it's always interesting to do some research on the places you go to or about to go to. We found this road called the Old Pali Road when we were on our way up to the Pali Lookout site and it was such a beautiful scenic drive. Despite the tragic story that took place here on this road, It was just such a dope drive. This road is practically out of commission to mainstream traffic as they have replaced its route with a freeway. Only people that come through here are people specifically looking for this road or the people who reside nearby.
Oahu - Day One
This was our third year returning to Oahu and of course, it's always exciting to go to paradise. However, the forecast really bummed us out when we saw that it was going to be raining 80% of our trip. It's just nice to get on a plane and go somewhere far away though. Our first to-do on our agenda was to hit up this ramen spot that we fell in love with last year.. Ramen Nakamura. Pretty disappointing this time around. I'm not sure what they did or why they decided to change up the recipe in their famous oxtail ramen set but it definitely was not the same. Scratched that place off our top places to eat.. Oh well, there was plenty more of our favorite places to hit up.
