Thursday, July 7, 2011

Doors to the Past, Present, and Future

This post is dedicated to our door-loving photographer friend, Kristin (of The Goat).

I find it remarkable that, oftentimes, we don't even notice doors 
until they are suddenly standing open before us.

Of course, I found plenty of doors (and windows) on my trip to California. 

At the beach...


On the hiking trails ...

 [from a knothole on a covered bridge near the Chilnualna Falls trail head in Yosemite]

....and at the San Luis Rey Mission, in Oceanside.


This is part of the original mission, founded in the late 1700's.
That's the original well house in the background, too. They still use it today!

When taking photos on the trip, I didn't really think about blog posts until I got to the Marin Headlands, which in itself served as a doorway to the San Francisco and was once a site of military defense. 


This was just a relatively-brief stop on our trip with my niece and her husband, 
but it was one of my favorite places, as it is rich in history, as well as photo ops.  
I was surprised to find nothing on-site to explain the setting, and that was disappointing, 
because it's a fascinating place! 
It has old gun turrets, for crying out loud!
I ended up finding some stuff on Wikipedia (read under the heading, Military sites),
but I'd still like to know more.

I found it remarkable that the grounds were not protected in any way from vandals 
(or curious site-seers like us), but I was happy to take advantage. 
(Kristin, I thought of you as I took these photos! :)


The place we were at was once a military station of some kind, where they maybe held prisoners?


Kyle was the only one thin enough to sneak in there, though plenty of skinny vandals have gone before him...

(arrow points to the place Kyle crawled in)

Even though there was graffiti all over insides, 
I found the contrast with the historical outsides to be strangely beautiful.






The colors of the decaying concrete, combined with the lighting of an approaching sunset, 
made for such a beautiful photo backdrop.
Here's my niece, Nicki, humoring me She and her mom (my sister Geri) later thanked me :).


And the two love birds, standing in the threshold of a very special doorway of their own...


Here's hoping that all the doors you approach today are open,
and if not, that you find a window
(and are skinny enough to fit through it).

11 comments:

  1. Love this post and all the photos. I went to the mission of San Juan de Capistrano and the photos are so similar...I took door, windows and crosses! Beautiful

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  2. I love visiting places like this (historical, kinda), though I don't often get to. The photos are just awesome!

    I need a journey like this in my life - sooner than later.

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  3. I love the pictures, and the fact that you dedicated this to Kristin. Awesome!
    The historical pictures remind me a lot of St Augustine.
    And your niece looks like the quintessential crunchy health-food eating Cali girl! Love it!

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  4. The blog THE GOAT was new to me. She is an artsy photographer. I like her blog. Thanks for mentioning her.

    Your niece is so pretty. When is their baby due?

    It is fun to see photos of your trip and to see all the places I grew up around through your eyes. I am glad you two had a good time. Good thing you showed the place Kyle got through the bars, I thought he got through the bars in front of him in the photo, and I was thinking wow, he really is skinny.

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  5. Awesome shots....I need to go to California! Love the last one with your niece and hubby.

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  6. You captured some very notable vistas, doors, and windows on California sites. I love the shot through the knothole myself.

    Now you'll have to keep us up to date on the arrival of the baby, too. Nice pictures!!

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  7. I love pictures of doors. Ikea had these photo series of door pictures. Lovely!

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  8. Enjoyed the ending wish of this post. I can't remember the last time I crawled through a window.

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  9. I love these photographs!!! Kyle made me laugh. Cool post! I'm sure Kristin will love it!

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  10. All teens and young men should spend a few minutes, hours or days behind bars. It helps improve morals and manners.

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  11. love history hunting!!! how beautiful that place is!!! thank you for posting pics!!

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