My Bombay Beach Adventure

If you have never heard of Bombay Beach, you might think the name would be fitting to a place that is similar to a tropical paradise.  You would be right, except that it no longer is the thriving community that it once was in the mid century.

I've always been curious about the Salton Sea and the surrounding areas and decided to take a visit a few years ago to wander around neighborhoods and see what I could find.  As I turned the corner to the community of Bombay Beach, it was as I imagined it to be.  Very few of the homes are lived in today.  When I visited a few weeks ago, I heard an explosion and once I headed in the direction of the smoke, I noticed that one of the trailers was engulfed in flames.  I asked a passerby what happened and if everyone was ok and he said that the owner crossed the wires to the propane tank, and he's ok...as he walked by me and disappeared around the corner.

I came to visit the town alone with my dog, Max.  At the time of the explosion, we were exploring abandoned homes and walking around the streets.  Because I was in my car near the fire, one neighbor came out and yelled at me to get away.  I decided to drive the car to a safe distance and I parked it while I jumped out and headed to the fire with my camera in tow, not really knowing what I was doing.  My natural instinct was to photograph what was happening at that moment.  Most residents were in their homes with a few people standing around.  I heard sirens as trucks were approaching to help.  Right before the fire truck arrived, I man pulled up and jumped out of his car 50 feet from me and yelled, "hey you!! Better take that camera away!" I slowly put the camera down and ignored him while he was standing there staring at me while making a gesture of his hand slitting his throat then pointing at me.  At this time, I was the only person standing out in the open so I decided it might be best to head back to the car, which I did.

Eventually, the fire was put out and nobody was hurt.  I don't know the entire story of what happened, but I am still intrigued by this area.  After this visit, I watched the documentary, "Bombay Beach" on Netflix.  It portrays life in this area pretty well.  I would recommend it.  Also, Anthony Bourdain took a trip here a few years ago and ate at the Ski Inn.  I have yet to eat there, but I plan to go back.  Believe it or not, I would love to live here for a while to document the neighbors.  In the meantime, here are a few photos from that day.

The Salton Sea Revisited

Every now and then I visit a place that stays with me enough that I feel the need to explore it again.  This was the case of the Salton Sea.  I've always wanted to go to this "sea" in the middle of the desert but didn't really have a reason to.  It's out in the middle of nowhere, but has a rich history that you wouldn't know about unless you sought it out.

It's beautiful and a bit sad at the same time.  Bombay Beach is one of my favorite places since it looks like it stands in time.  There are wrecked buildings everywhere that stay put from where they were built, old chairs, computers, water towers...all in their place among the wreckage.

Nearby is a town called Nyland where you can find Salvation Mountain and Slab City.  Slab City is a not really a city at all but a small community of drifters living on the land together.  I would describe it as a mini burning man that stays there year round.

I loved it.

If you are thinking about touring a place that you won't soon forget, visit the Salton Sea.  You can see more pictures from my visit HERE.

Salvation Mountain "God Is Love"

Over the weekend, I took another tour of the Salton Sea and surrounding cities.  This time, the tour took me to Niland to visit Slab City and Salvation Mountain.  What a sight to see!  You will know you have arrived when you see an entire mountain covered in paint with "God is Love" etched everywhere. The artist is Leonard Knight and I was lucky enough to meet him and get a personal guided tour of his creation.  Right when you walk up to the mountain, you will be greeted by a gentleman saying, "Hello, make yourself at home."  That gentleman would be Leonard Knight.

Please take a visit if you are in the area.  Leonard will greet you and make you feel at home.


This was truly a sight to see.  For more pictures of my visit, click
HERE.

Day Trip: The Salton Sea

Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment. – Elliott Erwit

I decided it was time to leave the nest and go on a day trip with Max and my camera in tow to take pictures of things I thought were interesting.  
I have always wanted to visit the Salton Sea so I took the opportunity to go out and take a tour. Since it's on my goal list, I also get to check another activity off.

The Salton Sea, located in the southeastern corner of California, is actually a lake which occupies a desert basin known as the Salton Sink. This body of water covers a surface area of 376 square miles, making it larger than Lake Tahoe and Mono Lake.  In fact, the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California.  The Sea’s current elevation is about 227 feet below mean sea level, its maximum depth reaches 51 feet and its total volume is about 7.5 million acre-feet.

Besides the actual body of water, it is a pretty interesting place.  I drove around the the entire "sea" and took side tours of the neighborhoods surrounding this body of water, including the State park area and campsites along the shore.  


My favorite part of the surrounding areas were all of the old, broken down cars, trailers and homes in each neighborhood.  There are people living here so I didn't want to be obvious when taking pictures of their broken down things and at times, I wasn't sure if there were people still living in the trailers or homes I came across.  Maybe it was the excitement of the unknown that drew me in.  I found one house that was destroyed but had all the evidence of the "comfort" of home including a television, sofa, skylights, fireplace, and a random bowling pin and many other "treasures" to be found. Max and I took our picture in that fantastic dream home of the moment.


Since the salt content of the sea is rising, you will find a lot of dead fish on the shore along with a distinctive smell.  I enjoyed watching all of the birds as you can imagine.


At one point, I was taking pictures of what seemed to be a shallow mud pit until I got closer and my leg sank about 2 feet in the mud with my flip flops on.  Good thing my car is still packed with camping gear and clothes!  I found another pair of sandals to slip on and the rest of the day I had a mud mask on my feet.  


I was surprised to find that not many people living in Southern California know about the Salton Sea.  I am glad that I took the opportunity to tour it.  It's worth a trip for a day.  On to the next adventure...

For more images of this interesting place, click HERE

To learn more about the Salton Sea, he's a video of Anthony Bourdain touring the area in the exact same spot as I did.  I didn't know it at the time until a friend shared this link.  It's quite informative as well.  Click HERE to see the clip.

39 Goals for My 39th Year

We all took the time and recapped what we did in 2009 and thought about what worked and what didn't in our lives, right?

Well, if you strive to better yourself or just want to have some fun in the new year, you might want to consider writing a list of new activity's to accomplsh in 2010.

I came across the yes and yes blog and she did just that. She listed 31 new things she is going to do before her 31st birthday. What a great idea! I have just a stitch more activities to do since I am, ahem...a teensy bit older.

I might do more of these things, or less but it's thinking about what I want to do and the key is putting it down on paper. Some are not new but they can still be considered a goal to achieve during the course of a year. Once it's written on paper, I can't undo it. Does anyone ever use white out anymore?

Once I achieve a goal, I will blog about them and put a link on the right side of my home page to track progress. I am holding myself accountable.

39 things I will do for my 39th year in this world:
-Read 5 books from beginning to end without skipping ahead
- Win one photo contest
- Go skiing at least once this season
- Take a picture of Max in the snow
- Go to a tattoo show
- Publish a travel article
- Sleep on a strangers couch
- Skinny dip in the ocean
- Try indoor skydiving
- Get a photo published somewhere
- Paint with something other than watercolors
- Complete my house project with 5 shots together in a custom frame
- Sell or donate everything in my garage
- Take a photography editing class
- Launch a site to sell photographs
- Host a dinner party
- Take an art class
- See SIA in concert
- Wear a dress and go somewhere fancy
- Spend a weekend without a phone, without texting, watching tv, or any kind of human contact
- Watch a local play production
- Take Max out on a camping trip with "trailie"
- Visit the Salton Sea
- Go to Mexico
- Bake a cake
- Spend a week in a cabin in the woods somewhere
- Run in a 5k race
- Go to a music festival
- Rent my home and live next to the water somewhere
- Spend time on an island
- Take pictures underwater
- Win the lottery (you never know...)
- Volunteer
- View a live show taping (preferably Oprah before she leaves)
- Have my photographs displayed in a cafe'
- Write a book review
- Surf again
- Ride on a train
- Take a long road trip (I think this is becoming a habit)

What do you have planned?