WHAT'S UP?

 

My son installing a ceiling fan for us.  Good thing he has good balance standing up there on the very top of the ladder!

My husband looking up at his rather tall bonfire!  It was okay though as it was a “burn day”, there was plenty of space cleared around it, and he had water availabe if needed.

Three kids in a tall pine tree.  “Mom!  Come look!”  Ack!

Speaking of tall trees, Sequoia sempervirons are the Coastal Redwoods that grow along the Pacific coast and are the tallest known trees in the world.  Luckily I have lived both among them and near them for many years and their beauty never grows less.  I took this picture in Calaveras Big Trees during a Mother’s Day picnic outing. 

There are tall buildings too.  While in New York, my daughter and I went to the very top of the Empire State Building.  The observation deck is on the 87^th floor and we stopped there first.  But it was a foggy day and we could see next to nothing.  Disappointing for sure, but because of that, the fellow costumed as King Kong greeting passengers getting off the elevators felt sorry for us, I guess, because when I asked him where a small side door led and on learning it went up another 12 floors to the very top of the building and asked if we could go up there, he only hesitated a moment before agreeing to take us up for a quick visit.  We still couldn’t see a thing because of the fog, but we could say we had been to the absolute top of the building where most people don’t get to go!  We were in that little round room immediately beneath the antenna. (I got the thought bubble a smidge too low.)

And there are tall statues which one must look up to.  Unfortunately, it was also foggy the day we went to see the Statue of Liberty.  The Lady was shrouded in fog, but I managed to point my camera upwards and get a misty shot of her.

Hetch Hetchy Water & Power Co. viaducts full of water racing down the hill from the reservoir above to the Moccasin powerhouse below.  The water in these pipes flows for 160 miles by gravity to provide drinking water for San Francisco and surrounding counties.  At the halfway point there’s a level area with a bridge crossing the pipes and I’ve stood there looking down at them leading to Moccasin powerhouse, and up at them coming down from the reservoir and the amazing thing is – with all that water rushing through those pipes, I couldn’t hear a sound.  But can you imagine the force of all that water?  The pressure must be tremendous.

The observatory atop Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, CA.

Growing up in Contra Costa County, I’ve been to the top of the mountain several times – the State Park there is a wonderful place for picnics.  I took this picture of my brother, father, and two sisters at the top of the 3,557 foot high mountain.  What’s really interesting as you climb the path to the top is seeing sea shells embedded in the soil up there!

Mount Diablo as seen across San Francisco Bay and Richmond, CA.

Looking up at the stone tea house atop Fannette Island in Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe.  I climbed up there a ‘few’ years ago.  Not easy, but the view from the top looking down on the bay was worth it.  But that picture is for next week’s prompt, “Down”.

Ah yes, last but not least, looking up at a third floor balcony (with the towels) where my husband and I got stuck while drinking iced tea out there when we accidentally locked ourselves out of our room.  After a while we were rather desperate to get back inside, but though we called and called, no one was around to hear us.  They were all down at the spa pools (this was at David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort in Genoa, Nevada).  I finally saw someone out on their balcony down the line and yelled out our problem and a hotel employee showed up to unlock our door for us.  What a relief.  And you can bet we didn’t make that mistake again!

:->

La Nightingail