Travel – Page 14 – Nicci Carrera

July 13, 2014 Nicci Manhattan, New York, Photography, Travel

New York, Manhattan, Warwick, Bellvale and Greenwood Lake

I wasn’t in the city too much, but I did catch this shot of the George Washington Bridge on the way out.

I stayed with friends at Greenwood Lake outside the city. You don’t have to drive that far to be in a country setting. This shot is from Demarest Hill Winery in Warwick New York.

The wine wasn’t to my liking, but they do appear to have good grappa and brandy, which I didn’t try. The scenery was stunning.

However, in the department of recommendations, I suggest The Creamery. Here you will get great views and fantastic ice cream!

To burn off some of the ice cream, we went water skiing, or at least, my friends did. I used the opportunity to play with the Panasonic DMC-ZS40’s auto-focusing motor drive. It’s pretty easy to rack up about 300 photos in an hour that way! I liked that I could zoom in on the skier and then shoot continuously. For action shots you really have to shoot that way to get just the right shot. Here is my favorite of a friend of my friends.

Ochs Orchard in Warwick is a beautiful place to pick up some produce.

Overall, I had a great time with my friends. The meeting I had with Brenda Novak, her agent and one of her editors, Margaret Marbury, was very helpful to me. We had a good time and the conversation helped me sort some things out for myself about genre, direction, blogs, and commercial fiction.

June 18, 2014 Nicci Photography, San Francisco, Travel

San Francisco impressions 2, Hayes Valley and Pacific Heights

I liked the 3-dimensions shown in this San Francisco Pacific Heights apartment building. To make it a bit more interesting I added some art effects.

Here is an interesting dresser made out of rulers, spotted in a shop in the Hayes Valley area.

Here is some “hula art” hanging on a cyclone fence around some Hayes Valley restaurants.

After the 1989 earthquake, some of the freeway ramps in San Francisco collapsed. The city used the opportunity to relocate some of the ramps from gorgeous (the Embarcadero) or interesting (Hayes Valley) areas. They redeveloped the areas that were now free of transportation blight.

There’s a lovely park in the Hayes Valley with interesting shops and a coffee vendor serving cold-brewed ice coffee (delish) and an ice-cream shop.

I didn’t sample the ice cream, but the flavors looked interesting.

The park is a nice place to relax.

The stores are trendy. This clothing store is built out of shipping containers.

June 15, 2014 Nicci Photography, San Francisco, Travel

San Francisco impressions

June 6, 2014 Nicci Food, Local, Photography, Travel

Food trucks!

Good news! For me anyway…Saratoga Eats is an annual event. We sampled the Indian Street Food, WeSushi and Siam Loco Wraps.

June 1, 2014 Nicci Local, Photography, Travel, Writing

Power lunches

I had lunch in Menlo Park with a friend the other day at a wonderful restaurant called Cafe Borrone. We sat outside and split a goat cheese platter and salads. Behind us I spotted this fabulous door, and that’s when I remembered my camera bag … which I had left at home. 😦 Okay, for me, this is what phone cameras are for … desperation. Some people take incredible photos with their phones, but I just have some random app on my Android phone, and it’s really not very good. But thank goodness for smart phones anyway, or I wouldn’t have been able to take this shot.

I didn’t notice the BBC on the door until this morning when I started fiddling with the photo for today’s post. BBC stands for British Banker’s Club, which was a rowdy bar until it was closed by the ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) in 2012. Well … technically the ABC can just pull the liquor license, but I liked how that last sentence sounded, and anyway, when a bar loses its liquor license, the result is it’s closed. No great loss, IMO, after reading about some yucky history there. But now this historic building will get new life as a lovely restaurant. That’s great, but … really … I just liked the door!

Okay, the one above is still a little crooked. My eye doctor says one eye is higher than the other, and that’s why I stand with my head tilted. I was like … really?! He said look at some photos, and sure enough, yes, I tilt my head. But if I straightened this photo any more, the BBC was lost.

Here are some other crops, with no adjustments other than crop.

In this one, I like the way the letters glow.

So … was this a power lunch? Yes, of course. Whenever two friends make time to have lunch together, there’s a lot of power.

I also just won the bid on Brenda Novak’s auction for Diabetes research for another power lunch–this one in New York City in July!

Here’s the description:

This is a triple threat package–lunch, advice and brainstorming with NYTimes Bestselling Author Brenda Novak, one of her editors, Margaret Marbury, VP of Harlequin Enterprises, and her agent, Dan Raines of Creative Trust in New York City during THRILLERFEST, (at a mutually agreeable time and place).

Do not miss this opportunity to pitch ideas, ask about publishing trends and generally take advantage of literally decades of publishing experience!

I’m not going to Thriller Fest as I don’t write thrillers at the moment. I’m just going out for the meeting using my frequent flyers and staying with one of my very close friends. I have no idea what will come of this meeting, I just had a very strong impulse to bid on that item on the first day of the auction. I almost lost the bid during the last hour last night. It was incredibly exciting to watch the count-down on the timer. I really couldn’t bid any higher, so I watched the minutes count down with my heart in my throat.

Needless to say, I didn’t get a huge amount of work done during that last hour! Once I won the bid, I made my plane reservations and this morning I confirmed staying with my friend, who is going to take the days off and pick me up at the airport at 5:30am.

There’s that power of friendship again…. Maybe that’s what it’s all about?

May 28, 2014May 29, 2014 Nicci High Sierra, Photography, Travel

Stormy sky

It certainly doesn’t look like this where I am now! This photo is from a storm outside Reno, Nevada on May 21. The storm had lightning, which started a fire, then snow, which put it out (along with a lot of firefighting efforts.)

The sky made for a wonderful backdrop, though.

May 24, 2014 Nicci High Sierra, Photography, Travel

Mountain beauty 3

May 22, 2014 Nicci Art school, High Sierra, Photography, Travel

Mountain beauty

I tried something my friend Laurie suggested and took this photo on auto, then put it on partial auto and kept working it until I had what I wanted. This was shot through a dirty window. I am just loving how that works! I like taking photos through windows.

I like taking photos through windows because it makes more of the world available. I took this one out the car window. Now I know it works, so I will do it sooner, before we descend into the trees. Then you can really see the mountain. Stay tuned for that shot. This is Mount Rose Ski Resort ,but the mountain itself is actually Slide Mountain. Mount Rose itself is actually next to where they put the ski resort.

The other reason I like shooting through windows, like I did with the San Diego sunset and a few of the other San Diego shots, in that case through plexiglass wind barriers set up around the outdoor seating area at the restaurant, is the windows provide a natural gritty or wavy filter. That appeals to me sometimes — oddly enough, when the scenery is too glaringly beautiful!

May 16, 2014 Nicci San Diego, Travel

Pacific Beach farewell (more beer)

We loved the California Kabob restaurant so much and really thought our son and his fiancee would also like it, so we invited them to meet us there. Well … when we arrived we found out the restaurant is actually a brewery called Amplified Ale Works. If you approach it from the beach there is the kabob sign, but if you approach it from the street, Mission Boulevard, there is the Amplified sign. A tad confusing! We frantically texted our guests, but fortunately, being part of the next generation, they figured it out on their own.

So, how great is it when you love a restaurant for its food and ambiance and then find out it’s a brewery?!

I’m also celebrating receiving a contract for my second book with The Wild Rose Press today, so here’s a toast to a good vacation, family, good blog friends, good food, good beer, and a new book: