Chasing clouds

I had an hour or so to kill today, so armed with my trusty best friend--the camera--(you know I should really come up with a name for her), I hit the streets in search of a good photo. As I drove north along the PCH, the clouds were so amazing, they were almost affecting my driving. Almost. I was so drawn to them, they were so hypnotising (yes, the sky has that effect on me) I decided to drive a bit out of the city, to get a better view. I concluded that the best view would be from the Salinas Valley, I imagined the clouds would look very dramatic over the vegetable fields, and I would get a great panorama. On my way there, it suddenly got very dark, as the sun had been completely engulfed by a monster cloud. Demonstrating my awesome driving skills with a quick pullover, I tried to get the shot before the "moment in time" passed.

The moment did pass, but I did manage to capture the dramatic sun peeking back out. It was just beautiful. I am pointing the camera directly up here.

Once down in the Valley, I tried to find a good spot to set up on the two lane highway--somewhere I wouldn't get run over my an artichoke truck or something. Dressed to impress, in my workout pants and running shoes, I braved the mud, wind, and veggie trucks whizzing by...my hair flying around like a crazy person. In the attempt to capture a "weather" shot for my photography class, I snapped a few illustrative images.

  This, is MUD. This mud, is DEEP. Deep mud does not go well with running shoes...or floor mats.

This, is WIND. Wind is windy.

Now, feeling great that I at least got my homework done, I was determined and excited to get my panorama. Doing my best not to get sucked up by the quicksand-mud-stuff, and not get any dirtier, I found my spot, and got my shot.

I shall call this, "Simpson's clouds".