Morro Bay

Why is California so expensive

I've spent the last 6 weeks traveling around the west taking pictures. I'm appreciative of those who've chosen to take the trip with me. I've seen some amazing things and met lots of interesting people. I've also gotten a chance to gage costs of things and how they vary across the states. Most states seem to be within a relatively narrow range of prices except ... California. Everything here is just way more expensive than anywhere else. Take gas as an example. I've paid anywhere from $2.19 to roughly $3 per gallon everywhere else but this place ... figure at least $3.65 and expect to see way more than $4. Then there's the cost of camping. I routinely paid anywhere from $6 to $10 for a night in a national park. I paid more like $20 in private campgrounds and that was OK as they often had Internet and showers thrown in. In California, the state parks routinely charge more than $30 for a bare campsite and ... hold your breath ... seniors get a whopping $2 discount. Last night I paid $33 (with the big senior discount) for a stripped down campsite and no amenities at all. No internet, no showers, nada beyond a basic bathroom. And we were so close together I almost could touch my neighbor's truck while sitting in my own. What is it about California that makes everything so expensive? Is it really just the fact that it's California? Really?

Morro Bay

This place is one of those confusing things you run across in California. A beautiful beach front with a huge, Gibraltar sized rock in the harbor and they surround the thing with a massive power plant, a breakwater constructed out of the ugliest boulders you can find and a host of other insults. It's really hard to find anywhere to get a photo of the thing without something ugly getting in the way. The whole scene must have been designed by a sadist who hated beauty. I wandered around this rock for several hours before finally finding a place where I could get a good image. But it required me to crawl across the dangerous breakwater to get in position. But I found a piece of the rock that was just right ... and it was a nesting site for pelicans I think. Couldn't really see but they were big and I know pelicans are in the area ... ran into several on a pier just down the road. So I give you Morro Bay ... without all the junk.

Morro Bay Sunset - 120mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

This is a 5 image sequence run through all the usual processing. I wanted to bring out the intense colors in the sky and also show the structure on the rock. You can see the birds perched on the rocks. It was a beautiful experience.