Today's walk report: 080722

Early to rise.

The best thing I can say is I did it. As proposed yesterday, I got out close to sunrise (sunrise was 6:09), I was out of my car walking at 6:19 and took my first photo of the day at 6:25. The campus which is home to the local botanical garden was closed to vehicular entry (gates on Sunday open sometime between 8:00 and 8:30--maybe) so I parked nearby, precisely, .42 miles from the entrance to the garden. It was really quiet. There were three motivational factors behind this early excursion. One, to beat the heat and humidity. Two, less people out cramping my style and three, to experience lighting more suitable for picture taking than the typical 8 o'clock hour experience of late. One and two were a success, three, not so much. By 6:40 the sun was pretty much beaming right at me. Just smacking me in the head. I did do one thing though which I haven't done in some time. I took the stairs, perhaps only rivaled by Ha'iku Ladder in O’ahu, Hawaii. Therefore, I got a little more exercise out of the journey.

Here are some pictures. There simply wasn't a lot that caught my eye.

There was Mr. Reliable, Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. Thank you, Dusty.

 Then from the top of the hill, again, most areas are fenced off for construction, I could only go to the east along the theater building. Most of the hilltop, Fine Arts and Music buildings are to the west. I took a couple of shots of Docken's famous "Elephant Mountain" from the front entrance to the theater. See, it looks like an elephant lying down, facing north (to the left). Okay, I cut its trunk off, use your imagination. Docken was on the phone with me. Thank you, Dockie.

The buildings on the right just above the tree line are in Sherman Oaks (you know, like, the Galleria--fer sure), mid-elephant we're looking toward Universal City. Thanks to Doc for helping with the navigation, she used to live in a tree house in the hills of Studio City and Elephant Mountain lay prominent in her purview.
 

After a few minutes of struggling with Google Earth, let me put all of this into perspective. The tower on the back of the elephant is part of the Mount Lee Television Transmitters. This was known as the W6XAO transmitter. W6XAO was the first television station for the Los Angeles area, circa 1940. The station eventually moved to Mount Wilson as today's KCBS-TV. KCBS is the only "local" station I can't pick up for squat with my cheesy OTA indoor antenna. 

Here's a view from Google Earth looking from a more southerly direction so you can see the Hollywood Sign on the other side.

From the backside looking toward Burbank we can see Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills which is part of Griffith Park. My mother, father and maternal grandmother are buried there. I won't get started on cemeteries.

And finally, here's a much wider view with Los Angeles off to the east. The transmitters are front, center. Click images for larger views.

Right now, noon, it's 99º, 18% relative humidity, AKA, "evident discomfort." The predicted high is 101º. My bet for right outside these walls is a high of 104º. Lovely.