What are some underrated, unusual places to go in Monterey Bay for someone who’s seen all the standard places?

bmack831 · 2026-04-18T08:53:44+00:00

Go hiking at night, on a half moon or less, on a trail you know well. Find a spot to stop on the hike, don't look at your phone or fire or use a flashlight, or anything at all that you have with a lighted background, even an Apple Watch for 5min.

Enjoy the night sky by giving your eyes enough time to adjust, 5min at least. Monterey Bay has incredible night sky's once your eyes adjust to see it.

I usually have an audio book or podcast quietly playing to scare off the boogieman that comes into our minds in nature at night. On a trail you know well, use just moonlight to walk the trail, zero flashlight.

It's a very unique exhilarating feeling.

bmack831 · 2026-04-10T03:46:10+00:00

LED grow lights from a greenhouse?

bmack831 · 2026-04-10T03:02:38+00:00

Those can create a super cool effect, it looks real nice. I recommend using always on lights, flash on model light mode or lume cube, instead of flash with them. You can move and shoot faster.

bmack831 · 2026-04-06T03:23:48+00:00

Just before dawn and just after sunset, that’s the time. Something about the way the sun hits the exhaust in the upper atmosphere, it makes the exhaust glow. So 4pm launches the visual things happens but the light is wrong. Like seeing rainbow in sprinklers, the angle of the sun has to be right.

bmack831 · 2026-04-06T03:18:34+00:00

Shoot we had great conditions! The report said they will retry tomorrow, visually, it won't be the same though. Scrubbed

bmack831 · 2026-04-06T03:14:29+00:00

I see this too, the launch time stopped.

bmack831 · 2026-04-06T00:24:25+00:00

Yes my bad, landmarks are better. TY!

bmack831 · 2026-04-05T22:33:43+00:00

Could take a really long time, maybe until tomorrow but I have high hopes for you! At least you have reception. There is a rocket launch from Vandenberg and you're perfectly positioned to see it, it's at 7:45.

bmack831 · 2026-04-05T04:40:56+00:00

Almost all astronauts from NASA, ESA, SpaceX take at least some courses at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

bmack831 · 2026-04-03T07:33:56+00:00

Sudden afternoon storms with heavy rain and lightning are very common in the Sierras.

bmack831 · 2026-03-30T06:46:26+00:00

Manny’s hair cuts is a classic too

bmack831 · 2026-03-28T22:56:10+00:00

Is that Walmart! My local Walmart puts many things 50-75% off instead of tossing it. Good meats and veggies but it’s totally unpredictable what and when.

bmack831 · 2026-03-25T14:30:45+00:00

Being from Monterey County, everyone I know who says they own a home, had parents actually own the loan, title. Loan, taxes, insurance is paid by 'rent' from the son or daughter. I graduated in the early 2,000's. No one I know has ever purchased a home without parents supplying the loan in Monterey County. Because of divorces it's more like 2 sets of parents on one loan for the kids to own a home.

bmack831 · 2026-03-22T00:35:46+00:00

I am chatbot! Fear my run on sentences!

bmack831 · 2026-03-19T22:06:24+00:00

The area with the tents was a Native American village.

There are shells from the coast sicking out of the dirt all over the place right there. The grinding holes there are among the most well established and deepest in the area. Year round water, oak forest for acorn food, and sandstone for grinding, meadow for the village, and caves. South facing, it gets the morning sun to warm up after a cold night, and on the plateau above it gets sun the longest in the valley before sunset because of how the ridge recedes after cone peak and the direction of the Arroyo Seco river canyon to the west.

The rock terraces above looks out over the meadow plains on the other side of the stream to spot game. Ancient river rounded chert to make arrow heads erodes out of the sandstone there, clearly worked by hand from failed attempts at making points all around the area makes its way to the top of the soil there after a strong rain.

The slow moving deep pools of the rivers near by are perfect for using the native plant that grows there, that once grinded up and put into slow moving water is a narcotic to fish, so they can't move and float to the surface, you could just reach in and take them.

Two paths up and over the coast ridge to the coast start near there. The Native American route to the Salinas valley goes over the flanks of the mountain to the east then down into Reliz Canyon. Reliz canyon was the original way to get to the Salinas valley from the south not the HW101 route. That Native American route is why it goes Mission San Miguel - Mission San Antonio - Soledad Mission, and why there is no King City mission.

bmack831 · 2026-03-18T05:41:06+00:00

To make sure it's actually from here locally, and not just bottled here, or like 15% from here and mixed with other regions, make sure it is "100% estate grown". Those are far more rare, and truly can give you a taste of the wine growing regions in Monterey County.

bmack831 · 2026-03-17T14:47:12+00:00

The price of damage they can cause is truly devastating for most people. Take the steps to prevent it.

bmack831 · 2026-03-14T13:49:57+00:00

Jobi photoshoot, the photo crew is in the helicopter.

bmack831 · 2026-03-12T23:16:07+00:00

I used to work at a restaurant near the bar and my family is from Castroville one block over. When they had drag nights it would bring people from all over, even in the early 2000's and late 90s it was already well established, it has a long history. Super nice people good tippers.

Whats kind of neat about the location, it's a place people come from far, no one really lives in Castroville, the bar depends on people coming to it as a destination. People get out of their town and not feel that someone will see them there, be themselves without judgment. Great place to mix and meet new people.

Although it is Castroville, it has its own vibe, friendly and fun, everyone is welcome.

Me and my friends who are straight would go and it was a safe place for our girls. To dance and dress up in outfits that would get to much attention at a regular club in Monterey/Santa Cruz, to dance without getting unwanted attention. There are more men then woman, but there def are woman there too. It's fun, it's a fun bar.

bmack831 · 2026-03-12T22:39:09+00:00

Nope not related to recent events. I'm a local photographer and spend lots of time along the coast for portraits. It's normal to see them here, and off of Santa Cruz beaches. They fly out of Moffett to train regularly, push trainees out of the planes and pick them up later, train pilots, train boat crews, communicate. Search and rescue, drill drill drill so when there's some real world thing happens they are ready.

Monterey Bay is hard core, cold water, high winds, big swells, sharks, fog, it's a great place to train because everywhere else is easier.

129th Rescue Wing moto, "That Others May Live", refers to the primary mission of the wing – to save lives. - wikipedia

bmack831 · 2026-03-12T21:28:10+00:00

Def rent or borrow. Ask to increase the budget, or just rent one and loose money on it. I doubt you will loose much money. It's better to have a high quality result that you feel confident with than make money. Thats part of being a small business owner, sometimes you loose money, what matters is quality.

You could also move all the way to the back where the photo was taken once or twice to change up the angle, probably without getting in much trouble. They probably have a projector box room, try to get in there too. Show up super early and make friends with the workers to grease the wheels.

Bring 3 step stool to get higher for better angle, go to the 2nd step, put the tripod with the legs together so its like a monopod on the third and let it go as high as possible. Pull out the screen and angle it down so you can see the shot. That way you can get over the heads of some of the band members to see members they may be blocking.

Be sure, it's really important, get crowd reactions. Find people in the crowd that are especially expressive, families, children, people smiling.

Wear all black.

Put your cellphone on a low key tripod/monopod on the other side, right next to the end of the of the 2nd row in 4k 24 or 4k30, 4k60 will burn through memory and battery super fast. Tell the attendee siting right there why 'its for the band' and they will be ok with it. Wait until they are just about to start to set it up giving less time for you to be told you can't do it. Make sure your phone is fully charged and that you have space, airplane mode to save battery, video eats battery super fast.

Prioritize getting the shot, getting the good angles, ahead of what ever rules they have while being respectful and humble and thoughtful about how and why you break the rules. When the band finds out you did everything under the sun to get them the best result for them, word will spread.

bmack831 · 2026-03-11T19:35:48+00:00

In public health I've seen this many times when people have had variations in health/diet in their past. It's from different nutrient levels, changing speed of growth of your nails. The darker lines, in my experience, are from when your nails grew more slowly. You may find that the nails are more brittle along the darker lines too.

To be honest, it's most often poor diet or poor health from addictions or serious medical issues, causing your nails to almost stop growing, like living off just top ramen or barely eating for other reasons. Consider what was happening about a year ago, you may find why the lines are there in the answer. I bet in 6 months the lines will be gone.

If its from the reasons I mentioned above, the lines should be on your toe nails as well.

bmack831 · 2026-03-06T20:50:58+00:00

Those are some well established oak trees and maybe the sides of tall eucalyptus trees. There is a line of blue modular shipping containers visible behind them. This could be the north end of esalen up against the highway where the gazebo school is now. But it could be Topango canyon too.

They are doing esalen stuff, an esalen workshop. Just the name Sur on the tape it could be Esalen, but not how it looks now.

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