West Jetty View Park - Tiny Park With a Huge View (Part 1 of 3 re: Newport Bay/Balboa Peninsula)

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

If you drive down Balboa Avenue, passed the Newport Pier, passed the Balboa Pier, and passed the Balboa Island Ferry launch, to its end of the Balboa Peninsula in Orange County you end up at a dead end in a residential area a few streets wide; the "q-tip" like east end of the Balboa Peninsula.  

East End of Balboa Avenue

At this is the Entrance Channel to Newport Bay and a tiny park; the West Jetty View Park.  Don't mind that the park does not show up on some maps (even fancy maps like the official USGS Topos).  On some maps, the park is represented by a dot.  The dot is a pretty reasonable representation since the park is tiny.  

Overall View Of Balboa/Newport Beach Area

Detailed View of Location of West Jetty View Park

Despite what the park's website may say, the park has no dedicated parking lot so if you are driving around trying to find a spot to impress someone, be aware you may not be able to stop for more than a moment "in a red zone".  The pier lots mentioned on the website are a long, long walk away.  There is no parking lot at all in the park cul-de-sac, and there are maybe three curb-side parking spots on the street.  Unfortunately, the spots are shared with the local residents, so a chance of finding an empty parking spot is very low.  You may have to drive a couple of blocks before finding a spot and then walk back to the park.

Chic 2296 E. Balboa Avenue - "The Last House on the Left"

The park is a pavement walkway curling past a few benches and curling through a patch of grass looking down on the harbor inlet. 

 

On the park pavement was this survey disk.  I have never seen one of these in the middle of a sidewalk, where it can easily be tripped over.

Does that Really Say "1897"?

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Have A Seat...

Why Thank You

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Where the park pavement ends, Balboa Beach begins, as does the breakwater (jetty, I guess).

Broken-rock jetties define the 800-1000 ft wide and 10-30 ft deep Entrance Channel.   

Jetty and Entrance to Newport Bay

Full length of Jetty

Beach Side of Jetty

 The beach was pretty empty, but someone decided to drive over the sand.

The Eye In The Sky

Tsunami Alarm

Small Isolated Beach on the Opposite (Corona Del Mar)
Side of the Channel

Rose from a Nearby Residential Garden

Visiting the Fullerton Arboretum

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

We went to the Fullerton Arboretum on Saturday, June 1. I was underwhelmed by this so-called "Hidden Gem of Orange County."

The FA is hidden. It is tucked into a small wooded corner in the city of Fullerton bound by Yorba Linda Blvd, the 57 Expressway, Cal State Fullerton (CSF) dorms, and the CSF athletic fields (see map).  This location makes it a noisy spot. Indeed, we could hear and watch (through a rusty chain link fence) a baseball game going on at the CSF stadium and hear music being played over a public addess system somewhere.

Heritage House

Pavilion Area

The FA grounds are not as well groomed and manicured as one would expect from a botanical gardens-type place.  Standing water filled ruts in the dirt path, stray plants blocked exhibit plants, and the two ponds, though filled with turtles, were not very clear and looked stagnate.

Some of the flowers more exposed to the sun were colorful.

However, trees forming canopies over some of the walking paths made photography (w/o a flash) difficult without adjusting camera settings. 

Figs Hidden Under Tree Canopy

For example, we found a hawk sitting in a small creek under the tree canopy.  A series of ISO400 shots were blurry and unusable and an ISO640 shot with an f13 setting trying to maximize DOF came out completely underexposed.  However, with the magic of Adobe Lightroom, the 640/f13 image was resurrected from the dead to become a reasonably nice image.

ISO640/f13 Underexposed

ISO640/f13 Processed in Lightroom

You can rent out a pavilion at the FA for weddings etc.  One was being set up for as we left.  A woman in high-heels and blotting her face from sweat (it was a warm day) was making her way up the path.  When you are not protected under the tree canopies, it can be a real scorcher and if you are just dropping in, you wll probably not think to carry some water with you.  Luckily, there are a lot of benches under the trees and you will see people laying or sitting on the benches, maybe grabbing a quick bite to eat (please carry in/carry out).

Would I go back?  I might.  It's free admission and parking, so the possibility of catching a good view of a hawk or some turtles can be worth the local diversion.

Juried into 2012 Orange County Fair

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

We had three photos juried into the 2012 Orange County Fair, to be held July 13 - August 12 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA.

Let's hope for a win!!  Come out and support us!

Roy's Cabins

Snowy April

Sunset in the Desert