I have the summer off to go shoot. Any suggestions?

Well, to make a long story short, my company is closing the factory where I work. We shut the doors on June 28th. By some unforseen circumstances, I will still be getting paid up until Sept 27th (the day BEFORE my wedding anniversary ).

So, I basically have all of July, August and most of September to wander around the great state of California (and bordering states) to go shoot some photos. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and am not opposed to a nice drive (even though Super Unleaded just hit $4 a gallon, OUCH!)

Yes, I can shoot in the Bay Area as there are a lot of things to shoot around here such as San Francisco, Monterey, Sacramento, etc. I can do those on a day trip, and often do.

I DO have a family, so being gone for weeks at a time is out of the question. I am thinking more along the lines of taking off for a night or two.

I also would love meeting a few of my fellow POTN photogs along the way.

Having that in mind, where would you go? And don't tell me to go to Hell, I currently work there, and they don't want me anymore either.

Bummer about the job - got any prospects?

Close to home, do you have Galen Rowell's Bay Area Wild? Plenty of out-of-the-way spots in that.

Point Reyes and on up through Sonoma County are nice.

Pity about the timing - 6 weeks earlier or later and you'd be able to dodge more of the crowds at Yosemite. Still worth revisiting there and the Hetch Hetchie.

Jon,
Thanks for some great ideas. Actually, I have a funky schedule right now, and could probably get to Yosemite for a day or two just about any week. (lucky me)

In fact, I might just go there for a couple of days in May, and hope there is more water flowing than when I went last August.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Alan