H is for the horizon.
Seen from Manor Bluff, late afternoon, very low tide. The jumble of dark in the lower left is riprap (huge granite boulders) the City has been placing in an attempt to protect the sandstone cliffs from inevitable (and natural) erosion. Two humans for scale. This view is directly across the street from the post office, which I visit most every day.
nancyland.com 
What an enormous view.
Yes, it is so. And it’s more enormouser: it would take a triptych to record the whole vista :)
Having the people in the photo helps to explain the scale. Humongous!
Yes, BIG :)
With a view like that, dropping packages suddenly becomes something to look forward to!
And how are they getting the gigantic boulders out there? By Barge? And where are they getting them from, I wonder…
Yes, Jodi, a daily check-in with the ocean is good, even from atop the cliffs :)
They use big earth-moving tractors and loaders, and have bulldozed a steep roadway of sorts down the eroding cliffside (where there once was an actual road). And here is a link to a fascinating and well-illustrated document about California riprap :) https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/education/upload/rock%20history%20cards_small.pdf
Wow! Thanks for the document. It is so interesting to learn about what lies beneath our feet (and oceans) and how it got there. I bet it would be fascinating to sit and watch the big earth movers work. Akin to watching ants effecting the giant world around them, which I also find fascinating!
It’s a lovely view.
You totally won’t care but I do know what rip wrap is. When I lived in my last place, a condo complex, we were technically on a river. Most of the year it was only ankle deep but when there were bad storms there was possible flooding, sometimes really bad flooding to the point one of our BIG dumpsters floated away and out to LI Sound. Over time the border of our property was getting eaten away. After some crazy study we had to pay for ($25,000 ??) conducted by engineers we had to petition our city and the EPA, etc., to install rip wrap to secure our property better. I’m talking 3 long years. We heard so much about rip wrap at our board meetings that we became experts about land erosion, etc. I’m happy to say it’s done and I’m on higher ground now with no chance of flooding at my home complex. I can’t even remember how much the entire project cost. Too much.
I do so care, Bennie :) Riprap and its many uses is of keen interest to me. Very glad your struggle with government agencies and nature turned out for the good of your property. As you know, that is not always the case.
Oh yes, we were preparing for a possible fight with the city and EPA and another agency in case they denied us the rip wrap. So should the foundation of one of our buildings be compromised? When there was a bad flood a few years ago the river totally shifted and deposited silt on the opposite side of us. That partly caused more erosion on our side. It was very frustrating. And when it comes to condo boards there is hemming and hawing over $$$. No one wants common charges raised but do you want the property and buildings to lose value?
Living along water has its perks but also can be scary during bad weather. I see on the news in CA how the fires, mud slides and such really ruins property and of course lives. :(
I love how the word sounds like “riffraff”!
Had to look up the etymology of course, but unfortunately nobody knows for sure — http://www.lakeshoreguys.com/why-is-riprap-called-riprap/
And yet Cal State Long Beach’s literary journal is called “Rip Rap”! — http://www.cla.csulb.edu/departments/english/riprapjournal/
Hello, Jeanne, and welcome!
Curiouser and curiouser — even the CSLB writers are confused and/or inconsistent with the spelling of their journal :)