The heat dropped from 102 degrees a couple days before to around 85, so I asked my friend Cheryl to take a trip up on Mt. Diablo.
It's a centrally located peak with the Carquinez Straight (Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carquinez_Strait) to the North, Diablo Valley and the Oakland hills to the East, and Livermore/Pleasanton to the South. I've lived under this mountain most of my life. When I was a teenager, I used the mountain roads as a race track. And though the roads have been widened a bit, it's pretty much the same as it ever was. Nowdays it's a State park and you have to pay a $6 toll to get in, however.
It had been so long since I'd been up there that I missed the turn and ended up in a little picnic area I'd never seen before. It was a great little place nestled in a small valley and there were three Turkey Vultures riding around on the warm air.
These birds are so majestic (except for their bald heads), they glide effortlessly, occasionally dropping to skim the tree tops.
Just before we left Cheryl bumped her head on something hanging from a tree
Needless to say, there weren't any Yellow-jackets in the area.
At the top of the mountain is a stone building with a beacon that no longer operates.
The day was pretty hazy -- we're having a rash of fires all over northern California. This is looking east toward Walnut Creek.
This shot is to the north, looking at Antioch and the Antioch Bridge, looking over the top of a nearby peak.
There is nothing to see looking south, just a bunch of rich people live down there anyway. Anyway, it was time for Cheryl and I to head for home.
Click on plack to make bigger. 
