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Spooner's Cove at Montana De Oro State Park on the Central California Coast, just west of San Luis Obispo.

A beautiful place with some amazing layered rock formations that jut at some cool angles.

I think it may have spit a drop of rain or two, but it never came down heavily.

Conversely, it did clear up and the sun came out by sunset. Unfortunately, it cleared up too much -- which, obviously, was not what we were hoping for.

But by no means was this trip a failure.

We saw some incredible beauty and also happened on the ruins of the set from Cecil B. DeMille's silent 1923 epic "The Ten Commandments", which have been buried in the sands Nipomo Dunes for nearly 90 years.

It never ceases to amaze me what a diverse ecosystem Southern California has.

This is only minutes away from the 210 Freeway, and the World Famous horse track, Santa Anita Park.

It's a creek in Big Santa Anita Canyon, part of the San Gabriel Mountains, and just a about a hundred yards or so south of my previous image.

Another mile or so downstream, this little creek flows into a reservoir held up by the Santa Anita Dam, which is a thin Concrete Arch Dam, and was completed back in 1927. It actually looks like a 1/4 scale or smaller version of Hoover Dam.

And after living here nearly 18 years, I am embarrassed to admit I was ignorant of the creek, the dam, and the falls in the canyon.

In my quest to capture photogenic locations around the country, It seems I've been very negligent focus on things that are literally in my own backyard.

I'm hoping to change that.

As I type this, its still Wednesday in two-thirds of the time zones of the contiguous United States and west to the International Dateline, making it still, officially, Waterfall Wednesday. Whew, just under the wire.

My original destination on this day was Sturtevant Falls, in the Big Santa Anita Canyon, just north of Arcadia, California.

This is in the San Gabriel Mountains, and the foothills of Mount Wilson, which stands east of Los Angeles, and was home to the horrible devastation of 2009's Station Fire which wreaked millions of dollars of damage and caused several deaths.

It had rained in the morning, but it was cool and clear when I got here -- emphasis on the former, In fact, when I made it to the bottom of the trail, I had trouble keeping my viewfinder clear, because I could see my breath.

Anyway, I could hear the falls from the top of the trail, and according to the sign, this was the shorter trail -- but I didn't know that what I was hearing was from a pair of man made spillways. I never found the real Hermit Falls, because I ran out of time -- but this was still a cool sight, literally, and figuratively.

I still hope to make it back to Sturtevant at some point this winter. One bummer about this locale -- it's technically still Los Angeles, and as a result, many times, it's packed beyond belief here -- especially in the summer. It was really disheartening to see several huge two or three ton boulders in the stream that were tagged by gang bangers.

Twilight on the first Monday holiday of 2012; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

It had only been two weeks since New Year's Day, but who am I to argue about a three day weekend?

First time to shoot the Santa Monica pier and ferris wheel since they sold the old one on eBay and installed this solar powered beauty -- and that's been, I don't know, going on three, four years? Who can keep track?

Wow, time flies.

All the elements were there for a dazzling sunset; it just never happened. Fortunately, there was still plenty of color though after the sun went down. Worth getting your feet wet.

The lame light show in the sky was over; really over. It just fizzled out. All the elements were there, but sometimes it's like that.

So, It was time to make the long trek back to the car in wet shoes, past the Cirque Du Soleil tents, but first we had to walk back under the pier, which in some places, was pitch dark. I didn't have my nerd headband light on, so it could have easily been broken ankle just waiting to happen, if I would have gotten tangled in any seaweed, kelp, or holes in the sand.

About halfway, there was a light attached to the bottom of the boardwalk, illuminating the water and pilings.

I thought it might be cool to just set my tripod down there and take a long exposure to see what would happen.

Not my ordinary, standard, under pier fare. In fact, it's kinda creepy and eerie in a cool way.

Let me know if you agree, or think it just looks like a bunch of pilings in milky muck.