Full Moon and Violet Skies at Tablas Creek

Winters bring a different sort of beauty to Paso Robles.  The hillsides turn softly green, the earth turns a deep brown, and the black oaks lose their leaves, exposing mistletoe and Spanish moss, and contrasting with the live oaks with which they share their wooded hillsides.  A little later in the season, we'll get an explosion of wildflowers, but we're not there yet.

At the same time, the angle of the light changes, and views that can be stark in the summer get a more diffuse light.  We also get remarkable sunsets, which can last for a long time as the sun angles down toward the horizon.  Some of the sunsets are classic, where bright pink and orange clouds contrast against an increasingly deep blue sky, but recently we've been seeing violet skies at dusk to the east.  Last night was a full moon, and the moon hanging in the violet sky was an irresistable temptation.  Here are some of the best photos I got.

A little later:

And a little later still, zoomed in as far as our little camera can go:

Driving home, I caught the last of the light in the west:

I loved how you could see the lines of hills marching away toward the horizon.  I even managed to get a shot of them as the light died.  It will help with all the photos, but particularly with the one below; click on the photo to see it full size.