Borges Ranch & Shell Ridge (Cellphone Photos) - Walnut Creek, CA

Yesterday, on the 27th March 2025, my mom and I went for a hike at Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek, CA. We also checked out the historic Borges Ranch. This is my first time I at this park, so I took a ton of photos with my cellphone. After the hike, my mom and I went to eat dinner at California's last Fuddruckers, which is in Concord, CA. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos!

Message from the Photographer: I think the LDN I got from the Stanford Clinic is helping quite a bit. While I do still crash from my trips, I have energy to go for some hiking now, and the crashes are not as severe as before.

We first checked out the historic Borges Ranch. It was very interesting to see all the farm animals.

A photo of vintage farm equipment at Borges Ranch.

A photo of chickens at Borges Ranch.

A photo of chickens at Borges Ranch.

A photo of chickens at Borges Ranch.

A photo of chickens at Borges Ranch.

Shell Ridge Open Space used to be under water a very long time ago, and fossils of marine critters have been found in the park. One of the buildings at Borges Ranch incorporated the fossils into the bricks.

A photo of bricks with seashell fossils and other stuff. The photo was taken at Borges Ranch.

A photo of bricks with seashell fossils and other stuff. The photo was taken at Borges Ranch.

Next, my mom and I begin our hike towards the peak. There were a lot of great views of Mt. Diablo and of the San Francisco Bay Area from the hiking trails.

A scenery photo of Mt. Diablo, clouds, and trees. The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, Yellow Mustard Flowers (bottom), and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of Mt. Diablo, clouds, and trees. The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of Mt. Diablo, clouds, and trees. The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A panorama of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The panorama was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of Mt. Diablo, clouds, and trees. The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A scenery photo of clouds, mountains, trees, and the San Francisco Bay Area (in the distance). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A photo of Purple Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) and Sticky Monkey Flowers (Mimulus aurantiacus). The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

A photo of Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii).The photo was shot on Ridge Top Trail.

Next, we hiked back to the parking lot. I decided to drop by Borges Ranch one more time to see the goats before leaving, as I didn't manage to get photos of them before the hike.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

A photo of goats at Borges Ranch.

After the hiking trip, my mom and I headed to the last Fuddruckers in California, which is in Concord, CA. We still had a discounted Fuddruckers gift card that we purchased from Costco. I used to eat at the location in Dublin, but unfortunately every California Fuddruckers location is closed except the Concord location. The Concord Fuddruckers is located at: 1975 Diamond Blvd Suite E-260, Concord, CA 94520 (Google Maps Link).

A photo from inside the last Fuddruckers restaurant in California.

A photo from inside the last Fuddruckers restaurant in California.

A photo from inside the last Fuddruckers restaurant in California.

A photo from inside the last Fuddruckers restaurant in California.

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Lu'an, Sanhe, & Hefei - Anhui, China (Part 1)

In the month of December in 2013, I took a trip to China to visit relatives and to travel places and take photos. On this trip, I visited Jiangsu (江苏), Anhui (安徽), Hong Kong (香港), and Macau (澳门). I took many photos on this trip and I will be splitting them into many parts. I will do my best in these blog post to describe the photos, however due to the lack of map data for China (on Google) and my horrible Chinese, I may not be able to give you too much details on certain things. At the time of visit, the smog in China is very heavy. In many of the photos, you will see what looks to be fog or haze, but it is the smog (pollution) in China. Be warned, that the pollution in China is not at safe levels. I started coughing less than one week into the trip, and I did not recover until the beginning of March this year (2014). Many individuals in China had the same cough I got. If you haven't done so, you can view my vlogs here. I already posted all my vlogs (of the entire trip) on Youtube, but these photos will come out in parts.

12/2013，我去中国旅游。我去了江苏、安徽、香港、和澳门玩。我会把照片分成很多部分。我的中文没有那么好，我不能翻译所有的东西。 我去中国的时候有很大的雾霾。我咳嗽咳了好几个月。我这次旅游也拍了一些视频，你可以在这里看。

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best China photos from this trip, use this link. To view all of my photos from 12/15/2013 through 12/17/2013, use this link.

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The photos for today are from several places in Anhui, China (安徽, 中国). The photos include photos out in China's rural side in Lu'an (六安), Sanhe Ancient Town (三河古镇), and Hefei (合肥).

我今天的照片是在中国的安徽乡下拍的。城市有六安、三河古镇、和合肥。

So once we were in Anhui, China (安徽, 中国), we slept the first night there at our relatives house. Next day, we went driving out to Hefei (合肥) to go pay respects to our ancestor's grave site. On the trip there, really had to go use the bathroom, and being in rural China on a rural highway, that only existed on the side of the road. I happened to have pulled over to this abandoned building in Lu'an (六安). I did my business and proceeded to find a good angle on the building. Sadly, I found an outhouse on the left side of it. (Why couldn't it have shown itself earlier?!) Anyways, this seems to be an abandoned restaurant, which now is a trash recycling center. 

六安拍的一张照片。开往合肥的路上拍的。

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 31 18 01 N 117 01 27 E

Black and white process of the photo above.  

 Now I go ahead and shoot a photo of the rural highway in Lu'an (六安). As you can see the smog (pollution) issue is also very severe in rural China. This photo has had its contrast upped more than what I usually do for photos. 

六安乡下的高速公路。

Now I get to Sanhe Ancient Town (三河古镇).

到了三河古镇。

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 31 31 06 N 117 14 19 E

 Here is a photo of Sanhe Ancient Town (三河古镇). I will go into the town after I visit our ancestor's grave site. This is just an overview from the side of the road on a bridge. 

这是三河古镇。

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 31 31 07 N 117 14 17 E

Here is another photo of Sanhe Ancient Town (三河古镇) from another angle on the bridge.  

这是三河古镇。

 Black and white process of the photo above.  

 Now I arrive at rural Hefei (合肥) where my ancestors are buried. Here is a rural shot of the dirt road we were driving on. It was very hard to drive on as it was dusty and narrow, but we managed. On the left is a household where one of our distant relatives lives. They took us to the grave site. 

到了合肥乡下了。土路上很难开车。

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 31 29 16 N 117 16 02 E

Black and white process of the photo above.   

 Here is a photo turned around of the rural houses. On the left is what I suspect to be the original building. On the distant right is a house rebuilt. With the newer house, you can see the upper level of the house is added on at a later date. In rural China, money is tight, therefore, this does happen quite a lot. 

这些是乡下的房子。左边因该是旧房子。右边因该是新建的房子。

Here is a photo of the bricks on one of the walls of the house.  

一个房子的墙。

Chickens on the farm! Not the first time I've seen live chickens, but still very cool. We don't see these in the SF Bay Area (except Chinatown in SF). 

农村的鸡。 

 Black and white process of the photo above.   

 Here is another rural house in Hefei (合肥) along with a dirt road on the right. 

这个是乡下的房子。右边是土路。

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 31 29 17 N 117 16 02 E

 Black and white process of the photo above.    

An abstract shot of a wall. I decided to photograph it with the edge of the wall through the center. Upper center is an electrical extension cord of some sort.  

 Black and white process of the photo above.   

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will continue with more photos from Anhui, China (安徽, 中国). Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

我下一次有跟多安徽拍的照片。

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