Brooks Mapped

Trail Update

2012-03-02T21:03:00.004-08:00

After posting my trip plan, I started thinking, I need to do a warm up hike. Why not do the southern 100 miles of the Idaho Centennial Trail (ICT). Mallory can give me a ride, we can drop water along the way and it will be a great shakedown. That became part 0. Then I figured, why not do the entire ICT, instead of skipping the northern 200 miles as I had planned. So now I have planned out a summer of hiking 3700 miles, even. I will be amazed if I do everything I have in mind. Plans will change because of snow, drought, fire, fatigue and some things that I can't imagine. But there will always be another option to consider.

View CDT Update in a larger map

Portland/Boise

2012-02-24T20:39:00.003-08:00

Mallory came out to see me in Portland one weekend and I was in Boise later that month. It's hard to do a lot in a weekend, but we usually have fun.

While Mallory was in Portland, we met up with friends for drinks at a Peruvian restaurant and I had my first Pisco sour. I hope to have another in country sometime. The next day we went to McMenamins at Edgefield, and enjoyed walking around the grounds and the neat Grateful Dead room in the old basement. They were playing constant Dead videos.

In Portland, Mallory took on the challenge of making a chocolate meringue pie and it was delicious. The next day I challenged her to make fried chicken after I had some amazing chicken at a food cart in Portland. We went on a little snow shoeing adventure. I was also able to get a lot of work done on my trip planning.

View Larger Map

Final Countdown

2012-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

This summer I am heading off to hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). I'll be starting April 15, 60 days from today. I've been planning and preparing for the trip for the past couple of years and now it's time to get the last details in place. The countdown has begun.

After I graduated college I hiked the Appalachian Trail and loved it. I've always wanted to take on the CDT, and with my job coming to an end, it seemed like a perfect time to take off a couple months. The CDT is a little different then other trails. It isn't completely defined, and there are a couple of alternates that are more popular then the official route. So I took a lot of liberties when planning where I wanted to go. Below is a map.

View CDT Route in a larger map

A few large variations I made include hiking: the length of the Sangre de Christo range in New Mexico; the Great Divide Trail to Jasper, Alberta; and part of the Idaho Centennial Trail. The plan is to start at the southern end at the border of Mexico and head north (green). When I get to Rocky Mountain NP, I'll bounce up to Helena and continue hiking north (yellow). In Jasper, I'll flip around to Spokane and hike south through Idaho (purple). I finish up there in Mountain Home where I'll get a bus to West Yellowstone (blue) and finish on top of a mountain in Rocky Mountain NP. All said it's about 3300 miles.

At least that's the plan. My schedule currently has me finishing by the beginning of October. During the trip I am going to be carrying a SPOT gps that will send out my location daily and update the map on the right side of the blog as well as facebook. I hope to occasionally blog from the trail. Should be a fun summer!

Reno Visit

2012-02-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

I made a quick trip down from portland to take care of a few things before I had a tenant move in.Mallory came to meet up with me and the major project was tiling the counter. Mallory took the lead while I worked on other issues. By the end it looked great, and I was impressed with all we got done.

Halfway through we took a ski break. It's been a pretty bad snow year, but we had fun. We took off early and drove the scenic route back past tahoe.

Whistler!

2012-01-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

January it was time for a ski trip. This year the destination was Whistler! Fortunately for us, it was the only place in North America that has been getting good snow. For most of us, it was our first turns of the season. We were painfully sore afterward, but had a great time.

The first stop we made was Vancouver. It is one of the last major North American cities I've wanted to visit, and it lived up to they hype. I was amazed at how many people lived on the island. It seemed like most of the high rises were residential. And as everyone always says, it's really clean for that many people. We made the trip through Stanley park and learned it was named for the same Lord Stanley as the Cup. It is certainly a town I need to visit again. My two favorite things I heard were "A deck of smokes" from a kid wanting a pack of cigarettes; "Harmonized Sales Tax" to explain the combined Provincial and National sales tax.

But the snow was calling. The sea to summit highway is amazing. As Aaron says, it's like driving along a fjord of Norway. Along the way Mallory and I stopped off at the Shannon Waterfall, one of several in the glaciated valleys. There were some awesome locals there and the falls were more impressive then expected.

There were 7 of us sharing a house. The best part of which was the hot tub. Nothing better then soaking in hot water after a hard day on the slopes. Well other then a shot-ski. A shot-ski is simply shot glasses drilled into a ski that encourages group cohesion. 1, 2, 3 Shot ski!

The skiing was awesome. The first day we were out it snowed 4 inches the night before and kept snowing through the day. The top of the mountain didn't open for awhile so there were some long liftlines to start. Once they opened the top, the snow was gorgeous. We had a few amazing runs on soft powder that skis would just glide through. It was like floating on a cloud. The next day was clearer so we had better views of what was around us. Our first run of the day was a 6.5 mile 2000 foot loss down a glacier. Pretty sure that's the first time I can say that.

Later in the day we took the famous Peak2Peak gondola between the mountains. There were some great views. Then we stopped by the village and saw the olympic rings. I could hardly walk the next day, but couldn't take the smile off my face.

New Years Day

2012-01-08T01:12:00.000-08:00

For New Years Eve I headed down to Austin. My friend Jeff was throwing a great New Years Eve Party. Again, it's all pictures with a phone, so quality is lacking the the emotion is there.

Then I made it to the annual New Years Day movie marathon. This year the theme was the movies that made them and the movies that the sold out with. There's always one, and this year I slept through Australia. http://instagr.am/p/dsuM1/ When I woke up I couldn't believe it was still on. It's a great tradition and always fun to see good people.

Christmas

2011-12-30T01:06:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas I was in a bit of a weird mood, so I only have a few camera phone pictures. I got to meet up with a few old high school friends and I'm sorry we didn't get more pictures. Maybe at the 15th!

I also got to see the old 97's two nights in a row. And you can see me in the orange in the front row: http://img.ly/c3Vm

For Christmas I was a little short on present ideas, so I gave my parents the gift of yard work and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I diced up a cord of wood then stacked it. Quite the project.

Boise, ID

2011-12-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas I made a trip out to Boise to see Mallory. It was quite the relaxing time that involved a lot of cooking and eating. More eating on my part.

The food alone was worth the trip. In order of appearance:

Mini Quiches

Curry Pork Chops

Lemon Layer Crepe cake

Brunch supreme

In between courses we had a lot of fun. We played disc golf; met her friends at a kareoke bar; went to a dinner party; and went out for drinks.

Bend, OR

2011-12-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

With my new temporary position in Portland I was sent to Bend, OR for a training. Bend is great town, even though it's a little corrupted by money. It was nice cold and clear and the view of the mountains was great.

Mallory came out to see me and make a weekend of it. On Saturday we took a hike to Tumalo waterfall. It was frozen over and looked really neat. After a quick snack we hiked back out.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

For the 4th year in a row, Kristina and Aaron hosted Thanksgiving at their house in Portland. As usual, we had a great time.

Our first night we went out on the town and had sushi.

Thursday was a day of cooking. Kristina started in the morning finishing the pies. Then we all rotated through cooking up our dish.

And I got to meet up with a few college friends. Again, never enough photos, but at least there was one. And I'm sure there will be several other times to meet up, since I'm going to be in Portland for a few months.

Homecoming

2011-11-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

I went back for homecoming and Kappa Sigma's 125th anniversary. I had my camera, but never found a good time to take a picture. So all I have are these two cell phone shots, but really I think they capture the experience. Always good to see great friends.

West Virgina

2011-11-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

I had a meeting in West Virginia and the colors were amazing.

On my way back to the airport, I stopped by Harpers Ferry and to my terminus of the Appalachian Trail. I was shocked to find out they had re-routed it down a different block. I did a little re-creation of my finishing photo. Hopefully I'll put that on line some time.

New York City

2011-11-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

I had a conference out east, so went a few days early to see my brother in New York.

I stopped by washington square and there was a piano player. He was there for four hours. I don't know how he got out that piano out there, but he rocked for four hours. I also bought a jacket at the best thrift store I've ever found. And I went to my favorite coffee store. It was a great trip of highlights.

Blake and I got to hang out and went out to see our cousin and new 2nd cousin.

House update

2011-10-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is a little compilation of updates on the house.

At the beginning of the year I pulled up the gravel that was there and put in grass.

Over the summer the tumpet vine was in full bloom.

And my mom came out to help paint the front foyer.

Softball

2011-10-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

It's a little past the end of the season, but I finally touched up the softball team photo.

And a few of us went out on the town for the pirate crawl wearing our team shirts, and had a few tag alongs.

It was a great summer.

Fishing the Carson River

2011-10-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

This blog posted is a week delayed because I was called to a fire mid-editing.

Two of my friends from our fire team Jake and Billy have an annual fishing trip on the East Fork of the Carson river and invited me to come along this year. It was the three of us and three dogs, Shady, Daisy and Banjo. We didn't run into anyone else the entire time we were out there and had a great relaxing time walking the river and fishing, while yelling at the dogs to stay back. They loved seeing a fish flop around, and Banjo was fond of running off with them in his mouth. Apparently he ate a whole one, because it showed up in Jakes back yard the next week.

We hiked in about 5 miles the first day. Jake and Billy brought about 80 pounds each, mostly in food. We ate like kings in the wilderness.

We fished that night and got up again the next day. A storm came through in the afternoon, but we got back to camp to set up a fly in time. I think the dogs really appreciated. As typical out here, after an hour it was done and we had a fire to sit around. Billy had a pretty bad blister on his toe from the hike in and sloshing around the water all day, and had to do some field surgery on it.

The next day we hiked four miles to the next camp and did some more fishing.

And some more fishing with another clear night. I caught the only brook trout of the trip, which is a special pretty fish.

It was the most relaxing trip I've had all year.

View Larger Map

Locations are more or less guesses.

Chicago

2011-09-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

While I was in Michigan for the HofGow wedding bonanza, I took a couple days before and after to enjoy Chicago. It had been over 10 years since I'd been there, and I was excited to go back as an adult.

Walking around downtown had so many great sights and neat sculptures.

The first stop in town was to the Art Institute. I really liked their Impressionism works. They had a few great Van Goughs, a room of really good Monets and Seurat's famous picnic scene (which is surprisingly massive). The rest of the museum was a collection of expensive and noteworthy works, but not really in a context to make it understandable.

My favorite part was the Throne Rooms which were little miniature rooms made to look like rooms from different periods in a shadow box. The neatest thing was you could look through the windows and doors to see other rooms that were built, but you would not get a straight shot. All of the furniture was hand made to scale.

Justin met up with me that evening and we went out for deep dish pizza and a nice jazz bar. Before we left for Michigan the next day, we toured Millennium Park and the big silver bean. I'm sure it has a better name, but that's what it looks like. It could use a cleaning, but what a neat art piece.

When we got back from the wedding, the weather was perfect. We walked out Navy Pier which was slammed. The buildings of city looked so pretty over the water. We were still exhausted from the wedding that night and stayed in.

Monday was Labor Day and my birthday, I was turning 29. We met up with Bonnie and Todd and went to a Cubs game, a great celebration. The first person to sing me happy birthday was the woman serving our first beer in the stadium. We had great seats on the 3rd base line and the game was exciting. The Cubs won and they raised their W flag while singing their victory song. On the walk home we went in a bar and surprised to find it rocking like a Saturday night. Nothing like a party in the afternoon.

Justin left the next day, so we had lunch together and said adios. I went down to the river and took the architecture boat tour that everyone told me to check out. And for good reason, it was a fun way to see the city, and they served beer!

The next day it was time for me to go, but my flight wasn't till 5. So I walked up to the Hancock Tower to have lunch and enjoy the view. I think the Hancock is my favorite building in Chicago. It was quite the view, and fun to pick out all the places in the city that I had been while I was there.

HofGow Wedding

2011-09-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite friends from Winnemucca, Matt and Amanda were getting married in michigan, so winnemuccans from all over came in. I think there were about 15 of us there and we brought the party.

The wedding was set at Amanda's childhood home somewhere outside of South Haven, MI. I don't know really where, because we took a shuttle that drove us around. The ceremony was amongst the trees in the back yard and they had a big tent set up for dinner and the after party.

Her house was amazing. Amanda's mom is a gardner with a couple rows of greenhouses and a vegetable garden that looked delicious.

The tent proved to be useful because a front was moving in and we got a couple minor rain storms. It was much welcomed because it had been so hot up until then. The rain really cooled everything down. It had been so long since I have seen a storm moving across the sky with lightning and big never ending clouds. All the Nevadans stood around watching it and debating if they actually owned an umbrella or not.

After dinner the party got started with dancing and drinking. The bride shot gunned a beer and there were keg stands. We partied late into the night and continued at the hotel.

Indian Fire

2011-08-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

I spent the end of July on the Indian Fire outside of North Fork, ID. It wasn't on national news, and didn't really get out of control. The hills were steep and there was lots of potential for things to go crazy.

We were camped on the banks of the Salmon River. The location was great, but in the evening the mosquitos were horrible.

Our days started at sunrise with morning briefing and ended after sunset.

This is a good view of camp from the nearby hill. Supply is on the right side, the three big tents are the dining area the collection of tents are the different units and the trailer with tent is the shower unit. The GIS unit is located in the Situation tent, where we spent most of out time. They have a couple window ac units with generators for power and there's a satellite truck that supplies internet and phones. It's an entire mobile office. There's another trailer with printers.

Most all the food starts out frozen, but the fried eggs were fresh. There was way to much to eat for the sedentary life we were leading.

Most days are spent in the tent editing data to be used on maps that are printed that night to be distributed the next morning. One day I got to take a trip to the fire line to do some GPSing.

Another day I drove down the river to the end of the road and the start of the Frank Church Wilderness and the River of No Return. There were lots of big horn sheep grazing next to the road like they were domestic. There were tons of rafters out as well, and I was jealous.

One of our GIS people got to fly the perimeter of the fire in a helicopter. She took my camera and got some great views of the river valley.

Another day I made a drive up to the border with Montana. There was a quaint little ski hill up there and a trailhead for the CDT.

One day I was leaving the dining tent with some coffee and ran into a college friend of mine, Dylan. He had just showed up the day before with one of the chipping crews doing rehab work. I didn't even know he was in fire this summer. It was completely random. He was my neighbor my senior year of college.

The last couple of days we were there a couple of storms came through. The clouds were real pretty and on the last night we had a cell sit on top of us dumping hail. That fire was done...

View Larger Map

Reno Summer

2011-08-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

It took awhile to get here, but summer finally came to Reno. Here are a few pictures from July.

At the beginning of July, the Truckee river was running high.

The fireworks at the Nugget were great.

Pops in the Park was a lot of fun. The new broadway season starts in a couple weeks. The big show this year is Spamalot, so we all dressed as knights.

I installed a porch swing which is amazing for this weather. If I was old, I'd have a blog called porch swing and just record the daily happenings from the swing...

Mokelumne Wilderness

2011-07-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

For the Fourth of July weekend I set out for a backpacking trip to test out some new gear and get out there. The late spring meant there would be a lot of snow, but I was excited to test out my new ice ax. What I wasn't counting on was how high the rivers would be.

I parked in the evening Thursday and camped on the ridge top. I was lucky to find a melted tree well. It was a great sunset and the stars were spectacular.

That was at 8500 feet, the next day I hiked down to 5500 feet where I was supposed to cross the river. From the edge of the canyon, I could see that would probably be impossible. It was a torrent. I had a meager hope of a bridge, but figured I'd hike down at least for the experience.

The "creek" that the trail passed was more then I was willing to take on.

So I camped by the river for the night and hiked back the next day. I got to use my ice ax to climb a hill of snow. It was a abbreviated, but a good hike. I got to test my snow gear.

View Larger Map

Portland

2011-06-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Kristina and Aaron were getting married, so it was a great reason to make a trip to Portland.

I got there Friday morning to do some work, the flight had some good sights.

Eve came in the afternoon, and we went out for a nice dinner at the Portland City Grill. It's on the 30th floor of the Bank Tower with great views. Hood was in clouds most of the time, but it was great to watch the sunset on the city. I had the salmon which was amazing and Eve had the seafood risotto. It took two hours, but each bite was savory.

We met up with the wedding party from there.

Saturday we walked around downtown looking for a brunch place. It was a beautiful day.

The wedding was at the forestry center. It was a nice ceremony with a fun reception. We had more good food, fun toasts and entertaining people.

Sunday they had a brunch at their house and Eve and I went to the Rose Garden before flying out. It was a quick weekend, but a great vacation.

Old 97's

2011-06-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

After the Odyssey, by 5 I was on the road heading to Sacramento. I might have been exhausted, but the Old 97's were playing and I had to see them. It was an amazing show. It wasn't very crowded, but it did mean I got to be up close in the center. They played for two hours and it was amazing.

After the show I was on cloud 9, until I got back to my car and it had a window broken out and my 3 year old iPod taken. The worst thing I lost was the perfect cable to hook up the audio jack to the car speakers.

Odyssey

2011-06-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

Just after getting back from Yosemite, it was time for the Odyssey. The Odyssey is a 178 mile, 12 man relay race. It goes all night and you share a car with a couple people for 30 hours. This year it was me and three girls, and we had a blast.

This year I ran leg 6. It was fun to see a different part of the course then last year. I ran better and better each leg. I think I was just getting better at pacing myself. My last leg was up to Virginia City which is brutally uphill. I found that I was faster when I just leaned forward and hiked it rather then trying to run.

We finished Saturday about 3.

Yosemite

2011-05-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of May, I was talking to my dad and he said he was thinking of making a trip to Yosemite. It had been decades since his last trip and there was a deal on tickets. I said to let me know when he'd get there and we could meet up. A couple days later, he said he'd be there in two weeks. I had just enough vacation time left over to make a 4 day weekend out of it. My dad's pictures are here.

We had a great time. It has taken me forever to get through the 500 some odd pictures I took, but I finally did. I got it down to 100.

I got there late wednesday night, so first order of business was to get a site reservation. We were staying in the legendary Camp 4 which is a walk in no reservation campsite with a firm number of spots. People start lining up at 6am to get a spot, and I was about number 57 in line. That morning there were 75 spots available, so everyone in line made it.

After getting the site, we took off to check out Vernal and Nevada falls. The water falls were amazing with all the snow melting. It was a crowded hike to Vernal Falls

But the water was shooting out of Nevada falls.

The next day was a little overcast, so we took a hike up to mirror pond. The trail was blocked by a rockfall, but we found a nice photo of a blossoming dogwood.

I stopped by El Cap to look for a few big mountain climbers. With a little focus you can start to see different groups. There are 7 climbers in the wide shot. Two on the lower left, two in the middle right, and two on the top right, with the lead climber of the group in the top middle. I hiked up to the base of the wall and found a couple more that were just beginning.

Seven climbers here.

Zoom in on two in the lower left.

Zoom closer.

Two on the upper part, with the lead on the left.

Two on the middle right.

The base of the wall had a great view.

Then I drove around to my favorite view point. Looking up the valley at the edge of the river is amazing.

We set of at sunrise the next day to get the sun coming around on Yosemite Falls.

The top was quite an impressive view. And there was a great view of the valley and half dome.

Then we ran into something I'd only seen in climbing magazines. 2 guys were setting up to do the slackline above the yosemite floor. Basically they stretch a 1 inch wide piece of webbing between two points and walk across it. This is a couple thousand feet above the valley floor. It was impressive to watch.

The hike down had great pictures of the Yosemite falls with rainbows and perfect clouds. It was hard to only pick a few to post.

That evening we went to take some pictures from the valley floor. On the way back we saw a bear, digging in a trash can, but it was a bear. That night we went to take a picture of El Cap with the lights of the clmibers that were still up.

The next day we went to the Sequoia grove. It's amazing to see trees that are thousands of years ago.

For the evening we went to Sentinel Bridge to capture the sunset on half dome. We were there with 15 other photographers. With the digital cameras of today it was neat to see the back of different people's camera to see the shot they were taking. None were the same.

As we were packing up to leave, there were a couple guys headed for the big wall. And I got a picture of the line waiting for a spot at camp 4.

Before heading out, I stopped by Hetch Hetchy. Muir complained about the daming of hetch hetchy, and said it was a more impressive canyon then Yosemite. I think he could have been right.

For only four days it seemed like forever. I got a pass so plan on making more trips this summer. One suggestion I'd make to anyone, is bring along a professional photographer, my dad had amazing pictures. Seriously, check them out and see what I stole from him...

Skiing

2011-05-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

First off skiing.

Our spring was full of snow. But for a short while in May it was warm out. It was the weekend they delayed the Mt. Rose Pond Skim for and it was impressive. This year they made it a double dip pond. But the rim between the two made for a challenge. A lot of people went in, but it felt nice out.

Then it snowed some more... Kirkwood was offering a free pass on their lift tickets with proof of a season pass at a different resort. Matt and I have always wanted to try Kirkwood and this was a perfect opportunity. After only half the day we were sold. We went in and got season passes for next year. It's a little further away, but the skiing should be amazing next year.

View Larger Map

Southern California

2011-04-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

After Coachella, I took Eve to the airport, and I headed north. I didn't have a direction, but just wanted to explore.

First stop was the Jawbone Recreation Area I had a book with a fun cross country route to take across the desert. The flowers were out and the air was cool, perfect for a drive. At one switchback going up a hill there was a washout I almost got stuck in. It was a deep and narrow and when I tried the first time I almost high centered myself. I got unstuck and decided not to try again since I was alone. I took a still scenic easier way out.

My first stop that night was Kernville. A neat town at the base of the Sierras, just off the Kern River. The river was flowing hard with all the snow from this winter. I camped at the campground and the next day explored the canyon. That night I headed around to the East side of the Seqoia NF intending to backpack into the domeland wilderness.

I took off in the morning, but after hiking in three miles, found the river was to high to cross. So I hiked out and drove around to the legendary Kennedy Meadows. It's a popular spot on the PCT. Since I already had my stuff packed, I hiked in a couple miles and camped next to the river. It was good to get out alone in the woods.

I hiked out the next morning and headed north on 395. The drive out was great with wild flowers all over the hills. I made a random stop for a wildflower picture, and ended up at a BLM Rec site called Fossil Falls where water had sculpted out channels in volcanic rock, but now it's dry.

I stopped off in Lone Pine for a few pictures. It's a one stoplight town, but has been a popular destination for a century. It is the access point to Mt. Whitney, and it was the shooting location for most old Western Movies. Ansel Adams took a famous shot there, Winter Sunrise over the Sierra Nevada. While I was there I heard, English accents, german, dutch and french. Quite eclectic.

I wanted to spend another day in the mountains, but weather was coming in and it looked snowy. So I headed home to clean up before going back to work.

View Larger Map

Coachella

2011-04-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

March was busy with work, visiting every field office to help with data transfers. So when it was all done in April, I took 10 days off. I was going to drive down and spend the weekend at Coachella, then take the rest of the week driving back exploring southern California. Unfortunately, my hard drive died before I backed up the pictures, but at least I got the good ones loaded online first.

On the way down there, I made a quick stop into Nevada City to pick up a tent. Since it was already mid-April, I wasn't expecting much of the weather, but of course it was snowing on me. I took the scenic drive down the west side of the lake and crossed one pass as they were putting up the chains required sign. It was all clear when I got to the valley.

Friday after long lines in traffic, we got into the Coachella camping area. The first night was a big party to explore. The free pinball was the most exciting thing we found. People were getting pumped for it all to begin the next day.

There was tons of music. We started off with Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, a great band from Austin, then Cold War Kids. In the evening we went to The Black Keys and the surprise of the weekend Robyn on a random tip from an Aussie that lived in Reno.

The great thing about camping on the grounds was being able to go back for a mid day break and drinking. It was hot, but we also took showers in the afternoon. It made the evenings much more tolerable.

Saturday we say Trampled by Turtles, Two Door Cinema Club, Broken Social Scene, took a quick break and came back for Mumford and Sons, Empire of the Sun, Arcade Fire and Scissor Sisters. The Scissor Sisters were playing their last show of the tour and really brought the energy.

My friends in San Diego have been telling me to come to Coachella for years, so it was great to see Jeremy, Nicole, Tony and Amanda, but the only picture I really have is Jeremy dancing, but I wouldn't expect less.

Sunday seemed to be the hottest yet. The beer was running low and the sleep was little, but we still saw some great acts. We took refuge in the afternoon in the Heiniken tent which was air conditioned with a DJ. We saw Nas and Damian Marley (apparently any marly can cover One Love), Tinne Tempah who was unfortunately delayed, Ratatat and the closer was Kayne West. I didn't think I was that big of a Kayne fan, but he put on a two hour, 3 act show complete with a dance troupe of his greatest hits. I was singing along with every one.

Powder Day

2011-02-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

After two months of no snow, we got a huge storm that dumped. It started Thursday and didn't stop till Saturday morning. We got 8 to 12 inches in town and the mountain got feet.

I took Friday off to get in the fresh powder. It was a workout. I was at a disadvantage because my skis weren't wide enough to keep me on top of all the snow. When I fell I would end up in snow up to my waist. I fell a couple times and ended up under the snow which was temporarily suffocating. It was a frightening experience, and I don't know how I'd do in an avalanche.

Saturday I stopped by the ski shop to check out some demo powder skis. There was another foot of fresh powder and the wider skis made all the difference. We got a couple of first runs on the rose side that were incredible. The skies were clearing off and it was windy and freezing my face. Because it was Presidents Day weekend, the hill was packed. We took a couple breaks to avoid the people and by the afternoon, all the powder had been compacted into bumps. The new snow was fun and sounds like there might be more on the way.

Mt. Rose

2011-01-23T23:53:00.000-08:00

I wrote this a couple weeks ago, but my computer crapped out so I'm just getting around to posting it.

For awhile I have wanted to snowshoe to the top of Mt. Rose, but there was always some reason why it didn't work out. Saturday I set out to fix that.

Mt. Rose is the closest wilderness area near town and the most prominent peak you see from Reno. It is popular for hiking and back country skiing and is less then a half hour from my house. I got to the parking lot about 9am and headed out, immediately losing the trail. Because it's a wilderness, there aren't reflective markers, like you find on most snow trails. I had the guide book and reading the description made my way across the valley to the base of the mountain climb. It was a "choose your own adventure" type of day. There were signs of minor avalanches in some of the chutes, but most was tracked with skis. I avoided any dangerous situation. The last half mile there was no snow so I hiked cross country to the top. On the ridge was the first time I saw the trail all day. I got there about 1.10, took a few pictures and was out of there.

The weather was perfect all day. Clear, sunny and in the high 30s. Only on top of the ridge did I have cold wind. 20 minutes after leaving the top, a helicopter came in and circled the summit. I thought it was some people heli-skiing down the face of rose as a stunt. It left and came back a couple times and it was annoying me because a wilderness area is not supposed to have any machines or motors in it. It was intruding on my experience.

The hike out was exhausting and used all of my energy. The sun was getting lower and it was cold in the shadow of the mountain. To avoid going down and up valleys I was walking on a side slope following a cross country ski track. With firm snow and snow shoes, it was not simple walking. I made it back to the parking lot at 4, and was surprised to see it was full of search and rescue vehicles. As I went to pull out, they stopped me so the helicopter could land on the highway to drop off rescuers. It was the same helicopter I had seen earlier. So it wasn't skiiers after all. Later I read on the newspaper website that they were retrieving a body of an apparent suicide. I didn't see anything like that when I was up there, but tragic. It was a great hike, but quite challenging, seeing the search and rescue made me feel good to be out and alive.

Kraft Bowl

2011-01-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Eve's parents gave me a ticket to join their family at the Kraft Bowl game. UNR was playing BC in San Francisco.

We only went down for one night and got to hang out with Eve's brother David and his girlfriend Amelia. It was kind of weird to go to San Francisco just for a football game, we didn't really plan to have much time doing anything else.

The game was at the Giants field and we had great seats in the field bleachers. We were behind the BC bench, but surrounded by Nevada fans. The game could be a bit of a blur without announcers telling you everything that was happening on the field. When we got home I rewatched the game to catch things I missed.

UNR won and afterwards Eve and I rushed the field with everyone else. It was really exciting. I'm glad I was able to go to a college bowl game and have my team win!

New Years Eve

2011-01-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

For New Years Eve, Eve was working at a casino as a showgirl. So we went out the night before to celebrate.

On New Years, I stalked Eve through the casino as she took pictures with everyone. By the end she said her eyes hurt from so many flashes. Apparently cell phone cameras are the worst.

Christmas

2010-12-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my family came out to Reno again and we spent the week in Truckee and did Christmas at my new house.

We had a great time staying in Truckee. The house was in a beautiful setting overlooking a snowy wood. Blake and I went sking during the day and my dad did a little snowshoeing. My mom relaxed at the house. We took a day and went to Lake Tahoe and explored Truckee.

We came back Christmas Eve and everyone stayed at my house. It was fun being able to host everyone. Christmas day we made a fire and opened presents.

Pre Christmas

2010-12-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

So I got back into town on Tuesday and my family was coming out for Christmas on Saturday. I did some work before hand to get a tree and decorate the house. But I think I got everything ready in time.

Christmas time is here!

New York City

2010-12-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

Eve had a performance with her modern dance company Belle in New York City. She convinced me to tag along for a little vacation. It was great because I got to see my brother and cousin's family while I was in town as well.

So we took the red eye through SLC and got in at 6am. Eve and I were staying in a couples apartment that we found on www.airbnb.com. As a little plug, it's a great service. It was an extra bedroom that they had and they charged 55 dollars a night. The hotel right next door was 110 a night. I think it's much more comfortable to stay in a house and there is access to a stove, fridge and microwave. I would recommend it as a way to travel for cheaper. That aside, they let us check into our room at 8am and then we met up with the rest of the company for brunch, then went back to the space to rehearse.

I left a little early to go see my cousin Sarah, Donny and their daughter Claire in Brooklyn. It was great to catch up and it was amazing to see how much Claire, had grown. The last time I was in town was for her christening. We went to the park and Claire played, then back to their place for dinner and hanging out.

From there I met my brother who had just finished working and we went out with his roommates for a drink.

Saturday we got up and met the company for brunch again. Eve and I went on a walk through Central Park and were surprised by tons of drunk people dressed as santa everywhere. Some looked like they were in a pretty rough state for it only being 3pm. We had a great tour of the park and got most of the highlights.

That night was Eve's performance. Her company put on 3 solos and a duet and another couple did three pieces together. Eve was one of the solos and did a really good job. It's modern dance, so a lot like modern art. It can be everywhere and be interpreted differently. Blake came out for the show and tried to make out what it meant to him. It was a little hard to get a picture during the performance.

Sunday we had tickets to see Promises, Promises. We met up with Blake for a cuban brunch. I had an amazing Guava mimosa and all of meals were sweetened with plantains. The show was good. It had Sean Hayes (will and grace), Kristen Chenoweth (broadway) and Molly Shannon (snl, etc.). It was fun to see people act live that I had seen on TV, and it really was more like a live action movie.

We stopped by McSorleys for an after show drink and then met up with my brothers to watch the cowboys game.

Monday, Eve and I had the city to explore. We started off in Greenwich at my favorite coffee store. Porto Rico makes amazing coffee. From there we went to the B+H super center and Eve got a camera. We walked down 34th to Macy's, H+M and I got a phone at the verizon store. Pretty exciting. We walked up 5th to Rockafeller center to look at the tree. We got dinner and then went back to Greenwich for a desert crepe.

It was a big day and we were exhausted. Tuesday we got up and flew home. As always New York was exciting and I can't wait to visit again.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

After the Rally, I went to homecoming which was a whirlwind of friends and fun. From there I stopped into Ontario, CA for a meeting and then back home. A short two weeks later it was Thanksgiving and Eve and I went to see my friends in Portland.

But first I made my first trip by the slopes to get a couple hours on the new snow. It was hard to believe it was before thanksgiving and there were already powder days.

Thanksgiving at Kristina and Aaron's has almost become a tradition. This was the third in a row and just as much fun as all the others. Kyle and John were back and Kyle brought his girlfriend, Jericho. We kept wednesday tame, after being hungover last year. We started Thursday with mimosas and then made a run to the grocery store. Eve and I made a salad and sautaed brussels sprouts with carrots. Kyle made an enormous amount of mashed potatos and served them all. The turkey took a little longer then expected, but football was on so no one noticed.

Dinner was overwhelming and fantastic. After which, we rolled our way out and saw Catfish. We saw it at Living Room theaters, which had huge loveseat chairs like a millionares personal movie theater.

Friday we went out to the Clear Creek distillery and sampled a variety of distilled fruits. We quickly left to watch Oregon beat Arizona. Following that was the hard fought UNR/Boise State game. We watched the second half of the thrilling game.

Saturday, Eve and I did a little tour of Portland. We went to Powells and Eve found every dance book ever made, I picked up a traveloge of a trip through Chile. We stopped by the saturday market which was exciting and vibrant and went to voodoo doughnuts but the line was 100 yards long. We met up with Kristina, Aaron, Kyle and Jericho at the Portland City Grill with a great view of the city. It was a bit dreary and you couldn't see Hood, but it was relaxing all the same. That night we went out to The Alibi for all night kareoke, and I saw the best move ever. This guy got up and sang a song from the Little Mermaid and had every girl singing along with him. Best karaoke pickup line ever.

Sunday we did brunch, packed and did a quick drive around the city. As always it was a great time and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

2010-11-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

Since I was already on the East Coast for a meeting, I figured I'd stay the weekend and seem my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. It just happened that the weekend after the meeting was the same time as the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Perfect timing. My brother decided to come down from NYC and it was a full family affair.

I met up with Blake on Friday afternoon at the American portrait gallery. From there we grabbed some lunch and walked over to the Air and Space museum. We only meant to stop by, but spent a good 2.5 hours wandering the halls. We had visited on our first family trip to DC and some familiar exhibits were still up.

From there we took the train over to the white house and had some amazing evening light to take pictures. Our uncle Charles met us there and we went to dinner and met up with Chris and Carolyn, cousins from another uncle.

We stayed with Charles, Pat and their son Jay that night and Saturday Carolyn met us at their house to go down to the Rally. I don't know if any of us really knew what to expect, but when we got to the subway station, the line was 100 yards long. We knew it was going to be a crowded day. After spending an hour in line to get a ticket, we finally made it onto the platform and the waiting train. For the first few stops people packed in pretty tight, and eventually turned to shouting NO at each stop that people wanted to join. I was glad we started from the end of the line.

They had only predicted 60,000 people would show up, but when we got there, I think there was closer to 200,000. At least 3 times their prediction. We started near the front and eventually filed in near the doors of the Air and Space museum. I bet we were about half way back. We made it to the near middle which was actually roomier then the crowded sides. We could barely see the stage from where we were, so really it was more like watching it on TV with a couple thousand friends.

There were jokes, music and presentations. Two of my favorite were the benediction by Guido Sarducci and Joseph Islam (Cat Stevens) singing Peace Train. He has certainly aged better then Bob Dylan. The first hour of the show was great, the second hour the performances seemed more put together by a producer. Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples sang, and they are pushing a new album, then Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow sang a new song and will probably be pushing an album soon. The awards were great and I think the Detroit pitcher was the most deserving. We left as Jon Stewart gave his closing speech. It took us under an hour to get from the Mall back to the car, which would have been much longer later. We all kept expecting Bruce Springsteen to show up, but he never did.

We had went out for a fun dinner at a japanese restaurant that cooks in front of you and went back to watch the Rangers win and UT loose.

It was a great weekend and a lot of fun hanging out with family. Traveling for work has lots of upsides.

Shepherdstown, WV

2010-11-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

While my counterpart has been away, I have been acting as the GIS Manager for the Nevada State Office. It's been busy with the extra responsibility, and allows me to travel for more meetings. Most recently, I got to spend a week in Shepherdstown, WV for the BLM GIS Mangers meeting for all the states. It was busy planning out the BLM GIS objectives for 2011. We had a very successful 2010 in integrating GIS with a few programs and creating BLM wide datasets.

I won't try to explain what that means, but the place we got to meet in was amazing. It was at the National Conservation Training Center, off of the Potomac. The fall colors of the leaves were at their peak and the weather was nice and cool. We spent much of our time in planning meetings and small groups, but the walks between meals were gorgeous.

It kind of felt like summer camp, except this one included a bar. We had all of our meals together, met together and then relaxed in the evening together. Most of the time we just talked about work. It was really great networking, but was pretty exhausting.

Thursday afternoon we took a field trip to the nearby Antinetam Battlefield. It was the first large battle of the Civil War and the most single day casualties on America soil. Around 23,000 people lost their life that day. Standing there on a beautiful fall day, it was hard to believe such calamity occurred.

Being in the area reminded me of being on the AT again, I hope I can go to more meetings there.

House!

2010-11-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Last February I bought a house in Reno. It needed a little work which is why I haven't put up many pictures. The biggest thing it needed was to have the exterior painted. At first I was going to try doing it myself and put a lot of time into it, my mom even came out to help. I began to realize that it was to big of a project for me, so I hired someone to come out and finish. It's great to compare the picture I took when I was looking at houses to what it looks like now.

Here are some pictures of the living room as well. I found that couch on craigslist for 200 dollars which inspired an upgrade to everything else.

Next up is completing the basement. I don't think I'll have very many before pictures which is unfortunate, but the after shots should be good.

100 Mile Wilderness

2010-10-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

After completing my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in 2005 I always thought it would be fun to go back to Maine for the autumn leaf change. I thought it would be a great thing to do with my Dad and make it a photo safari. Well, it was a little more intense then I remembered. Apparently after hiking 1000 miles, you don't really notice the rocks and roots.

On the flight over, I flew over southern Utah/Northern AZ and picked out Monument Valley. We did a family trip there when I was a kid. It's actually kind of hard to pick out from the air.

We flew into Boston and drove up to my friend Erin, and her boyfriend's house. I first met Erin and her mom when I was in Georgia on the AT. Waiting for us at Erin's house were her parents. A real surprise. I last met them when I was in Maine and it was fun to see them again. Hard to believe it had been five years. They waited till 10pm to have dinner with us that Erin made with vegetables from her garden. It was delicious. In the morning we had pancakes with maple syrup from Erin's family farm. There's nothing like it.

From there we headed up to Monson, to drop off our car where we would be finishing and then drove around to Abol Bridge to start. We set off and our goal was to cover 100 miles in the next eleven days. We brought a lot of food.

The first day we hiked 3 miles to the first shelter. We got there early and set up camp next to the lake. We realized we had both forgotten our flashlights. It was the next day we got a taste of what we might be in for. It was less of a trail and more a path of roots and rocks. I think when I was hiking I just became accustomed to bad footing.

The weather started out hot and humid, very much not what we were expecting from late September in Maine. At night it rained, but it never seemed to cool anything off. The next couple of days were pretty typical, rocks and roots, and not enough leaves. On the 5th night, we got in early to Cooper Falls shelter and had time to rinse off in the stream and enjoy the nearby waterfall. It was dry enough to hang up our clothes and equipment to dry out.

The next day we got in early and decided to push 3.6 miles on to the next shelter. It started to rain and then didn't stop. It was also 3.6 miles straight up. Not just a steep trail, but vertical up 60 degree rock faces. It was intense. By the time we got to the shelter we were drenched. Dad crashed in the shelter and I crashed in the tent, cold and wet.

We tried to wait out the rain in the morning, but at 10am we had to push out. It was our first day in the mountians. 6.7 miles and 4 summits. The elevations didn't make the climbs sound hard, but it was straight up and down the whole way. Add to that the trail was a swamp. Sometimes a running stream. There were some areas submerged 6 inches or more. Nothing was waterproof in this weather. We got to the shelter just after 5 and missed the last two spots in the shelter. We were to exhausted to cook, and just passed out. We didn't take any pictures that day. Easily one of the hardest ugliest day of hiking for either of us.

Over night the storm cleared and the wind picked up drying things out nicely. After a little delay drying things out before leaving camp, we headed down the trail to a cool blue day. We stopped by the Gulf Haggis canyon which has a pretty spectacular waterfall. Then came the river crossing. Two days before it was running about ankle deep, today it was above my knee.

That night we didn't quite make it to the shelter, but had a great campsite next to a lake. In the morning was a beautiful sunrise with steam rising off the lake. The cool air brought out more colors in the leaves and the rocky climb up Chairback provided great views. The vistas were filled with red, orange and yellow trees. We also realized that the trees change colors from the top to bottom, so the canopy would be red, but only green could be seen at ground level.

We didn't make it to the shelter again, but had a quick camp next to a little stream. Now the 10th day we made a late push to get to the shelter just before dark. Surprisingly, there were no other hikers already there. One soon showed up. We'd seen about 20 thru-hikers a day up till then and the shelters had been quite full. I didn't realize so many people would be finishing up at the end of September. It was a great place to camp for our last night on the trail.

Ten miles from the end seemed like too many more rocks for us, so we chose to bushwhack 2 miles downstream to a road. It wasn't as fast as hoped, but we got to the road about 2pm. After about an hour of walking, the first truck to drive by picked us up and took us to our car. We took a stroll down to the lake to see where I lost my boot on my first hike and on the way back to the car had a resounding high-5. If it was a movie it would be freeze-frame, roll credits.

The epilogue was a night in Monson. We went to the only bar in town where a few straggling hikers were drinking with the locals. It felt good to be done and the trip was a success. The bar had a dock on the lake with a few brilliant trees shimmering in the setting sun. At night they floated out a little barge and lit a bonfire on the lake, while we went through e-mail at the bar. We missed the breakfast in the morning at Shaw's because we had to leave at 5am to make it to Boston for the flight home.

It was a hard trip, but a good trip.

Videos

2010-10-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I've had my new camera now for four months and just got around to installing the updated software so now I can download the short videos I've been taking with it.

These are videos that should have appeared with their original blog post. Here they are in one post

The Bare Naked Ladies show from, Epic Friday:

The Avett Brothers and a cover of a Paul Simon song from High Sierra Music Festival:

The Vortex rock ballet:

The roaming Roller Skate disco at Union Square San Francisco performing Michael Jackson's Thriller:

Planes flying racing at the Air Races:

Air Races

2010-09-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, Eve took me to the Reno Air Races. It is the last event where planes race against each other as a group. It's a circular course and the pilots are required to stay between 50 and 250 feet off the ground.

We got tickets to the pits and got to see the planes and the crews up close.

It had been awhile since I'd been to an air show. As a kid I don't think I appreciated the areodynamics of the stunts the pilots were doing. The trick pilots would do flips and cartwheels, and the fighter jets would slow down to what seemed like 40 MPH.

The races were good, but I thought a little short. They'd do 5 - 7 laps around the course, for a total of 40 miles, but at speeds of around 400MPH. It made your heart jump.

Balloon Races

2010-09-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

From Dallas, I flew to Denver for work. Friday I came home to Reno and the next day was the Reno Balloon Races. A friend of Eve's lives near the park they launch the balloons and has a breakfast party every year.

We got up at 4 in the morning and over to the park. Before the sun comes up they have a morning glow. They stand up a few balloons to light up. Then set up and launch five balloons at day break. It was a great show.

We went back to the house for breakfast and mimosas. We had a nice time hanging out, and watching dogs chew bones. Then we heard a jet as a balloon floated 40 feet above the house. We walked back down to the park to see 75 balloons floating over the hills. It was a tranquil scene.

Then it was time for a nap.

Matt and Lindsey's Wedding

2010-09-08T20:44:00.001-07:00

I got back from the fire Monday, had a quick work week and then headed to Dallas Friday. It was my birthday Sunday as well as my good friends Matt and Lindsey's wedding. A lot of my friends were going to be in town for the wedding and it was good to see them all again.

I didn't take enough pictures, but it was a relaxing weekend. It was an odd back and forth between seeing my family and hanging out with my friends. Everyone seemed to be doing well and I tried to convince a few to make trips to Reno. Ski season is right around the corner!

Long Butte Fire

2010-08-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

I had a great productive weekend on the house, and was planning on going tubing Sunday when I got a call to go to a fire. It was the Long Butte Fire outside of Twin Falls, ID. When I got there that night it had already burned close to 300,000 acres in the first 30 hours and there was fire everywhere.

The next morning a lot of it had burned out. There was still work to do and stuff was still burning, but it didn't significantly grow in size. It was a good bit of work and I got to go up in a helicopter to map unburned islands within the fire. Pretty awesome way to see it.

We would have been done by Friday, except Thursday night we got a huge lightning storm and 4 new starts in our area. We could see one of the columns of smoke from camp and everyone got pretty excited. I grabbed some pictures. We almost had them wrapped up Saturday, but the fire crept across the line and blew out another couple thousand acres.

Marguerite's Wedding

2010-08-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

Marguerite got married in August at the beginning of August. I met Dave a few years ago and I was excited to go. I was also looking forward to show Eve around Winnemucca.

We got to Winnemucca and went to the Martin, it's still delicious. We stayed with my friends Matt and Amanda. Saturday morning we were at the golf course at 8am for a round of golf. We played a scramble where we played whomever had the best shot. It had been a decade since I tried golf and I started out horrible. As the round went on, I got better, and finally on the last shot I made the long put to give our team an eagle. It was enough to make me want to go back.

After the golf game was the marriage at the tee box. It was a nice simple ceremony and real cute. Afterwards they had the reception right there and everyone had a good time. I had to go back and take a nap. That night was pretty slow and we hung out with Matt and Amanda and some of their mining friends.

Sunday we took the long way home and went by the playa and ran into Justin. Then we headed over to the Burning Man fence to look in. Looks like it's going to be a dusty year.

NOLA Bachelor Party

2010-08-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

My good friend Matt is getting married in September, so we had his bachelor party the first weekend of August in New Orleans.

We had a great time, but unfortunately my camera died sometime saturday so I didn't get pictures of the amazing dinner at Emril's, our classy breakfast at Brennan's or the smaller dinner at August. All were excellent with lots of wine to drink. We stayed at the Omni, which happened to be having a wrap party for the Real World on Sunday. Who knew?

So what did I get pictures of? There are a few from the street the first night and some from the bus tour we took of New Orleans on Saturday. We stopped by Columns which I would highly recommend, and get whatever the bartender recommends. I think it was the sazerac.

We all had a great time, and I can't wait for the next one. Who else needs to get married?

San Francisco

2010-08-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Eve and I took a weekend trip to San Francisco, to escape and explore.

We left in the afternoon and dealt with traffic on either side of Sacramento, but the bay bridge wasn't the worst I'd seen. We got into the city in time to check into our hotel, the Embassy. It was a neat 30's art deco building. We lucked out and got a corner room, and if you book on hotels.com there's free parking. The continental breakfast is not a lot, but it's on the same block as world famous Brenda's French Soul Food. Think creol, New Orleans style. Beignets and great grits.

After moving into our room, we went to AT&T park and watched the giants game. It was the first in the series against the rival LA. It was a good game that they almost lost in the 9th, but closed it down to win by one.

We strolled back to the hotel and through union square. We were sitting watching a couple people on roller blades when all of a sudden dozens of people showed up on skates pushing a stroller with a boombox. They had organized dances to song, mostly versions of the electric slide. But we were treated to Thriller on skates. Quite unexpected.

Saturday we got up and explored. It was going to be a very art intense day. I had saw online about the Scott Nichols gallery and wanted to check it out. When we got there we found the entire building was art galleries. It's on 49 Geary and I highly recommend it. It reminded me of an art co-op, but filled with world class works. The Nichols gallery was our favorite with a window into the framing room, pictures stacked on walls and a great series of important images. Other galleries were more formal and organized, but they were all free and all for sale. Everyone was real nice and would tell you whatever you wanted about the art. I really liked it and will be back there anytime I go to Frisco.

From there we headed over to the SFMOMA. They had a great exhibit celebrating their 75th anniversiery so they pulled out all the best works they've acquired since they've opened. Some real classics I was glad to see in person. My favorite was Diego Rivera's Flower Carrier.

Diego Rivera "The Flower Carrier" It was much larger then I expected.

Frida Khalo

Matisse

Mondrian

Braque

Margritte

Lichtenstein

They also had a show called "From Calder to Warhol." The Calder was poorly lit and an uninspiring display. There was no movement or flow. The Warhol stuff was really good and impressive.

I didn't know the Elvis' were this big.

From there we went up to the Orpheum theater to enter the raffle for tickets to Wicked. Eve's was the first name called, so we got tickets for 25 bucks. We quickly changed in the room and went out for dinner at the Heavan's Dog chinese food. It was quite impressive and put to shame any chinese food I've ever had. We had the roasted duck and the scallops. The scallops were the most amazing. Desert was a caramel mousse on a cocoa streusel with a homemade caramel pecan sauce. It was heavenly. The show was great. I hadn't seen a broadway show in years and this one was perfect. It's the back story of the Wizard of Oz. Where the traveling characters came from, why the witch became the wicked witch, and why the wicked witch was green. I would highly recommend it.

The next morning we met up with Eve's brother and his girlfriend at Brenda's for brunch. We walked around the Civic center and saw them shooting a Mitsubishi commercial, then headed home. In Sacramento we had our first experience at IKEA and was as impressed as everyone promised. It is an amazing store. On the way home we experienced some horrible traffic on 80. I think it's easier and quicker to drive in the winter with the snow, minus the construction.

I hope the next time I go to San Francisco, I'm there for a week.

Vortex

2010-07-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Eve was in the rock ballet Vortex as a part of Artown. I went both nights and had a lot of fun.

This was the first ballet I'd ever been to. And was one of the more non-traditional. The dancers were great, but I really liked the more classic pieces. Eve was in a trio that was my favorite of the entire show.

After the second night we went out to an after party and then to five star. There were a few weird looks at the girls with their makeup but I thought it was fun. More people should go out to bars looking like that.

Olympia

2010-07-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

From San Diego, I headed to Olympia for an extended training.

I was in Olympia for three days and really like the town. I was surprised when I got there that so many people were sitting on chairs outside, I knew it meant fireworks. I checked in and they said fireworks started at 10. Fortunately my room overlooked the entire fair and I got fun shots of the fireworks.

Walking around town there were a lot of nice pictures too. The cold wet climate felt great.

The flight back was a tour of the major mountains of the cascades. I don't know why more people don't look out the window when they fly.

Mt. Rainier

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Hood

San Diego

2010-07-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

I went to San Diego for the ESRI GIS conference and stayed for the weekend to hang out with Jeremy, Tony, Nicole and Amanda.

The conference was pretty cool. They said there was about 12,000 people there representing 154 countries. It's kind of amazing some people come from so far away when it was only an hour and a half flight for me. When I landed it was the final game of the world cup, so I hung out in the airport bar to watch the game.

There were lots of great presentations and displays. Abu Dhabi had a really large presentation with a huge screen tv with a model of the city. It was pretty impressive. I worked our booth for a couple hours one day and meet people from Iraq, Cyprus, Greece, Sweeden to name a few. Someone measured the building at a mile long and figure each person walks about 5 miles a day while there. It was exhausting and then there was the going out at night.

Friday, Tony picked me up and we went to a bar-b-q at Jeremy's. Sadly no pictures. The next day Jeremy and I hung out while Nicole was at a bacholrette party. We had a good lazy morning, got burritos and went to the beach. He only lives two blocks away which is pretty amazing. In the afternoon, Tony and Amanda came back and we went back to the beach to throw the frisbee some more. From there we stopped by a happy hour and then a delicious pizza place. All in two blocks from Jeremy's

That night Jeremy, Nicole and I went on a bar crawl around there house. It was a lot of fun and we found some fun drink specials. If you couldn't guess, it was a bit of an early night after such a long day.

Sunday, Amanda and Tony had all of us over for brunch and made blueberry pancakes with bacon and eggs. It was delicious and a great way to hang out with old friends. Eventually I had to leave and headed to Olympia for a training.

Pops in the Park

2010-07-12T01:01:00.001-07:00

Eve works for the Pioneer center in town which is the local theater. They bought a table at the Pops in the Park fundraiser for the symphony.

The theme for the table was the Pioneer Center, building. It was a lot of fun hanging out and eating and the music was great. They ended the show with fireworks but we were a little close to enjoy them.

Afterwards we did a little bar hopping...

4th of July

2010-07-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

I had a very busy 4th of July!

First I left on Friday and headed out to Quincy for the High Sierra Music Festival. I heard it was the best festival so I had to check it out. We got there Friday afternoon and set up camp. We missed the rush so had to stay in the annex. It wasn't that bad because we had some entertaining neighbors and room to camp in.

After we pitched camp, we went and saw the Avett Brothers that were great, then we took a tour of the vendors. I Have to say Avatar imports was the craziest name.

There was this one band that was playing on top of an RV. They were pretty good for being unaffiliated. There were some great stilt costumes. I ran into Hayes and didn't know he'd be there. Then we went back and watched Widespread Panic. That night we got tickets for the late show which was Beats Antique which Eve really liked and the Marchforth Marching Band. It was a long and great night.

The next day we ran some errands and then caught the end of BLVD, my favorite discovery of the weekend. We went over and saw Trombone Shorty which was great and the headliner was the Black Crows. I thought they were good, but tried to fit a 45 minute show into 2 hours, so there was a lot of solos and other time fillers. Even and I laid down in the grass and looked for satellites.

So Sunday was the 4th and we needed to leave. We took the long way back and passed through Nevada City. They were having a quaint 4th of July festivities. We couldn't stay around for the parade, but we did get a hot dog and ice cream.

For the evening of the 4th we had a bar-b-q at Eve's house which has a great view of the valley and the fireworks from the nugget. It was a great view.

Monday was the holiday so we headed up to Tahoe. Eve dropped me off at Tahoe meadows and I hiked the 13 miles to sand harbor where she was meeting friends on the beach. It was such a great day I ran most of the way, it was hard not to. And wrapped up perfectly at Sand Harbor.

End of June

2010-06-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

With the new camera, I ended up taking it wherever I went and this is some of what I did at the end of June.

Heading to the airport I saw this awesome cloud. It looks like a cap cloud that blew of Mt. Rose.

Eve took me out for sushi at Hiroba. It was amazing and in a really odd shopping mall. But for 16.95 all you can eat, it's impossible to beat. The round one has banana on it.

My college friend Zach came through town with his band and Matt and Amanda were in town staying with me. We all went to the show and Eve met up with us. It was great to see Zach and playing live. I'm always jealous of the Austin shows, so I'm glad I got to see it. We all agreed, he was better then the main act.

Saturday, Eve got a haircut and wanted to go out on the town. We met up with a lot of her friends at the West Street Wine Bar I wasn't up for wine, but got a classy Chimay.

Epic Friday

2010-06-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

I bought a new camera, the Cannon S90. So I expect to be taking many more pictures now.

So I took it out when I went to the USA world cup game Friday at 7am. In the first five minutes it was useful because I saw this truck that had been repainted by what I assume was someone's ex-girlfriend.

We enjoyed the game and glad it was a tie, but were looking for the win. Lost that bet...

From there, Tara, Matt and I had the day off work so we decided to kill some time and watch the 11am england game. So we stopped by a casino, because it was the only bar open at 10am, then headed for the ballpark.

Tara works for the Aces so people started joining us for lunch. The game itself was pretty boring, but we had a lot of fun. Pitchers of beer kept coming, and they messed up our brawt order, so we got two extras for free. We couldn't help but laugh when we saw our bill was 16 dollars.

From there we decided to go on a tour of the ball park. We checked out the suites and the seats behind home plate. Then stopped by Tara's office and hung out in the locker room. We were pretty stoked when we found the eye black strips.

From there Matt left and Tara and I went and hung out in the dugout. Certainly a different perspective on the ball field. We hung out drinking a growler that Tara's coworker had brewed. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and pace ourselves for the rest of the night.

We left to go grab dinner when we heard music coming from the bars and remembered the Bare Naked Ladies were playing a small acoustic set at the bar. We dropped in and sat in were sitting about 40 feet from the stage. We only saw a few songs, but it was entertaining to happen in on.

We went downstairs to eat at the new Mexican food place and it didn't quite live up to the hype. But it was pretty nice at the end of the meal when our waiter said our bill had been taken care of. From there we headed back downtown to see the Tour de Nez critirum bike race. It has been years since I've seen a bike race and it was as exciting as I remembered. We got a beer from Jungle Vino and a to-go cup to watch the race.

While we were watching the race we saw two guys we met during the NCAA championship, Kyle and Colby. After the race we met up with them at a Imperial, then went down to the Tap House. Matt came back and rejoined us and we went to the Old Bridge Pub and then over to the St. James Infirmary. By this point it was midnight and time to go to bed.

I never thought when I left my house I'd be gone for so long, but I'm glad I grabbed my camera on the way out.

View Larger Map

Reno Odyssey

2010-06-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Reno Tahoe Odyssey is a 12 person, 178 mile race that starts in Reno, goes up to Lake Tahoe, down into Carson City, up and out to Virgina City and back down into Reno.

My friends Austin and Kerry put together a team, and I was the 11 leg. We split up into two cars, so we could get breaks between the legs. We spent a lot of time decorating the car, on our first set of legs. Our first section went from Truckee around up to Lake Tahoe. I ran along the river to where it comes out of the lake, which was very pretty.

After that we went to Jill's in South Lake Tahoe and slept for about an hour, before packing up and meeting the other car at the top of Kingsbury Grade. It was neat to see all the people running through town with lights on, and the course was mostly empty except for us. I had a flat night run that felt great. Our section took us from the pass, down through Genoa and out to Carson City.

After Carson, we had to pick up an extra leg because Austin had injured himself. Laura and I split it, but worst was we didn't really get to sleep. After the leg we drove to Virgina City and cat napped in the car. Fortunately the bar, Bucket of Blood, opened special at 5am. I had a delicious bloody mary.

In Virgina City we got to see the Battle Born team go by. It's all elite distance runners from Nevada who are in it to win it. They did the whole thing in under 18 hours. That means they averaged under 6 min. miles for the entire thing. Going downhill, I'm sure they were doing 4.5 min. Unfortunately there are not pictures, because as some one said, it's like a meteor going by.

Our last leg was the longest, hardest and hottest. We picked it up just out of Virgina City and back into Reno. I walked a lot of my segment, but so were a lot of other people. At the end we were glad to be done, took an amazing shower and passed out. I might just be up to do it again next year.

Runnamuck

2010-06-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

Mom came out to help with the house and celebrate Mothers Day. She picked a great weekend. We won our softball game, ran the runnamuck and worked on my house. Pictures of the house to come later.

Ski Jumping

2010-06-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

It took awhile to get these up here, but I'm catching up.

At the end of the season, Mt. Rose was putting on some games. Matt an I went skiing and to watch the pond skim. For it being april, it was a little chilly, and the water was pretty cold too. The reaction on peoples face when they went in was pretty intense. You could see shock almost instantly set in. Fortunately there were life guards to pull people out.

Matt and I took the time to hit a few jumps and take a few pictures.

The guy with this car was exactly what you'd expect.

A great day for skiing.

Recent Activities

2010-03-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

I have been busy recently. But unfortunately don't have good pictures of any of it. I blame the stress of the house (see previous post).

Alex and Casey stopped by to visit for a night 10 days ago. I took them on a tour of Reno. We saw a tournament at the bowling stadium, sad people in casinos, disturbing hula hoopers and other wonderful things of Reno. We came back to my place and had steaks and a long night of telling stories. I have no pictures of any of this, and I regret that, but I fully enjoyed the moment.

I've been skiing more regularly. It started over beers with friends of friends at a bar and now we've been skiing the past four weeks in a row. The season is coming to a close in the next couple of weeks and the conditions are getting gross, but it's been fun. I did get a picture of Matt, Tara and I at Sugarbowl last weekend, since it was probably Tara's last weekend. And Tara took some pictures of Matt and I hitting some jumps.

The Humboldt Boaters had an event in Reno. I led the bar tour on Friday night for Vince and Justin. Then on Saturday morning we went out for breakfast at Pegs Glorified Ham and Eggs. I wish I could eat there every day.

We also had our first softball practice of the year. A group put together by a network of friends where no one knows everyone. The weather was perfect, and it'll be a great way to bring in summer. I hope to have more photos of games during the summer.

I have a feeling it's going to be a good summer!

New House

2010-02-28T22:41:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons for my lack of posts is I bought a house! I think the official close date was February 22nd. I started this process back in August and put the offer on my current place in October. I can't believe it took so long, but if you ever want to hear about a short sale, I can tell you the inside-out.

I have spent a lot of the last month moving in and trying to get things put away. The house I bought was only 3 blocks from where I was living. 3 blocks or 300 miles, moving is annoying. I didn't want to take any pictures until I felt situated.

View Larger Map
A is my first house, B is my new house

My house was built in 1926 and was one of the first expansions in Reno to be south of the river. It's a craftsmen home that has seen a lot. It has a full basement, which I know to my Texas friends is a novelty. It's great to have a place to keep all my gear.

I have already done a bit to improve the place. I spent a long time cleaning it. I also spent a long time trying to get the lighting right. The last guy put the max wattage of lights in every fixture. Eventually I got it to a place I was satisfied. I'm excited to have have a large bookshelf and a mantle, now I just need some trophies to put on it.

It is easy to see that it needs a paint job. That is my goal for the month of April. Then May might be taking on the back yard and June will be some beginning work in the basement. Expect more updates in the future.

Lost Coast Trail

2010-02-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

To say I'm behind would be an under statement. Hopefully I'll get caught up soon. I'll post date these for around the time they should have come up. Things have just been so busy.

For President's Day, I met Justin at Dave's new home in Garberville, CA, middle of Humboldt County. We were going to spend the weekend hiking on the Lost Coast of California. It's called the lost coast because it's an 80 mile section where the soil was too unstable to put the coastal highway along, so it is the largest part of the Pacific shoreline inaccessible by cars.

We got there Friday night. I had a relaxing drive from Sacramento where I had stayed with Vince. On the way up I drove through Brooks, CA and made a pit stop at a redwood grove. Their size and stature is unexplainable. I wish I could climb a ladder to the top of one, just to fully appreciate their size.

We were dropped off at the trail head by Dave's boss and set out on the trail. The first five minutes was the last time we were really dry for the entire trip. We hiked up and across the ridge to kings peak, the tallest point of the range. We couldn't see much of anything the entire time because of the rain and cloud. Crossing the ridge in a rainy, misty cloud made me feel like I was on the AT back in Tennessee. Dave wanted to be tough and never put on his raincoat, and was soaked when we got to camp. Good thing he brought a lot of clothes. We put up our tents and took a nap from 6 - 8.30. We hung out in tents for a bit, then went to bed about 10 and didn't get up till 7. We slept a lot this trip.

It was a vacation, so we didn't want to stress ourselves to much. We hiked down the ridge to a river that led to the ocean. The trail crossed the river three or four times, some places were thigh high. Fortunately no one fell, the water was pretty swift and cold. It didn't really rain for most of the day, a couple times we almost saw the sun.

At the coast we set up camp and the sky began to lift. Not quite a sunset, but it was dry enough to start a fire. We camped on a grass covered bench. There is still a lot of seismic activity in the area and earthquakes have lifted up benches of the ocean floor that now sit above the land. You can see four or five different benches along the beach. It was a real pleasant evening sitting around the fire. We were in bed by 8.30 or 9.

When we woke up the next morning about 8, it was raining. The tide was coming in which makes the coast impassably, so we decided to wait out the rain. About noon, we still hadn't left the tents and the rain was still falling. We rolled around and drifted in and out of sleep. At 2 we decided it was time to get going. Low tide was at 5, and a couple hours before and after the tight places are passable. We got moving about 3 and the rain stopped for the most part.

The hike along the beach was great. It was true wilderness. There was no sign of a trail or even footsteps from anyone else. Just keep the ocean on your right and you are heading the right way. There were a couple tight areas where you had to time the wave to get around the point. Occasionally there would be a large wave that would send you running up the shore. We saw some seals and found some starfish. We even saw an eroding landslide coming off the cliff. There were a couple streams to cross, which would flood when the waves hit. One time Justin was taking off his boots and a rogue wave came on shore. He only had time to grab his boots and pack. I looked back and saw him standing thigh high in the surf.

We could have camped, but decided to hike the last two miles out in the dark fog. It was a great trip and it was good to see Dave and his family. The lost coast is an amazing place and I would recommend it for any trip, just be sure to bring a rain coat.

Beef!

2010-02-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine in Winnemucca raises a couple cows every year and havests them in the fall. I said I was interested and bought a half rack. Basically one half of a cow. So I bought a chest freezer and Matt and Amanda brought down the meat.

Now to answer some basic questions. It cost 652 dollars and the chest freezer was from craigslist for 200. I'm not sure of the final weight, but the hanging weight was about 280 pounds. You loose some when it's sliced and diced, but overall it's less then store bought. The steaks are huge and delicious. There is probably 15 pounds of stew meat and 30 or so ground beef. So if you have a good meatball recipe let me know. Seeing it all wrapped in little packages is kind of weird. I organized it by cuts and it was a little dexter-ish if you know what I mean.

Tahoe ski trip

2010-01-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

So it's been to long since I've posted, just hasn't been on the top of my list I guess. The last trip I was on was about a month ago on a ski trip to Tahoe. Back in October when hanging out at Kristina and Aaron's with Kyle, he said we should do a ski trip to Tahoe. 3 months later, we were renting a pimp house on Kings Beach, skiing during the day and partying at night. It was great.

On my way up Thursday I stopped for a few runs at Mt. Rose. I got a season pass there because it's only 25 minutes from my house. The runs aren't that long, but there are great views of Reno. And on Thursday afternoon, it was wide open.

We had 10 to 11 people staying at the house. We all brought tons of food. I think there were five types of coffee and plenty of drink.

Friday we went skiing at Tahoe. A good choice because the hills were open and the skies were clear. We all tried to ski together which was quite a feat. Cell phones can make it much easier to find people. Eventually we all split off different ways.

Saturday a group of us went a cross country trip. Todd, Jen, Amanda and me on snowshoes, Aaron, Kristina and Nicole on skis. We hiked up to a fire lookout that had great views of the lake.

Dinner was always entertaining sitting down at table with everyone. It was always a lively time.

After dinner, we all learned to play Skip-bo and snacked on fondou and chocolate covered bacon. It was a constant feast. By the end of the night it had become quite entertaining.

Sunday Todd, Jen and I went to Northstar. It was much simpler to keep up with only a couple people. Kyle gave us the heads up on where the empty slopes were and it involved riding a puma lift. Good old days.

In the afternoon the snow came in and it was a little intense.

The house had a great view of the lake and a hot tub on the deck. All were used to the fullest extent. Night time was always a stretching party. Kyle brought a "foam roller" and by the end we were all convinced we needed one. It's basically just a piece of hard foam, but squeezed the lactic acid out of your legs.

We all had a great time and hope we can do it again next year.

New Years and Movie Marathon

2010-01-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

For New Years Eve, I made a trip back to Austin. Jennifer was throwing an epic party and it was Alex's 6th Annual Movie Marathon. It was better then I could have anticipated and I'm glad I went, just sorry I had to leave so fast.

I got in on Wednesday and stayed up late with Alex discussing road trip plans, there's just so much to do. For New Years eve we went downtown to 1st Night celebration they have every year. It's a family oriented affair, with neat art and fun people. Two amazing things: 1. Swings with LEDs that were awesome under trees, and the fire tornado. The swings are like the light up frisbees you can buy now and they would change color. I think I've seen the fire tornado featured at Burning Man before. They would change the gas mixture to change the flame color and was pretty spectacular.

From there we went and got dressed for Jennifer's party, "Ready to Offend." It was awesome. I saw so many friends and actually got to hang out and talk with them. Inside the party was really crowded, so we mostly had our "kitchen" outside. More and more people showed up, along with some crashers who kept setting off fireworks. Beer ran out but the party kept on.

Promptly at 8am, Alex comes in singing "Good Morning, Good Morning." And the movies began at 9. I'll quote Alex's invite for the description.

The 6th Annual Marathon will be a celebration of both Hollywood cinema and German culture. The "Wurst Movie of the Year" will involve all movies that have won the prestigious Academy Award undeservedly.

The lineup is as follows:

1. Shakespeare in Love (won 7 Oscars including Best Picture, 1999)

2. Harry and the Hendersons (Best Makeup, 1988)

3. Titanic (won 11 Oscars including Best Picture, 1998)
Disc 1 and Disc 2

4. Speed (Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing, 1995)

5. Bram Stoker's Dracula (Best Makeup, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, 1993)

6. Beetlejuice (Best Makeup, 1989)

(unphotographed)7. Gladiator (won 5 Oscars including Best Picture, 2001)

8. U-571 (Best Sound Editing, 2001)

There is a lot of gold to be had this year and I for one am looking forward to showing Russell where its at.

In all it was about 17 hours of movies, combined with a lot of eating drinking and laziness. There's no better way to ring in a new year.

Christmas

2009-12-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

This year I was in charge of hosting Christmas. So the family flew out to Reno and stayed in the Peppermill casino. I was surprised how much they liked it, but at 30 bucks a night, it's hard not to appreciate. I don't have any pictures from there since casinos get a little concerned about photos. So the photos are from our trip up to Tahoe and Clair Tappan.

Here are my dad's pictures with some great ones from the casino and the lodge.

We drove up and around the north part of Lake Tahoe. It's always impressive how large and blue it is. The snow on the rocks and mountains around the lake is a nice touch. The best part was being able to brag how close it all was.

We stayed at the Clair Tappaan lodge which was created by the Sierra Club in the 1930s. It is quaint communal living with meals together and small living arrangements. It attracts all types, but it is never boring. It's also in a great place just two miles from Sugar Bowl and some of the best cross country skiing.

Blake and I spent two days skiing at Sugar Bowl. The snow from the other week made a base of 55 - 70 inches. The weather was perfect in the mid-30s with a light breeze and full sun. Best of all, the crowds weren't supposed to show up till Saturday, after we left. The skiing was great and they had a promotion of free rentals and lessons with a 66 dollar lift ticket.

At night at Clair Tappaan we would hang out in the main room and drink wine and enjoy the fire. It was a great place to people watch and make new friends. For Christmas someone brought a cow pinata filled with candy. We didn't see it broken, but the cow head candy bowl was very amusing.

We left saturday and had more fun at the casino and hanging out as a family. It was fun to have everyone in the same town for a week without many distractions.

View Larger Map

SNOW

2009-12-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

After a fairly dry winter, we got hit with major snow today. It started last night about 7 and I don't think it's stopped since. There is at least 6 inches and it's supposed to continue throughout the day. Work was canceled and it's like the world stopped. I haven't had a snow day in years. I got out and took a few pictures and might try cross country skiing around town later and update with more shots.

View Larger Map

Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T10:01:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving, I went up to Portland to stay with Kristina and Aaron who were also having Kyle come up. I didn't take pictures of the eating, drinking and football watching. Most of my pictures were of the dogs. Kyle brought Kobe and Kristina and Aaron had Paco and Penny. All three labs. Lets just say there was a lot of panting.

Friday after Thanksgiving, we went up for some cross country skiing. We did about 3 miles each way on the PCT. There was tons of snow and it was snowing on us while we were out there. The dogs loved it. There aren't any pictures from my numerous falls, but I think I did alright.

We also went to several dog parks. I only took pictures at one, it was hard not to.

I took the camera out one night when we went to "The World Famous Kenton Club." Apparently they were mentioned in some Roller Derby movie from the 70s. It was an empty night, but we played some darts.

As usual Portland was amazing.

View Larger Map

Homecoming

2009-11-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Texas for Southwesterns Homecoming. I think I've gone every year since I graduated and each one has been a blast. It is great to see tons of old friends and make some new ones to see next year. Unfortunately this year, my camera died after a few shots, so this album will be brief.

I got in Friday and the first big event was a Bob Schneider concert. I thought he put on a pretty good. He played a couple new ones and a lot of old ones. It was great to see a show with tons of people I know, but small enough the front of the stage was easy to get to.

As I said I saw more people then I could mention here, and many more I missed. I'm really sorry I don't have more pictures with more people, but proof is floating around out there somewhere.

Red Rocks Las Vegas

2009-11-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I had a training for Visual Resources in Las Vegas, NV. Our primary area of study was in the Red Rocks NCA which is actually BLM land. We stayed at the Red Rocks Casino which had a great view.

Sunrise was the most dramatic, but it didn't last very long. The view out my window was perfect. It was great to watch while I got up.

One odd thing in the room. There was a TV in the bathroom that was placed in the mirror. It was a little strange to have it floating in my reflection. My room also overlooked the neat pool. Really there were about 11 pools in the complex. On Friday we got out early and I relaxed by it, but it was a little cold to get in.

The Red Rocks themselves were amazing. I took my own driving tour through them on Saturday before leaving town and it was beautiful. I couldn't believe how many people were out there. Every parking lot was full and crowded. I wish I could have done a hike myself but I enjoyed the view from the car.

Then it was a long drive back to Reno.

View Larger Map

Treasure Island

2009-10-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

For my birthday Jessica got us VIP tickets to the treasure island music festival on treasure island, CA. The highlight was the Flaming Lips were closing.

The show wasn't till sunday so we made a weekend of it and went apple picking Saturday. It really made it seem like fall. We picked apples, drank cider and ate doughnuts. It was a little warm, but I'll take that over raining.

Sunday we got to the event early and had a great time looking around the grounds. There was a lot more there then just the music. There was a whole carnival.

I got to see a lot of acts I've always wanted to see. Beirut was great, the Decemberists did a rock opera and the best was the Flaming Lips. It was really our primary reason for going and it did not disappoint. I want to go again.

View Larger Map

Portland

2009-10-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

Jessica had a conference last week in Portland and stayed with our friends Kristina and Aaron. It was Columbus day weekend, and getting out of town sounded nice. We managed to pick the last weekend in Portland without rain. Kristina and Aaron were also hosting a couple other friends.

I got there Friday and we went to some bars, Saturday we got up and spent awhile looking for breakfast then spent the rest of the afternoon watching football in the basement. Most of the trip was based around eating and beer tasting.

Sunday we were more productive. It started with breakfast from a waffle stand. Amazing. Then we went to the zoo, which I would recommend. It was really more of a park, with animals. It's in a great location on a hill outside town. From there we went back to the house and grilled out and played Wii on the projection screen.

Monday we ate at the Tin Shack and then went over to Mt. Tabour which is another city park on an old volcano. There was a huge dog park where the dogs had a great time chasing balls. Then we flew back.

I didn't get pictures of everything, but I'm glad I have some because it was a great weekend. Now I'm planning on going back for thanksgiving.

View Larger Map

Hardly Strictly Blue Grass

2009-10-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jessica came down and we went to San Francisco for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. It was my third year in a row and always a great show.

Jessica didn’t get in till late Friday, so we left Saturday morning. We weren’t expecting it to take over 4 hours to get there, but we were wrong. There was tons of traffic everywhere. Also during Saturday was Love Parade and the Cancer walk. I think after getting across the bridge it took us an hour and a half to get near the park, then we had to park.

So we finally made it to the concert at 4. I knew the Old 97’s were playing, but thought I had missed it. We borrowed someone’s schedule and saw they had ten minutes left in their set, so ran over and saw the last two songs. It wasn’t a lot, but still great. Then we saw Richie Havens which was kind of slow, then wandered over to Gillian Welch which was awesome. We wrapped it up with Robert Earl Keen. He’s been there every year and puts on a great show, on my favorite stage.

Sunday we had much better luck with parking and getting to the show on time. We went to Red Wine, also the third time I’ve seen them and probably my favorite act. They are from Italy, but sing bluegrass like Appalachia. If you ever have a chance, see them! Then was The Chieftains, followed by Galactic. Galactic was my favorite surprise of the weekend. We saw the end of Mavis Staples who can still move a crowd after so many years and stayed for the headliner, Old Crow Medicine Show.

A great time. Then it was the long drive back to Reno, across the Sierras that got a couple inches of snow that evening.

New York City 2

2009-10-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

I’ve been meaning to post this sooner, but the internet I was stealing at home has quite working. I could just pay for my own, but I’m cheap and might be moving soon. So for the near future, I’ll just have to use it at my gym, coffee shops and bars. It’s nice to have a laptop.

I wanted to have a part two of New York to include pictures of me! Shameless I know, but to often I find myself behind the camera and no real proof I was somewhere. First is this picture from Facebook of the two Canadians I met at a cross walk Sunday night. We had a great time and went to McSorley’s, out for wings and then dancing at an irish bar. Amazing who you can meet on the street.

Then these are from my dad. They are always well done, and more can be found here and here.

Brooks Mapped

Trail Update

Portland/Boise

Final Countdown

Reno Visit

Whistler!

New Years Day

Christmas

Boise, ID

Mini QuichesCurry Pork ChopsLemon Layer Crepe cakeBrunch supreme

Bend, OR

Thanksgiving

Homecoming

West Virgina

New York City

House update

Softball

Fishing the Carson River

Chicago

HofGow Wedding

Indian Fire

Reno Summer

Mokelumne Wilderness

Portland

Old 97's

Odyssey

Yosemite

Skiing

Southern California

Coachella

Powder Day

Mt. Rose

Kraft Bowl

New Years Eve

Christmas

Pre Christmas

New York City

Thanksgiving

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Shepherdstown, WV

House!

100 Mile Wilderness

Videos

Air Races

Balloon Races

Matt and Lindsey's Wedding

Long Butte Fire

Marguerite's Wedding

NOLA Bachelor Party

San Francisco

Vortex

Olympia

San Diego

Pops in the Park

4th of July

End of June

Epic Friday

Reno Odyssey

Runnamuck

Ski Jumping

Recent Activities

New House

Lost Coast Trail

Beef!

Tahoe ski trip

New Years and Movie Marathon

Christmas

SNOW

Thanksgiving

Homecoming

Red Rocks Las Vegas

Treasure Island

Portland

Hardly Strictly Blue Grass

New York City 2

Mini Quiches

Curry Pork Chops

Lemon Layer Crepe cake

Brunch supreme