San Francisco

Jessica and I went to San Francisco for the weekend because her mom was in town. It was a great time and beautiful weather. We did a lot for only being there two days. We drove down Saturday morning and got there in the afternoon. Jessica got to see her mom briefly and then we went got ready to go out and meet Danielle and Tim to see the Gourds.

The Gourds put on a great show. The opener was the lead singer doing a solo set, and then they came out and played for two hours. They played all the great songs you'd want to hear. They even played the always requested but rarely played "Gin and Juice." I couldn't believe it, after I told Danielle all night that they weren't going to play it. I was hoarse by the end of the night from yelling and singing along.



Sunday we got up and took on the city. We wanted to take the Cable Car but couldn't get on with our coffee, and we were at the top of the largest hill when we'd finished so we just took it all on foot. It worked out great because we saw some amazing sights. We walked up to Coit Tower and overlooked the city, then to the pier and saw the Sea Lions barking and playing. Then we walked back through downtown, and saw the homeless guy who hides behind branches and jumps out to scare people.



One of the most amazing things to me was in the Coit tower. In the elevator was a US map amongst other maps and posters. A foreign tourist was looking at it and finding Portland, Seattle and other places probably on his trip. So I glanced at it and saw that it had included Winnemucca on it. I was amazed. After looking closer, I'm not really sure what the "Active Geyser Region" is referring to, but I'm sure Winnemucca is the smallest city listed on the map.



We went to the Modern Art Museum which had amazing well put together displays. Unfortunately they wouldn't let you take pictures there, so they are all images in my head. But it was well worth the time and trip. Then we met up with Jessica's mom for dinner and drinks, and then later that evening for a little post party relaxation.

Monday we had to head home. First we stopped by Haight - Ashbury to look around. It was a tourist attraction and didn't have the character it was famous for, but it was neat to see the places and houses that have been in pictures over the years.

We left through the north via the Golden Gate Bridge. It was as amazing as people make it out to be. It was also the first time we really saw the ocean on the entire trip. But we had gorgeous weather and stopped at many different viewpoints for it.


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Click here to see the pictures in google earth.

The trip was great and made San Francisco one of my favorite cities I've been to.

Impound on the Range

This is my first official post for this blog. Up to now it was tests and demos, but this is going to be the real deal. My goal is to combine story's and pictures of what I'm up to along with a map where these things happened. So you can read the story and then see the pictures and where it was all of it took place. I think geography can play a crucial role to stories that is often left out and overlooked.

So to start it all off, I'll discuss our cow impound. I work for the Bureau of Land Management and we manage land for cattle grazing. Now there are people that let their cows on our land with out a permit. One in particular had been warned several times, so on MLK day we went to collect her cows.

She was none to pleased we were taking her cows, and there was even an incident where she hit an ATV rider with her truck. The whole thing even made the news.
It was all pretty exciting.



So after we gathered these cows, we took them back to our office and kept them in pens in the yard. Not your typical place for a cattle hold. So for a week I got to play cowboy helping round up and then sort the cows. We even had a couple born while they were here.



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Click here to download these into google earth.

Let me know what you think of the setup and style, I think this should get more exciting as it warms up and I go on more trips!

2007

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2007 was a busy year starting off with New Years in Austin with SU friends. Then it was a quick trip back to Winnemucca where I had moved two months before hand. Back in the 'muc there was a real need to get out and about during the winter. For MLK day I made a trip with friends to Yosemite and Death Valley for presidents day.


My parents came out in April for a weekend and we went to Fly Geyser. Probably the most amazing natural feature I have ever seen especially for how unique it is.

Then in May I had a conference in Portland, OR and got to meet up with Kristina and A. Landon. Business conference's are the best for getting together with friends. To start off the summer I went on a personal backpacking trip to the Toiyabe Range in the middle of Nevada. Then June I got to spend a week rafting down the Green River in Desolation Canyon. It was in the middle of nowhere and relaxing to live on river time for a week.

It was good I had a relaxing week because the rest of the summer was non-stop. I spent most of July in Reno supporting fire operations, it was hard work with long hours, but I loved it. Then in the end of August I spent my free time on the Black Rock Playa, first was the Perseids Meteor shower, then again a week for Burning Man.

Burning Man is indescribable. It's about 50,000 people going to the middle of nowhere and throwing a huge party. Crazy costumes, bright lights, free parties and amazing limitless works of art. Most of these things would not be able to be housed in any other gallery. Then at the end, most of it is burned. Fire is a predominant theme of Burning Man, from fire dancers to flaming sculptures.


Things slowed down a bit after that. I spent a week in Idaho finishing off the fire season doing mapping support again. Then for fall, saw first snow at a volunteer event at Stevens Camp in a remote Northwestern corner of the state. The next weekend, made a trip to San Francisco for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and at the end of October went back to Georgetown for Homecoming. For Veteran's day, Jessica and I met up with Kristina, Arron, and Pat in Bend, OR. It was great to get away before it was to cold and snowy to enjoy the beautiful mountains.


For Thanksgiving I decided to take a vacation to Europe. I went from Frankfurt to Prague, to Munich, to Freiburg, visited Jennifer, and back to Frankfurt. It was a quick 8 day trip but I got to see a lot, and got to a lot of museums which was the goal. Art, culture and food are things that you can miss from spending to much time in the Muc.


Then I went back to Dallas for the week of Christmas and up to see Jessica and her friends and family for a week over New Years.


View pictures in Google Earth.



It was quite the busy year, and I know there are things I missed like Robert's wedding and other smaller weekend trips, but I hope this year will be more organized.

Winnemucca Test

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These are pictures that were taken around winnemucca. This is more of a test to see how well I can display pictures in a map.

Most of these pictures are from different trips to the top of Winnemucca mountain right outside town. It gives a great overlook of downtown and perspective on just how empty it is around. A really neat place.

There are two pictures from Saint Patricks day of 2007. One is from the steps of our court house. We were all walking from my apartment to the bars carrying beers in our red cups. Good thing drinking in public is legal in Nevada.