Danielle and Tim's wedding

Last weekend I made the trip over to Carmel, CA for Tim and Danielle's wedding. I had a great time, I just wish it could have had more time with friends.




I got there Friday and everyone was still busy with dinner so I wandered to the beach. What a change from the desert. It's funny how the definition of sand can have so many meanings, and it felt great to have the beach between my toes. It was like a movie with kids playing, dogs running and the sun setting. Later someone commented how it was strangely void of transients that you might typically find.





Friday night was awesome and I got to see so many old friends. Matt was gracious enough to let us party at his cottage. We had a little midnight on the beach and Crispy went for a swim. I lost Rock Paper Scissors and was in charge of rescuing him if needed.




The next day I explored town some more while I fought off a hangover. I found a pretty neat photography store with a number of Ansel Adams originals, but not to many from the beach area which I was surprised by. In the evening the wedding was at The Playa hotel. I think it was everything they wanted, and it was really cute. They were sniffling the whole time and it was hard to hold back. Some of us were guessing how many times Tim would cry and we think he did pretty well with just two.




Afterwards there was a fun reception and then dinner and dancing. There was the Bouquet and Garter tossing along with a delicious cake. Occasionally I'd think how weird that weddings of my friends has become commonplace. There were a couple comments at how old we were becoming. Even so, we still partied like we were in college and went on a spree to buy tons of beer for an after party, again at Matt's cottage (really Matt, thanks a lot!)



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Sunday was the long drive back. 1000 miles driving and two hard party nights can certainly make you exhausted. On the way back I could see the smoke from the fires that had erupted all over northern Cal. Looked like work to me, and sounds like we're first up on Thursday if anything big goes down.

Rafting

What a great trip! I went rafting with a group of friends on the Green River through Desolation canyon in Eastern Utah.

Jessica and I left Thursday night to camp outside Well, NV so we could pick up my parents when they landed Friday morning. We made it to Salt Lake City just as they should have arrived, but their flight was delayed so we ate breakfast. After picking them up, we made a few last minute stops around the city, then headed to Price, UT.





The next morning we packed up our stuff and went and explored 9 mile canyon which has tons of historic artifacts and petroglyph's. As we were exploring, a guy in another trip asked if we saw them all? We didn't know what he meant because ruins were literally everywhere. It quickly became a running joke.




We drove back to Price, met the rest of the group, then worked on getting everything to fit. Six days of food, boats, life jackets gear, stoves, propane, all took up lots of room, but we managed to work it all in. Our boat alone brought 150 beers. From Price we drove the two hours to the Sandwash put-in. It's one of my favorite drives along the base of a mesa and with the sun setting behind you the wall lights up. The scene is so large there is never a picture that can do it justice. We got there at dark and after making camp, looked up and saw the International Space Station go by.

The next morning we get up and rig our boats, trying to figure the best way to move those 150 beers. The river was high, running about 24,500 CFS when last year we were closer to 8,000. So the first day we floated 15 miles and our camp had tons of mosquitoes. We got pretty inventive on how to keep them off, because they did not respond to bug spray at all.

It was about another 15 miles the second day and we stopped at an old miners dwelling which has an amazing spring outside of it. Some of the relics in there were really neat like a pair of old boots and a duster, it looked like someone just left the day before. We also saw a couple big horn sheep running around on the side of the canyon, leaping over rocks like it was nothing.




The second night was more mosquitoes. Something about the high water made them horrible and attacking. The sunrise the next morning was beautiful and we made an early departure. Our first stop of the day was at ancient granieries. They were made by the natives to store their corn in and can be about a thousand years old. Then we made another stop at Rock Creek for lunch and to get clean water and finally got to camp.




We had a layover day at the next camp and hiked to the ranch at Rock Creek and then some went further up the canyon to see some rock art. I went back and hung out with my mom in the shade and enjoyed the lazy day. When everyone came back we had a great night hanging out, it was like a party.




Next morning we headed down river, the rapids became larger and more frequent. It was a nice breakup of the day. A few even splashed over the boat. For lunch we stopped at the McPhearson ranch. It's another old pioneer settlement that has amazing stone work that was all cut by hand. That night, we camped just before Wire Fence rapid at what many people considered our best campsite. We had a great view of the setting sun on the rock face and a nice comfortable place to camp. It was great to be on the water.





Our last full day there were even more rapids. I did the first half, then Jessica took over. She was still at the oars for Rattle Snake Rapids, which I didn't think would be to bad, but underestimated how fast the water would be running at the wall. I was in the back taking pictures and Jessica at the oars, we didn't quite estimate how fast the water was taking us at the rocks. When the water hit the rock, it rocked us up, and my dad went sliding off and into the river. As he fell, he managed to grab on to the bow line and pulled himself in. Good thing we were camping right after that and were able to change quickly.




The last day was pretty mild with a few rapids and fun times linking boats together to float down the river. We were sad that it had to end, but looking forward to that shower. We got off at Swasyes Boat ramp and disassembled all the gear. There was a lot of action from other groups finishing up. After everything was packed we went for burgers at Ray's in Green River and then up to Price to drop off the gear. Most people headed home after that, but Jessica and I stayed the night in Salt Lake City with my parents and in the morning went out for a Father's Day Brunch.



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It was a quick week, but we had a blast. Now this weekend I'm going to California for Danielle's wedding. Expect more from that!

Rendezvous

So this is going to be quick.

Ever since I got back from memorial day it feels like I've been going non-stop. I've really wanted to post about the Rendezvous, but it wasn't until this week that I even got the pictures on to my computer.





Friday I ran around Reno, running errands and then drove up to Gerlach through passing rain storms, some pretty intense. I met up with Jessica and the other volunteers and had a nice night camping on the playa. We had a great game of night frisbee with a light up frisbee. The hardest part of that was knowing where people were to throw it to, because it was pitch black, maybe next time we'll have some moon.

Saturday there were a few discussion topics, and then tours. I went out to Fly Geyser, because Jessica had never been there and my pictures from before were deleted. It was just as awesome as ever and impossible to stop taking pictures. I think I took at least 75 so weeding them out to these few was a challenge.






Saturday night was a lot of fun and people were hanging out and drinking the free beer. The weather was a little sketchy all day, so it was a little under attended, but that meant extra beer. It was delicious.

Sunday was more tours. We went out to Soldier Meadows and had fun driving through all of the puddles on the road. On the way back we stopped at a hidden waterfall. None of us believed it existed, but there it was about 50 feet off of a road I've been down many times. Never would have guessed. We got back to the playa just in time to see the rocket launch. It's a straight shot of smoke coming off the playa and then a lot of people looking up. I think they said it went to 18,000 feet or something.





Sunday night was the big party. A band called ALBINO! came out and they rocked. They had a great horn section and was just awesome music, and of course, more free beer. Then there were some people that did a little fire dancing. Then a few of the Burning Man Pyrotechnics people put on an incredible fireworks show. They had 20 tubes set up and they must have launched 100 or more fireworks. It was a great night that never seemed to end.





Monday we packed up and headed out, getting off the playa just before a massive rain storm. The drive back was soaking and the mud quickly filled up in my tires. I slowed down but not enough because I ended up fishtailing and then spinning the car around and ending up in a ditch with a flat. It was a little nerve racking, but luckily about 15 minutes behind us were some friends and they pulled us out and helped us change the tire. I was glad I put that tow strap in my car. It was muddy and Jessica made sure to take pictures. We all made it back safely, and got the tire patched up in town.






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So this week has been crazy because we are leaving today for our week long rafting trip. It's going to be a blast and we pick up my parents from the airport tomorrow. But all week has been cleaning and preping. We also played two softball games that I got to pitch and we won. Summer in Winnemucca is busy, but a lot of fun!!!

Nevada

After the weekend in DC I flew to Vegas for a three day conference. I was staying at the Orleans which was nice enough but not on the strip. That was nice, because then the table minimums weren't as high.





Sunday night I got in with enough energy to crawl into bed and still felt the same way about Monday night, but did play craps, and came out ten bucks up. Not bad. The conference had it's ups and downs as they tend to do. Sometime Tuesday I realized I hadn't been outside since I had arrived on Sunday. These places are traps.

So Tuesday night I got out with Vince and we made the rounds. We took the shuttle to the strip and walked up one side and down another going into any casino we saw. I was glad I finally got to see the Chihully installation in the Bellagio. It was two windy for the fountain display that night.





Wednesday we drove up to Reno in a serious wind. The west is having one of those crazy spring events with tons of wind and dropping temperatures. Sunday was record highs, 100 in the Muc and 110 in Vegas. But when we were leaving the high was only 75.

I am staying at the pepermill and when I checked in they said all the rooms I'd requested were booked, so I'd be upgraded to a suite! Awesome. A weird fact of the trip, I'd been in 4 different hotels, and each the room was at the end of the hall, but this was different because it had windows on each side with a great view of the sunset and a jacuzzi. I didn't even try gambling, it was awesome.



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Now this weekend is the Black Rock Rendezvous and it should be a blast. It will still be cold and we're expecting lows in the 40's and maybe even snow. Crazy. I'm sure there will be pictures and updates when I get back.

Washington DC II

Last week, I was at a training in Washington DC. While I was there I had a lot of fun as well.





Tuesday night I met up with Suzy and her new husband Jake. We had a great dinner and fun meeting up, we couldn't remember how many years it had been since we saw each other. After they left, I went to a few bars, met some Australians and had a great time.





Wednesday I met up with my uncle Charles for dinner. Then Thursday I went back downtown and had an easy time meeting up with people. I managed to meet people who went to UT and knew people that went to Southwestern. Small World. Friday my class finished early, and my brother was coming to town. I went into the city a little early so I could walk around and see all of the monuments. It felt great to get out after being pinned up in class all week.






So when Blake got there, we went out and had a great time. There was a drunk train ride home with some girls from Texas. Then Saturday we moved over to our room in the Mayflower. It was sweet. Actually it was a suite. The location was perfect. In the afternoon our uncle came and picked us up and we went to Baltimore to see a map presentation at the art museum. It was a great show and I saw the original Mercator Map as well as Presidental and DaVinci maps. The map nerd in me was excited, but unfortunatly we couldn't take pictures.

Saturday night I went out to a delecious steak dinner with Blake. Then we went to an Irish bar. Jim came out with Claire to say hi and I was glad we got to see them while I was on the east coast. It was a great night. Sunday we met up with our Uncle and family for brunch and then to the Building Museum. Blake had to leave at 3 and we stopped by the art museum's sculpture garden before I was dropped off at the airport.





I was flying to Vegas for a conference, where I am now. I had a great time in DC and can't wait till I can visit again. Coming to Vegas was a bit of a change because it was cloudy and 75 in DC and almost 100 when I landed in Vegas.



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Next up is Reno for a couple days and then this weekend I'll be at the Black Rock Rendezvous. It will be great to be out in the middle of nowhere again!