Weblog

Another long hiatus between posts! Much has been happening in my life, and I have not had the time to post. In September, my girlfriend Nhu and I ventured into the mountains to see the fall leaves. We spent the night in Glenwood Springs, and then woke up before the sun to see sunrise at the Maroon Bells. It was my first time there, and I must say it is truly a sight to behold! Despite arriving before sunrise, the parking lot was nearly full when we arrived. There were dozens of photographers lining Maroon Lake, waiting for the sun to come up. When it did, we were greeted with a beautiful, though fleeting, reflection of the mountains on the lake, complete with beautiful golden aspen trees.

After spending some more time in the area, we ate breakfast in Aspen, in one of only two restaurants open on Sunday morning. We then took the beautiful Independence Pass, which was also lined with golden aspens. After passing Twin Lakes, we then went north through Leadville, making our way through another beautiful golden mountain pass, eventually ending up in Vail. We made our way home from there, but not before hitting some pretty ugly Sunday evening traffic in the mountains.

In October, I stayed the weekend on the east coast to see the leaves here. I went with Abhijit, a coworker, to see the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shanendoah National Park in peak color. The drive was not a short one; we drove 550 miles in one evening to get to the southern end, and then took three days to drive back up on Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. Of course, the elevation along the route was far from constant, and trees at different elevations were in varying conditions. The higher elevations were almost invariably dead, but much of the medium and lower elevations were in their prime, and some areas were truly spectacular. Of course, I did my best to capture the best areas with my camera, and Abhijit did the same. We had a great time; I introduced Abhijit to Waffle House and Texas Road House, both of which he enjoyed. He re-introduced me to his incredible snoring. To sleep, I had to put headphones on and play white noise music, fairly loudly. I was able to sleep though, thankfully!

From May 22nd to June 6th, I was in Vietnam. I went with a coworker named Huy who is on my current project. He was born in Vietnam, and came over to the U.S. when he was a kid, some time after the war. He had not been back since, and he asked if I wanted to join him. I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity! He also brought his parents along, and another coworker sent his sister Mina with us. Additionally, we met up with Huy's cousin in Saigon, and also the cousin's daughter.

We spent the first few days in Saigon, and afterword we toured the entire length of the country, all the way up north to Hanoi and Halong Bay. The sights were wonderful, and I always enjoy experiencing new cultures. As this was my first trip to Southeast Asia, it was truly an eye-opening experience. As one of very few caucasians, the locals certainly paid a lot of attention to me. We also met Huy's family in the town of Hue, where his aunt and uncle put us up in their hotel. They pampered us incredibly, and we had a grand time there. The town itself was also quite nice, with plenty to see. It was easily my favorite city that we visited.

All the attention I received, of course, had its up sides and down sides. Everyone there was very friendly to me. I even had one couple ask to take a picture with me. On the other hand, though, it was painfully obvious that the locals were always trying to overcharge me for things. Negotiation is a must, but a white guy in Vietnam can only get the prices down so much. Of course, even with the white guy tax, everything there is still incredibly cheap for someone travelling from the United States, so I didn't mind terribly. Even the government gets in on the action. Most government-owned sights and parks have a "foreigner" rate, which is usually double or triple the normal charge. With Huy's cousin Khan buying most of our tickets for us, we did avoid it some of the time, but sometimes the guards at the gate sent us back to the ticket booth. This annoyed me much more than getting overcharged by some local.

Overall, though, the trip was absolutely fantastic, and definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Huy certainly showed me a great time! Also, I of course took many photos. I have them all posted now, along with some from a recent stint in San Diego, and a short excursion to Red Rocks and Mount Elbert.

Yesterday I decided to make a quick trip up to the mountains in an attempt to get some photos of the aspen trees in their fall colors. I had been thinking about doing this for the past month or so, as one of the guys at work was wanting to come out to Colorado to see it. I figured we had plenty of time, but I didn't think about the leaves changing earlier at the higher elevations. I looked into it Friday night, and the US Forest Service's site made it look like it was already too late. I decided I would try anyway; it's not a terribly long drive up Boulder Canyon, and I don't remember the last time I was up there anyway.

The Forest Service web site was, for the most part, spot on. Most of the aspen along the beautiful Peak to Peak highway were already well past their prime, many of them with no leaves at all. However, the highway is mostly downhill between Nederland at the south end and its terminus at Highway 7 to the north, and I did manage to find one particularly stunning grove, making the whole trip worthwhile. I also found another cluster of trees on Highway 7, though there were other threes besides the aspen in this grove. Regardless, the pictures still turned out well, and I already have them posted.