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!

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Alaska, and while the sun was not up at midnight, it was up at 11:30. Flying up to Anchorage from Seattle, I witnessed a reverse sunset; as I traveled north, it continued to get lighter. It was a very unique experience, and could have afforded me a very nice view if it were a bit less cloudy. It was still dusk when I made it to my hotel 45 minutes later. The following two days were spent on day cruises, one from Whittier, and one from Seward. The first day was beautifully sunny, and the second a bit dreary, but the second offered much more to see. The first boat ride was into Prince William Sound, which has plenty of scenery and tidewater glaciers. The second, though, was through Kenai Fjords National Park, and offered numerous whale, orca, otter, seal and bird sightings (and of course photographs). Although we only saw one glacier on the second cruise, I thought it was more photogenic than those of the previous day. Overall, despite the gloomy weather, which is very common there, the cruise was amazing.

The third day was spent exploring the remainder of the Kenai peninsula. Upon first glance, there wasn't really much to see there. Homer, the supposed bald eagle capitol of the world, was a great disappointment. Not only did I not see any mature bald eagles, the entire Spit area was not much more than a gigantic trash pit with some RV parks thrown in for good measure. I was pretty put off by the place. However, a ranger at the visitor center there told me about a great place I could find bald eagles: Anchor Point. This small state park is home to a few of the birds, and has a few nests as well. At first, I managed only to find some a great distance away in a field, but eventually my perseverance paid off. One of the eagles allowed me to get quite close to him, and I got some great photos. Then, as I was getting ready to leave, I saw more of them by the water, picking at some fish on the shore. So, I spent some more time photographing these birds, until eventually they left. I then made my way back up to Anchorage.

The next day, I climbed Flattop Mountain near Anchorage. Supposedly this is the most climbed mountain in Alaska, but much to my surprise, the last few hundred feet required climbing up some fairly treachorous rock. The view at the top was decent. You can see Anchorage down below, and other nearby mountains as well, but it was far from stunning. After climbing back down, I went to the Moose's Tooth, which was recommended by friends as an excellent pub and pizza place. The pizza was indeed quite good, and though I am no connoisseur, the wheat beer I tried was also very tasty.

The following day, I woke up early and trekked all the way up to see Mount McKinley. The drive was definitely worth it. The 20,327 foot monster dwarfs the surrounding fourteeners; it is truly a sight to behold. Photos do not do the mountain's grandeur justice, though I certainly tried! I was glad that I woke up early, though, because when I reached the mountain the weather was nice, but soon the clouds rolled in, and I took my leave. On my way back south, I stopped in the small town of Talkeetna, took in the small town, and had an excellent vanilla malt before leaving for Anchorage to catch my plane.

Three months this time... I guess that's an improvement! Since I last posted, I have started a new project in Issaquah, Washington, which is a suburb of Seattle. I started there at the beginning of February, and aside from a good amount of sun the first week I was there, the weather has been pretty bleak. It even snowed once, and apparently 2-3 inches is enough to keep people away from work, as half the client's employees stayed home the next day.

I haven't taken any photos to speak of since starting the project, though I did take a couple fun trips just before. In late December, I went on a road trip to Arizona, to see some things that I hadn't yet seen, and to revisit some favorites. My first stop was the Petrified Forest National park, but I had unfortunately forgotten to charge my batteries, and didn't get any photos there. Next on the list was the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Immediately afterward, though, I managed to get stuck in Flagstaff, snowed in by well over a foot of snow. I was stuck in the area for a day and a half, but I did manage to leave on the day I had originally planned, so that was a plus. From there, I went to see Monument Valley again, which was absolutely beautiful after being dusted with snow. The next day, I made my way down to Canyon de Chelly, which was something I had not seen before. Spider Rock is really quite beautiful, especially when surrounded by a blanket of snow on a sunny day. From there, I went to Albuquerque to spend the night, and home the following morning.

In January, a bunch of us on the project in San Jose went down to Los Cabos for a few days, as a sort of last hurrah. I had been working with some of them for over three years at that point, so we had become pretty good friends. It was my first trip to Mexico, and I had a great time there. The Hilton resort there is beautiful, and the two towns of San Jose and San Lucas have plenty to offer. We took a small boat out to Land's End, the very tip of Baja California. We also rented a car there, which was an experience in itself. Nobody drove as crazily as I was expecting, though, so that was a relief.

I do have a few trips coming up, once the weather gets nicer, some planned in more detail than others. First, I am going to take a week and go see some spots in Utah that I have not yet seen, such as Zion and Canyonlands. I'm hoping to make it out to the Bonneville salt flats as well. After that, I am going all the way to the other coast to see Washington D.C.'s cherry blossom festival, which I am greatly looking forward to. I also would like to visit Vancouver, the Olympics, the Cascades, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helen's while I'm in the Seattle area, but I think I am going to wait a bit before I get to those. I'd also love to make it up to Alaska during the summer as well.