So I finally got around to rebuilding my computer last weekend with Windows 7, which also meant upgrading to Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5. It took sometime to re-import my existing pictures and then to import the 7492 new ones from my vacation with Mom.

But I'm starting to play around with some of the shots that I took. The boardwalk is the first. And this shot of the shoreline is the second.

I'm pleased that the HDR hasn't screwed up the water in the shoreline shot. I wasn't sure the whole vacation if those would turn out properly or not!

As I write this, waiting at the gate for our flight to board, I'm sad that vacation is over; Mom and I are also glad to be heading home. Traveling is wonderful, but there's no place like home.

Yesterday was a slow picture day. It was a foggy, rainy morning, so Mom let me sleep in. We still made it to the Space Needle in time for a nice brunch.

Brunch was s pricey but good: $45 for each person and includes an appetizer, entree, and desert. We had to take the desert to go because Mom's entree was enough desert for the both of us: Hazelnut crusted french toast with espresso flavored whipped cream. And really the view is worth it. You have to have a meal at the Space Needle at least once I think.

We had to cancel our sailing trip due to the weather, but spent extra time exploring the Pike Place Market. And I did actually get a picture of some native wildlife (picture 150). Much like the owl picture, I was surprised when I saw it, but then my camera-reflexes took over. My favorite thing about the market was the pepper store (last picture). If we didn't have to fly home, I would have bought some for sure. They did a beautiful job stringing them together.

Mom and I are on the plane now, so I'll publish this while I can. We upgraded to first class, so it should be a nice flight home!

Three new pictures.

I'm stuffed the gills. I'm stuffed fatter than a Thanksgiving turkey. I'm so full.

Mom and I had a wonderful dinner at the Metropolitan Grill downtown. It's right around the corner from where we're staying, so a short cab ride had us there in no time at all. Originally we were going to each here in the hotel. However, the restaurant didn't seem to care enough to have a hostess, the server was bothered by having another table, the menu wasn't exactly the same as we saw in the room, and basically we decided eating there was a great idea.

I am so, so glad we took the time to go somewhere else. A super-quick search on Google revealed the best restaurants, a couple calls shored up seating availability, and wow what a difference!

Besides ending on a high note, today was a lovely day. The weather was beautiful, St. Helens turned out to be quite nice, and we had a real treat driving out of the park: I saw what I thought might be a hawk. And so as we drove by, I kept a close eye out hoping to show it to Mom. I was very surprised when I saw an owl looking back at me! We turned the car around, managed to barely park off of the road in the grass, and got out of the car. The owl didn't fly away and we got some amazing pictures. (I also got quite a sting on the finger from unknown insect. But it was well worth seeing this beautiful owl in the wild.)

Our hotel has a wonderful view. I've posted a couple pictures of that as well. And tomorrow is our last day of the vacation. We'll be seeing the Space Needed, the Market, and going sailing. I can't believe the vacation is almost over! We've had a wonderful time.

Seven new pictures.

Our precious! Where is the fog? Our precious rain! We wants it back!

We no longer care for the sun! It came out today and it was harsh on our eyes. Too bright! It made our skin too warm. Wearing multiple layers of clothes was uncomfortable. We hates it!

Today was a very nice day. Well rested, we spent part of the morning doing some chores like laundry and getting the car washed, ready to return. And by the time our brunch was over the sun was coming out!

The old historic drive along the Columbia River Gorge is a charming road. There are waterfalls everywhere you turn, everything is lush, and the guard rail on many parts of the road is actually a very attractive old moss covered stone (picture 138). On other stretches it is an attractive white fence (picture 136). Neither detracted from the drive.

In the way of stories today, we were able to help some hikers get to their car. Part of their trail had been closed off and they couldn’t get across a bridge (there was nowhere for a person to walk at all). Their only two choices were to hike several hours back the way they came and risk it getting dark on the way, or to have someone drive one of them across said bridge (picture 131). . . As Carl would say, “Easy done.”

I had some trouble with some of the waterfall pictures. Choosing the wide angle lens, I got very close to the falls. But the spray was soaking me (not a problem), my camera (not so less of a problem), and the camera lens (a problem).

It’s funny how when I got my first SLR changing lenses was something that I really only wanted to do in a sterile environment – like where they make computer chips. And when I cleaned my lenses, it was as I imagine someone might polish a diamond. But several years later, I’m standing at the bottom of a waterfall, covered in spray, and using my sweater to wipe water off the lens, take a picture, wipe more water of the lens, take a picture. . .

Next time round I’ll use a “longer” lens I think, so that I can further away from the spray. But then again, there was a log at the bottom of Multnomah Falls (picture 135) that I couldn’t get any other way. Though still, I didn’t really get it because I think that picture had water drops all over it. I'll be able to tell once I get home and get view the pictures in detail.

Speaking of, I think all my pictures look too dark on the netbook. I'm going to be interested (or mortified) to see how they look on a real monitor when I get home. But I guess that's part of the "Raw" aspect of all this.

Tomorrow we hit St. Helens on the way to Seattle. And I think we’re going to try to do some whale watching on Sunday.

Eleven new pictures.

Today was something of an off day. I think there must have been some allergen in room due to years of no air circulation. Mom was sneezing relentlessly and both of us had restless sleep. We both were up at dawn for the sunrise, but peeked out the window at a solid wall of gray and promptly went back to bed. Getting up several hours later was an act of congress, and we've been exhausted the whole day.

Breakfast was good. The park lodges always seem to have great food. We grabbed a much needed sweater and gloves in the gift shop, and then proceeded to try to photograph the lake.

Most of the lake is still closed. Apparently it won't open up until the end of June at the earliest. So there wasn't any way to hike down to the bottom, and the drive around the rim was closed. Also, this late in the year the snow was dirty instead of fresh, so there wasn't much to be had in the way of pictures. I took shots of a panoramic from two different perspectives; but I won't be able to stitch those together until I get home.

But all that being said, I really enjoyed being up there. I think it was a nice treat, and I would have been happy to be up there an extra day with a book, some hot chocolate, sitting by the fire in the lobby, and looking out at the cold weather. Though with the musty room and the potential for sleepless nights, perhaps more than a couple nights would have been a problem. "Redrum!"

We took US 97 N out of Crater Lake, and it was a rainy, bleary, uninteresting drive the whole way. Compounded by a lack of sleepy, Mom hasn't had a very good day today. The landscape got interesting once we hit US 26 West, but the heavy fog completely obscured the views -- oftentimes we couldn't even see silhouettes of the mountains around us.

I've been telling Mom that this is part of the experience, part of the Pacific Northwest. But I think the rain and fog have caught up with her. She planned the trip meticulously, but nobody could have anticipated the weather this week. Everyone has been calling it unseasonal.

Tonight was a funny night too. Though I was able to pick up a new book at Borders, and something of a hat at Dick's (they had just sent back all their winter inventory), we kind of had a blah dinner and when I tried to get Mom a latte at Starbucks to cheer her up they were closed. What time was it? --Just after 8pm. We went to another, which turned out to be in a grocery, and they were closed. Anyway, by about the 5th one, I finally got her a latte. They have a lot of them in a small area around here; but not many stay open apparently!

After I post this we have to reconsider our agenda for the next few days. Tomorrow is definitely going to be rain, the next day (which was going to be a travel day) is going to be clear, and the third day is a 30% chance of rain. Mt. Rainier is nearly 100% chance for snow over the next couple days. But we'll figure something out.

This is the nature of road trips! I think they're supposed to be a little "come as you may". And I think Mom will feel better tomorrow after she's had a good night's sleep. We have nice room tonight.

One lonely picture of the lake.

Driving to Crater Lake was nothing like we expected. Whereas we thought we’d be driving a lone desolate road further and further into the snowy void, most of the drive was populated. And we didn’t hit snow at all until the last few miles. Mom said that they better have the whole park open because there is no way any of it is snowed in . . .

Well, our opinion quickly changed as small patches of snow gave way to larger and larger snow banks. Eventually we found buildings that practically had snow up to their roofs (Picture 128). When we got out of the car at the lodge there was a strong wind blowing, little bits of snow whipping through the air, and the temperature that was every bit as cold as you might expected. Picture 129 shows what the lodge looked like.

Getting to the lodge was a huge relief. Early we followed the advice of the GPS and turned off on a small road/trail. It looks like something that was scenic (which is was) and met up with the main road two miles away. There is a similar thing in Yellowstone, a beautiful drive, so we decided to take it. Well, this road got smaller and smaller. Still we didn’t mind forging on, there was nothing treacherous to worry about. (Picture 123: before the appeared to start going straight down.) Then we came to the first steep hill going down. Getting out of the car and surveying the situation (it wasn’t nearly as steep as some private drives I’ve seen out here) we decided to forge on. Then we somehow found ourselves with a drop off on both sides (i.e. no place to turn around) and a second steep drive. The trail was getting progressively worse as was our level of concern. Only .3 miles away, we decided to forge further. And we did finally meet up with the road again, a la Yellowstone. But this is not Yellowstone and after we kissed the normal paved road, hearts still racing, we were back on our way.

Those were the most notable parts of the day. Dinner at the lodge was excellent. We have no phone, TV, air conditioning, cell service, extra electrical outlets, or Internet in our “deluxe” room at the lodge. So though I’m writing this tonight, it won’t get published on the blog until sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Also, waking up in Crescent City was interesting. (They have a fog horn too, by the way.) We paid a bit extra for a hotel and room on the ocean. But what we woke up to was grayness. The water was gray. The sky was gray. The place where the water meets the sky was gray. It was pouring rain (as it does most days in Crescent City apparently). Bottom line, if you ever find yourself staying in Crescent City, don’t worry about hunting down a room with a view – it isn’t Key West. (I wore my sun shirt in protest.)

And that reminds me: I’ve been wondering if the sailors on the Pacific ocean are different that those that sail the Atlantic. Not that the north Atlantic can’t be a mighty warrior queen. But what we’ve seen of the Pacific ocean has been alien and intimidating.

So that just about wraps it up for today, except for the rain and fog. I told Mom that I haven’t minded it because it really characterizes the Pacific Northwest; I’m happy to be experiencing it. And it does make for good pictures as well. But there sure is a lot of it, this fog. This morning my mind kept trying to come up with a haiku, though it never really gelled. Maybe something like:

Gray wet sky and sea,
Lighthouse and fog horn, lonely.
A sleepy morning.

Or maybe:

Gray wet sky and sea,
A lighthouse and fog horn keep
lonely company.

And it seems we’ve moved past “Ondine” as our thematic piece. We’re now solidly into Ravel’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in G, second movement. (And of course performed by Martha Argerich.)

Ten new pictures.

The Pacific Ocean loves you. She wants to aloofly carry you away to her cold and lonely home, cradling you in her foggy arms forever.

Here at the Redwoods National Park, we finally got down to the water. It wasn’t what I expected.

The shore here is made up of crushed rocks, black sand closer to the road and small black pebbles closer to the water. There are small, beautiful pieces of wood that have been polished smooth by the strength of the tides. And walking down to the water was difficult because your feet sink quite far into the pebbles.

I originally intended to use my wind angle lens to get a broad picture of the shoreline, but as I came down the little hill I saw outcropping of rocks with green and red vegetation growing on the side, some kind of moss. The wide angle was definitely the wrong lens, but I didn’t want to take the time to go back to the car and figured I could just get up quite close for an interesting picture.

My tripod has been in the ocean current before. It’s even been in the river walk in Zion, which it fairly strong. But when I staked my little claim next to the rocks/cliff the Pacific Ocean yawned sleepily what I’m sure sounded like “Photographer, camera, appetizers, mmmmm.” Or maybe it was “whoooooosh”. Or maybe it was just the sound of the waves against the shoreline. But the pull of the ocean was surprisingly strong and my tripod was certainly not equal to the task.

I still got some pictures, but the strength of the tide was more interesting. When I got back to the car I noticed a sign warning about sneaker waves that I hadn’t seen initially. “We’re not in Kansas anymore!”

Mom and I had a full day of non-stop sightseeing. We got up early (dew drops on flowers!) and drove from Ft. Bragg to Crescent City, and the whole drive was beautiful. There are a couple of scenic drives that wind with US 101 going north, like the “Avenue of the Giants”. Further north we found a scenic drive that broke off from the scenic drive that we were already on. “A scenic drive within a scenic drive? Sure!” Soon we were off on costal drive, which was, in places, a steep gravel path. We were the only people out there (we later saw two other cars) and the view was amazing.

Tomorrow we’re going to head back to catch the things that we missed and then we’re headed up to Crater Lake, which is still mostly closed due to snow. But it will still be a wonderful stop.

There are always so many stories I want to tell -- for example, my impressions of the fine city of Garberville, CA -- but by the time I have a shower and get my pictures uploaded I'm exhausted. But speaking of pictures:

Twenty-two new pictures.

This morning we started off our day by visiting Saulsalito and the Golden Gate Bridge. Sadly the fog was too heavy for good pictures, but we had a very enjoyable lunch on the water and did some gallery hopping.

We took 101 North out of Saulsalito and said our prayers that we weren't going the other direction. I guess everyone was headed home from their holiday weekend adventures.

About that same time we realized that US 101 was not CA 1, and that we were missing our drive up the coast. We set the GPS to get us over to the Pacific Coast Hwy and had a very nice surprise drive from somewhere just south of Santa Rosa, through Occidental I think, then Guerneville, and finally to Jenner. This was mostly on Hwy 116 which was largely forested, lush, and secluded.

If I were going to live in CA, I think this would be the place to do it: close to SF, Napa, Sonoma, Pacific Coast Hwy, and with all the pleasantries of small town living. We stopped at a very peaceful coffee shop in Guerneville and got some pictures of small birds that were frolicking in the trees all around us.

Hwy 1 was gorgeous again. --Not as high up as we were outside of LA, but with lush flowers and vegetation on all sides. I'm waiting for the faeries or elves to pop out of the woods as we come around a corner up here. It really won't surprised me at all.

And as we made our way further north we began to see more redwoods. Mostly our drive was beset by heavy, heavy fog today, but there were some gorgeous shots that I was just dying to get -- and with no pulloffs to be had anywhere.

We stopped for an early dinner hoping the fog would clear in time for some sunset shots. That didn't happen and we later had something of what I think of as a "Lord of the Rings" (or any fantasy novel) experience that I'll try to relate:

For our last stretch of travel tonight we were in the dark, laden with heavy fog, on wet and windy roads, no other cars on the road, and passing through deserted towns that had long since closed for the evening. I was getting increasingly tired, needing to stretch my legs, use the restroom, and it looked like there wouldn't be anything until we found the hotel. And then, in another sleepy town, we came across a Bed and Breakfast/Inn with its lights on. We stopped and the inn keeper took pity on us, serving us coffee and desert even though she had just closed.

Other people in the inn were sitting around, talking quietly, telling stories. Someone asked Mom where we drove from and we where headed. The inn keeper/waitress/hostess was running around tending to everyone. And somehow it all just felt like something out of a book. If I ever mange to write one, I think I'll try to work it in somehow.

We're staying at the North Cliff Hotel in Ft. Bragg tonight, which is a lovely place indeed. I'd compare it to the Marriott in Marina del Ray, though they're kind of apples and oranges. The Marriott had its own nightclub; this place has a ton of a charm, and there is an honest-to-God fog horn in the distance. We have a fireplace and a complimentary breakfast waiting in the refrigerator, which looks as though it will be very nice when we wake up.

As I post this I'm listening my Zune, specifically to a recording of Martha Argerich -- my very favorite pianist (second perhaps only to Luis!) -- perform Ravel's "Ondine". I mention this because it's been playing in my head the entire trip whenever we're on Hwy 1 -- over and over and over like someone is playing it in my ear. Usually that kind of thing only happens if I have a bad fever (Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major was somewhat ruined for me by a bad flu several years ago), but I guess this is just the theme music for the vacation.

It's also worth mentioning because Mom and I found a place called "Ondine" in Saulsalito today. I thought it must be a divine omen and so we went in. Sadly, it was just a restaurant that wasn't open. But I guess I'm not the only one to match this piece of music with the Pacific coast.

Ten new pictures uploaded.

Had a great day doing the balloon ride today. We got up at the painful hour of 4am, which was tough since we didn't get to bed until midnight.

The balloon ride today was awesome. And it single handedly covered the things we wanted to do in Napa Valley.

Everyone met at 5:30am in étoile restaurant at the Domain Chandon vineyard for a continental breakfast before the balloon ride. A full buffet breakfast was served when we returned. So right there we got to visit a vineyard and nice restaurant in the valley. Check! (The grounds there are lovely -- gardens, rock art, flowers, birds chirping way. People were arriving via limo for tours and tastings, neither which we did, as we were leaving.)

We also got to see the entire Napa region, Sonoma region, et.al. from the air. But even better, our ride went particularly far (we're told they only go that far about a dozen times a year) and we landed in the Ravenswood vineyard and farm. So driving out we got to see back roads through the region that we couldn't have seen before. (They had to hunt down someone to unlock the gate to let us out.) Check!

It turns out that you can't really steer in a balloon. Winds blow in different speeds and directions depending on your height. And the balloonists know which houses/farms/estates do not welcome balloons, which ones do, and which will allow an emergency landing if necessary. (Wherever they do land, a bottle of champagne is left as a gift. I'm sure that helps things with the land owners quite a bit.)


Picture 73 shows were the first balloon landed. Yes, that's somebody's backyard. We were in a van chasing them like tornado chasers. That is also were our flight, the second/last flight of the day took off. Picture 86 shows were we actually landed -- in a crop field. The person in the tractor in picture 87 offered to put everyone to work; I believe he was the brother of the owner.

We came back to the room and basically went back to bed. This evening we went to Sonoma and had a nice time walking around the square. (I somehow forgot my camera and therefore missed the sunset shot of the day.) Most things were closed by the time we got there but the weather was lovely (a lot of other people thought so too), we had a nice dinner, and it was a very peaceful way to end the day.

We've decided not to go into SF tomorrow. We had sort of a revelation while having dinner with Nik and Kelly that there will be a lot of walking in SF, we can't really drive the car everywhere. Ordinarily that'd be okay, but Mom's back is acting up right now so a day of walking doesn't seem like a great idea.

But this gets us up the coast a little faster. And if we make up a full day anywhere we'll have time to shoot past Seattle and see Vancouver or Victoria, and I know Mom would love to see either of those. (We brought our passports just in case!)

Twenty-two new pictures.

Today we drove around Lake Tahoe and then landed in Napa where we will be up at 4am for a hot air balloon ride.

I uploaded three pictures from Tahoe. I'm not really happy with them. It's hard to get shots when you're just driving through an area, especially if it's during the middle of the day when the light isn't so great. It's a little easier when you spend an entire day somewhere and if the light isn't right over a certain vista when you first head out, it might be perfect on the way back, especially around sunset.

I wanted to get closer to the lake too and get some good rocks in the foreground and to capture the emerald green water by the shore. --The lake is beautiful; You can see straight down through the water.

Three new shots.

Yesterday I didn't label my post as "Raw" since there we no pictures. But since we had a yummy sushi lunch, I realized when I woke up this morning that I missed the change for a great pun. Please pretend I wrote something witty, and funny, and that you laughed out loud. Excellent.

I want to write more. We had a great dinner, stopped off at a crafts show while driving around Tahoe, but 4am is going to come painfully fast and I'm exhausted. Looking forward to the balloon ride!

"Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

Mom and I spent the entire evening gambling after having a dinner with a breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe. I was prepared to lose $100 but only lost about half that. So really, I'm up fifty dollars! Tomorrow I'll have to figure out how to spend this surprise windfall.

I had a fun time gambling, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Paul fracking Oakenfold was playing at the hotel next door to us tonight. I tried to convince Mom that for a wee thirty dollars she could claim mad bragging rights.

"Oh my, starry eyed surprise, sundown to sunrise, we're gong to dance all night, dance all night to this DJ. . ." (My favorites are some of the Max Graham remixes actually -- and the Great Wall CDs.)

Before getting up here to Lake Tahoe, we stopped off in Sacramento and had an incredible sushi lunch with Nik and Kelly. It's amazing how fast two hours can fly by when you're having good food and good conversation with friends. I'm reminded how much I miss the Ceviche days!

Tomorrow pictures should resume with photographs from around Lake Tahoe before we head over to Napa.

Yosemite.

As I looked out over a charred valley and then turned my head to examine a barren hill that had once been dense forest, I vaguely recalled hearing about a fire in Yosemite a few years ago. “Oh, yeah. . .” Mom and I didn’t bother driving that part of the park.

Also due to the freakishly cold weather (global warming?), more than half of Yosemite is still closed and covered in snow. So we didn’t get to see a lot of Yosemite. But we also had a very rewarding day:

For starters, we say a grizzly cub bounding through the forest. --Not sure if he was playing or chasing something. Unfortunately there wasn’t any place to pull off the road. (There are really not a lot of places to pull off in that park unfortunately.) And I got a couple great deer pictures.

Yosemite is a more subtle beauty that the nonstop “Wow” that is Yellowstone or Zion. But once we got into the park a way, its beauty really captivated us. I would describe it as very lush. Tolkien-ish elves could have ambushed us, shouting, “What are you doing in our forest!”

I wouldn’t mind spending several days or a week hiking and biking on the trails, which is the best way to see Yosemite apparently. But the lush factor could have something to do with the fact that we were immersed in rain, then sleet, then hail, then snow off and on throughout the day. Water has a way of doing that.

Pictures 53 and 54 were actually taken in a downpour of sleet. I precariously balanced my umbrella overhead by pressing it against the camera with my cheek, while trying to look through the viewfinder, and thus keeping my hands free for working the tripod head and camera settings. And despite the umbrella, nearly $4k of camera equipment was covered with more water that it probably should have been.

But I can’t be bothered to worry about that (unless I have to send something into Nikon for repair again). Life was meant to be lived and cameras were meant for taking pictures!

Sixteen new pictures.

Today was a characteristic whirlwind day for a Mom-Michelle vacation. We started off in Monterey of course, had breakfast, and revisited Cannery Row. From there we drove up Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz, which turned out to be a neat little town. The downtown area had a lot of shopping, saw Natural Bridges State Park, the boardwalk and wharf, and West Cliff Drive (beautiful). After Santa Cruz we drove *back* down Hwy 1 to Morro Bay and out to Fresno, where I write this. –And plenty of photography in-between.

When the coffee wears off, I’m going to be tired.

Santa Cruz turned out to be a very nice surprise. I had considered trying to move out there at one point in my life, years ago. So it was interesting finally getting to see it. There is a lot of surfing and also seems to be what I would characterize has a large “hippie” culture, for lack of a better description. We drove past a little drum circle of kids/people that seemed to be homeless or doing some long term “backpacking”, for example. You just don’t see that in Tampa.

Judging by some of the houses we drove by, Santa Cruz is more than surfing and drum circles. In fact, Mom seemed to really enjoy it.

The big surprise of Santa Cruz was the boardwalk (complete with massive roller coasters, etc.) and the wharf. There was a large population of sea lions resting in the rafters under the pier. I’m guessing (though not sure) that they got up there during a high tide. At any rate, it was possible to take some steps down and see them quite close, behind a fence that had been erected for protection.
Tired now. Pictures, shower, bed . . .

Twenty-one new photos.

Yesterday we saw Pebble Beach, Carmel, and The Cannery. It was raining the entire day, which I didn't mind so much: it gave a nice moody feel to the pictures. But it cut our shopping time in Carmel and The Cannery short.

I've uploaded eight pictures from Pebble Beach. The drive definitely exceeded my expectations. I had thought to say, "So there is where all those golf courses are..."

Today we're going to hit some more of CA 1, maybe go into Santa Cruz for a bit, maybe see the Monterey Aquarium, and finally drive up to Yosemite tonight.

Photo Gallery

I'm just terrible at editing and publishing my pictures after a vacation. Mom is still waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for pictures from last year, and the year before. . .

This year we're on another whirlwind vacation. We flew into LA and we're driving all the up the Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle, in two just weeks. I'm going to try something a little different this trip. I'm posting some raw, unedited pictures for friends and family. I only brought my netbook this trip, so I couldn't do any editing if I tried. And being free from that temptation is somewhat liberating.

Here is the San Diego pier, Rodeo Drive, a lake whose name I forget on CA 1, some Elephant Sea Lions that were also on CA 1, and finally some of what the highway is famous for.

California Raw, Web Album

One of my bigger problems at the moment is a tremendous backlog of pictures that I need to edit. I've gotten better at culling my pictures immediately after a trip, but editing and printing is another matter.

For lack of a decent laptop, I'm trying to get a little photography work done before heading up to Atlanta for a week. In the midst of that, I stumbled across this picture, which I did edit, from our vacation out to Utah last summer.

I'm really hoping to put up a gallery on photo.net soon. If you've never been to photo.net there are a plethora of breathtaking pictures and amazing photographers there.

Mom spotted this shot.

Uploading a picture from my Key West trip with Mom. This shot is still a little rough actually, but I'll clean up a high rez image later; Mom is going to kill me if I don't get some things posted soon.

We were heading out of the park after a spending a few hours in the water and sun, when Mom surprised me by showing this great view of the bridge before we left. She wasn't planning on getting out or staying, but I gave her my best puppy dog eyes asking, "Would you mind terribly if I took some pictures?"

I said "Thank you!" before she could really answer, and then I was off shooting.

Thank you really though Mom. It was a great trip. :-)

With this post, I enter into the world of Blogging!

I am terrible, terrible, terrible at keeping in touch with folks. And I think that is because my brain doesn't have a very good sense of time. Or maybe it's because my sleep schedule is so off that I never know what day it is. For example, I'm absolutely baffled how it is Friday already.

Anyway, I hope this will let me keep in touch with folks better.

Here is an image that I'm editing from the wedding I shot last month down in Key West. I wish I could do down again next week with Mom. Who knows, maybe I'll get down there for a couple days regardless.

By the way, the groom's ring here is inlaid with elephant hair, which is apparently quite thick. Those guys from South Africa are very manly men. :-p