All's well that ends well

I'm happy to report that our tourists are on their feet and enjoying the wonders of Scottish scenery. Whatever it was that laid them low has passed. my bet is that they were escaping from an attack of the Highland midge, but many other creative suggestions were made.
And the rabbit is still there.

Yosemite National Park

After spending Christmas in San Francisco I drove on to Yosemite National Park, which is a few hours away from San Francisco. I arrived in Yosemite in the late afternoon on Christmas Day, with enough time to scout a location to shoot for sunset. Even on Christmas Day there were quite a few visitors in the park. Luckily I was able to find a location that I had all to myself when it came time to start making images. There was snow when I arrived at the park and it looked like it had fallen a couple of days earlier. It was a fairly mild evening with temperatures hovering in the mid-30's, which made for some beautiful fog that hovered just off the ground throughout the floor of the valley. The fog also meant that the trees and shrubs were all covered in frost.


After the sun had set I drove around for a little while looking for locations to do some star shooting once it was dark enough. I found a couple more fantastic spots and as soon as the stars became visible, I was shooting again. I had a wonderful time shooting the stars in Yosemite Valley, and I have a feeling that is something that not many people have done. I have seen many images of Yosemite, but only one or two night-time images. There was a little bit of moonlight which provided some nice illumination on the rocky cliffs. The moonlight wasn't bright enough to wash out the stars, though. And boy, let me tell you.... rarely have I seen a sky so full of stars! It was an incredible night, one I will not soon forget!


I returned to Yosemite again the following day, but the conditions for photography were less than favorable. It was a chilly, damp day with gray skies. I ended up driving around some more on the park roads to some areas that I hadn't seen the day before, but I really didn't take any pictures. I also visited the Ansel Adams Gallery, which is located near the park's visitor center. The gallery is definitely worth a visit. They have some really amazing framed prints of some of Ansel's most famous images, as well as images by other photographers that are well worth a look. Do yourself a favor and check it out if you ever find yourself in Yosemite!

Pedal mist out

It's strange that I forgot to mention Saturday's trip to Springbrook. I ended up riding with a triathlete that I caught up to at Mudgeeraba, it was nice to have some company for the climb. Higher up, we encountered another group from the Kurrawa Surf club in Broadbeach. It's astonishing that while most cyclists on the Gold Coast don't attempt to ride to Best of All Lookout, this group from the surf club were doing just that. Unfortunately, their progress was halted when one of their group managed to crash somewhere on the climb.

We continued, but above 750 metres there were no views to be had as the mist had rolled in thickly. Yet it's days like these that make mountain climbs special in my view. The summit greeted us with the coolest temperature so far of -- just 17 degrees C. It had been 25 overnight on the coast. We ventured out to the lookout, just to confirm the anticipated white out, then returned to the lower altitudes for the final descent to the coast.

My regular riding partner Martin suggested overcoming "the nemesis" (a particularly nasty roller near Mudgeeraba) by staying in "The Dog", or the big chain ring. This usually works, but today the nemesis would find another way in, and I would break a pedal. I coasted along after this for a while, but broke it right off at Mudgeeraba. Luckily I was near enough to a bike shop to get the repair done quickly, but pedalling up the one hill in the village with one foot is an interesting experience. That done I mopped up the last few kilometres to get home.
* * * * * *
In a few short hours I fly out for the Alpine Classic, arguably among the hardest single-day rides in Australia. However, at present there is speculation that the 200km edition may be cancelled due to excessive temperatures on the weather forecast. If that's the case, I may be forced to ride the 130km edition in the morning, before tackling Mt Buffalo independently during the afternoon. Either way, it should be a great weekend. I can't wait.

How to Age a Map

I promised to tell you how I aged the giant map in our parlor. I bought it at Books-a-Million for about $7. When I got it home, I took a very wet washcloth and went over the map several times, letting the water stand. I then sprinkled it with coffee grounds.
I let it dry and liked the way the paper crinkled and the coffee has made dark little 'age' spots, but it wasn't dark enough. So I brewed some tea bags in water and soaked the map with that, letting it stay on for a few minutes. I kept doing that until it was the aged color I wanted.
I took it to Hobby Lobby for framing telling them to just attach the map by the top. I didn't want the wrinkles to be pressed out. I thought it turned out quite old looking. Double click on it to see a closeup.
This could also be done with copies of photos or maps. Just experiment until you get the desired effect and have fun with it!

Earth Hour Edinburgh

Switching off the lights on the Forth Rail Bridge, seen above in all its rusty-red splendour, was one of Edinburgh's civic contributions to Earth Hour yesterday. For some reason, this bridge is illuminated every night. Yes, it's a feat of 19th Century engineering - the world's first major steel bridge. No, we don't need to see it lit up at night.
During Earth Hour you would still have seen its partner road bridge illuminated in a ghastly orange glow reflected off the clouds.

These photos were taken by our intrepid Austrian friends right at the end of their round-Scotland bike trip in the summer.
In our household, we lit candles, turned off the lights and the TV and the computer(s). My husband and son were felled by sleep almost immediately - husband on the sofa, teenage son stretched out on the floor. My daughter and I looked at each other, sighed, and spent a peaceful hour reading by candlelight in a Jane Austen-ish way. Perhaps as a result of aligning body clocks to earlier darkness we were up with the sun this morning and on our way to the allotment by 8 a.m.

Morrow Point Boat Tour - Black Canyon

Today seems like a perfect day to go back to Blue Mesa / Black Canyon and take the Morrow Point Boat tour.
We've been warned that the trail down has 236 steps down.
So we start the trek down - we don't need no stinkin stairmaster!


Once we reach the River it is anothermile orso to the Boat.
We had a picnic lunch before boarding and this chipmunk thought we might share
Here comes the 10 a.m. boat back. Time to turn around.
It is a ranger lead ride. It's a 41 Passenger boat and there are about 8 of us on board.
A different perspective from down here.
We pass a small waterfall. Chipeta Falls,drops about 150-160 feet off of the canyon wall.
According to Rudyard Kipling , who rode the train through the canyon in 1889: "We entered a gorge, remote from the sun, where the rocks were two thousand feet sheer, and where a rock splintered river roared and howled ten feet below a track which seemed to have been built on the simple principle of dropping miscellaneous dirt into the river and pinning a few rails a-top. There was a glory and a wonder and a mystery about the mad ride, which I felt keenly…until I had to offer prayers for the safety of the train" Avalanches and rock falls were common and an engineer and his crew never knew if or when their train would be the next to be swept into the icy waters of the Gunnison River.




Lush, Green Kokanee Bay is the turn-around point for the Boat Tour
The trail along the side of the river was the old Denver Rio Grande Western Railroad narrow gauge rail bed. The Curecanti Needle is a 700 hundred feet A-shaped rock formation that was part of the Rail Road's Logo.



The remains of a telegraph line in the rock
Hard to believe there was a rail road track once upon a time below the water.
The tour was 90 minutes and very informative. Now time for the hike back up
and up!
Till Later!
Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n
Melissa, Gary & Tucson

Its Race Time

The mountain bike racing season is under way. Yesterday was the frist race of the season for the Psycowpath Mountain Bike Series. First on the schedule was Jewell Jam time trial.
The time trial was held at Jewell Park ion Bellevue, NE. The 3.5 mile course included some 450 feet of climbing. Temeratures were in the 80s during the race. (That's ride, 80s the end of March!)
Later in the day was the Old Towne Fat Tire Criterium. I had enough for the day standing 2 hours on the hillside at Jewell Park, so did not shoot photos during the crit.
Here's the link to the Time Trial photos.
http://win-photo.photoreflect.com
Swanson River City Shootout cross country race is this afternoon. Watch for posting of the photos.