My Annual Lake Tahoe Vacation – 2010
July 26, 2010 10:48 pm
Tom and Ian above Highway 50
This year’s Tahoe trip was a little more chaotic than usual, but as always, far too short.
I drove up from Santa Barbara (I was working at our office) to the Bay Area on Friday night, then headed up to Sacramento and stopped by to see William on Saturday. Given the treatments he’s going through right now, he was looking pretty good, and quite excited about his new TV and X-box, even though he’s kind of bed-bound right now.
After the short visit with the Holdens, I headed up to Tahoe, where I met Janet and Steve Kelsey (cousins), Tom and Ian Vachuska (cousins) and two of my nieces (Kelsey and Katie). We had a good dinner at Fire and Ice, and the next day, I took Tom and Ian for a “walk” up to the falls between Tamarack Lake and Echo Lake.
Above Cascade Lake
Mom and Dad came up for a night, then back up again with Darlene and Bill Frost (Aunt and Uncle). The Hogges came up for a couple nights and a quick day trip to Cascade Falls above Cascade Lake.
And in the middle of all this, my brother Scott and his wife Candice had their baby on Thursday, July 22nd!!! See the link above for pictures, and Scott’s Facebook account for more information.
Last but not least, my parents and I had a far-too-short visit with Eric Larusson (one of my high-school friends who now runs the Tahoe Villager Nursery in Truckee) on his way through town after a job.
See the pictures below the break
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Cameron Scott Parker
10:44 pmCONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Everybody welcome Cameron Scott Parker, son of my brother Scott and wife Candice, born on July 22nd, 2010 just after 5 in the morning. 10.5 lbs, 21.75 “. Yes… That’s a big baby.
See Scott’s Facebook page for more information.
Baby Mountain Goats on a snowy day in July
July 14, 2010 10:03 pm
 School's Out For Summer! |
As part of our trip to the 30th Annual Steamboat Balloon Festival last weekend, Gregg Lowrimore and I stopped by Mt. Evans on the way home, hoping for some pictures of this years “baby” mountain goats. We weren’t disappointed… 
More pictures below the break |
Other articles from this trip (both mine and Gregg’s) are located at:
- The 30th Annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo
- Steamboat Wildflowers
- Gregg’s “Steamboat Barn in Alpenglow“
- Gregg’s “Nice Start to the Weekend“
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Steamboat Wildflowers
9:39 pm
Steamboat Columbine
Last weekend, Gregg Lowrimore and I went up to Steamboat Springs to take pictures at the 30th Annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo (see this link for that story). But… the balloon festival ends really early (like 9am) so we decided to go try to find fields of Colorado’s state flower, the Columbine.
We drove up to the Slovenia Trailhead in Routt National Forest, and walked in about a quarter mile for the shot on the left.
Steamboat Barn at twilight
The afternoon storms kicked in pretty hard, and we got caught in one pretty serious rain storm, but after that it cleared up for the evening, and we got some FANTASTIC light for a different shot of the famous Steamboat Barn
I’d love to get there about 10 minutes earlier next time to be able to compose a little better. We literally caught this shot and 2-3 minutes later the barn was “dark”.
More pictures are below the break.
Other articles from this trip (both mine and Gregg’s) are located at:
- The 30th Annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo
- Baby Mountain Goats on a snowy day in July
- Gregg’s “Steamboat Barn in Alpenglow“
- Gregg’s “Nice Start to the Weekend“
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30th annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo
July 12, 2010 5:30 pm
I haven’t been on a photo shoot for a long time, and talked to Gregg about heading up to Steamboat Springs to shoot the 30th Annual Balloon Rodeo this year. I had heard about this last year, and wanted to come up, but I couldn’t find a room anywhere. So, last July, 50 weeks to the day before this year’s show, I reserved two rooms, and have just let them sit and “wait” for me to come up.
Turns out the hotel is right across the street from where they launch, so we got into town about dinner time, and scouted the lake and launch area for positions.
The first day (Saturday) had an unusual northward wind and all the balloons eventually ended up in or near town. The second day went much better with very light winds creating a box that the pilots could use to return to the landing zone (a few made it back).
Beautiful reflection
They got points for going over the lake and touching the water with the basket (called dip-n-dash), but a few got a little carried away, and ended up in more of a “dunk-n-dash”
Dunk and Dash
All in all a stellar weekend for balloons, and the high-country Colorado sky with a polarizer on the camera made the pictures look as beautiful as ever.
There are three albums associated with this trip. The remaining two will be uploaded as I have get to cleaning them up.
Other articles from this trip (both mine and Gregg’s) are located at:
- Steamboat Wildflowers
- Baby Mountain Goats on a snowy day in July
- Gregg’s “Steamboat Barn in Alpenglow“
- Gregg’s “Nice Start to the Weekend“
The rest of the Steamboat Balloon Rodeo pictures are below the break.
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Flashback #2 – Softool Christmas Poems 1991
June 6, 2010 5:28 pmFlashback! Softool Corporation 1988
June 5, 2010 10:23 am
Softool Brochure 1988-Cover
I was at Tom and Lorin’s last night for dinner, and Tom brought out something that Bill Tuerck has kept around for a LONG time.
It was really fun reading the text and seeing people from over 20 years ago!
I’ve scanned the whole brochure as a PDF file, which you can read by clicking this link, or just looking at the images that will appear below the break.
Enjoy it! I know I did!
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Sunrise over Laguna Blanca
May 5, 2010 7:45 pm
Laguna Blanca 59
Sounds like a western movie… Right?!? No trains or dusty gunfights between cowboys and indians here though. Just ducks, herons, geese, fog, and a sunrise. Oh yeah, and palm trees on a beautiful golf course.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven by this location over the last couple decades, thinking to myself “I wish I had my camera gear here today”. Well, today I finally did. I got up a little earlier than normal this morning (about 5:40am) and jumped in the rental car to head down to the corner of Las Palmas and Lago Drive (in Hope Ranch in Santa Barbara). Then I just waited for mother nature to flex a little…
Since words can’t do the pictures justice. I really don’t have to do much more to add, other than “I love scenes like this!”.
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“Who’s your Patty?” Party
April 28, 2010 10:20 pm
The fire drill. 29 candles...
Patty’s birthday was last Tuesday, and over the weekend, Jeff threw a fantastic party for her. It was a catered party with fresh sushi and a professional chef from one of the local sushi restaurants. After a late Friday night dinner and Karaoke at the Tib until 2am (another story which will remain untold), Jeff, Jim, Sam and I were pretty tired, but pulled it together for the birthday party. That also ran to 2am.
Thank goodness I had to go back to work on Monday so I could get some sleep
More pictures are below the break.
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