With all the hoopla on the news lately about tonight’s Perigee Moon, I had to go try to take some pictures. While it was initially supposed to be clear today, it was pretty cloudy… I didn’t prep nearly enough, but got a couple. My buddy Gregg also shot a few too.
On day 1 of our annual trip to Steamboat Springs this year, we were walking around the Gondola Area to see all the new places that were built in the last year (and there were a LOT). As we walked by the new Ski Patrol office at the base of the Gondola, a picture on the wall caught my eye. A beautiful barn with fall colors behind it that looked almost exactly like the famous Steamboat Barn, but wasn’t. It was a mirror image of it with a beautiful fall-color terrain behind it that doesn’t exist near the barn I take so many pictures of (search for Steamboat Barn).
The Famous Steamboat Barn
The women staffing the office had no idea where it was taken, but finding it became my obsession for the weekend. I had this stupid chest/sinus congestion that’s going around Colorado, so I wasn’t planning on spending much time on the slopes. So the search began.
I hit up local artist shops (no luck), then went to a real estate broker. They mentioned that the local paper had done a series on “Where’s this barn” over the last summer. So I headed over there to talk to the writer/photographer. He wasn’t in at the time, but the receptionist at the front desk told me of another local photographer (Don Tudor) who has a gallery downtown that I had missed the first time around.
So I headed back downtown. He knew where it was based on the picture I showed him (I took an iPhone pic of the barn in the Ski Patrol office).
So I headed over to take pictures. You can spot it from the road, but as you turn off the main road and head towards it, it turns out it’s on private property. I’m a believer in private property laws so I turned around kinda disappointed. As I started heading back in to town, I thought “It never hurts to call and ask”. So, being a geek with technology in the truck, I brought up a web browser, looked up the property owner’s phone number, then called and asked if I could go take pictures. The reply? “No problem at all. Have fun! I’ll let security know you’re there”
So, here’s a bunch of “test pictures” for positioning and location that we’ll use when we come back to shoot the barn surrounded by fall colors. I can’t wait to see this surrounded by fall colors! Hopefully I can talk them into removing the snow cat for those shots!
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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 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:
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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:
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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:
The rest of the Steamboat Balloon Rodeo pictures are below the break.
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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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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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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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