Just got back from the annual Tahoe vacation. I had a great time, this year, and found some new hiking trails from Spooner Lake up to Marlette Lake (on the east side of the lake), since the normal playground from Echo Lake up to Aloha was still buried under snow (and a whole lot of snow at that)

I got there a day early, so I got to hang out with the Hogges on Saturday night, going to a Sacramento River Cats minor-league game and off to Leatherbys for a late night snack. Kelsey was showing up with her new fiance at 3am, so we had to set a little trap for them (think of a bunch of cans stacked by the door). That’s what Evil Uncles are all about…

My brother came down with the whole family this year, so we all got to see Candice, Riley, Elle and Cameron. I’m pretty sure they had a great time, but as a single traveling consultant, there’s no way I can imagine the “travel day” thing with a large family like that. We all  headed up to the lake (pure chaos at checkin, something unusual must have been going on.

My normal hiking spot from Echo Lake up into Desolation Wilderness, was still under large amounts of snow, so when the Vachuska’s came up, we did a trip on the east side of the lake instead. We did a 9 mile loop from Spooner Lake up to Marlette Lake. In all these years, I never even knew Marlett lake existed. Funny how you can find new things even in locations you’ve been hundreds of times.

On Saturday, I went down to Doug and Peggy’s for the annual “Fourth of July get together (and birthday party). It was great seeing everybody again.

I didn’t get out the camera like I usually do, so I don’t have a lot of pictures, but the ones I took are below.

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Tags: Family,Hiking,Lake Tahoe,Marlette Lake,Spooner Lake,Vacation
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Hard to believe it’s summer already, but I guess time waits for no one…

We had our annual Fourth of July block party, where we block off the streets, and let all the neighborhood kids run around and play. Lots of fun, lots of people, and way too much food. And we get a light show to top it all off! I set up the camera in pure manual mode, on a tripod, and had it take a 5-second exposure every six seconds once the show started. Then pretty much left it unattended until the end of the show. Which resulted in just shy of 500 pictures. Some completely black, some with “weirdness” and other artifacts. So I cut back to 75 to process, and here they are.

The only post-processing I did was to crop them. They turned out OK, but I cannot wait to get the new camera body with the better sensor!

So without further ado, here’s the pix:

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Tags: Fireworks,Fourth of July,July 4th
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I found a new genealogy program that is MUCH more powerful than the one I was using to present information before. It’s entirely web-based, and called “The Next Generation (TNG)”.

So, as of mid-May 2011, all our genealogy information has been updated to the latest versions, and available by clicking here. If you’re family, be sure to register on that page for considerably more access and functionality (like the ability to edit/update/suggest changes)

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There’s something about spring cleaning, weather starting to warm up, and longer days that make you want to clean house. I went through the basement the other day to move everything out of there that has more than a year of dust on it, and moved it all into the garage.

The Sportster 883c

The Sportster 883c

And… while I was at it, the garage needed cleaning too. So I started moving stuff around trying to get ready for the inevitable neighborhood “Spring Garage Sale”. As I was moving the truck and my Harley Sportster,  I realized that I hadn’t been out on it for quite a while (at least a couple months). So I grabbed the jacket, and went for a ride. A fun ride. North. Towards High Country Harley Davidson. Thought I’d wander through and dream about bikes. Besides, this would be much more fun than cleaning the garage! And maybe I could test-ride some of the new bikes while I was there. Anything to avoid cleaning out the garage…

I thought the new bigger bikes would be fun to try out. I have a great friend in Santa Barbara who let’s me ride his old Heritage Softail when I’m out there, so I’ve been getting used to bigger bikes.

But, during all of this, I had no plans to purchase anything. I just wanted to see what the new bikes were like.  As I rode up, they asked about my bike, it’s condition, mileage, and more (The dealership sells a lot of used Sportsters during their Spring Fling event in April.) I was walking around inside looking at the new toys, when I saw a Pearl/Silver Softail that caught my eye pretty quickly. I was talking with one of the sales reps who said it was a 2009 Softail Deluxe (Nostalgia model) with only 3,500 miles on it. Custom pipes on it (not that I’d know) and looked like it was in perfect condition. Since I was interested in it, they actually started trying to negotiate for the Sportster as part of a trade-in deal. After an hour or two, and a couple test rides on that bike and even bigger bikes, I said “let’s talk seriously about this. Long story a little shorter, I ended up trading in my Sportster for over high blue book credit (and more than I paid for it originally two years ago), and I’m now the proud owner of a new Softail (and I cannot wipe this silly grin off my face).

Not bad! They got a great, clean, low-mileage bike, and I got to lower my taxes on the used bike I bought by quite a bit.

So here’s what’s filling all that new space I had left over after “spring cleaning”.

New Harley FLSTN

2009 Softail Deluxe Guess I better not try to clean anything else, or I’ll end up with a new truck…

New Harley FLSTN

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Tags: FLSTN,Harley,mid-life crisis,motorcyle,Softail,Sportster,spring cleaning
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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.

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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!

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Tags: Barn,Catamount,Fall Colors,Steamboat,Steamboat Barn
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At the top of RMNP, with Longs Peak in the background

About a year and a half ago, I went down to Phoenix on a job and stayed over a weekend to hang out with my Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom. Part of that trip included a ride up the Salt River Valley to Roosevelt Lake, and then over El Oso Road (I think) near Four Peaks on a dirt road. Talk about rugged beauty!!! Entirely different than what I’m used to, but just as photogeneic (no, I didn’t have my camera).

But I digress. I invited Tom to come up an play in the Colorado mountains with me someday. Well, last week, he took me up on that offer. He drove up from Phoenix (through Moab) and got into town Saturday afternoon. Given the drive from Phoenix, we kicked back that night and watched Football. A lot of college football…

On Sunday, we headed up for the tour through Rocky Mountain National Park. Up Fall River drive (a dirt road) to the visitors center where there were WAY TOO MANY people, then back towards home. Lots of stopping, gawking, but not too much walkin’ around due to the altitude. We stopped at the Baker Street Pub in Boulder on the way home for a beer and a good lunch/dinner.

Uncle Tom at the Leanin' Tree Museum

On Monday, it was a quieter day. We went to the Leanin’ Tree Museum in Boulder (very cool for people who like old western art). We also tried to go to the Shelby Museum (as in Cobra) but it’s only open on Saturdays. We had a good Southwestern lunch at Serranos Southwestern Grill in Gunbarrell, and then headed down to Golden for a tour of Coors (hey, Coors, you still owe us a beer!!!). We wrapped up the night with Monday night football, and got ready for a high-mountain tour the next day.

Tuesday we went towards Mt. Evans, but got stopped at Spirit Lake. Apparently the string of 80 degree days and perfect weather doesn’t deter the Park Rangers from blocking the road the day after Labor Day. What a drag…We headed back down to Idaho Springs for lunch at the Tommyknocker brew pub (can you detect the brewery theme) then over to Berthoud Pass to get his picture taken in front of a Continental Divide sign.

For the way home, we took a little “side trip” to Alice/St. Mary’s Glacier, then drove over the top of the glacier on a 4×4 road, down Mammouth Gulch to Rollinsville, and then home for a good nights sleep.

It was a lot of travel, but well worth it. I love being in the mountains, and I think Tom did too, now that he can breathe again!

Mt. Evans Panorama - Looking North West

More pictures below the break

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EDHS Pictures

Found some old El Dorado High School pictures in the basement the other day. They’re here below the break

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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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Tags: Cascade Lake,Desolation Wilderness,Echo Lake,Emerald Bay,Family,South Lake Tahoe,Timber Lodge,waterfalls
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

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.

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Categories: Announcements, Family Stuff
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