A new barn to shoot next fall!

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).

SteamboatBarn 128x85 A new barn to shoot next fall!

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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Playing in the mountains with Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom 3 128x95 Playing in the mountains with Uncle Tom

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… icon smile Playing in the mountains with Uncle Tom

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 5 85x128 Playing in the mountains with Uncle Tom

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 300x66 Playing in the mountains with Uncle Tom

Mt. Evans Panorama - Looking North West

More pictures below the break
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EDHS Flashbacks

EDHS 15 128x89 EDHS Flashbacks

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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My Annual Lake Tahoe Vacation – 2010

Tahoe 5 128x96 My Annual Lake Tahoe Vacation   2010

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.

Tahoe 36 128x96 My Annual Lake Tahoe Vacation   2010

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

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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Baby Mountain Goats on a snowy day in July

Mt. Evans 344 128x85 Baby Mountain Goats on a snowy day in July

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… icon smile Baby Mountain Goats on a snowy day in July

More pictures below the break

Other articles from this trip (both mine and Gregg’s) are located at:

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Steamboat Wildflowers

Steamboat Wildflowers 140 128x85 Steamboat Wildflowers

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 1 128x85 Steamboat Wildflowers

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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30th annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo

Steamboat Balloons 61 128x85 30th annual Steamboat Balloon RodeoI 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).

Steamboat Balloons 362 85x128 30th annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo

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”  icon smile 30th annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo

Steamboat Balloons 350 85x128 30th annual Steamboat Balloon Rodeo

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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Flashback #2 – Softool Christmas Poems 1991

After scanning the old brochure that Bill “lent me” (via Tom), I went looking on my drives for other “memorabilia”. I found two Christmas Poems from 1988, and one from 1991. These were written on while on Hotline during the silence called Christmas break (we had to man the phones even though they only rang once every other day). The second one mentions a LOT of people by name (I have stripped last names for “privacy”…)

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Flashback! Softool Corporation 1988

Softool Brochure 1988 Cover 112x128 Flashback! Softool Corporation 1988

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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