A Quiet, Normal, Not Busy Life

I've forgotten how difficult it can be to balance full-time work and school. Throw trying to have a decent home life and some family time in there. Oh and let's not forget the holidays too. Needless to say, I've been busy. I'm looking forward to this Saturday because it means I'm done with weird work schedules and brain-melting classes. It means I'm free. At least until January 9th when it all fires up again. Whose brilliant idea was it to go back to school anyway? Oh right. Mine.

I have a very large backlog of photos being held in the coffers of my external hard drive. Things from Portland, Colorado, Yosemite and Tahoe. I was supposed to be working this morning for a couple of hours before I head off to class all day, but I blew it off. I needed an hour or so of no-cares-in-the-world photo time. I perused Flickr, I edited a 35mm roll from Portland (fun little Sauvie Island with Elizabeth and a wonderful day on the coast with Vanessa), and I am now posting a little something here. It's been too long. I miss my cameras and my Flickr time. I miss my Portland photo friends. I miss Oregon.

My three weeks before January 9th will surely be overloaded with Christmas stuff, but in that space, I'm going to try to shoot some photos, try to post here, try to knit, try to just remember what it's like to have a quiet, normal, not busy life. I hope the same for you.

The Only Ghost I'm Haunted By

Idaho, oh Idaho.
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Head on over to my Etsy shop for new prints, a BOGO sale, lower prices, and cheaper shipping. Hooray!

Prints Galore!

I remembered today that I have a very neglected Etsy shop. To make up for it, I've added several new prints, lowered my prices and shipping costs, and I'm having a big BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE sale! You can choose from the prints in my shop or on my Flickr photostream, and you'll get a print of equal or smaller size for free. Just tell me which one you'd like. Simple enough? I think so! So head on over and snap up some prints!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

October 7, when did you get here? Wasn't Memorial Day just last weekend? How does this happen every year? This morning I woke to find a family e-mail about Christmas festivities in my inbox and all I could do was stare at the screen. I blinked and shook my head, like I'd just been bonked on the head. I collected myself and responded, but I'm still in disbelief that we're discussing December. Time is going by much too quickly. And I realize how neglectful I've been of my blog, despite wanting to post here weekly. I was pretty good at keeping up for a few months, but then I got a brilliant idea to go back to school and well, that's where my summer has gone. I'm not complaining though. I'm very excited about it still, even though I've got my first midterm in about 10 years coming up next week. Eek!

So where have I been all summer? What have I been doing? What have I seen? Take a look! I...

biked to/from Antelope Island in Great Salt Lake and photographed boats while I was swarmed by bugs


hung out with my favorite nerdy photo pal, Heather, and her giant Mamiya that I'm going to steal from her house while she sleeps


hiked, climbed up and down ladders, and shimmied through tunnels to see Spruce Tree House, Cliff Palace, and Balcony House at Mesa Verde National Park


huffed and puffed up to beautiful Delicate Arch in Arches National Park (my third visit!)


started a super cool double exposures project with Vanessa


began traveling for some of the classes within my Master's degree and ended up in Seattle for a week


drove 70+ miles of dirt to see otherworldly Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef National Park


remodeled the kitchen into something I thought I'd only ever see in a magazine


hiked to Bell Canyon Reservoir with friends


picked raspberries on lovely little Sauvie Island with Elizabeth


went on a photo frenzy on the Oregon Coast with Vanessa


photoboothed it up with these cool kids after dinner at Clyde Common


wandered Portland


backpacked to the Grizzly Ridge Yurt on the Ashley National Forest (best weekend ever)


kayaked


toured Rocky Mountain National Park in a day (never enough time, but it's all we had)


traveled a bit for the Forest Service again

Besides all of these great happenings, I cheered on the Ogden Raptors with my dad on many a warm summer night, joined and immediately became obsessed with Instagram (thanks Vanessa), hippie-danced at an Infamous Stringdusters/Railroad Earth/Yonder Mountain String Band show at Red Rocks, flew home and back to Denver the very next day for school for the week, met my brand new nephew Grady in August and immediately fell in love, grilled a delicious steak for the first time in my life, conquered homemade pizza dough! (I'll never buy Boboli again), visited family in Texas at Lake Travis and just about got chased out by the Spicewood wildfire (we were packed and ready to evacuate but were safe in the end), walked around Austin, spent a week in Boise for school, then another week there for work... Rest assured I have many photos of these adventures, but I haven't posted them on Flickr yet, nor have I edited them, but I'll update this space when I get to them. It was a fantastic summer that may have been a little too busy, seeing as it's October and I'm blindsided. Such is life. Hope you had a great summer too.

Finally posted to Flickr, so now I can share here...

lazed about for five days at Lake Travis despite the nearby Spicewood wildfire


explored Austin


wandered Boise for four days during a class for school

Fitting

It was very fitting to hike to these beautiful trees on our 10th wedding anniversary last Thursday in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite National Park. The sign says it all, even though it's a little nerdy. And what a place to celebrate. There was hiking, sightseeing, jaw dropping, tree hugging, beer drinking, raccoon shooing, Curry camping, beach sitting, and picture taking. It was the perfect place to be for a momentous occasion. Happy 10th, dude.

Dusk

A couple more from the amazing little Grizzly Ridge Yurt... These are from my Pentax K1000 on our last night in the woods, and still, the beautiful light continued. I had planned on posting these clouds tonight, and then I saw Vanessa's cloudscapes on her blog today and loved the serendipity. Hi friend!

The Yurt

"Stay in a yurt" was on my list of things to do this summer, and in mid-July, that's just what we did. On July 15, we drove to the bustling metropolis of Vernal, Utah, then headed north on Highway 191 to the Ashley National Forest. After a very bumpy two miles where there were times we had to get out of the car and move rocks out of the way, we decided we'd gone far enough up the jeep trail and parked the car and backpacked in another 1.5 miles. Our original plan was to pack all the way in, but we got a late start and were afraid we wouldn't reach the yurt before dark. It's a good thing we drove in half way because we walked up to the yurt just as the sun went down. Perfect timing.

As we unpacked our backpacks, stored the food and water away (we had to pack in five gallons of water - no source up at the yurt), and familiarized ourselves with the very cool Grizzly Ridge Yurt, the moon rose full and bright over the nearby ridge, and made us even more excited to be there. We stayed two nights in pure solitude and saw only four other people all weekend. And one deer. It was heaven and we are pretty much counting down the days till next summer so we can make this a tradition.

In the next week, I'll be posting most of my yurt photos on Flickr and if I've got time, a few more here. There are so many. Stay tuned!

PS: I hope you got to cross something fun off your summer to-do list!

36 Miles

Today I headed out into the field for my second day of my new contract with the US Forest Service, and I went to Bountiful Peak Campground, a place closer to my home than most, but also very, very far away. Once the road turned to dirt, I traveled only 36 miles roundtrip, but it took me two full hours. It wasn't the worst road I've ever been on - far from it, actually - but it was indeed the scariest. For long traverses across the top of the Wasatch Front, the road hugged the mountainside thousands of feet above the valley floor. In some places, I bet the road was only 12 feet across and it sure made for some sketchy corners and the occasional passing of another vehicle. It was the first time in my two years and 22,000+ miles of driving for the Forest Service that I felt compelled to turn down my music so I could concentrate. And that's saying a lot.


According to Google Maps, this is the road as it climbs almost 3,000 feet in elevation and snakes over 18 miles of mountain. Below, that's what it looked like on the ground. The tiny white ribbon is the road, and the peaks above are pushing 9,500 feet, while just off the edge of the road is 3,500 feet of nothing but air. It was a little unnerving for a time, but I made it out safe and sound. I even saw a ptarmigan. And words can't describe how happy I am to be back on the road to finish up my work.

Camp 18

I finish writing all about my June trip to Seattle and breathe a sigh of relief. That was a lot of photos to cover! And now, here we are in August and I'm about to barrage you with images from my July trip to Portland, where I probably shot double the photographs. I made 53 Polaroids (felt so good!) and cruised through three rolls of film (two of which are over on Doubles). It was a trip for the record books, full of awesome friends, good food, good beer, a plethora film, and a whole lot of wandering. It was right up my alley!

All of these Polaroids are from Camp 18 on Highway 26 on the way out to the coast. We didn't stop for food, just a little exploring. There were so many cool things to photograph there. I walked up the river a bit, climbed on top of a log taller than me, and for the first time ever, I trespassed. We had no choice. When there's a cool old truck covered in weeds and wildflowers along an old forest road, you just trespass. (Truth be told, I was really hesitant but Vanessa convinced me. It was worth it. Really worth it. I'll post those photos later on...) Once we'd taken our photo opportunities, we ran back out past the sign and went on our way to Cannon Beach.

Seattle - Day 4, the iPhone

Last day in Seattle. I was extremely happy to head home to my husband, but bummed to leave such a great town. I didn't shoot any 35mm this day, instead I burned through a pack of PX600 Poor Pod (love that stuff!) and snapped a few iPhone images in Pike Place and Post Alley, and one cliche but always necessary out-the-airplane-window shot. It was so nice to be home, but the next day, I wished I had grabbed some dried strawberries and chocolate-covered cherries from Chukar in Pike Place. I hope you've enjoyed the very delayed appearance of all my Seattle images. What a great week!