Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
i just tucked the tree into my pants...
...so i've been thinking about starting a "photo of the day" adventure. my friend, jacquie, at school had done it for a while and she said that taking a picture every day was one of the best ways that she learned and grew as a photographer. so i figured it was time to stop contemplating and just do.
i've thought for a while that it was an amazing idea, but always had this fear that i couldn't take a good picture every single day. but i'm learning to let go of this idea that everything that i do has to be amazing and allow people to see my flaws. i'm not perfect, after all.
so starting 8/8/08 (my favorite number 3 times) i'll post a pod right here. (c:
i've thought for a while that it was an amazing idea, but always had this fear that i couldn't take a good picture every single day. but i'm learning to let go of this idea that everything that i do has to be amazing and allow people to see my flaws. i'm not perfect, after all.
so starting 8/8/08 (my favorite number 3 times) i'll post a pod right here. (c:
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
i'll meet you at the car, dave.
this past weekend whitney and i made the trek up to winter park for a little break. and it was really the perfect weekend, what with temps in denver hitting the triple digits.
we didn't really make any solid plans other than to relax and have fun, but we both wanted to go for a hike and explore the area a bit. whitney had a map of the area with hiking paths and she chose one that looked mild (with my dumb altitude sickness, i have to be careful not to go on a trail that ascends too quickly). from the map, it looked to be about a mile and a half, so we expected to be doing about 3 miles total.
we got started on what we thought was creekside trail (nice pretty name) but after being on the trail a while, found out that it was chainsaw trail (not so comforting). realizing that we weren't on the right trail, we tried to check the map to find out the best way...either turn around or find out if we could connect with another trail that looped back to where we were parked. according to the map, if we hooked up at flume trail, it would be about 2.5 miles back to the car. we figured chainsaw to be about a mile and half(ish), so it looked like we'd be doing about a mile more than anticipated, but that really wasn't an issue.
but once we connected with flume and were making our way merrily along, whitney kept getting nervous. she has a pretty good sense of direction and just felt like we were moving further and further from where we needed to be. but, every time we stopped to try to make sense of the map we would get mauled by the mosquitos, so it was quite distracting. by the time we realized that the map just might be full of crap, we decided to wait until we passed another hiker to ask them if they knew what trail we were on and maybe gain some sense of where we were.
the trails up there are a big draw to the mountain biking crowd and we'd been dodging bikers all day without running into too many other hikers. we didn't want to stop a biker for direction because generally they were blazing by pretty quickly. we finally crossed paths with a guy and his ridiculously cute dogs (they weren't whitney's cup of tea, because they had short-hair, but i thought they were awesome). anyway, he confirmed the trail we were on and gave us an idea of which direction we were traveling and we felt better about where we were going. once we got to the trail head we turned right (as the kind hiker instructed us to) to get to the lot where the cars were. unfortunately, when we made the quarter mile hike to the parking area, we realized that that is NOT where we started.
back to our only idea of where to go, our crappy map, we realized we had gone pretty far off track and had a ways to go. all in all, our 3 mile, hour and a half hike turned into a 7.8 mile, 4 hour hike. oi. toward the end of the trail, we ran into dave, the biker, looking for his 2 buddies. he asked if we saw his friends, to tell them to meet him at the car. he ended up finding them shortly thereafter, but it was kinda funny. maybe you had to be there.
i did get a lot of picture taking in...except for the few miles that were all uphill. i was pretty much just concentrating on breathing. (c; i had taken some dimethylglycine (which helps your blood absorb more oxygen), so the altitude sickness didn't get me this time. yay!
the pine beetles have decimated a huge portion of the trees and the forest service has been working on cutting some down. i don't know what else they plan on doing, but it's really sad when 80% of the trees are dead or dying. this is one tree marked for destruction.
more proof of the beetles' destruction...
pretty mushrooms. good for looking. not for eating (c:
we stumbled across a painters bench...just a cool little place for painters to create some masterpieces. this was the view.
all in all, it was really nice to get away and despite the numerous mosquito bites and getting lost it was a fun trip. (c: if you want to see more pics from the weekend, i've got them posted at my flickr account.
we didn't really make any solid plans other than to relax and have fun, but we both wanted to go for a hike and explore the area a bit. whitney had a map of the area with hiking paths and she chose one that looked mild (with my dumb altitude sickness, i have to be careful not to go on a trail that ascends too quickly). from the map, it looked to be about a mile and a half, so we expected to be doing about 3 miles total.
we got started on what we thought was creekside trail (nice pretty name) but after being on the trail a while, found out that it was chainsaw trail (not so comforting). realizing that we weren't on the right trail, we tried to check the map to find out the best way...either turn around or find out if we could connect with another trail that looped back to where we were parked. according to the map, if we hooked up at flume trail, it would be about 2.5 miles back to the car. we figured chainsaw to be about a mile and half(ish), so it looked like we'd be doing about a mile more than anticipated, but that really wasn't an issue.
but once we connected with flume and were making our way merrily along, whitney kept getting nervous. she has a pretty good sense of direction and just felt like we were moving further and further from where we needed to be. but, every time we stopped to try to make sense of the map we would get mauled by the mosquitos, so it was quite distracting. by the time we realized that the map just might be full of crap, we decided to wait until we passed another hiker to ask them if they knew what trail we were on and maybe gain some sense of where we were.
the trails up there are a big draw to the mountain biking crowd and we'd been dodging bikers all day without running into too many other hikers. we didn't want to stop a biker for direction because generally they were blazing by pretty quickly. we finally crossed paths with a guy and his ridiculously cute dogs (they weren't whitney's cup of tea, because they had short-hair, but i thought they were awesome). anyway, he confirmed the trail we were on and gave us an idea of which direction we were traveling and we felt better about where we were going. once we got to the trail head we turned right (as the kind hiker instructed us to) to get to the lot where the cars were. unfortunately, when we made the quarter mile hike to the parking area, we realized that that is NOT where we started.
back to our only idea of where to go, our crappy map, we realized we had gone pretty far off track and had a ways to go. all in all, our 3 mile, hour and a half hike turned into a 7.8 mile, 4 hour hike. oi. toward the end of the trail, we ran into dave, the biker, looking for his 2 buddies. he asked if we saw his friends, to tell them to meet him at the car. he ended up finding them shortly thereafter, but it was kinda funny. maybe you had to be there.
i did get a lot of picture taking in...except for the few miles that were all uphill. i was pretty much just concentrating on breathing. (c; i had taken some dimethylglycine (which helps your blood absorb more oxygen), so the altitude sickness didn't get me this time. yay!
the pine beetles have decimated a huge portion of the trees and the forest service has been working on cutting some down. i don't know what else they plan on doing, but it's really sad when 80% of the trees are dead or dying. this is one tree marked for destruction.
more proof of the beetles' destruction...
pretty mushrooms. good for looking. not for eating (c:
we stumbled across a painters bench...just a cool little place for painters to create some masterpieces. this was the view.
all in all, it was really nice to get away and despite the numerous mosquito bites and getting lost it was a fun trip. (c: if you want to see more pics from the weekend, i've got them posted at my flickr account.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
and i wonder...
so, a few blogs ago i touched briefly on music and it's impact in my life and a few days ago i had a conversation with a friend along the same lines. i've been thinking about this so much so, that i thought it might be interesting to compile a random list of songs and state what each of them makes me feel/think/whatever.
as this list comes from a personal place, it may not make sense to anyone but me...then again, it may make perfect sense...who knows. (c;
lovers in japan by coldplay sounds like new beginnings.
i am still running by jon foreman sounds like sunsets and porch swings.
long nights by eddie vedder sounds like loss
dragons by aaron espe sounds like change
vast by lost ocean sounds like the night sky in the mojave desert
lie in the sound by trespassers william sounds like longing
seaside by the kooks sounds like reminiscing
texas by the damnwells sounds like love
nada by the refreshments sounds like heartbreak
80's celebration by the reduction agents sounds like summer days
i never by rilo kiley sounds like his smile
the fear you won't fall by joshua radin sounds like expectation
see you soon by aaron espe sounds like goodbye
strawberry swing by coldplay sounds like happiness
colorblind by counting crows sounds like breaking
best friends by the perishers sounds like unrequited love
and i'm aching by black rebel motorcycle club sounds like sorrow
lord, save me from myself by jon foreman sounds like redemption
down with the ship by the damnwells sounds like waiting
you've caught me now by aaron espe sounds like forgiveness
easy does it by waterdeep sounds like the end
as this list comes from a personal place, it may not make sense to anyone but me...then again, it may make perfect sense...who knows. (c;
lovers in japan by coldplay sounds like new beginnings.
i am still running by jon foreman sounds like sunsets and porch swings.
long nights by eddie vedder sounds like loss
dragons by aaron espe sounds like change
vast by lost ocean sounds like the night sky in the mojave desert
lie in the sound by trespassers william sounds like longing
seaside by the kooks sounds like reminiscing
texas by the damnwells sounds like love
nada by the refreshments sounds like heartbreak
80's celebration by the reduction agents sounds like summer days
i never by rilo kiley sounds like his smile
the fear you won't fall by joshua radin sounds like expectation
see you soon by aaron espe sounds like goodbye
strawberry swing by coldplay sounds like happiness
colorblind by counting crows sounds like breaking
best friends by the perishers sounds like unrequited love
and i'm aching by black rebel motorcycle club sounds like sorrow
lord, save me from myself by jon foreman sounds like redemption
down with the ship by the damnwells sounds like waiting
you've caught me now by aaron espe sounds like forgiveness
easy does it by waterdeep sounds like the end
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