Fridays off and new attic storage

Let's talk garages and storage.  I have a two car garage with two cars inside, and it is getting very tight.  Like "good luck getting out of your car with a cup-of-coffee-tight."  The 4Runner has a kayak and those plastic crates from Home Depot full of stuff just inches away from the passenger side, so no getting in on that side without pulling out.   I cleared the boxes away from the other side since Hanna drives daily, but it's a squeeze for her too.


The cat doesn't seem bothered by this at all.

Blogging/social media help requested

I could use some help with my blog and social networking.  I really enjoy having the this blog for several reasons, one of which is the ability to share pieces of my life with my friends and family and anyone interested enough to read.  I enjoy having it for personal reasons, as it often serves as a diary for me to remember things I've done and generally how I spend my time.  I love to take photos, even though I have no talent or skills, the blog is a great way for me to share those photos.  But the downside of the blog is the lack of feedback.  I expect no one to go to the trouble to login to google to post a comment every-time I post a lousy photo or write about replacing door handles in my home, that is entirely too much work.  But I do wish there was a way to know people are reading.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but as much as I HATE facebook, it does have only one really redeeming feature--if I'm traveling and post a photo, I admit it is pretty rewarding to see people "liking" the photos, giving you the simple feedback that people are there and watching.  So how do I incorporate a quick feedback mechanism into my blog?  Should I be using a different tool than blogspot, and if so, what?

Austria & Slovenia photo preview

Here is a link to my photo album of Austria, including Vienna, Melk, Salzburg and Hallstatt.
Austria photos


Here is a link to the album with photos from Lake Bled, Slovenia.  Ljubljana, Slovenia photos coming soon.
Slovenia photo album

Utah and New Mexico road trip, Part 4

Thursday, October 10, 2013
Finally found some time to write about the final leg of our Utah trip.  I know some time has passed since this trip, and we've done vacations since this one, but we had some neat experiences I wanted to share.

We had spent the night in Gallup, NM and our goal for the day was to make it to Albuquerque to catch up with Hanna's brother Eric and his fiancee Serena.  Along the way we diverted off I-40 to check out the Arch at El Malpais.  Guess what we saw there?  Yup, an arch. 

It was incredibly cold at the arch.  We walked up the base, blinked a few times, then ran back to the car.

Back on I-40, the wind persisted and we noticed a massive dust cloud ahead of us.  We soon came to realize that what we had just witnessed was a trail derailment.  I held the shutter down and captured a series of images.

Going, going...

...gone.

We later learned that the train cars, which were stacked two-high, were empty and a strong gust of wind pushed them over while the train was moving.  No one was injured.

We went to the National Nuclear History Museum in Albuquerque, did a hike up Sandia Peak, then on to Eric and Serena's mountain-top home in Placitas, NM.

Friday, October 11, 2013
After spending the night at Eric and Serena's neat southern style home, we woke up early and headed out to a random parking lot in Albuquerque that was the designated launch site for our hot air balloon ride.  The hot air balloon festival has a huge following in the area and as many as 1,100 hot air balloons have showed up for the event.

My Dad and my step-mom Kathy were in the area on an RV trip across the west coast and met up with us to watch us take off.  Eric and my Dad and Kathy all followed the chase van and were able to capture some fun photos of us in the air.  I will post those photos at a later date.
The hot air balloon company unrolled our balloon from the trailer, used to large gas-powered fans to start the inflation process, and finally added the fire to get the balloon upright.

We climbed in, the pilot added a healthy dose of propane, and we were on our way.

I wish I would have thought to shoot a little video from the experience; the combination of flying in absolute silence, followed by the occasional roar of the burners, made for a truly unique experience.  We floated over the Rio Grande River and set ourselves up for a splash-n-dash, where the pilot would guide the balloon over the river, dip the basket in the water, then add fire and get out before we all got wet.

Balloons lining up for a splash-n-dash in the Rio Grande

Our turn...right over the water!

Here is a photo I caught where the sun was directly behind the balloon, illuminating it really brilliantly.

We then did an ascent to just over 3,000 ft in elevation.  When you're looking over the side of a basket at homes down below you, it feels a little freaky.  In this photo you can see some of the fun-shaped hot air balloons, everything from ones shaped like fire hydrants, pets, rockmen, etc.

Our pilot wanted to get higher than all of the other balloons, and as a result, we missed all of our anticipated landing locations.  We drifted over the freeway and started floating through downtown Albuquerque.  This was unplanned, and I could tell the pilot was getting a little nervous about the amount of propane left onboard.

Our shadow on the downtown highrises

  We ended up doing a very sketchy landing inbetween an elevated freeway overpass and a highrise building.

This photo will not even begin to show how sketchy our landing was.  We barely missed two cars in the parking lot as we were skidding and bouncing to a stop.  The balloon was initially wrapped around the freeway overpass and probably causing quite a stir on the highway above.  But as any pilot will tell you, any landing you survive is a good landing.

After we landed a gentleman came running up to us telling us he had never seen a hot air balloon IN downtown.  He snapped a photo of us floating by his 14th story office window, then texted it to me.  The photo below is the one he took of us landing in downtown.

Hot air ballooning was a very cool experience.  I tell all of my car enthusiast friends that it was most fun I've ever had going slow.

Following the balloon ride, the five of us (Eric, Hanna, my Dad, Kathy and myself) took the tramway (gondola) to the top of Sandia Peak to see the overview of the city from 10,378 ft.  We finished the day with some excellent southwestern-style "New Mexican food."

On our last day in New Mexico, Saturday, October 12, we took a drive to see the town of Santa Fe, then out to Los Alamos to see part of the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab where Eric works and do a short hike before heading back to Placitas.

On Sunday, October 13, 2013, we pointed the car west for home.  We ended up doing the entire drive in one day, covering 1,177 miles in 17 hours including stops.

Our final route looked something like this.

Utah and New Mexico road trip, Part 3

**scroll down to read parts 1 and 2 before reading this**

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2013
Today we planned to drive through Zion National Park and ultimately end the day in Gallup, New Mexico as we were to meet Hanna's brother in Albuquerque a little after noon the following day.  We approached the park gate at Zion and were graced with a park entrance completely devoid of tourists. With the park closed due to the federal government shutdown, the $25 entrance fee was waived and the ranger informed us that we were not supposed to stop and get out of our car or we risked a ticket.  But then she went on to say that it was highly unlikely we would be ticketed as long as we didn't take off and go hiking or sit in one place too long.  Cool.

Instead of following a train of RVs and tourists through the park, we basically had it to ourselves and were able to stop and make our own turnouts right in the middle of the road due to the complete lack of traffic.  We certainly took our time and were able to stop and get photos that probably wouldn't be possible on a normal day.  The turnouts had cones setup to discourage you from stopping, but the park service was nice enough to have arranged them in a manner that still allowed us to make quick stops for photos. 

Zion and car-free roads

Tunnels bored through the hardrock

Hanna reacts to the Federal Government shutdown notice

Highway 9 through the park terminates at Highway 89, we then turned south briefly before turning off to visit Coral Pink Sands State Park.

Coral Pink Sands is more of a "quick get out and look," rather than a destination, unless you have an ATV.  Apparently there are miles of trails you can ride and there is a campground on-site where you can stay and ride multiple days.  We continued down Highway 89 until we reached Glen Canyon Dam, where we stopped to look around and take some photos.

Putting the new 10-24mm wide angle lens to use; this dam is huge.

Glen Canyon Dam and the Navajo Bridge

Rafts that won't be going anywhere with the federal government shutdown

And speaking of shutdowns, here is a sign blocking off access to Lake Powell because it is part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

The Colorado River downstream of Glen Canyon Dam

We continued over the dam crossing into Arizona and passing through the town of Page before we saw a sign indicating the remaining section of Highway 89 was closed for unknown reasons.  Gee, thanks for the heads-up on that one.  Just like the federal government shutdown, this road closure ended up being a blessing in disguise.  The GPS routed us southeast down Highway 98, then northeast on Highway 160, southeast down Indian Route 59 (I never knew Indian Routes existed, except in the game Oregon Trail--even the GPS was reading out "Indian Route 59"), and south on Highway 191 past Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  The entire route between Highway 98 and up to Highway 191 were incredibly scenic; I found myself shooting photos out the window of the moving car just so I can remind myself to return to this location for hiking and four wheeling.  Once you hit Highway 191, both sides of the highway are littered with Indian residences.  The word "littered" is used quite appropriately here, there is garbage everywhere, and I'll just leave my comments at that. Canyon de Chelly was an absolute treat though, and once again, we were the only people there.  The park was not labeled as being closed, no gates were closed, so we helped ourselves to the view.

I want more of this national park closure stuff.  Look at that parking lot--that white car is ours in the front row spot!!!

After basking in the glory of the lack of people, we decided to leave just in case we were not supposed to be here.  Highway 264 led us to Gallup, New Mexico for the evening.

Utah and New Mexico road trip, Part 2

**scroll down to read part 1 before reading this**

TUESDAY OCTOBER 8, 2013
St. George is a place I have heard my family speaking positively about for years, and now I see why.  I guess I could summarize it by saying it was a cute town surrounded by redrock bluffs.  Our goal for today was to visit Snow Canyon State Park just north of St. George, however the park was closed until 2:00 p.m. for the "World Senior Games." I had never heard of such of thing and the first thing that came to mind was a bunch of seniors playing boggle and bingo. At breakfast we overheard some of the seniors talking about their roles in the Senior Games and was surprised and impressed to learn they were cycling, running, playing basketball, soccer, etc. Truely incredible! We passed some time in the morning by looking at model homes, something we both enjoy doing when we have free time. These were some pretty incredible model homes though, nestled into the redrock mesas with really cool desert architecture. I fell in love with one of them, which had the indoor/outdoor living concept I like so much. It had a man-made waterfall in the backyard, a stream, beautiful landscaping and every wall that could be glass, was glass. On top of this, it had a separate casita for guests inside of the most interesting entryways I have ever seen.

Front yard and entryway

Love the floor to ceiling glass!

View from the kitchen and great room

Best entryway I have ever seen

Following lunch and a drive around St. George and the adjacent town of Ivins, we entered Snow Canyon State Park to hike. Snow Canyon is a park that is often overlooked due to the proximity of the popular national parks that are nearby, but this park is not to be missed.   I could say the same for Kodachrome State Park.

Kodachrome State Park from the Highway 18 overlook

Petrified Dunes at Snow Canyon State Park

 We hiked the Petrified Dunes and 3 Ponds trails.

After our hike we took Interstate 15 to Highway 9 and stayed in Hurricane, UT for the night, putting us closer to Zion National Park for our next day of activities.