Keeping up with Kathryn

August 2010

2010-09-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

August started off with a nice camping trip to Ranier and Mt. St. Helens in Washington. It was a great trip. I had the opportunity to visit with some of my Anchorage friends who I don't get to see very often. It is such a treat to spend time with them.

The second half of the month, I did another rotation at the Incident Command Post for the oil spill in Houma, Louisiana. My Houma away from home. I worked until 26th where I was able to come home for a few days.

In that period of time, I did get to do some Boise things, see a movie with some great friends, check out the photography competition at the Idaho Western State Fair and attend Boise's Curb Cup 2.

The following is what happend when you get carried away playing with Topaz post processing software.

Silver City

2010-02-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

The weekend of February 13-15 found a 12 IWOW women and one daring husband, Bud snowshoeing and skiing into Silver City in the Owyhee Mountains in South Central Idaho. We went up via Murphy entrance this time. We all drove to where we could begin the 8 mile snowshoe in. Fortunately, our great hosts, Jerri and Roger, and some of their friends, had their snowmachines at the same place to take our gear in. After they got our gear there, they came back to see which of us poor ladies needed some help in the 8 mile UPHILL drudge there. I must admit, I did get on that machine after 6 miles of uphill since I was hauling in my camera gear and my back was beginning to get sore.

The hotel is about 150 years old and very rustic. The place keeps the feel of the old west and you almost expect a ghost from the past to appear in the hallway. There is no running water so we did have to go without showers for the 3 days. We had fantastic meals and gathered in the dining room near the wood stove and ate and drank and played games and gabbed when we weren't out snowshoeing or exploring.

Roger opened up the drug store which dates back to early, early 1900s and many of the items that were just left there. Here are a couple of pics from there.

I can't wait to go again. It is an near annual tradition for us all.

Thanks to Jan for organizing and the rest of my fellow buddies...Cyn, Norma, Meg, Heather, the other Kathryn, Cheryl, Sandy, Marion and her hubby, Bud.

I hope to have more pictures included in the near future.

North Carolina

2010-02-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

Or should I say "Birds, Birds, Birds!"

These are snow geese that migrate to Mattamuskeet Lake and wildlife preserve for the winter months with plenty of left over grain in the corn fields. The sound of them was deafening and it was amazing to see them move in waves and take off, circle and then return back to the field.

Here is a picture of Mattamuskeet Lake

Back to the Outer Banks. This is at Frisco pier. Boy was it cold and windy that morning.....

We also went to beach at Cape Hattaras where we saw enormous waves where the two ocean currents meet.

It was also fun watching the fishermen at the Cape getting into those wild waves to fish and getting battered by the waves. I didn't see anyone catch a fish. That water was really cold as was the temperature and the high winds. Can you see the fisherman in the next two pictures?

Just for some fun and games, Karyn took mom and I to the North Carolina zoo where she volunteers on Mondays. Here is a few shots from the zoo.

Moab - November 2009

2009-11-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

Click on pictures to enlarge

I was able to visit Moab, Utah again this past weekend. This time, however, I didn't bring my bike. I just brought my camera equipment as part of a photography workshop presented by Bret Edge and Todd Caudle (aka "Cloudman"). The workshop was great, largely due to the other great participants and the workshop leaders. It is rare that all the participants get along so well and we all had such a great time taking pictures together.

We all got up very early each day (around 4:30 to 5:00 a.m. for me) to get to a site by sunrise for the good light. Since it is so late in the year, sunsets came early, so we didn't get much of a break between the two main sessions, brunches and recoup time or photo critique time.

In addition, I had the opportunity to stay with Dell again. I was hoping to have more time to visit with her but the workshop kept me very busy. She is such an awesome person so I hope to visit Moab again in the near future so that we can have more time together as well.

Here are a few pictures I took from the class. You can click on them to bring in larger photo.

Ox Ranch - Hell's Canyon

2009-10-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went with a few photographers on an outing to Seven Devils Lodge in the Ox Ranch above Hell's Canyon. Our fearless leader was David Cole, a professional photographer based out of downtown Boise. It turned out to be more of just a nice relaxing weekend rather than having many photographic opportunities.

I got there a bit late on Friday and grabbed my gear to run out to meet the rest of the group down the trail looking for critters. Mother Nature wasn't very cooperative in the wildlife department, so the only real critters that night was the numerous cows on the ranch. We did have a full moon on the walk back to the lodge for dinner.

On Saturday, we headed out to a cabin in the middle of nowhere to base ourselves for the day, take pictures and look for critters to shoot (with a camera). Bears are common there and you could see this was in fact true with all the bear scat in the front yard of the cabin by the fruit trees. I mean a LOT of bear scat. We headed on out on a hike and did see a sow with a cub and then another bear, but both were fairly far away. I didn't manage to get a picture, but a couple of other folks did get a good shot in. So Iwill have to settle with some scenery pics.

And then it started to snow.....and snow.....

and snow....

So what better to do than just hang around the fireplace inside where it is nice and warm and just talk about Alaska and cameras and travel until dinner time.

Sunday morning, we did go out in the morning for another critter walk and did see a coyote. I tried to get a few pics of the guy but they did not come out very sharp. Then I took the long drive home. A great time was had by all.

Sawtooths

2009-09-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have gone to the Sawtooths many times here, mostly backpacking in the most scenic areas locally. I just love this range. Last weekend, I went on a Photographic Workshop held by David Cobb with Best of the Northwest Photographic Workshops. It was so interesting to come to just photograph. Usually, camping or backpacking, I left my main camera at home and just brought the Point and Shoot. This time, I brought the big guns.

We were up early and on site by sunrise at Little Redfish Lake, Stanley Lake or in the area by Stanley. Sunsets we were also in scenic areas. One night, we went out to Redfish Lake and took pictures of the Milky Way and star trails over the silouhette of the mountains.

Western Idaho State Fair

2009-09-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

OK. I'm not normally a state fair type of person, but I thought it would be fun to enter the photo contest at the fair. In addition, some folks at the Eagle Camera Club thought it would be fun to take our cameras to the fair and take pictures. The fair is just down the street, almost, so I couldn't resist.

Here are a few pictures from the 2009 Western Idaho State Fair.

Tetons and Yellowstone - 2009

2009-09-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back from a car camping trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone. On Saturday, August 30, I drove from Boise over to Jackson, Wy and then north to Gros Ventre campground in the Tetons National Park. I wanted to take the infamous shot of the Moulton Ranch cabins in front of the Teton range in the early a.m. and this campground was the closest I could stay. After I arrived and set up camp, I drove down Mormon Row to the cabins to get set for the early a.m. shoot. On the way, there were a lot of bison in the area and thus, I had to drive cautiously so as not to hit them or agitate them.

On Sunday, I was to meet George Ellis, Diane Olsen and Susan Hawkins from Anchorage at the hotel in Jackson Hole. While waiting I went to the new Wildlife museum. There, John Batdorff had a showing at the museum, so I thought I would go check it out. He had some great photos displayed in the main hallway to other museum rooms. They were very impressive. Finally, they got into town and we went out to the Wine bar for some appetizers and wine, then over to the Trio for some dinner.

On Monday, we got into the Tetons and set up in Jenny Lake campground. We arrived early as we really wanted to stay in this campground and it is first come, first serve. We then headed over to the other side of Jenny Lake via the shuttle boat and hiked up to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and down the canyon a bit.

On Tuesday, we hiked up to Taggart Lake and Bradley Lake. It was a beautiful hike and the weather couldn't be more perfect.

Wednesday had us going up to Yellowstone to the Canyon campground where we had reserved a couple of campsites, last year. It turned out to be a good central location where we could explore the park. Unfortunately, the road between Norris and Madison was closed, so we had to go around on some drives where that road would have been quicker.

After setting up our new camp we decided to explore the Canyon area first, since it was the closest. Driving by this area, you would never know that such beauty is just beyond the trees. A lot of up and down hiking to the views provided us with great views of both the lower and upper falls at different perspectives.

Thursday is thermal day. That means geysers, mudholes, fumeroles and anything steamy. We headed up first to see the area north of Old Faithful area in the Fountain Paint Pot area. We took a loop drive there to see the Grand Fountain Geyser which erupts about every 10-12 hours. The first time through, it was not quite ready to erupt. After viewing the paint pots area and then having lunch, we went back just in time for a spectular display.

Old Faithful

The next to last day saw us hiking up Mt. Washburn to see the 360 degree view from the top at 10,243'. It looked like it may storm so we hurried back to get to our campsite in time for a hard rain. My tent was in a pool, so George helped me move it over a bit. We decided not to cook in the wet soggy camp area, so went to the diner for dinner.

The last day had us packing and discussing what we would like to do for our trip next year.....

Wind Rivers, Wyoming Backpack

2009-08-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

On July 25th, Bobbie, Norma and myself started the Lizard Head backpacking trip from Big Sandy Trailhead in the Wind Rivers mountain range in Wyoming.

We drove to Pinedale, Wy on the 25th and got a motel so we could start out fresh on the trail the next day. On the 26th, we then drove the 1 1/2 hour to the Big Sandy Trailhead and hiked out to Big Sandy Lake. The Big Sandy Lake hosts a lot of backpackers who start off their trips from there or use as a base camp to do day hikes from there. The bears have become wise to the backpacking population and there are not bear containers for backpackers to put their food in at night. The hike from the Big Sandy Trailhead to Big Sandy Lake was a gentle uphill and we completed the 6 miles in under 2 1/2 hours. We found a place for our tents and got ready for the next day. No bears, fortunately, but Norma frightened some deers which decided to almost run over my tent in the early a.m.

Day two we went from Big Sandy Lake, up over Jackass Pass to the Cirque of Towers and then on to Lizard Head Meadows. We took off the main course accidently a couple of times resulting in clamboring down rocks and boulders trying to get back on the main trail. Jackass Pass was steep and high at about 10,800'. The minute we got on top of the pass a thunder storm with lots of rain hit us and we got our rain gear on and ran for the protection of underneath a large boulder. After waiting there quite awhile, the storm passed and we got some pictures before the sun again went away for the next series of storms. We headed on down to Lonesome Lake beneath the cirque, crossed a large stream and walked on down to Lizard Head Meadows to camp.

The Cirque from Jackass Pass

Bobbie at Cirque of Towers

Looking down at Lonesome Lake

Norma at Cirque of Towers

At Lonesome Lake

Day three of the hike will take us 10 miles, up to Lizard Head Trail which is an ascent of 1,800 feet in the first 2 1/2 miles. During the ascent we get a great view of Bear Lakes.

Once on top, the trail is great. A bit rocky but with cairns to show us the way. It was this great plateau where we were up with the peaks across the valley. We finally got to the junction with the Bears Ear Trail, where we descended down to Valentine Lake for the night.

Lizard Head Trail

Day four was to be our relaxation day with only 6 miles to go to Grave Lake. We woke up to misty, rainy conditions. This continued as we hiked on to Grave Lake. Grave Lake is huge with lots of peaks surrounding it in a spectacular scenery. We didn't see any peaks that day, just the clouds we were walking in. We got to camp and it started hailing. We all got into our tents rather early waiting for the hail to stop. Well, once it stopped another hail storm started with bigger hail stones. Then the next storm, even bigger. It continued to rain for 36 hours. None of us even got up to fix ourselves any dinner. Norma was creating ditches around her tent to keep from flooding beneath the tent. She eventually had to move her tent and noticed the flood gathering under my tent. I had to get up and move that also. It was a loonng night. So much for washing clothes and our hair.

Grave Lake in the early morning

Day five we had to get to and over Hailey Pass. We knew this would be a challenge and with all the rain, we anticipated fresh snow on the Pass. It is also at 11,200'. We first had to get around Grave Lake. To get around this we had to go over great boulder field on the waters edge. These were huge boulders and took us 45 minutes to negotiate over them.

Then we had to start our initial uphill along the Baptiste Creek and pass a huge waterfall. The last part of the pass was a 900' climb in 1 1/2 miles over Hailey Pass. There was fresh snow but it actually helped our climb. One party had gone through before us and created footsteps in the snow for us to get up to the steep scree section of the trail. It was steep and tough, but we made it just fine. Once on top, we could see into the next valley where we would spend our last couple of days.

Once over the pass, we headed on down to Skull Lake for the night. Norna even made us butterscotch pudding to celebrate. What a treat. We decided to go ahead and just hike out the last 10 miles Friday. No one was up to base camping and doing a side trip into one of the other trail possibilities along the way. I think the rainy weather got the better of us. Thus Friday, we hiked on out pass good fishing lakes and folks coming in for the weekend.

PhotoWalk - July 18, 2009

2009-07-21T22:12:00.001-07:00

The Scott Kelby International PhotoWalk was Saturday July 18th. Over 32,600 photographers participated in this event. In the Boise area there were 4 PhotoCrawl events. I went on two. One to Idaho City with the PhotoCrawl group and one in the evening in downtown Boise.

Jeanette and Patricia joined me at Idaho City. It must have been around 100 degrees cause we were sweating and tryingn to stay in the shade as much as possible. The night event in Boise was great as we got to try out night time photography with a lot of photographers around to question when we had problems.

Here are some results from that event.

Idaho City:

Boise Night Photo:

Seven Devils Backpack - July 4th Weekend

2009-07-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Norma on the trail in front of Devils' Thumb.

Norma and I went to do the Seven Devils Loop which circumnavigates the Seven Devil Mountains in the Hell's Canyon Recreational Area. Neither of us had been there and were not quite sure what to expect, so sort of an exploratory trip. We had both been in Hell's Canyon and it usually lives up to it's name. However, in the mountains it was much cooler and only a few ticks and mosquitoes to worry about.

We anticipate that we probably did around 34 miles in 4 days. Only the first day provided any level land. Afterwards it was either up or down in the terrain.

We started our trip by heading up to Seven Devils campground. The road around the campground was rough and we would not suggest anyone with a trailer even thinking of trying it out. We car camped Wednesday night there so we could get a good start in the morning. We started the loop clockwise, heading east from Windy Saddle Trailhead. We used the information we gathered out of 'Falcon Guide's Hiking Hells Canyon and Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains' and 'Backpacking Idaho'. Both recommended camping at mile 7.5 at Dog Creek.

The next day, it was mentioned in the books that water would not be for 9 miles, so we were sure to carry enough to last us. At this time of year, though, there were other water options with numerous streams and a few ponds that may not be there in a few weeks more. We hiked over High Lake Pass and changed from Boise trail 517 to Seven Devils Trail 124.

Going towards pass at southern point of loop.

The scenery on the east side of the mountains consisted mostly of a view of the mountains to the east, a lot of burned forest, but a lot of wildflowers. We were beginning to wonder if the whole recreational area was burned. (appropriate considering the name of where we were) Once we got over the pass, the view over the Hell's Canyon was impressive. We headed for Baldy Lake for our second night out. Baldy Lake is nestled under Devils Throne mountain.

Baldy Lake camp site

The third hiking day, we started off by going the wrong way on the trail as it was hard to figure out where Seven Devils trail turned from the Baldy Lake Trail. Part of the reason for that is that most do the loop in the opposite direction so signage was built for that. After struggling to get over Baldy Creek we continued on until we couldn't find the trail near Cow Camp. All the rivers had to be crossed by logs or rocks. No bridges existed and some of the streams could be quite high. We became quite good at balancing on logs to get across these waters. When we got to Dry Diggins trail, we decided to go ahead and give it a go to hike on up to the Dry Diggins Lookout to view Hell's Canyon from the top. It took us 9 hours but we finally made it. The views were well worth it. Awesome views. Afterwards, we headed on down to Bernard Lakes to camp which took another hour to get to. Boy, were we tired by the time we got to camp. It was all we could do to put up our tents and cook some freeze dried dinner.

The last day, we were to finish the loop back to Windy Saddle. It was about 7 miles of straight up or straight down. We had one stretch of 2 miles of switchbacks. I have never ever come across an uphill like that and hauling a backpack as well. It seemed neverending. We finally reached the end, Norma first, of course. When she arrived, some guy came up and asked if she needed water, she looked so beat. I came hobbling up shortly after. We packed up and then headed for Riggins for a well deserved burger and fries and shake.

Field of lupine

Wildflowers

This is the trail?

View of Seven Devils from final day of hike

View of West side of route towards Hell's Canyon

Looking towards Wallawas near pass at Southern intersection

View from Dry Diggins looking south

View from Dry Digginsn looking north and Snake River

Camp neighbor.

Yet another stream to cross.

Photo critiquing

2009-06-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

I love getting my photos critiqued by photographers so I can learn and see how to improve my photography. I joined one online photo community called ephotozine.com which is based out of England and has a world wide base.

I submitted a photo I took this past weekend to see what would happen. Well, I not only got quite a bit of response, but some took the time to edit the photos and show how they were able to improve on it.

It is amazing how different people see how best to improve on a photo and how subjective it is. It is also interesting that the first thing some of them did was take out the color and make it b/w or monochrome. Only one other kept in the color. This process really makes me think about how best to present a picture.

One thing I did learn on this particular picture is that most did not like the additional clutter around the truck. I did submit a similar picture the next day with just the truck and got more approval on that one.

Here is the original:

Here are the results from critiquers:

Here is the second submittal with just the truck in the field.

Camas Centennial Wetlands - June 14, 2009

2009-06-14T21:37:00.001-07:00

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Today, Patricia, Jeanette and I decided to do a photo trip to the Camas Wetlands between Hill City and Fairfield, Idaho. Since the three of us are all IWOW ladies, we decided to form an offshoot of IWOW called IWOP (Idaho Women out Photographing), still open and a part of IWOW.

We stayed just ahead of storms and could see the lightning and hear the thunder just north of us. This actually play to our advantage to get better lighting for our photos.

The area is know for camas lillies (already gone though) and birds (mostly all gone). We tried to get in what bird pictures we could. Here are a few I took.

In addition, we found these mushrooms to take a picture of.

I also found a butterfly on a bright yellow flower which posed nicely for me.

More Valley pictures...

After taking birdie pictures and driving towards Fairfield, we happened across a deserted farm house with all kinds of rusty old equipment and delapidated buildings. This is an extremely fun place for photographers and we were having a great time taking advantage of the old equipment.

Afterwards, we rushed towards the Sawtooth Grill in Fairfield to get a late lunch. What a great day we had. I can't wait to see Jeanette's and Patricia's photos as well. I look forward to more IWOP outings and postings in the future.

Boise Ironman June 13, 2009

2009-06-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

(Click on photo to see larger image)

Today I went to the Boise Ironman to see if I could get any good action shots. Be aware that I do not normally photograph sports events, so bear with me on these photos. It was a fun event though. I was a little concerned as the sky was pretty black. The athletes start the swim at Lucky Peak (how cold is that?). I guess they weren't too worried about lightning, even though the skies looked a bit threatening.

They had me park at Sandy Point and I had to lug my camera gear all the way up the dam to the race start. I got there 20 minutes after the start and they were still having specific groups do a start on the swim. Each group had their own color swim cap.

After capturing a few swimmers, I concentrated on the cycling. The racers had wetsuit strippers standing by to strip off the wetsuits so they can begin their cycling. It was interesting as most were on the ground as the stippers stipped their suits off.

Then I rushed downtown to see if I could get the cyclists coming in and transitioning to running. After a bit of this, it started raining. OK for athletes, NOT OK for cameras. I put mine away and went home.

National Geographic High

2009-06-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

June 26th. A status report:

Well, the picture is still hanging in there at Number 2 for the month. It has some amazing pictures to compete with. What an exciting month. Just knowing I will end up in final 5 for the month is such an honor. I will, at least, get the picture printed on canvas and hang in my living room.

On Wednesday I submitted this photo to Your-shot on National Geographic. On Friday, I went to the National Geographic web site and low and behold, there was my picture among the Daily Dozen. I was so excited. (Can we use the word verklempt here?) . Then I thought, oh, it's only a selection by National Geographic that it is good enough to put on for the day. Thus my response, well, for today, and probably only for today, one of my photos is being seen by a lot of people. That's pretty amazing, but I don't expect it to go any further.

The photos are rated by the viewers. Two of the months top photos are then put into the National Geographic magazine. Well, I looked at the ratings for the week (week 2) and I'm coming in a good second for the week (out of 60 photos). I looked at week 1 and none of the photos rating exceeded mine, so now I am up to second for 120 photos. There are between 3000 and 4000 entries in the two week time period, so I'm actually doing better than I thought.

I'm not expecting any more out of this photo. I did gain a lot of confidence and hope to submit a lot more photos in various contests. My photographer friend David won a trip for 2 on Alaskan Airlines when he won a prize for Alaskan Airlines magazine. There are so many options. It brings up a whole new side to photography.

Anyway, it is a passion of mine now. I think that perhaps it is hopeless that what makes a great night is wine and photoshop. Sheesh, how boring for others.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

2009-05-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

I went to the Eagle Camera Club meeting on Wednesday evening, and they decided to take a little field trip over to Merrill Park in Eagle where over 600 flags had been set up for Memorial Day Weekend. I decided to continue with this 'Memorial Day' tribute by going up to the Veterans Cemetary above Dry Creek Cemetary in Eagle, ID. This was a good exercise for me. Previously I hadn't really paid attention to Memorial Day and it's significance. It was an awesome experience. I saw many people come to the graves of their loved ones with flowers and talk. Every grave in Dry Creek and the Veterans were each and every one provided with a flag of it's own. It was quite dramatic to enter the premises. If required respect and honor.

Here are a few of the pictures taken from this weekend.

Oahu - Week 4

2009-05-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Just a couple more days of the tropics. I was so exhausted after my Kauai trip, I took some naps this Saturday. I did go out that evening to Amuse Wine Bar with a few folks.

Jan and Barry and I. Beatrix is taking the picture.

Beatrix and Jan

On Sunday, I went on a hike with the local Sierra Club to do the Judd Trail up in Nuuano Valley. You can hike on this trail to the Jackass Falls where folks like to jump in and cool off. I was surprised to see it was all locals and kind of reminded me of a Japanese IWOW group. There were about 12 of us and the hike leader did tell us a lot about the vegetation. There is a great book out called 'A Hikers Guide to Trailside Plants in Hawaii' by John Hall. Must get that before I come over here again.

Tonight, Roger wants us to go to Elks Club down in Waikiki to hear Melveen Leed.

The Elks Club turned out to be a fantastic evening. I love Melveen Leed to begin with. She has been around for so long producing such great Hawaiian music. She used to jam at Gabby Pahanui's house in Waimanalo. How cool is that? I was in awe of being able to hear her. It was a laid back entertainment environment.l What I got to say to Glenda and the rest of the IWow group that I went to Kauai with, it is only in the tourist locations where you see thin young women doing the hula. Most of the local venues, you see anything but young and thin. Just the aunties and tutus are out in their muumuus doing hulas for us if they feel like it.

One note for Bobbie. One singer got up and sang a couple of more country western type songs. The aunties and tutus were out there doing line dances in their mumus to the beat of achey breakey heart. You would have been proud. Tonight was a great highlight. The musicians were fantastic.

We then came back to the house and sat on our lanai overlooking the city (remember, Cyn?) while drinkng wine and eating cheese and crackers.

A couple of 'light bulb' moments came over me this trip. I have been previously been trying to bicycle while here and here is not really very conducive to cycling. However, hiking trails abound on this island and you can get away from the rat race by just getting on one of the trails. So I think, more hiking in future trips.

Monday: Pack and get ready to head home. Lots of errands and trying to get Eloise set up in the Silver Sneakers program here. See everyone in Boise.

Kauai - May 2009

2009-05-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

8:00 a.m. Friday May 8

Today we begin our Kauai trip. Cynthia had come over on Tuesday to spend a few days in Oahu and then together we would fly over to Kauai to meet Marla. Bobbi and Glenda will hopefully arrive in the late afternoon. Our plans, at this time, are to do a moon light walk on the beach under the full moon. Pictures forthcoming on the blog as we go through the trip.

8:00 a.m. Saturday May 9

The whole gang arived safe and sound. We all hung around the condo and watched the full moon over the ocean and munched down on chips and salsa and enjoyed some wine.

Glenda went out already this morning to check out the beach and to find the bike path. We will be going out cruising to check out the island here shortly.

Marla has a Maui story to tell here later. She went snuba diving and saw manta rays and fishes and a large sea turtle.

More later......

Evening - Saturday May 9

Today the gang went to the Tunnels to snorkel. Bobbi is our photographer for the day and here is a picture from that activity. There was a monk seal on the sand which seemed to nap the entire time we were there. Cynthia was in dive heaven snorkelling out to the outer reefs to see all the fishies. It was Glenda's first snorkling experience. Marla and Kathryn got sunburned and now have lobster legs, but prefer to refer to it as 'snorkling legs'.

Soon to go out for a moon light stroll on the bike path to the nearest beach bar.

Monk seal at Tunnels Beach

Evening - Sunday May 10

Happy Mothers Day!! Today the gang, including Susan Hawkins, from Anchorage, went on a hike with the Sierra Club to Ho'opi'i Falls. It was lush and green and hot and humid but very enjoyable. We were also on a mission to pull out a couple of batteries out of the trail. We hiked to the lower falls and then the upper falls, both of each were beautiful to view. There were 27 people on the hike, but it worked out ok. The Sierra Club guide was Karen who was very informative and a great guide. Marla says it was like walking through the fairy forest. There was also a fairy mobile (an old vehicle for fairies that was all rusted and which the forest was claiming back).

Here are some pictures of the day.

Marla on Sierra Club Hike at Ho'opi'i Falls

Bobbi enjoying Ho'opi'i Falls

Evening Monday May 11

Today the gang plus Susan took a zodiac boat ride down to Na Pali coast. We also went snorkling. It was sunny and beautiful for most of the day. We saw schools of spinner dolphins and some bottlenose dolphins. The spinner dolphins were playing around the boat and did some spins for us on their jumps. We also saw turtles. Marla took some video of the dolphins for us.

The scenery was fantastic. We saw Niihau Island. We also cruised by the longest sand beach in the island. We saw and even went into several caves. There were also many waterfalls.

On our return ride, the weather got windy and the seas rougher. There was plenty of 'Yahoos!', drenched faces and bucking bronco rides including airbornes moments off of the zodiac as the wave disappeared under us.

Glenda is our photographer of the day. Here is a couple of pictures by her.

Na Pali Coast from Capt Joe's zodiac.

Tuesday - May 12

Bobbi getting too close to edge at Waimea Canyon Hike

Today is hiking day. We drove up to the end of the road on the ridge of Waimea Canyon, stopping at several lookout points along the way. At the end was the Pihea Trail which we took down for 1 miles and then returned.

Kalalau Valley

After a quick lunch at Kokee Lodge, we hiked 3.7 miles round trip on the Canyon Trail. It was up or down on the trail, but provided spectacular views.

We got down off the canyon rim in time to view the sunset on the beach before heading home

Living the good life:

Glenda and Kathryn discover the massage chairs at Costco in Lihue..

Wednesday _ May 12

Today was snorkel day. We drove up to the north shore and first went to Hideaway beach. We had to find the beach first in Princeville area and it was quite a climb down a cliff to get to the beach. The snorkel was worth it, however, and there were lots of variety of fishes to look at.

In the afternoon, all but Marla got a lomi lomi massage in Kileaua town. Very cool indeed.

Afterwards, Marla, Bobbi and Glenda went to Seafoam Beach to snorkel some more. I think they have got the snorkel bug.

That evening we all went down to ResoreQuest just down the road for some pupus and entertainment.

Thursday May 13

WOW!!! All but Bobbi took the helicopter ride around the island. Again, WOW!!!

Our last day on Kauai - May 14

Today we went to the National Botanical Gardens just west of Poipu. It was a grand experience. We took the tour which lasted around 2.5 hours around the grounds with a great guide. The area was spectacular with all type of trees, shrubs and flowers. The colors were great.

Oahu - Week 2

2009-05-03T19:21:00.001-07:00

It's May already. What happened to April.

I started the month off deciding to go check out 'The Boat' for the early run to get some pictures. I drove down to Aloha Tower where you can catch 'The Boat' for the 6:30 a.m. schedule. The Boat is part of the transport system, ('The Bus' and 'The Boat') to get commuters into Honolulu from Barbers Point and back. It only costs $2.00 and you can transfer to the bus. What a deal!!

While at Aloha Tower I took this picture a little after sunrise.

Heading out, I took some pics of Honolulu and Diamond Head on the Boat.

Saturday, I got up again early, early to get some pictures of Diamond Head and Honolulu from Roundtop and Tantalus Drives. It's such a nice drive anyway, and really nice in the early a.m. before everyone gets up. The panaramic shot I posted last week is actually from this Saturday.

Saturday night, I went to a pot luck at Barry's house along with Beatrix, Jon and another couple Steve and Sharon and their new baby. Barry cooked some great artichokes. There were so good and he had a great dip for them. Photos should be forthcoming from Barry and Beatrix once I can get a photo or two off of them. Great time together and a great view from the lanai.

Sunday, morning I met Patricia, Jan, Perry and one other for an easy cycle through town. We med at the park at the end of Sand Island Park, and cycled through the area and worked our way down Nimitz to Alamoana, then crossed over to China town where we can cycle on the bus/cyclist only Hotel Road to get through the busy section, We biked around Iolani Palace, the state capitol and buildings, mission homes and other historic sites. Of course after our main ride, Patricia and jan ride up to moana

More fun to come...Cynthia gets in on Tuesday

Oahu - Week 1

2009-05-02T01:08:00.001-07:00

Well I made it to Oahu. I have been here a week now, but have not had as much good luck with pictures as I would like, but got a few in as the week went on. The one above I took at sunrise from roundtop and used Photomerge in Photoshop to merge 4 picstures together.

On the first friday night after I got here I went to my Auntie's neighbor Carol Retirement party. She had worked almost 42 years, minus a few pregrency months at the PACCOM (the Pacific Command). The retirement party was at the new aircraft museum on Ford Island, It was quite a cool location to have a party. So others who want to be surrounded by historical planes, this would be a good place to plan your party,

On Saturday, I took a short hike up Maunalua Trail with my DSLR. I tried to take some pictures around the old Damien homesteads but was such contrast in the pictres, even the HDR wouln't come through,

On the next morning I got up early early and drove on out to Makakilo Point to see the lighthouse and the sunrse.

Sunday night saw me at the Chart House with Beatrix, Jan, and Barry, then up to top of the Ilikai to see the city lights.

Here are a couple of birdies from the backyard. They are waiting for Eloise to put out the birdseed.

Prom Night at Bruneau Sand Dunes - April 19th

2009-04-21T06:16:00.001-07:00

A wonderful weekend was had by all over our RV camp out at Bruneau Sand Dunes about 90 minutes SE of Boise. Jeanette Johnson had the group photo taken by an innocent bystander with her camera for us to remember the event.

Bruneau Sand Dunes contain the tallest single structureed sand dune in North America and rises to almost 500 feet above some small lakes in the desert. In addition to the dunes, there is Idaho's only Public Observatory with the states largest telescope (which is still way small in comparison to most others.)

Here are some landscape pictures of the area.

In addition to the dunes and observatory, we saw an owl nest with 3 young owls. The nest was way too small for the 4 of them, so we only got to see a couple of the young owls as the 3rd was hiding under mom most of the time. In the early evening, they are getting hungry and are up and checking everything out.

And of course, the partying with my friends. Here are a couple of shots with the dunes in the background. Are they glamerous?

Walter's Ferry, Idaho

2009-03-28T17:44:00.001-07:00

Today, a group of us led by Jane went down to Swanye's Museum at Walter's Ferry on the Snake River 16 miles south of Nampa. Googling Swayne's Ferry Museum, it is stated on http://www.ultimateidaho.com/sec3/extras/swaynesferry.html that "Local resident Pappy Swayne (1887-1976) created what has become a conglomeration of historical museum, botanical gardens, animal farm, and religious arena. After Pappy’s death, his widow, Cleo, took over operations and has since added an extensive collection of both life-size and smaller works from artist Gary Lee Price. Upon entering the “museum,” visitors will encounter numerous birds strutting around, lizards, squirrels, and a swan-filled lake. Moving ahead, a nature trail loops through a forest dotted with gnome statues, past Pappy’s grave, and to a prayer garden. "

Reading through http://detour.webdatabases.net/site_detail.html?ArtistID=11463&ArtID=11463 I see that Cleo has also passed away but I understand that the Museum is still cared for by family and friends.

The weather was mostly cloudy and a few sprinkles, but I took my camera to see what I could manage to capture in photos. Here are a few of the results:

March Idaho Photocrawl - Downtown Boise

2009-03-22T18:38:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, March 21, I went on the Idaho Photocrawl for March in downtown Boise. After meeting the rest of the photography gang at the Egyptian Theatre, we were stuck under the roof trying to keep dry while it was just pouring outside. After a long while, the rain subsided and the sun came out and provided us with a couple of hours of shoot time. So we strolled around and took photos and ran into each other once in awhile when we gave tips to each other on good photography subject matter.

Here are a few of my pictures from that shoot.

One good coincidence from the rain is the nice rainbow afterwards.

Reflections after the rain.

Jeanette and I ran into these 2 ladies in freak alley and asked if they would be willing to pose for us. As you can see, they were great.

Side view of capitol building done in HDR.

Barrels were also done in HDR.

I liked the two different reflections on each side of the building.

Boise City Hall waterfall done in HDR.

I liked the way I got the side of this building to reflect the cloudy skies and the capitol in the building extension and then the sunny skies behind it.

Unleashing the Power of High Dynamic Range (HDR)

2009-03-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

I started my HDR class today. It is being taught by David Nightingale. See some of his HDR photos on http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/galleries/hdr.php. Perhaps I can finally figure out some of the mystic of getting good HDR pictures. Pictures to come in the near future as I do the assignments.

Last Tamarack Ski Day

2009-03-06T12:52:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, March 4th, was the last day Tamarack Resort was open. The entire resort, ski resort, golf course, x-c ski and mountain bike trails, lodge, restaurants, the whole shabang closed down due to financial difficulties. The condos are just standing there unfinished. The staff were getting their final group photos done before starting unemployment. They were trying to get rid of all the food in the restaurant. It was very sad.

However, the skiing was fantastic. I went with Glenda. There were no lines and we skiied like crazy all day long. Our legs were burning on the last few runs.

I didn't bring my camera, but Glenda took a few with her Point and Shoot.

March 1st

2009-03-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

It has been another interesting weekend. On Saturday, I went to Idaho Camera to see a presentation by Ernest Lombard who did a Trans Africa Safari and did a slide show on his wildlife photography. It was great and puts an African wildlife Safari on my "want to do" list. There were slides from South Africa all the way up to Tanzania and the variances of wildlife that are present along the way.

Afterwards, I met up with Bobbi and we headed up to snow shoe into Elkhorn Yurt, where Judy and Norma have snow shoed in earlier that day.

I decided to haul in my SLR (It is so darn heavy). Thus, my backpack was heavier than I would have liked it to be. We got into the yurt at 6:30, just at dusk. The four of us just had a great time talking and enjoying wine and food and planning future trips. After a warm night (heated by the wood stove), we got up to a nice sunrise with cloudy skies. The weather was nice, not windy and just warm enough. It was an enjoyable show shoe/hike out and back home.

View from the Yurt

Hiking Out

Craters of the Moon - February 21

2009-02-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Some of the IWOW gang decided to head out to the Craters of the Moon National Park in eastern Idaho to do some snowshoeing, skiing and photography. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend with great weather and conditions.

We left on Friday night and some of us went to Shoshone for dinner at the local "Americana" diner for some burgers and fries. We then continued on to Arco to our motel rooms. Here is a picture of the Arco Graffiti Rock.

Saturday was Craters day. Here are a couple more pics I took. I'm sure Jeanette will have some great ones as well to share later on the IWOW site.

On the way back, Bobbi, Jennifer and I came back via Fairfield to meet the rest in Mountain Home for dinner. On the way back, we suddenly saw all these kites in the air. People were snowboarding and skiing attached to kites. (Kite skiing?) Apparently, it is an offshot of windsurfing but done on the snow.

Thanks to:
Jennette, Bobbi, Nicki, Jennifer, Heather, Connie, LaRae, Meg, Denise

You guys are awesome!

February 18, 2009

2009-02-18T08:56:00.001-08:00

Last night I went to the Boise Camera Club. The meeting displayed members photos via projector. They first show the picture, then judges judge it on a scale of 1-25 I believe (except there were a couple of 26 pts for pictures that were photoshoped into great pieces of art).
After the judging the shooter describes how the picture came to be. Finally they let us know the results. I submitted my first photos ever to any kind of organization outside of a camera class. My first picture was the one of the egret. It turned out well received. Later my Tampa skyline at dusk was displayed and also well received. I am on my way to sharing my photos more. It is taking me forever to figure out this hobby, but I feel I can start showing some of my work.

These are the 2 photos submitted.

February 16th

2009-02-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

I came across this photo while looking through my photos. I took this when in Hawaii last year at Eve Anderson's beach for the Animal Therapy group picnic. I thought I would like to name this:

What men will do to pick up women!

What do you think?

February - New member of family

2009-02-15T11:55:00.001-08:00

For those who haven't seen her, this is Maxwell (Maxi or Mad Max). She is enjoying sitting on Chuck's lap while he is catching up on Nascar races.

January 2009

2009-02-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

2009 is starting off with quite a flurry of activity. First of all, I am trying to go to Vertigals Downhill skiing group on Wednesday mornings and did get a couple of those sessions in this month. I also went to a couple of session of Vertigals Nordic where I am relearning how to skate ski. It is sure harder when you are packing on an extra few pounds.
On January 11th, I went with the Idaho Mountain and Recreation Club to snowshoe at Whoop em-up area. Colls lead the group and we did the longer Whoop em up loop. The snow was great and it was sunny and beautiful.
On the weekend of January 16th, I went with Jane and a few Tucker-ites, Norma, Jeannette, Patricia and Dennis and his wife to Anthony Lakes, Oregon. See my entry on the Anthony Lakes page. http://www.whereiskathryn.com/USA/IdahoOregonMontana/AnthonyLakes/tabid/88/Default.aspx
Jeanette and I headed up early Friday so we could go get some pictures around Baker City. We did find an old Studebaker in Drukee(?), Oregon which was a great subject except it was so cold. We had lunch in the historic hotel in Baker City and then headed on out to the rented house taking pictures of the snow sceneries, critters and ice crystals along the way.
On Saturday, we all went cross country skiing (except a few of the Tuckers who went downhill skiing and Jane who is still recuperating from foot surgery). It was really cold, but I managed to get in 3 loops around the lake. When we got back, Jane had prepared this huge meal with roast turkey, veggies, stuffing, potatoes and desert. Of course, a lot of wine and beer too.
On Sunday, we were awakened by Norma turning on the lights at 4:00a.m. Jeanette's cell phone was beeping to charge it. I had given Jeanette some earplugs, so she and I were snoozing quite comfortably. Norma and Patrice were being kept awake by this irritation. Thus, she decided we all need to wake up and fix the problem. The Jeanette was in a talkative mood and I had to tell them all it was time to go back to bed. Sheesh! Later, I went downhill skiing along with the kids and the rest went snowshoeing. They were going to take the lift up to the top and snowshoe down, but were not allowed on the lift. No problem, they just hiked up. It turned out to be much more of a workout than they expected.
The next weekend starting on Thursday January 22nd, I went to Montana to ski Bridger and Big Sky with the Bogus Basin Ski Club. It was so COLD! We braved it anyway as the skiing was so fantastic. I roomed with Jane Gabbert and the two of us skiied together for the 3 ski days. I was going to wimp out a few times due to the cold, but she always wanted to get in one more run.
On January 28th, a Wednesday, I went up to Brundage with my Vertigals group for a great day of skiing the slopes there.
In between all this, I did have to get in my work hours.

Tampa Floria Photography

2009-02-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Tampa, Florida from a Photographic Workshop with photographer Robert Lafollette . I should have quite a few pictures to post on my Photography page once I get a chance to go through them.

I had taken a Composition class with Robert through Perfect Picture School of Photography. This class was great and there was great repoire with fellow students in the class. Thus, by the time we had this workshop, some of us were like old friends finally getting to see each other.

The workshop was awesome.