Now That’s What I Call A Vacation Day!
So much for taking it easy…
Hello Salida, It’s Me Again
The last time I attended the Colorado Invihash it was held in a “town” called Monarch, Colorado. The nearest “real” town to Monarch is Salida, Colorado. The group of us who traveled together for that trip made quite a few trips into Salida for fun.
With another day of non-hashing ahead of me and Salida being only about eighty miles from Alamosa it was a natural destination. After finally finding wifi upon my arrival in Salida I was able to book a room at the Comfort Inn. In order to cut a bit of the cost of this trip I cashed in 20,000 of my Choice Rewards points and secured a free room.
I have to admit, although I’ve only been to Salida in the summer it’s exactly the type of town to which I can see myself moving. Salida, Colorado is second only to Flagstaff, Arizona so far. Unfortunately I think that each town is too expensive for me.
I woke up and instead of going out to find breakfast I partook in the waffle making at the Comfort Inn in Alamosa. Being surprised with the beauty of the morning I shoved the waffle down my gullet and high-tailed it to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to catch the “golden light.” As you will see below, I was far from disappointed.
ITP Flickr Pics
Tuesday evening…
Wednesday morning…
Why it’s important to get out early and not be closed-minded…
When I arrived at the Great Sand Dunes I snapped a few shots (which were good, but not yet uploaded). Then I noticed that some people were climbing to the top of some of the dunes, so I decided to try it! (which I later found out that the tallest dune is about 750 feet tall.) This sole flower bush, at least in this patch of sand, was just ripe for some low-level photography; the blue sky was enhanced with the use of a circular polarizer. Had I not seen the people climbing the dunes and decided to give it a whirl I never would have captured this photo.
Waterfall? More Like Waterfail.
After departing the dunes I headed to the Zapata Falls. I had scouted the drive to the falls the night before so I knew that my car could handle it. Once at the parking lot it was a mere quarter-mile hike to the falls. Unfortunately the falls are some what guarded by rock and not visible from any distance. So, I slogged through the cold water camera gear in hand in order to reach it. Sadly, I was unable to get a photo because the mist from the falls quickly covered my lens; there was just no way for me to get a shot before the water obscured my view.
Have I Ever Mentioned How Much I Hate Windows Mobile 6?
When my contract on the BlackJack ends in December I will become a iPhone carrier.
The mysterious workings of Windows Mobile 6 have frustrated me to the point of no return. Normally I just can’t figure out why on some mornings my alarm rings ten times, while on others it only rings twice. This morning took the cake, however. Somehow my phone decided that I was in the Central Time Zone and rang the alarm at 3:00am instead of 4:00am (it’s still set for 4:00am for last Saturday’s trip; I’ve not had the desire to fix it).
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – good
Current Music – listening to the “Trucker Tom” podcast (Trucker Tom was one of the participants at the Tips From The Top Floor “Learning To See” workshop)
Website Of The Day – I’ve recently found out about this web-related interview site called TalkingHeadTV. (now if this Comfort Inn only had the bandwidth to allow me to use it…)
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage – 5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 50 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – n/a 
Monthly Marta Rides – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 27 (110) on hold because it’s not my job.
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4
August Goals
1) Run/Walk no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 150 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least two books
5) Make my bed every day
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I was at a training course all day yesterday, so I had an excuse – where was everyone else? Nice pics – that big sky country out west sure does allow for some impressive photography. Have a great time hashing!
-Randy
Randy, I was wondering the same thing yesterday. I figured people must have been busy doing work in preparation for the long weekend ahead.
In fact, I am just now writing today’s blog since I figured many people would be taking the day off.
I’ve had an Iphone for almost a year now. I would not recommend it. Internet is painfully slow (like 14.4 modem slow). Safari is awesome, but the frustration of dreadfully slow downloads ruins it. The alleged push email is a bunch of bullshit – somehow only spam seems to actually get pushed. Also, AT&T’s network is a fail (as compared to T-Mobile, which I had previously and is an epic fail). Syncing the damn thing is a nightmare, it always takes forever. Why it won’t do it over Bluetooth is beyond me, my 3 year old Palm will and the Iphone has a Bluetooth chip set. Cables are so 20th century. And forget about software updates – no one at Apple has heard of this thing called a patch, so it takes forever to download the new software and update. Half the time the update fails on the first try and I have to repeat. None of the above (except slow internet) has been fixed on the 3G. If I hadn’t paid $400 for the damn thing, there would be an Iphone sized hole in the wall by now.
Personally, I’m waiting for the Blackberry Bold to show up on Verizon. It ain’t pretty, but my coworkers and friends all have Blackberrys and they seem to work quite well. And get this, they sync without wires! What a concept!
Nice flicks by the way, this Colorado trip definitely seems to be going well for your photography.