天気は少し湿った先週であった。高地では、いくつかの雪を取得しました。富士山。ビアスタットは、うまくいけば、この雪は週末に人々の群衆を続けるだろう、人気のハイキングであることが知られています。私は金曜日にハイキングするつもりだったけど天気も悪かった。私が何をしていたか知らないことは、経験豊富なハイカーの助けを借りずに本当のトラブルに巻き込まれる可能性があります。 The weekend weather was clear so I decided to take my chances with the weekend crowds.
The man from Indian Hills gave me some other good advice. Don't approach Guanella Pass from the most popular route from Denver by going through Georgetown. The road was under heavy construction. As it turned out this was a good thing. It keep the Aspen viewer off the road, because they could not make a loop pass from Grant to Georgetown and I believe it could have road blocked a few hikers trying to make it up that day. As it turned out on my accent I passed a solo speed hiker, a family of three, and a group of four I meet on the summit. The group on the summit quickly left and I had it all to myself.
Sure it was only 14,000 feet and kids had completed that hike. But it was a special moment for me. It is always a good feeling to close out a thought or an idea you have had. Just a few years ago I looked up at the mountain and said I've never hiked up something like that, but I am going to do it. This weekend I completed that thought.
Last Saturday I hit the road pointing northwest and put my foot on the gas. In less than one and a half hours I was out of Texas. The signs are big when you enter Texas, but not so much so when leaving. The only reason I knew I was in Oklahoma was because these bright lights were beaconing through the morning dark and telling my weary eyes that “Everyone's Gone Choctaw” signs all over the place. Though I was not sure if I had gone Choctaw I was sure Texas was at my back and the sun began to rise on a new day. After Oklahoma came Kansas. After Kansas came Colorado. With all the flat terrain the ride was not expected to be too exciting. Luckily there were a few rain showers for entertainment, an array of smells from the fields and cattle, and good tunes. I actually made it all the way to the Colorado border before I found a rest area with a shade tree, a cool breeze and a desire to doze off for a 30 minute nap. As I turned west for the homestretch the sun was setting on my face, the windows were down and I was perfectly satisfied with the moment. Within three hours I would be in Denver amongst good folks. Again, I was perfectly satisfied with the moment.
Trucking it through Kansas.
Basically this unmanned gas station appeared out of nowhere at just the right moment to replenish the Tacoma. Unfortunately there was no bathroom and the place was under 24-hour surveillance so other typical rest stop activities would have to wait.
Here was some visual stimuli along a country route in Kansas. Or should I say "stimulases"?
With my camera in the shop and my days in Dallas counting down I give to you a look back at some of my favorite Dallas / Fort Worth photos from my Flickr page .
Not sure if you've seen the overpasses around here but looking down at this was my office view for about two years. This interchange averages about eight emergency vehicles during a winter ice storm.
Trader Village. This is the place to go if you want to buy Mexican soccer jerseys, fake DUB rims, desrt storm t-shirts, nachos, ac adaptors, remote controls for your BETA player, baby doll heads, velvet elvis paintings, yard art and so much more. Me... I just wrode the scrambler and tossed some oak skee balls like they did in the old days.
This was from the big flood in March 2006. This image is taken from the base of the ped bridge at the spillway. It basically ate away the entire flood wall where the people are standing. To this day they are working on repairing and reinforcing that area.
Remember the Good Latimer tunnel graffiti? It was a really cool entrance to what was one of the city's more lively and diverse places to grab a bite, beer and a show... Deep Ellum. Now a lot of the music venues have went under, the food is just okay and the tunnel is filled in to make way for the new DART Green Line (which opened this week and connects downtown to Deep Ellum and Fair Park). Hopefully there will be a revival of the area.
The Bank of America Building on a windy rainy night. Downtown rests at night. The garbage rusltes in the wind and the buses run empty through the streets. And the building look a lot cooler at night.
This photos won me a spot on the cover of the Brookhaven College exhibition mailer. No color changes or touchups done to this image. Just a long exposure and some cool light from the neon pegasus.
Traveling west from Fort Worth and just past the Creation Museum you'll find Dino Valley State Park. Plenty of big dinosaur fun for the kids, mountain biking trails for the all and dinosaur foot prints and tail drags to start a controversy.
With my camera out of commission I borrowed Pop's and took it out the the ballpark for a day game. The crowd was thin (only 11,500 in attendance) so I was able to walk up and buy a good ticket along the third base line about eight rows up from the field for $35. The location of my seat, Dad's zoom lens and the empty seats in front of me provided some good sight lines to the action. The sun was blazing on me the entire game and I left the SPF in the cupboard. Came out of it with a pretty good raccoon sunburn. The game was pretty entertaining; five to three victory for the Reds with a five solo home runs between both teams, some solid defensive plays, some base running mishaps, some good banter between fans and players and a bang-bang play at the plate to boot. I wasn't fast enough for all the home plate action with my camera but here are a few images I snapped during the day.
Worst two teams in the NL East + day game = 11,500 fans
Third base coach with souvenir ice cream helmet.
M&M's for Australian dyslectics equals two twin bill Ws. Today the Reds just had one W.
Go ahead run on third.
These seats are in the sun and will burn your face. Or at least my face.
Face scars and baseball fans make for sexy ladies.
As mentioned a few posts ago, this week ends my tenure as the Director of Endurance Events with Anthony Travel. Below is my signing off email to my fellow ATIers. Some of you reading may very well be former Anthony Travel coworkers… think of this as an OTL or a HAGA. Others may be a part of my extended Anthony Travel family, who without my step through Anthony Travel I would never have met. Buster Martin … you are one of those. Amazing men and women you all are. So I thought I would share the encapsulated memories present in this email to those not on the Anthony Travel distribution list.
For those of you who usually contact me via my Anthony Travel address please be sure to update your address book. In my new role as Independent Contractor and Consultant I will maintain my personal email addresses as primary forms of communication, no Anthony Travel email.
When I return to Texas next week, we (Stephana, Steve and I) will be hosting a going away / birthday party in Dallas around September 11th. Be on the lookout for the invite. I think there are some birthdays other than mine that we need to celebrate too (yes that means you Tracy. Get out from under that LSAT book and 做生日). If you don't get the invite hit me up with an email and I will send it along to you.
恭喜发财!
Comrades.
Today I consider myself a lucky man. I am able to cast hindsight on a great 6+ years that has had it's share of ups and downs, twists and turns, yings and yangs, hands and feets, rooms and dorms, Pittsburghs and New York Cities, wins and losses, oils and vinegars, Yuenglings and McSorleys, cities and beaches, David Whites and Anne Cribbs, Water Polos and New York Road Runners, fitness breads and vienna sausages, green drinks and oatmeals, bubble teas and red bean ice creams, huddles and summits, Park Lanes and Belt Line Roads, NAIAs and charter planes, Napoleon Dynamites and red union suits, Police Concerts and Navy Bowl New Year's Eve cruises, Texases and Mexicos, cancellation fees and dollar wills, red carpet walkways and holey jeans, Westins and motor lodges, chipped tooths and squeaky achilles, beards and mustaches, 5Ks and Ironmans, yingwens and zhongwens, whose there and who's whoms, etcs and etcs. And through it all I can look back and say we had a good time. So I thank you for the experiences and the friendships you've given me.
I am thinking about having a little get together (going away and birthday soirée) here in Dallas sometime around September 11th. So keep your calendar open and be on the lookout for a more formal invite and event details. To those who I will not see again, I wish you the best.
Today is my last day in the office and Monday is my last day with an Anthony Travel email address. But you can always find me at www.JARofphotos.com and jrice20@gmail.com and places in between. See you there.
My camera went on the fritz over this past week. Which means I was unable to take photos during Ironman Louisville. The photo above is from Larry Rosa . Sort of a bummer yes, but I also got to just relax and stroll around the course with my buddy Knight. Race day weather was amazing. Probably a little too sunny for the athletes but the humidity was so low and the temperatures were a spot on mid-70s. You don't get that combination very often in August. Without any photos I'm going to skip the full Ironman Louisville post. So I'll let the athletes speak for themselves: HERE is a blog from one of Jocelyn's Team TBB Mates and HERE is a blog from Luke McKenzie, who is a great chap and had an inspiring day out on the course but lost the victory in the final miles.
It was good being back in Louisville. There is nothing that warms my spirit and soul better than Kentucky bourbon, old friends, familiar streets, big shade trees, bad fashion (501s tucked in with no belt), smokers, muddy river, Bardstown Road, south meets north, 4AM last calls, Ear-X-Tacy, Ramsi's Cafe on the World, Labamba's and good vibes. All of which can be found on a sunny day in Louisville Kentucky.
I don't know if I will ever live there ever again. But I know it will always live inside of me.
Tomorrow, Thursday, August 27th marks my final ride to the Anthony Travel office. Over the weekend I travel to Ironman Louisville and expire as Director of Endurance Events. Following… the world opens itself up and reveals possibilities which have been lurking in the shadows.
Meet my friend Charles Ross. This is one of our buddies from the 2009 National Senior Games in Palo Alto, CA. This fella would come by our booth everyday. When you asked him how he was doing he'd reply with a whooping “I'mmmmm grrrrreeeaaat!” while making a hooked arm motion to exclaim the point. In other words he was awesome. Some of my co-workers asked him to take a picture with them. But he did not have his medals with him and would not take a photo without his medals. The next day he would returned with medals in tow. You could hear them clanking down the sidewalk from half a mile away. With all this weight around his neck and the medals dangling at his pulled up belt he could barely hook swing his arms while declaring “I'mmmmm grrrrreeeaaat!”.
Charles is one of the many amazing individuals who participate in the Senior Olympics. The Games are full of these characters. One minute they will be cursing me straight out of a Charles Dickens book the next showering me with invitations to date their granddaughters. Roger Gentilhomme was another of those characters. 100 years old and still out on the tennis courts. He was a Senior Games celebrity… stopping for pictures with all the ladies.
If you want to find inspiration in life there are many places to look. One of the best places I've found is the National Senior Olympics.
In the evenings I would go for a run around Stanford University in the shadows of their achievements. It's good to keep that kind of company.