Vacation comes to an end

Yesterday, I went for a hike at Rocky Mountain National Park. I was originally expecting that I would need snowshoes for my hike, but as it turned out, the east side of the park only had a few inches of snow. I got a somewhat late start in driving from Denver up to the park (a two hour trip), so I only had a few hours available for hiking. My little hiking thermometer said that the temperature was twenty five degrees, but when the wind kicked up along the mountain ridges, it felt like it was below zero. I ended up hiking from Glacier Gorge to Jewel Lake and back, for a total of about six miles.

I have created a web page with some of my pictures of the park.

I flew back to DC today, and the flight was uneventful. Waiting until Tuesday to fly back meant that I missed most of the Thanksgiving holiday traffic. I managed to pick up a cold on Monday, which means that heading back to work tomorrow will be a little more annoying than usual.


Mills Lake

Off in the mountains

I spent the afternoon in the Colorado mountains today. The weather was a bit chilly, but it was an absolutely beautiful day. I hung out with my cousin and her husband all afternoon, and had a great time.

This is Lake Dillon with the mountains in the background. The Keystone ski resort is about two thirds of the way to the left in the photo. The snow is a little sparse on the mountains at the moment, so there hasn't been a lot of great skiing so far this season.



Doesn't this fireplace look great after a long day in the cold?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, I had an early morning flight out of Washington National to Denver. The airport was fairly quiet at six in the morning, although my flight was full. The weather change was rather abrupt, since it was sixty degrees in DC and under twenty degrees in Denver. I had Thanksgiving with my family, and dinner was the classic Thanksgiving fare: turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and sweet potatoes. The food was really good, and it was fun catching up with my family.


Crystal City Fountain

A moving sort of weekend

I spent this weekend up visiting my cousin in State College, Pennsylvania. My cousin and her fiance were moving into a new apartment, and I went up there to help them with the move. I really like their new apartment. It is located in a quiet residential area with parks, bike trails, and of course, views of the mountains. The move went pretty well, and we spent most of the weekend running errands and helping get them settled in.

When I drove back down to DC this evening, I came across this great view of Harrisburg across the river from Camp Hill. I only had my point-and-shoot camera with me, and I did not have my tripod along, but the scene was so cool that I just had to stop and take a picture.


Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
(click on photo for a larger version)

A post about nothing much

The past week has been fairly busy. I have been trying to get additional hours in, in preparation for taking time off for Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year. I will be spending Thanksgiving out in Colorado with my family. It will be fun to see everyone, and of course, Colorado is a fun state to visit.


The C&O Canal

A fun fall afternoon

I spent the afternoon at Great Falls on the Maryland side of the Potomac. The weather was absolutely beautiful. The sky was a crystal clear blue, with only a few traces of wispy clouds overhead. The water was low enough that I was able to make it out to Rocky Island, for my first visit to the island. Scaling up the towerings rocks was a little demanding, but well worth the effort.

Here are a few of the photos that I took this afternoon. Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version.


A view from Rocky Island


A predator seeks his prey


Water cascades below the Falls


Fall shows it colors

On a side note, while doing some searching on the birds of Great Falls, I came across this Flickr page with photos from Great Falls. The gentleman's photographs are totally amazing. I wish I had even half his talent - or his patience, judging by some of the photos he took.