behind the weeping wall

It was a perfectly dry day, yet water was streaming out of the face of this rock wall in Zion National Park.  We stopped here just for a few hours while driving from California to Minneapolis.  It was way too rushed as we also stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park (at sunset) and drive to Moab, UT in the same day. I think I was hallucinating by the time we got there.

I’m looking forward to getting back to Zion next fall when I’m going to spend two weeks driving around the desert southwest camping on my Jeep!

find it here:  37°16’11” N;  112°56’19” W

creature in the gorge

Deep within Oneonta Gorge when the water was low I came across this rock which almost looked like some prehistoric creature with just it’s back breaking the surface of the water.  This gorge goes back surprisingly far and if you get all the way to the end (requires swimming even when the water is low) you’ll find an amazing waterfall!

find it here:  45°35’11” N;  122°4’26” W

sunset in nebraska

I was on a trip to Death Valley, California and driving home to Minneapolis.  After just leaving the mountains in Utah and Wyoming, I didn’t expect to have a spectacular sunset but while cruising east on I-80, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw this.  I pulled over at the next overpass and scrambled up the side with my camera to get a photo, glad I stopped!

find it here:  41°11’56” N;  103°14’35” W

punchbowl falls

This is another one of those places in the Columbia River Gorge that makes it so amazing.   Punchbowl Falls is just an easy couple mile hike in from the trailhead.  The falls come spilling out into this “bowl” which is flanked by these really neat granite walls covered with ferns, moss, etc.  At times, it can be quite busy here by not many people walk out into the water (cold most of the year) or if you just wait a bit, eventually you’ll have a people free moment to get a nice photo.  There are several waterfalls along this trail and if you keep going, about mile 6 is a 250ft waterfall with a tunnel going right behind it halfway to the top!

find it here:  45°37’22” N;   121°53’42” W

the mystery of oneonta gorge

This is my favorite place in the Columbia River Gorge and one of the most amazing and beautiful places I have ever been.  It’s one of those places that you lose time in as you immerse yourself in the surroundings.  I love the way the basalt walls of the gorge tilt in from different angles and when it is raining, little waterfalls stream in from the sides.  It is truly beautiful and amazing.

I used a Lee Big Stopper 10 stop ND filter to make a 3 minute exposure to smooth out the water and give it that blue cast.

Getting there - driving to the entrance, it looks like little more than a small creek with a road crossing it.  Even walking down to the creek you never really get a sense for what could be ahead.  You have to be prepared to get wet and walk up through the creek to a giant log jamb at the opening to the gorge (just a few hundred feet form the road) and then carefully pick your way up and climbing over the log jamb to get to the other side (it’s about 15 feet high and 50 feet long).  It can be really dangerous when wet and you’d slip and break an ankle or fall into the deep water below.   (I put on Kahtoola Microspikes when I’m going here so I don’t slip).  On summer days, you might be able to actually get into the creek on the other side but watch out after a rain fall as the water just past the log jamb is 10ft or more deep with a strong current.  If you can make it all the way up the creek (you’ll have to swim some spots) there is a neat hidden waterfall waiting for you at the end.

Find it here:  45°35’11” N;  122°4’26” W

you can hear it grow

Near Cannon Beach, OR there is a little sign with a turn off for Ecola State Park. The road twists and turns leading you to one of two parking lots with great views of the ocean but what I really liked about this park was the rain forest you pass through getting there.  It was really foggy this day and the forest had a prehistoric feel.  Stopping the car to get out and walk in to the woods just a bit, it was almost like the quiet after a fresh snow - so still and silent but rather than snow, everything is green almost like you can hear it growing if you listened close enough.

Find it here:  45°56’19” N;  123°59’5” W

breaking light at wahclella falls

This amazing waterfall is just an easy one mile hike from a small parking lot near the Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River Gorge.  Anne and Gus were along for this hike and Gus hiked nearly the whole way by himself.  He does really good hiking for a 22mo old!

Just as we got to the falls, the fog started to break and the sun came streaming out through the trees at the top. There were so many great pictures from that morning, it was ahrd to pick one to post today!  I’m sure there will be more in the future :) 

Find it here:  45°37’6” N;  121°57’6” W

see the light

Just a fun photo of an old soda machine in Wisconsin.

Find it here:  44°27’12” N;   90°50’36” W

streaming by

Taylors Falls, MN.  This is a neat little park on the St. Croix river along the Minnesota/Wisconsin border with rock formations you don’t find anywhere else in the area.  It almost reminds me of some parts of the Columbia River Gorge.  There are sharp craggy rocks with trees growing out of them and these cool depressions and potholes you can walk through, in, and around with some so deep there are staircases going down in them. If you live in Minneapolis and haven’t been here, this is one place you have to visit less than an hour away.  The streaky yellow/white is a riverboat that you can take a ride on down river to see some of the rock formations along the way.

This is another cool geotag photo too, the link below goes to a satellite map where you can actually see this tree’s shadow! :)

Find it here:  45°23’55” N;   92°39’7” W

the fog rolls in

This was my first trip to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.  I had always wanted to visit but never made the time and never thought I’d ever live here.  But a great opportunity came up at Target and I was offered a position based out of Portland, OR so we were here in late September for the first time trying to get familiar with the city and find places to live.  It has been about a year since then, and living in the PNW has been nothign short of amazing!

On this trip, we took a couple days to do some travel to Mt. St. Helens then down the coast through Astoria to arrive at Ecola State Park and this great view overlooking Cannon Beach just as the sunset.

I just visited this location again over the past weekend which prompted me to pull this photo out from the archive to process and post.  It was really foggy this weekend, some neat photos from in the surrounding rain forest are stil to come.

Find it here:  45°55’11”;   N 123°58’31” W

Emerald City

An unexpected landslide in Big Sur made this photo even better!

A while back we took a road trip from Southern California to San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a great drive up the coast until we got almost to Big Sur only to find that a landslide closed the PCH ahead of us and we had to back track a few hours south then north on the CA-99 to get around it. I was bummed That it put us a day behind schedule and into a rain storm when we got to SF. I had really wanted to get a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge from this spot but there was torrential rains coming straight at us on when we got there on both attempts. I almost thought I wouldn’t get it but as we were leaving town to drive home, we crossed the bridge one more time hit a spot of no rain to get this photo here. Had we made it to SF as originally planned, it would probably have been full sun and a less interesting photo than with these cool moody clouds :)

Find it here: 37°49’43” N; 122°29’9” W

tree, fog, field

Isn’t GPS technology awesome?! I use a GPS to geotag all my photos and post the coordinates and a link to a map for each photo I publish. It’s amazing how accurate these things are and it is really awesome when you can zoom in on a satellite map and see the tree/thing you photographed!

I took this near Ames, IA on the last hundred miles of a spring roadtrip from Minneapolis to Denver, and Death Valley. I didn’t expect to take any more photos and was just focused on getting home but as I got into Iowa there was this really neat bluish fog around this tree in a farm field along I-35.

Find it here: 42°2’33” N; 93°34’9” W

let the sun shine through

This was a fun morning. My boss and his boss @CaspersDave were in town to spend some time visiting the area I’m responsible for (in my real job). Dave is into photography too so we headed out into downtown Portland at sunrise to shoot some photos one morning before “real” work started. Walking along the Willamette River, the shadows behind this tree caught my eye.

As we walked back to the hotel, some guy across the street waiting for a free breakfast at a mission started yelling “Hey camera guys, F*ck You! F*ck You!” then followed that up with “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”. At least he was sorry…

Find it here: 45°31’36” N; 122°40’13” W

emissions nominal

My father-in-law used to have a car dealership and garage in a small rural town in Wisconsin.  As he was gettgin ready to sell the business, he had an auction to sell off much of the equipment.  There were so many cool old things, the geek in me would have taken it but where do you put it.  It was like being on a 60’s sci-fi set.  The gauges on this one caught my interest.  I used a tilt shift lens to get the front face in focus.

Find it here:  44°58’42” N;  93°15’32” W   (well maybe not anymore…)

twilight in the meadow

It was the second day on our 2,500 mile road trip from Portland to Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks.  We arrived in Jackson, Wyoming just before sunset and after grabbing dinner and on our way to Jackson Hole we drove past this meadow where the majestic Tetons were just peaking over these smaller mountains.  You can’t see them but there were some houses up on these hills facing the Tetons, they must have amazing views!

Find it here:  43°28’43” N;   110°48’33” W

the sentinels at sunset

I took a quick one day trip down from Minneapolis to northern Illinois to see my dad and brother who were up in the area.  You know how these go - get up early, drive out, spend as much time as you can, drive back as fast as possible.

 

It was a great day and I didn’t have much intention of taking photos along the way but I was glad I brought my camera.  As I headed west, out a little ways in a farm field I saw this amazing sunset beaming through a stand of trees.  It was one of those moments where you get really excited about what you are seeing and hope it doesn’t go away before you can get your camera out and set up.  The view from the road wasn’t optimal so I drove into a nearby apartment complex, parked, hopped a small fence and quickly ran off into the field near the trees.

 

It was late fall with no leaves left but the grass was still green and these massive trees gave the appearance as if they were standing guard to the what lay beyond.

 

Find it here:  41°59’33” N;  88°43’1” W 

the flatiron

during my trip to New York, I left Times Square where we were staying in the alte afternoon and figured I’d wander down Broadway until sunset then turn around and head back. as I got down to somewhere about 25th, I could see this building down the way that looked oddly shaped and clearly different which I’ve since come to find out is a pretty well known landmark called the Flatiron building.

I took a short detour through a nearby park and made it to the building just before sunset. As you are walking up, you notice the roofline sweeps back making the building look like the bow of a ship coming up the street. It is a neat looking building no matter what angle you are looking at it from but when you get up close on the sidewalk just in front of it, the rest of the building nearly disappears behind the front curvature.

Find it here: 40°44’29” N; 73°59’22” W

it's been a while

And pretty quiet here on this site for the last year BUT a busy and time for us. We had our first child, Gus just before Christmas 2011, have been spending time with family (since we now live within driving distance), I’ve been figuring out my new job - busy with projects at Target and busy trying to figure out how to be a dad.Gus and Joe saying Hi! from Torrey Pines State Beach

Gus is great, loads of fun and an easy traveler. Since April, we’ve driven from Denver to Las Vegas, camped up around Lake Superior’s north shore and on our land in Wisconsin and took a couple of trips to Southern California (one of which where I gave the commencement speech for UC San Diego School of Pharmacy White Coat Ceremony). I’m looking forward to the day he wants to go camping rather than just a well behaved involuntary participant :) .

I’ve done some work on the site here to over the last few months and am looking forward to getting back to posting new photos. Let me know what you think!

tunnel vision

this was my first visit to New York and I was on a business trip for Target.  we stayed right down in Times Square which was great from a tourist standpoint but made for a little more of a challenge - it was central to where we needed to travel (Conneticut, Upstate New York, Long Island, and New Jersey) but not so easy getting in and out and parking.

I was able to get out a couple nights with my camera and spent most of my time in the Times Square area, up and down Broadway and 5th Avenues.  the sheer mass of humanity in this area is unbelievable.  i took this shot one night when i ventured down into the subway. 

Find it here:   40°45’20” N;  73°59’14” W   (well, under there somewhere)

first congregational at twilight

on my last night in Riverside, i was wandering around downtown when i came across this church and the greenish lights in the bell tower caught my eye…

Find it here:  33°58’55” N;  117°22’19” W