Wedding Invitations

As the date of our wedding draws near, we're starting to tie up all the loose ends and get everything finalized. Every time I look at the to-do list, though, it seems to get longer! My brother, who got hitched last summer, tells me that the final details are never-ending, so I guess it's par for the course.

Along those lines, we're sending out our invitations this week. Since we're a little less than conventional, I designed them myself, and had them printed on a linen paper. I couldn't be happier with the results-- they're very "us!"

Monterey, Carmel and the 17-Mile Drive by Bicycle

Last weekend we decided to try something new, so we took our bicycles down to Monterey for a tour, and I took a camera with me. Monterey has some bike paths that eventually connect you up with the 17-Mile Drive. For those of you not plugged into the golf world, the 17-Mile Drive is a loop of road that goes past some of the more exclusive golf resorts in the country-- Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill, and, of course, Pebble Beach-- as well as some very exclusive neighborhoods. It's really nice if you get out early, before the throngs of cars, and it's free if you're on a bike (cars pay a fee).

We stopped at a few of the numbered attractions along the way, and I took a few photos here and there.

(Yes, I do ride with a bike trunk even though we're training for a race... my bike's a little cursed, so I take lots of spare tubes and tools with me....)

The problem I discovered with taking the camera with me by bike is that once I got into a good rhythm, I didn't really want to stop to pull the camera out. Additionally, even at a leisurely pace, the scenery goes by much faster on a bike than if you're walking, hiking, or climbing, and I ended up missing the little details that always catch my eye when we're out on foot. All in all, I'd have to say that I much prefer photography on foot, but it was worth a try, and going out to the coast is always gorgeous, not matter what mode of transportation you have!

Champagne Brunch

Last weekend, we traveled on back to the midwest to visit family. My mother-in-law-to-be, Karen, threw a champagne brunch to celebrate our upcoming marriage (October!) on Sunday in East Lansing. It was a fabulous affair-- lots of good food, decorated cookies, cake, and of course, wine! Being the guests of honor precluded my usual prowling around with a camera, so I only managed to get a few shots of some of the roses afterwards.


Karen-- thank you so much for putting on a fantastic event! I know it was a lot of work, and we really appreciate it! Thanks also to Rachel and Scott, Tina, Grace, Whitey, and Bill for helping! Lastly, thanks to everyone who attended and made it a memorable day for us!

New Sample Albums

Over the last several weeks, I've been designing new sample albums and wrapping up loose ends for my own wedding in October! (Hence the lack of blogging...) Things will be back on track this week with plenty of new photos. In the meantime, here's a couple pages from the samples-- they're due to arrive next month!


Happy anniversary, Brian and Rachel, and Rachel and Scott!

Berry Creek Falls

While I was working on some wedding-related projects this week (I'm designing invites and cards for our own wedding this fall), I came across a photo I shot several years ago when we first moved to California. We were visiting Big Basin State Park to see the redwoods, and hiked out to Berry Creek Falls. At the time, I had only a small point-and-shoot camera with me, but the lighting and mood was so perfect that day that though I've been back to the falls many times since, this is still my favorite photo. Enjoy!

Castle Dome

We had to follow our epic day of climbing Mount Shasta with something equally as exciting, and Castle Dome didn't disappoint. Castle Crags State Park is about 50 miles south of Mount Shasta, and consists mainly of an abnormal mass of granite that was pushed up through miles upon miles of volcanic ground. At the very end of the granite crags is glacially polished Castle Dome. It's a couple-mile uphill hike to the dome on a trail, then some technical climbing up the granite dome itself.

From the upper portions of the trail, you're treated with views of Castle Dome and Mount Shasta in the distance.


We watched another group of climbers climb and summit one of the other crags throughout the day.


Clouds moved across Mount Shasta during the afternoon, and we were quite glad we chose the previous day to climb-- it had been windy at the top, but sunny and warm otherwise.


Happy Thursday!

Mount Shasta

If you've spent much time in California, you've undoubtedly heard of Mount Shasta. Mount Shasta is the second-tallest volcano in the Cascade Range. It stands alone, towering nearly 10,000 feet over the surrounding landscape at 14,179 feet high. Shasta is a popular climbing/mountaineering destination, and we decided that it was high time we joined in the fun.


Climbing Shasta in a day requires an alpine start. For those who don't know, this means getting up really early - like 3:30am early - and hitting the trail well before dawn. Though it doesn't sound like a lot of fun, it's actually very quiet, calm and pleasant once you get into it. As the sun rose, I took a few photos.


Shasta is the most voluminous volcano in the Cascades. To give you an idea of how big the landscape is out there, here are a few photos I took of Josh heading up from Helen Lake. They don't totally do justice to the enormity of the land, but you'll get the point. For reference, from where I'm standing to the top of that ridge is about 2,000 feet. Then the summit is another 1,000+ feet past that!


We ended up making it within 75 feet of the summit before hitting our turnaround time, but I'd still have to say that it was a successful trip and a fantastic day. After making it back through the Red Banks, the conditions were finally right for glissading (think sledding, without the sled). We glissaded down a solid 2,000 vertical feet, which makes the way down a lot quicker, and is a heck of a lot of fun if you know what you're doing. After that, a quick couple miles down volcanic scree, a rock-paved causeway, and through a shaded forest, and you're back at the car wondering where the day went....

More photos from Sunday's climb up Castle Dome ahead this week!

Sweetwater Mountains - Mount Patterson and Wheeler Peak

Mount Patterson is the highest peak in the Sweetwater Mountains, a small range that crosses the California-Nevada state line northeast of Yosemite National Park. The range is fairly quiet, having been nearly forgotten about by hikers, and though it does have a following in the 4x4 community (4x4 roads criss-cross the area), we still only saw a handful of folks out over one of the busiest outdoor weekends in the West.

We left from Lake Lobdell in the early morning and headed up a 4x4 road towards Mount Patterson, and let me tell you, the colors out there are just fantastic! Parts of the range look very similar to what you see in Death Valley (they're both deserts), and, much like Death Valley, the area has been mined in the past.


From the summit of Mount Patterson, it's a ridgeline walk over and a short cross-country hike up to Wheeler Peak.

Sweetwater Mountains - Lake Lobdell

Each year for the Fourth of July weekend we plan big and spectacular hiking or backpacking trips. This year was no different. And like every year, it didn't go quite as planned, which is sometimes fun and adventurous, and sometimes results in "desert pinstriping" on your much-wider-than-that-narrow-4x4-US-forest-service-road truck. So, our truck has a few new, uh, racing stripes this year. Next year we may try something totally different and crazy, like barbecuing at home.

In any event, last weekend's trip was out over Sonora Pass into the Sweetwater Mountains. We spent our first night at Lake Lobdell, a small reservoir in the heart of the Sweetwaters. The sunset was typical of most desert sunsets - colorful - and the water on the lake was surprisingly calm for the evening.


More about the Sweetwaters and photos from Mount Patterson and Wheeler Peak to come!

Sonora Pass to the Sweetwater Mountains - Sneak Peak

It's taken a few extra days to get through the photos from our trip out to the Sweetwater Mountains last weekend, but here's a teaser from the drive over Sonora Pass.... more to come tomorrow!

Independence Day

A tattered American flag marks the summit of Mount Patterson, California. Happy birthday, America!

Bodega Harbor

Last weekend's kayak around Bodega Bay and Harbor was one of the most wildlife-packed paddles we've been on. We didn't expect to see too much wildlife with the fishing boats coming in and out of the harbor with a negative tide, but there were harbor seals and sea lions everywhere (one sea lion almost seemed to be following us!), large schools of fish, more pelicans that you could shake a stick at, cormorants, the obligatory gulls, crabs, clams, and my personal favorites, three leopard sharks and a whole TON of stingrays. Yep, that's right-- sharks and rays, out in the wild, swimming 4 inches beneath our boats! The sharks were about 2 feet long, and the rays had wingspans up to 2.5 feet-- big ones!

The water in the bay was like glass in the early morning and the reflections were fantastic.


One of the marinas in the harbor has a pier that you can walk out onto for fishing and wildlife viewing.


Have a great Fourth of July!

Bodega Head Sunset

Bodega is a small town on the northern California coast with some great protected and open coast kayaking and tasty fresh seafood restaurants. The town itself sits on the inland side of a natural harbor off a southwest facing bay. We headed up there last weekend for some paddling around Bodega as well as in the nearby Russian River. One evening we headed up to Bodega Head, the high point on the peninsula that forms the harbor, to see the sun set over the ocean (always stunning!).


More shots from kayaking around the harbor and bay to come later this week!

Arnie - Pet Portraits

Arnie (named after golfing great Arnold Palmer) lives with my in-laws-to-be and his brother Jack (named after Jack Nicklaus, of course!). While visiting last weekend, I managed to get in a short portrait session with Arnie. He wasn't too fond of the camera at first, but warmed up to it after a few minutes.

Naperville, IL

My in-laws-to-be recently moved to Naperville, IL (near Chicago), a town voted one of the best places to live in the US. We flew out for a visit this last weekend and checked out the downtown area-- lots of cute shops and restaurants as well as all the big essentials and a couple of art and food festivals.


More photos to come from the weekend, including pet photos, later this week!