Sharing photos, videos, vintage images I've discovered, and -- occasionally -- commentary and thoughts from retired life and travels.

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Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park photo galleries

January 18, 2010

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I’ve finally gotten around to completing the photo galleries from Rocky Mountain National Park and the Estes Park area.  There is one gallery for each day, to keep the galleries from being too large.

The two newest galleries are Moraine Park Elk and Estes Park area and Fern Lake Trail.

Below is the full listing as it appears on the Haw Creek Image Galleries page:

Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78, Haw Creek and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

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What’s a blog?

November 14, 2009

About our blogs

I’ve been blogging for several years now and currently have 3 active blogs.

I post to Exit78 the most, sharing some of my photos, vintage images I’ve discovered, and — occasionally — commentary and thoughts from retired life.

Haw Creek Out ‘n About is images and information about places — where we are, where we’ve been, and where we’d like to go, while Haw Creek is intended to be primarily related to information on recreational vehicles.

I publish posts on our travels simultaneously on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

Karen’s blog, Quilts….etc., as the title implies, is mostly about her quilting, but she also chats about a lot of other things that interest her.

We both have regular readers, though I think Karen has more than I do, and we both read a number of other blogs.

There are several different, though similar, definitions of the word, “blog.”

The word “blog” is a contraction of the term “weblog” or “web log.”

The term actually originated from online diarists. Early web diaries (c. 1994) evolved into web journals, then web logs, and, today, blogs.

Capture A blog is a type of website where material is published on some periodic basis in reverse chronological order through “entries” or posts.  In other words, for readers, the most recent post comes first.

image Though blogs are most commonly used for personal online journals, blogs are used in wide variety of ways.  Types of blogs include business blogs, political blogs, news blog, travel blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, music blogs of all varieties, and much, much more.

image Most bloggers are hobbyists motivated by self-expression and sharing expertise.  Contrary to the common perception of bloggers being controversial, snide, sarcastic, or pompous, most bloggers feel that their blogging style is sincere, conversational, or expert.

While many hobby bloggers enjoy blogging and stick with it, most blogs actually die quite quickly.  Other blogs die a slow death, with irregular, hit-and-miss posting, and then… nothing.  Last year, I took a look back at the blogs I had been reading a year earlier.  Less than a quarter of them were still active.

For more information on blogs and blogging see Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere – 2009 or Wikipedia’s article, Blog.

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Busy…, wet…, behind — and more photos!

October 30, 2009

I really have intended to work my way through the photos from our September trip. However, I have managed to find other activities to keep me from that goal.  I do, however, have a new photo gallery for Day 3 of Rocky Mountain National Park.

This new notebook sure is small compared to her old one.

Check out Day 3 of Rocky Mountain National Park and my other Haw Creek photo galleries.

Work, of course, takes a huge chunk of time and my time is shifted since the simulator is primarily available for the students in the evening. While I was planning for the contract to be over at the end of 2009, there is a distinct possibility that I will be there until the second week of March.

Karen has a new notebook computer. I spent the better part of a day installing all of her old programs and transferring files.  The notebook runs on Windows 7.

I’m going to also be moving from XP to Windows 7.  After restoring my laptop to near original configuration, there are still times where I am waiting an excessive time  for processes to finish.  My new laptop is on order and will be assembled and shipped next week.

Early this year, I rediscovered a love for reading.  I used to read three or more novels a week on a regular basis.  After many years of only a few books a year, I’m now reading at least a couple of books a week.

This has been the wettest year of all the years we have lived in Arkansas.  Much of the state is well over 20″ over the normal rainfall amounts for the year to date.  This is already about the 12th or 13th wettest year on record for Little Rock.  From what I understand, the wettest year on record was in the 1880s, and there was a little more than ten inches more than what Little Rock has already so far this year — and there is still two more months of 2009 to go.

I’m going to be concentrating on posting the rest of the material from our September trip and building photo galleries. I’ll post on other topics as I have the time and the inclination.

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On the trail to Fern Falls

October 2, 2009

Rocky Mountain National Park — September 6, 2009

It’s the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.  We’re expecting there to be quite a lot of people on the trails today, so we pick one that, hopefully won’t be so crowded that we’ll be unable to get a parking lot.  While there are shuttle buses for hikers, we’d prefer to be able to park and hike.

We get to the trail-head and the parking lot is full — no room for even a small car like ours.  Fortunately, there’s another small parking back up the road a little ways and there was an empty spot there when we went past.  Hopefully, no one has slipped into it — good, it’s still open.

Here’s a few photos from the hike:

(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)

Looking back towards trailhead

Looking back towards trailhead

Pool on Big Thompson

Pool on Big Thompson

Chipmunk

Chipmunk

Tansy Aster

Tansy Aster

Fern Falls (slight time exposure)

Fern Falls (slight time exposure)

Threatening clouds

Threatening clouds

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Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 6, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

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Another trip to over 12,000 feet

September 29, 2009

Rocky Mountain National Park — September 5, 2009

We’re really not much for spending a lot of time in shops or arts and craft shows any more, so after Saturday morning in Estes Park, we decided to head back into the park again — up to Trail Ridge Road by way of the old Fall River Road.

(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)

Sure enough, a nice group of elk, bedded down for the day

Sure enough, a nice group of elk, bedded down for the day.

One of the many switchbacks on the one-way Fall River Road

One of the many switchbacks on the one-way Fall River Road.

Quite chilly, with 46 d with a 26mph wind speed for a 37 wind chill

Quite chilly, 46°F with a 26mph wind speed for a 37°F wind chill

On the way back down, headed to Estes Park

On the way back down, headed to Estes Park.

Soon after we were in the park, we saw sure signs of wildlife ahead.

Soon after we were in the park, we saw certain indicators of wildlife ahead.

On the way up, we saw much more fall color than just a few days before.

On the way up, we saw much more fall color than just a few days before.

By the time we were at the top, it was starting to spit rain with a little bit of frozen stuff mixed in.

At the top, it was spitting rain with a little bit of frozen stuff mixed in.

2009 09 05 105ed

Trail Ridge Road at about 12,000 feet above sea level

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Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 5, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

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Journaling, blogging and traveling — with a new solution

September 22, 2009

On my blogs, I like to share some of what we’ve seen and done while we are traveling.   I always seem to get behind and come up short with what I had planned hoped to do.

The same thing goes with my photos, but then, perhaps, that’s part of the problem.  I’m doing fairly well this time with the photos.  I have 3 1/2 days worth of images to go through.  Unfortunately, I’ve not finished with going through the photos from several prior trips.

I have a new solution that I think will work rather well.

Instead of trying to keep up with blogging while we are traveling, I will be journaling and photographing as we go.  The journal will be a pocket-sized moleskine notebook, where I will keep both brief notes as well as extended entries.  These, along with photographs, will be used to develop blog posts with “Commentary and images from the road.”

I started doing some of that this time, which is what enabled me to finish the trip with most of the images processed.  I will pick back up with the travel journal blogs from September 5th.

I am publishing all posts specifically related to our travels on two blogs, Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.  Apart from our travels, these two blogs otherwise have different focuses.

Some of the days of our trip warrant  more than one blog post.  I will be mixing mostly topical posts with mostly pictorial.

We got back home on Friday and Karen headed out today for a week in Wisconsin where she will be taking care of the grandkids while our daughter goes to New York City with her husband on a business trip.

I get to stay home and go to work.

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This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

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Bull !!!

September 10, 2009

2009 09 04 038ed-for blog

I first saw this big fellow from the road below the campground. He and ten or more other elk had moved up into the trees between the campground, which is on a lateral moraine and the Moraine Park meadows below.

I walked back up the trail to the camper to let Karen know about elk being very close to the campground and then walked a few sites down to see if I could see them again. Sure enough, there they were. This big bull elk was in the woods slowly moving up the valley.

At about the same time, I could hear a bunch of coyotes yipping off in the other direction. We had heard a some a couple of nights before, but not nearly as clearly.

Eventually the bull elk bedded down for the day. I guess they are most active at night with their feeding and breeding. The meadows are closed to the public from 5 PM to 7 AM during the rutting season. The closure started the first week of September.

Where this guy decided to bed down was pretty neat, too — right below our campside. I took the picture of our camper below from the same spot that I shot the image above.

2009 09 04 039ed-for blog

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

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On the road again — in Colorado

August 30, 2009

My anticipated “weekend” away from work is being extended by a planned 3 week vacation.

We are currently camped at a KOA in La Junta, Colorado. Yesterday, we camped at Sandy Cove Corps of Engineers campground on Canton Lake in Oklahoma.

Tomorrow we will be traveling on for a week in the Rocky Mountain National Park area. We’ll be camped in the park for four days. When we reserved our campsite for the park, there was nothing available for the Labor Day weekend, so we made reservations at the Estes Park KOA. We prefer to have spots reserved for holiday weekends rather than trying to find a campsite when there will likely be a lot of other people camping.

After Labor Day, though, we shouldn’t have any trouble finding a place to camp.

We will be traveling on Labor Day, though…, and will probably be traveling I40, which brings back memories of another Labor Day on I40.

In 2001, we were headed from Steamboat Springs to Estes Park and decided to go by way of Golden to see a quilt exhibit. We didn’t even think about the fact that there would be heavy, heavy traffic heading from the mountains back to the cities.

We ended up in a traffic jam backed up for miles.

Fortunately, this time, we’ll be heading away from the cities, going west.

Here are a few photos from yesterday at Canton Lake:

Canton Lake, Oklahoma, from Sandy Cove
sunflower at Canton Lake, Oklahoma - Sandy Cove Core of Engineers campground and beach
The following “drawing” of boys at play in Lake Canton was rendered from a photograph using Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X2.
A drawing rendered from a photo of boys at play in Lake Canton, Oklahoma
jet ski on Lake Canton in glare of setting sun, Oklahoma

While I will be “off-line” and away fro the internet until Friday, there will continue to be daily posts that have been “pre-published.”

I plan to have more photos to share later in the week.

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

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A very long day, publication plans, etc., etc.

August 18, 2009

Yesterday was supposed to be a 12 hour day. I went in a little early to make sure everything was set up right for the evaluations that we would be doing in the simulator. Unfortunately, four of the six evaluations took longer than expected. After getting to work around 6 A.M., I didn’t leave the building until 10:40 P.M.

retirement

It made for a very long day — the longest work day I’ve had in a very long while.

However, it’s enough to let me take all of Friday off, so I’ll have a three day weekend.

Blog Posting

While I am working a 40 hour week, I’ve found that publication on a very regular schedule works for me, so long as I keep with the blog tagline, “Sharing some of my photos, vintage images I’ve discovered, and — occasionally — commentary and thoughts from retired life.”

And that’s what I plan to do, much as I’ve done the last couple of weeks — photos from our travels, vintage images of interest that I’ve found, and an occasional commentary, say once a week or so, on various topics.

For the visitors who like my photos, I’m also publishing them on two other blogs, Haw Creek and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

While those two blogs are intended to have slightly different content, one RV related and the other travel related, right now all I am primarily publishing a random photo from our travels each day.

Photos published here and on the other two blogs are always different from each other and, generally, have not been published in the past.  The exceptions to that are that I may republish some images that I post while we are traveling and some images that I posted before I established my current semi-random selection process may reappear.  It’s just too difficult to go back through all of the old posts.

day 76

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