mascot meets its maker

mascot and its maker

On Tuesday, March 14th, I stopped up at the Pixar offices to meet up with Dylan. Dylan used to live here in Seattle and has just recently moved down to SF.

Many years ago, I got a call from Dylan. He asked if I would come to lunch. Half way through lunch he plopped a box containing the mascot on the table in front of me. He proceeded to tell me the story of the creation of the mascot and it's brethren. He was absolutely giddy with excitement (I will not relate the story here, if you want to hear it, buy me a beer someday and I will tell you. Or maybe Dylan has told it somewhere and will pass on the link to me.).

The mascot was originally designed to be a marketing give-away for Pixar's Renderman Software at the Siggraph conference. If you do a search on google for "Pixar renderman walking teapot" and you will find lots of geeky entries on the first and subsequent years teapots. I have even seen them for sale on ebay.

While I was visiting Dylan, the mascot was finally able to meet others of his kind.

Dylan let slip that there will be a Walking Teapot retrospective at Siggraph this year. So if you are there, head over the Pixar booth and take a look. He also let me know that even though the mascot traveled ~7000 miles, from the tops of mountains to the deserts of Death Valley, there was one other teapot that has traveled farther. He showed me a picture of a Walking Teapot at the South Pole. The mascot was devastated.

P.S.: The Pixar offices are very nice. I got a quick tour and architectually they are pretty fantastic. Must be nice place to work.

sf moma

Self portrait with Gary

On Monday, March 13th, Steve, Gary and I decided to head to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (We wanted to also hit the Museum of the Africian Diaspora but it was closed.)

I wanted to see 2 exhibits. The Calder exhibit and the exhibit on photographs from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Both exhibits were good and the earthquake exhibit is worth a visit; just for the picture of the street grid devoid of building taken from a zeppelin out over the bay. I have to find a copy of that for myself. I think my favorite find was a book in the museum that showed a picture from 1906 on the left page and a picture from 2002 on the right, taken from the same location, angle, etc.

After the museum, we crossed the street and wandered the Buena Yerba gardens and I, ofcourse, took some pictures. You can see them below.

I really want to thank Steve and Gary for being fantastic hosts and spending the weekend visiting museums, going to dinner, arguing about cosmic rays and junk DNA, etc. I really appreciate it and it made my time in San Francisco soooooooo much better. Thank you guys!


Steve and Gary with SFMOMA in the background (it took 2 tries at this shot before Steve was happy with it)
Steve outside of SFMOMA
SFMOMA building from across the street
Gary
Gary framed by a Calder
Brian on the stair case at SFMOMA
Brian on the ground. I am not sure how this happened with me, the hat and the bad in line.(from Gary)
Brian on the ground. I love the ad in the background (from Gary)

only a seattle-ite

only a seattle-ite could like this weather

The night before, Gary and Steve convinced me that I needed to see the view of the city from Twin Peaks. It's just up the hill after all. So on Sunday, March 12th, I had a some free time and headed up there. Gary recommended that I take an umbrella. Cracking some wise-ass comment, I said, "I had a baseball cap and should be fine".

This really was a day only a die hard Seattle-ite could like. It started drizzling about 1 block from the house. I meandered up from Gary and Steve's house. On the way I chatted with my parents about my Dad being kicked out a local(to them) bank for verbally abusing the staff (he really needs a hobby now that he is retired). Here is where my problems started. I crossed Market meandered up via Corbett to Gardenside and then to Parkridge. I can now see the microwave towers by the lookout up there, but no road or path. Then I spy a trail (if you want to call it that) that follows a run-off channel. I figure it cannot be worse than just bush-whacking up the hill. I took these 2 pics as I went up the trail. See, it was drizzly, and a few of the townhomes on Parkridge and beyond.

I was pretty damn wet by the time I got to the top(I am still not sure if bush-whacking would have been easier or not). Right below the radar-beach lookout at the top I got this picture of Market Street heading off to downtown.

I got some pretty funny looks as I hooved it up to the lookup out and popped up right in front of everyone's view. I chuckled and thought, "wooosies" as a group of teenage girls covered their heads and ran for their car when the rain started again. Got a picture of the Golden Gate. Can you see it?

As I was looking for a a better way down, I noticed that I was not actually on Twin Peaks, they were farther southwest. A few more minutes of walking and look there is a real trail with like markers and everything. A hop, skip and a jump later I am on the top of Peak A. I took this picture which I really love and the one at the top of this entry. At this point it had been drizzling for pretty much 20 minutes. I was pretty soaked. I cursed my wise-ass comment and wished I had the umbrella. I turned and looked west and noticed a small clearing. By the time I made it to Peak B it had stopped raining and was sunny. Yippeee! The views just kept getting better (but all the pictures came out crappy). It was pretty nice being in the middle of a major city and having no one up on the peaks with me. For about an hour, I heard no voices and only a few cars went past below me. It was great.

Now here is where this excursion got a little out of control. From Peak B I spied a better trail that seemed to go down in the right direction. It took me down Midcrest Way and then out to Portola (out by O'Shaughnessy). Hmmm, this is probably not good, so I figure I'll go left. A little more walking and view admiring, and, in all honesty, no really paying attention. I find myself out on Diamond Heights. The view is nice, but not any closer to Steve and Gary's.

Luckily(as it stopped me from wandering and made me pay attention to where I was) at this point Dylan called me. He wanted to meet in a hour for some drinks. Ok, now I have to get back to the Mission in an hour. Not a problem I think. Oh and by the way, I am actually pretty dry by now. Well there is no easy way down the side of Diamond Heights, in fact there are some condo developments which make it impossible. I back tracked to Portola, down Clipper and on to Grandview Ave.

If you ever get a chance to wander this area of San Francisco, I highly recommend hitting Grandview Ave. Well it is a grand view. I got this picture. This type of shot is one of the things I love about this city.

I know this entry is just dragging, but one more story. I get to 22nd and notice another ridge off in the distance and figure I have time. So I wander down 22nd past Douglass, Eureka. This is nice little area. At the intersection of Diamond and 22nd, a women in SUV almost runs be down. No contact but I was forced to use the hood of her car to catapult me out of the way. After profuse apologies(by her) I was on my way again. Up the staircase to Collingwood. Another nice view and some great houses up there. Here is where the gods punished me for no umbrella. It started to rain. Not Seattle, drizzly rain. Real, fill the gutters rain. Only 8 blocks back to Steve and Gary's, but I was soaked. Gary had a nice, told you so, smirk on his face smirk as he said something like, "holy crap you are wet".

(almost done): Not only was I wet, but I was pretty late. Had to meet Dylan at 20th and Valencia in 15minutes. I dried some clothes, got changed and ran out of the house to catch a cab. Was only 10 minutes late. It was really great to see Dylan. I miss not having our periodic nights of drinking/socializing since he moved. We had the best bloody marys we have ever had at Laszlo Bar that afternoon. Worth a visit.

All and all a great day in San Francisco and I did take an umbrella out when I went to meet Dylan.

58 days

On Tuesday night at 2:30am, a tired and wobbly mascot finally made it back to Seattle.

58 days away from home. That is a record for me. It has been an amazing and rewarding trip. I met many great people and made many new friends. Thank you to everyone who helped me make this trip a fantastic one!

It is a strange feeling. I am happy to be home but at the same time sad that I am not exhausted, sitting on the bumper of my car pulling off my ski boots.

[PS: There are a few more entries from SF and Colorado that will be coming today and tomorrow. So stay tuned.]

today I am going home

San Fransciso has been great! But for the past 2 days I have been feeling this very strong urge to head home. I am not sure why it started, but I think it had to do with watching Steve and Gary interacting with all of their friends. It made me realize how much I missed my social circle in Seattle.

Maybe you can call it the loneliness of traveling alone or maybe that I am tiring of experiencing things on my own. Who knows. Or maybe I am just looking forward to waking up in the same bed 2 days in a row.

I will be heading out right after the morning commute. Have an early lunch over in Emeryville with Dylan and then head north. There is a pretty good chance that I will be stupid and drive straight through. I know, I know it is 16 hours, but I have to keep my driving cred alive.

[Oh and Jim and Doug, sorry I was sort of hoping to have you guys bookend this travels, but maybe I will just have to come on out in April for a weekend of spring skiing. Sorry!]

deYoung and the park

mascot joining gary at the piano

Yesterday, Steve and I went to see the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park. I was pretty impressed by the museum, both inside and out. The building itself is impressive. It is made out of copper and I am not sure if I will like it as much after it's petina starts showing, but for right now I loved the texture and the way it interacted with the light throughout the day.

I was impressed by the displays and I really like the layout of the gallery and open spaces. I was surprised that they used wood as the surface for all staircases, gallery floors and some ceilings.

After the museum, Steve and I walked through the park to Haight street, where we went looking for the Pork Store (which was not there any more) and watched the cultural mish-mash created by street kids, high-end boutiques and peace/love restaurants.

We missed our bus home, so decided to get coffee. I had spied Coffee to the People earlier and could not resist going in (ie my compulsion to try new independent coffee shops no matter my level of caffine-ation). Before we left, Steve and I conversed about a number of topics, but mostly about cosmology. He continued his quest to convince me that his Little Bang theory better explained the state of the universe than the Big Bang Theory. I thought the catatonic woman next to us, was going to jump in during the part about uniform-vs-nonuniform distribution of mass post-bang.

Today I will do alittle wandering. I would like to hike up twin peaks for some pictures and then I have to meet Dylan for a late lunch. Tomorrow Steve, I and maybe Gary will be hitting SF MOMA and Museum of African Diaspora.

Here are a few of the pictures from yesterday. I was not a big fan of the pictures I took yesterday, but they atleast so the highlights.

Steve outside the deYoung
My favorite shot. Out the window on the 2nd floor
Self Portrait 1
Self Portrait 2
Steve at the Stairs
Shadow Installation
deYoung building through the trees
Art shot of the trees
Steve with the deYoung
Steve again
Tea Garden foliage

lone pine

Mt Whitney.... who knows what is up with the horse

I spent 3 nights in Lone Pine(March 2-4). It is a nice enough small town in the hot arid valley between the eastern Sierras and Death Valley/Inyo Mountains.

The thing I found most amazing about this area is the immense wall of mountains that lie what feels like a mile to the west. I mean Mt Whitney is 14,494ft tall. Lone Pine is at an elevation of ~4000ft. That means mountains rise 10000+ ft in less than 20 miles. Pictures cannot capture the scale of this area. Part of me wants to come back, sit on top of one of the craggy peaks and see how much of the US I can see. It must feel like one wrong step and you would fall all the way to Main Street up there.

Oh and don't ask about the horse, I have no idea. I think they sold 2nd hand clothes in the building. It must be left over from a previous owner.

... garrett in me

middle of the road in death valley

** It was a tough decision for the picture above. Check out the mascot playing in Death Valley. And another. Did I choose correctly?

I have always wanted to go to Death Valley. Come on, with a name like Death Valley, I had to see it once, preferrably in the winter. I studied the map and talked to Garrett to find out what I should do. In other words I had a plan and on March 4th I attempted to execute it.

I leave Lone Pine around 8am and head into the park. I was either going to head the Raceway or possibly to "the lowest place in the U.S.". But right from the start my plan is in trouble. As I am driving down RT190, I notice a turn off for Darwin Falls. And then I notice a pipe running along the side of the canyon. Hmmm that means there must be a spring that feeds these falls. My interest is peaked.

It is maybe 1 mile till I reach the first falls. Here is where Garrett would have been proud. I keep eyeing the area above the falls. There has to be something up there. I start looking around for a trail. There is none, but I do notice that there may be a way up the cliff on the left side of the canyon. Some scrambling, some rock climbing and some wrong choices and I am up above the first falls. Some more scrambling along the canyon wall and I find the 2nd falls. Again, I look above the falls and think, "there must be something up there". So a little more scrambling and I find the third falls. Underneath the third falls there is a nice waist deep pool. I stripped down and take a dip. I spend the next hour or so lounging in the sun reading what the guidebook had to say about Death Valley and Lake Tahoe. It was fantastic. On the way out, I run into another guy hiking in. He tells me that there is another falls and finally the spring above the pool I stopped at. Damn!

Ok, so it is now around 1pm as I leave the trailhead. I get to Stovepipe Wells and see a sign for Mosaic Canyon. I figure what the hell, it will be a short little canyon (as the parking lot is filled with lots of cars and in National parks no one travels more than .5 miles from their car). I scan the sign at the trailhead explaining the hike and notice "1/4th of a mile"..... I should have read alittle closer. Since I believe it is only a 1/4th of a mile, I do not change and just grab some water and my camera(this means I am hiking in a tshirt and gap jeans). So I start hiking in. The beginning of the canyon is pretty impressive. And I keep hiking and hiking and hiking in. 2 miles later I come to wall of rock. I figure, "oh well, I will have to head back". But as I turn around I notice a trail that climbs straight up one of the walls of the canyon. So I look at it and debate. Climb to see what lies above or head back and do see something else in the Valley. Again Garrett would be proud, as the desire to see what is above the rock wall wins out. I climb up the wall to the ridge line. The canyon just keeps going and going. I only go in another 1/2 mile or so. Here (and here)are a few pictures looking down the canyon towards Death Valley. On the way back, I follow a small footpath that ran along the ridge line down into the a 2nd canyon to the north. So I can offically call this a loop trip

So this little escapade takes me another 3 hours and now it is after 4pm. There is no way I will be hitting either the Raceway or "lowest point" as they are +50 miles away Oh well, will have to do it next time.

I took some other interesting photos during the hiking and while driving around.

View from the mouth of the Canyon
New format of self portrait. Taken on the center line of RT 190 in Death Valley
New format of self portrait. Taken at my personal summit inside the canyon
Route 190 in Death Valley
Exposed rock formations on a scale I have never seen
cactus 1
cactus 2
Runner Up for Journal Picture 1
Paramint Range

my last days..... in tahoe

I skied that beat up slope on my teles... with style. Damn I am getting good

Yesterday dawned a blue bird day with; warm temps, no wind and lots of fresh snow left over the storm the day before. I decided to tele. It was a breakthrough day for me. I started on the Siberian Express and skied Siberia Bowl. I found some great powder to the right of the lift and mined it for 5 or 6 runs. It took be a little bit, but I really got the hang of skiing steep powder runs.

I spent the rest of the day trying, with various success, to perfect my form. My legs are still sore.

I did take one decent picture of the view from the top. It was a bright day and my little sd450 really could not handle it too well.

I am off the Alpine Meadows again today as they say they got 4-7inches over night. It will be slow day for me.

denver #2

Joe, Chris and the foothills


On Feb 17th, I came into Denver for a long weekend and to visit my friend Joe. It was a great weekend despite the chilly weather. (It was well below freezing at night and on Sat it did not get above 10degF I belive). I was a nice relaxing visit for me. We had a few things planned, but we really just let whimsy take us where it would.

On Saturday, despite the cold, we went to the Denver Art Museum. On the way to museum, we took a look around the library(another pic). The library was interesting and was pretty busy with street people trying to get out of the cold. One of the things that caught my eye was this great mural in the foyer. We spent about an hour in the museum (we event ran into in the lobby) and overall it was pretty good. But I have to admit that we skipped 3 of the 5 floors as they were filled with various genre that I am really not very interested in(yeah I am bad). Before we hit the museum we went on a misguided hunt for a mailbox(I had 20 postcards to send out). After wandering around for 5 blocks we finally found one, and we were both shivering so badly that I felt like running back to the museum. However, I still snapped a few pictures(here, here and here) On saturday night we met two of Joe's friends, Chris and Dave, for dinner at Duo. Dinner was great and the company was even better. During dinner Chris suggested come to Boulder and have brunch at Lucilles on Sunday.


On Sunday, we decided to take up Chris on his offer and go have brunch in Boulder. Chris was able to join us. I again was busy snapping pictures.
Joe and Chris
Brian and Chris
The flatirons above town
Architecture fetish 1
Architecture fetish 2
Architecture fetish 3(I have never seen a bell tower like this before
Joe and Chris 2

After brunch Joe and I went for a little drive up out of town to find Boulder Falls. I got a few more shots. A trademark self portrait, Joe napping and Joe and his car.

After the viewing of Boulder Falls, Joe allowed me to indulge one of my dirty little pleasures. We aimlessly wandered around parts of downtown Denver. I got a million shots of architecture and here are some just of the highlights;
Joe and Union Station
Joe surveying the Platte River
Stylish bridge over the railroad tracks, connecting the park by the Platte River with the rest of downtown
Denver
Architecture fetish 1(entry way to old ATT building)
Architecture fetish 2
Architecture fetish 3
Blue bear peering into the convention center


Joe asked that I take a few pictures of this house for him. I got a few that I liked.

Joe working in the yard
Front of the house 1
Front of house 2
Joe by the stairs and
Another of Joe


All and all I had a great time. Joe was a great host. He has a great group of friends. There were lots of cool things to do. And from an architecture point of view there are many, many great old offices, apartment buildings and homes around town. (I think if I had wandered in the neighborhoods, that Joe showed me, when I was trying to decide to move to Seattle or Denver, I might have choosen Denver).

skiing in california

White Mountains after the storm

California has been treating me right.

On Friday, I snowboarded at Mammoth with 22 inches of fresh new snow. On Monday, I skied at Heavenly with 6 inches of new snow. On Tues, I snowboarded at Alpine Meadows with 16 inches of new snow (and 6 more fell during the day).

I really liked Mammoth. I managed to stay in the trees, out of the wind and found plenty of powder. The entire upper section of the mountain was closed, so I will have to go back some day and ski in the bowls.

I did not really like Heavenly. I thought it was way over priced for the caliber of it's terrain. It felt like I spent 1/2 of the day on lifts. I have to admit that it looks like it could be a fun place on powder day. The trees on upper portion of the california side looked amazing (but the chair to the top of the mountain was closed for most of the day). There were a number of annoyances with the mountain but the top ones were 1) No clocks anywhere on the mountain (so I almost go stuck on the wrong side of the mountain). 2) Lots of flats because of poorly placed lifts. 3) the only way from the California side to the Nevada side is a lift that is closed whenever there is high wind. Bad design!

I really liked Alpine Meadows. It is big. Has very steep terrain and I got fresh face shots till my last run. All and all I loved it and if I lived here, it would be the mountain I skied at. My only complaint is that they rarely mark hazards. I boarded over 2 cliffs and had to jump over a number of rock outcroppings that were right in the middle of the trail.

I will probably be skiing Squaw tomorrow and then either Homewood or Norstar on thurs. Hopefully I will remember to take my camera for atleast one of those days.

open you up like a christmas present

farms near Buena Vista in Colorado

On Feb 24th I woke up and decided it was time to leave Colorado, but first I had to visit Crested Butte. When I started this trip, Garrett gave me a traveling CD. It was a great traveling mix (Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Scissor Sisters, Pink Martini, Flaming Lips, etc). He was gracious enough to make me a 2nd CD and he sent it general delivery to Crested Butte.

I had to drive straight there will very few stops as I was worried about getting there before the Post Office closed. There were some beautiful stretches. Particularly Rt 285 east of Buena Vista, with the great views of North of the Continental Divide. One more.

I made it to Crested Butte with about 1/2 hour to spare. I got 2 good pictures on the drive in. The first one of the actual butte. And another of the surrounding mountains.

After picking up the package, I headed to Moab. On the way I noticed this McDonalds Sign in Montrose. I was alittle surprised that there was only a single arch and that very odd character holding the serving tray.

for those your keeping count

I know, I know! I am behind by a significant number of entries(by my count 7). Most notably when I was in Colorado.

My hope is to catch up this week. So either keep your eyes tuned here, or stop reading if your bored.

a bit of aggravation.

Yesterday I drove from Lone Pine, Ca (near Death Valley) up to Tahoe. There was a big storm coming in and I wanted to beat it here. I had decided to ski at Kirkwood today, so when looking for a hotel I wanted something close so I did not have to contend with snow covered roads in the morning. Well, go take a look. Just try and find lodging (that does not cost +$150 a night and at the base of the mountain) on the same side of Kit Carson Pass as Kirkwood. The closest is in Jackson, CA which is far away.

My map (Rand McNally), which I am increasingly unhappy with, said there was town called Kit Carson just 5 miles from Kirkwood. Nope.... does not exist as far as I could tell. However it does not have the town of Kirkwood (where the resort is located, but does exist)on it. I think I am going to write to get my money back.

So after much driving around, I finally just went to South Lake Tahoe. I found a nice dive-y hotel called the Pine Cone Forest Motel. $45/night. Oddly I was the only person in the motel. There were 2 benefits about this motel. 1) Out of the way on the 89 towards Emerald Bay and thus quiet. 2) The Burger Lounge. A great burger joint which serves your beer in a red plastic cup. Nothing better.

So I am off to Heavenly in a few minutes. Heard I could buy discount tickets at Albertsons on the Heavenly website. Well you cannot buy them anywhere near Lake Tahoe, only outside of the valley. Do you see that highlighted anywhere on this page.

Crap.... I just turned around and it looks like it stopped snowing. Oh well!

red rocks

mascot crosses the street

On my way down to Phoenix, Joe's Friend, suggested that I head to Moab and then go south through Momument Valley. I am so glad that I did. I arrived in Moab on Friday (Feb 24th) at midnight and left the next morning at 6:30 as I was worried how long it would take me to reach Phoenix on Saturday.

I stopped way too many times to count on this drive down. The area around Moab is fantastic. Monument Valley is even better. And the area in between is worth the drive is not a few stops.

Here are all the pictures

Wilson's Arch

7am outside Moab

rocks

Twin Towers

Blue Mountain with Red rocks in the foreground

White line with Monument Valley in the distance

another

Monument Valley

Love the sign

Red Rocks

Mexican Hat

Monument Valley 1

River Valley behind Mexican Hat

River Valley behind Mexican Hat #2

Me and Monument Valley

Monument Valley 2

Monument Valley 3

Monument Valley 4

Monument Valley 5 and

a very bare mountains above Flagstaff, Az

secret mountain kept her secrets..... this time

David admiring...

David took off from work on Wed so we could do some hiking. We went up to Sedona. We were originally trying to find the West Side Trail, but could not find the trailhead. After surveying the map, David chose Wilson Mountain trail. It turned out to be a great choice. We made it nearly the the top before having to the turn back. At our "personal summit" we rested and I posed.

We chose to hike Sedona to admire the Red Rocks and boy did this hike deliver. When we started up it was cloudy, but we still got some good views. It started to clear up as we got near the top.

I got some other good photos. (here, here, here, here and here)

sweating in phoenix

Mike Quieting Bryan

As I was driving away from Phoenix this morning I had that familiar feeling of leaving people that I do not want to be apart from. I have gotten this before, usually when I travel back east.

I went to Phoenix to visit my good friends, Bryan and David and my ex, Fred. Yeah there is no skiing down here(especially this year), but it has been nearly I year since I saw David and Bryan. They have a standing brunch date with their group of friends on Sunday (Feb 26th). The entire group meets for coffee and then brunch. I snapped a bunch of other pics during brunch(Mike, Bryan and David, Joe, Bryan and David and Brian and Bryan).

I managed to get a cold before arriving so I spent the rest of the stay popping vitamins, sudafed and dayquil(oh and it is still here.... damn it!). I spent Monday and Tues getting caught up on things. Got my laundry done and everything re-packed. Caught up on email and sent out a bunch of postcards (although I did not get the car cleaned and damn it needs it).

Fred invited me over for Dinner on Monday night and it was good to see that he is doing so well.

On Wednesday night, Bryan and David took me out for my Christmas Gift dinner. The took me out for nice french meal at Sophies. As you have been hearing me bitch out, the weather in Phoenix has been alittle hot for my taste, but it did mean we could dine outside on March 1st??? The food was great, but David's sauce on Tues night was better than the sauce on my dish at Sophies

David left me a message this morning. Among the complaining about computer problems at work, he said, "...I wish that you lived closer so we could do this all the time....".

I do wish I lived closer, except I cannot handle the all the heat.

86

Yes it was 86 deg(F) here in Phoenix both yesterday and on Sunday. 86 freaking degrees!!!! I cannot believe it. I spent Sunday afternoon getting a suntan on the patio. (I had to get out of the sun as I was getting burned at one point)

I will be leaving here for California on Thurs. I was thinking of skipping Mammoth and just spending the time at Death Valley or just heading directly to Tahoe, but then I saw the forecast. They had 27 inches of snow yesterday. Forecast to have 15-20 more on Thurs->Friday. I am soooo going to Mammoth. I just may stay there for the weekend. So much for Death Valley or Yosemite!!

coyotes shorten my lunch

I left Steamboat Springs on Sunday (Feb 12th) and was planning on a 1/2 day of skiing somewhere and ending up in Silverthorne/Dillon area. The drive down Rt40 from was beautiful and for the first 40 miles there were all these ridgelines and peaks that were just calling out to be summited. I kept looking, but could never find a plowed forest road or pull off where I could stop.

Finally I passed found the Moument Mt Reservoir Power Project. I decided screw the skiing I wanted to summit Monument Mountain. After review of the map I realized I could park by the Dam at the end of the reservoir and start up from there.

It was damn cold when I got out of car. I put on all the clothes I had, including 3 layers on the legs, 4 on the upper body and 2 layers of gloves. The wind picked up as I started across the dam. Any bit of exposed skin started to burn. I bundled up even farther; googles on, hood up, hands covering my face. Luckily once I crossed the dam and started up, the wind let up and it was more comfortable.

It is not a particularly hard climb, only 2.1 miles and ~1300ft up. The elevation got to me often (~8700ft at the summit). On the way up I tried to follow what I thought was a road up to the top. The road ended after about 1/2 mile. At one point I came to little fence with signs on the other side saying Authorized Personnel Only. Ooops, I wonder if I should be here?

Well after an 1.5 hours I made it to the top. On the way up I saw lots of deer and alot of bird life. I had to cross a bunch of scrub pine areas that had me a little spooked as I did see cougar tracks.

I ate lunch at the summit and was enjoying the sun and the nearly 360 view of the valley below when I noticed something moving on the ridge line. Hmmm what is that? I pulled out the camera and zoomed in. Low and behold it is a bunch of coyotes. Cool! I blissfully keep eating my lunch. Drink of water, chewed on frozen Cliff bar. Drink of water..... I look down the ridge again and ... oh wait the coyotes are coming my way.... and there are 6 of them.

Hmmmm what to do? I put on my pack and started down. I only wanted to worry about the cougars, not the cougars and the coyotes.

Going down was easy and it took me less than 45 minutes to reach the car. I snapped only a few pics during the walk. Here is the view of the peak from the car and here is the view of the car from the top

I ended the day by stopping in Hot Sulfur Springs and partaking of their hot springs. It was pretty quiet and a nice way to spend 2 hours. My legs really thanked me the next day.

changed plans

I woke up this morning and thought, "I'm tired of traveling." As I lay in bed, I realized that I did not want to go skiing, or hiking or driving or .....

Ok, I got over that but not before I decided to change my plans.

The lack of snow here in Colorado, for the past 2 weeks and in the forseeable future, means that I am getting tired of sunny blue days, hardpack and crowds. I am going to skip skiing at Monarch Mnt, Crested Butte and Telluride. (I am most disappointed about missing Monarch. I guess it will have to wait till next year *grin*).

I will be in Phoenix on Sat night a few days ahead of schedule. I'm in Gunnison right now, heading to Moab this evening (should be a nice night for driving). I'll get a very early start tomorrow as it is about 450 miles to Phoenix and I will be heading down through Monument Valley and I have a feeling I will be doing plenty of stopping, photo taking and a few short hikes.

The reason behind this change is that I want to ski on some fresh snow(selfish aren't I), and it seems that in order to do that I need to get north. What does that mean, you ask?

Well it means the following

1. I will be skipping Los Angeles. Tiffany does not know this yet and will probably be really pissed. I will promise her free drinks and a visit in April, which should hopefully soothe her bitterness. (Oh and , I am disappointed I will not be able to meet you during this trip, hopefully in April.)
   
2. I will be skiing Mammoth late next week. Spending less time in Death Valley and only performing a driving tour of Yosemite
   
3. I will be spending 3-4 days in Lake Tahoe
   
4. A good chance I will be in SF a weekend earlier than I had planned.
   
5. I may be home a week earlier than I planned.
   

Hmmm I wonder how many days till this plan changes?