Pike's Peak

Jenny took this amazing shot from Pike's Peak, one of Colorado's many 14'ers (14,000+ft tall peaks). Evidently there isn't much else to do up here.

Horsetooth Reservoir at Sunset

A setting sun over Horsetooth Reservoir in Colorado. Taken during the spring of 2009. The clouds are very dramatic here especially during sun rises and sunsets.

Another View from Ka'u

A view of Ka'u looking toward the coast. You can see that there is quite a ways to go vertically to get to the water. Those boat lifts don't look like they could lift much of a boat. Especially since you have to walk the boat to the edge of the cliff.

An interesting note, if you look closely, behind the lifts is a wind farm. These are old turbines made by Mitsubishi that are in bad shape. This spot in Hawaii has hte most constant wind in the whole country.

One would think that more wind farms like this would show up. After all most of the land around here is ranches. However, Hawaii prefers to get its power from old diesel generators.

Looking South from Ka'u

This is the magnificent view from Ka'u Hawaii, the southernmost place in the United States. The Pacific ocean stretches on forever.

The wooden frame is a lift used to lower fishing boats to the water fifty feet below us. On the right of that is the ladder to get down to your boat. The water is so deep off of this side of the island that the boats have to be tied to the cliff instead of anchored to the bottom.

While Jenny and I were there some of the locals were finding their adrenaline rushes by jumping off of the cliffs.

A View of Maui from Mauna Kea

From the top of Mauna Kea Hawaii (13,800ft) looking out toward the sunset Maui peeks through the sea of clouds below us. One of the many space observatories shines in the sun, getting ready to open up as the horizon goes dark.

When the sun sets up here you can literally feel the temperature drop upwards of ten degrees (F) instantly. The view is worth it though.

Japan has an observatory up here that contains what is believed to be the most perfect piece of glass in the world. It is a concave mirror eight inches thick. They say that if you were to enlarge the mirror to the same size as the Pacific ocean, the largest imperfection would only be three feet high!

Another Angle of Bear Lake

Another picture of Bear Lake of Rocky Mountain National Park. Quite the enjoyable place. We stuck our feet in the water and it really feels as good as it looks. Cool but refreshing. Unfortunately, swimming is prohibited.

On the Hunt

Here is our dog Penny patrolling the back yard. I caught her just as she was turning to look at me. She was probably wondering why I was crouched down in the long grass following her! She just looks so serious in this picture.

Flowing Lava

This is a triumphant shot for both Jenny and I. It took two attempts and over nine hours to make this happen. Our first attempt started in Volcano National Park.

We drove to within a half mile of the lava fields and hiked. Ahead of us was four miles of hiking over nothing but cooled lava. It was black, hot, sharp, and void of vegetation and shade. After hiking toward the plume of smoke given off by the cooling lava for four hours we had to turn back as the gases were starting to affect our breathing. We then hiked back for another four hours skeptical of our safe return.

The last day that we were supposed to be in Hawaii we decided to take one more stab at finding flowing lava. We had heard through word of mouth that there was a secret way to get there. Out of respect of the locals I will not divulge that here. Sure enough after thirty minutes of hiking we came across this flow.

While it may not look like the flows that hit the news two weeks after we left it was still an amazing experience to see land being created in front of you. In case you were wondering, you can only get within ten feet or so of the lava because the heat is so unbearable.

Old Barracks

Here is another shot from out trip to Hawaii. Jenny and I were on a trip to see the space observatories and stopped here for dinner. The property is an old Army outpost that they used for training purposes.

These barracks just had an interesting look to them. The round shape and window covers make it look like it was built to deal with some bad weather.

First Life

During the eight hours we hiked over the lava fields of Hawaii, this is the only plant we saw. Usually it takes around 10,000 years for plant life to start on lava fields. This one, however, is getting a head start. From what we learned most of the lava was anywhere from brand new to fifty years old where we were hiking.

Palm Tree Statues

This is one of my favorite park shots from our trip to Hawaii. Taken in the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park on the island of Hawaii. This was my favorite national park that we visited there.

The grounds are considered sacred to the native Hawaiians. It is very quiet and calm there. It used to be (before we came along) that it was a safe ground which you could run to if you had broken a law or disrespected someone. Upon setting foot on these grounds your transgressions were forgiven.

A Lone Egg

This, of all photos, needs an explanation. A few months ago I was at a stand still with my photography. I had not picked up my camera in months as we couldn't find anything to do in Houston.

So, I read online about how to work on your picture taking creativity. One article suggested that you pick an object and just shoot for either a specific amount of time or for a certain number of shots. Obviously I chose an egg; and decided to shoot for an hour.

While this may not be an award winner I found it interesting. The subject and background are equally interesting, yet boring on their own.

If you get in a rut, pick up an egg!

Inside the Colorado Capitol Dome

This is a view of the dome of the Colorado capitol building from the inside taken at the base of the main stairwell. As you progress upward through the floors you can see more of the detail of the dome. If you look closely there are round stained glass portraits of people important to Colorado history.

Unfortunately, we were unable to take the tour of the dome itself. There happened to be a lot of school groups that kept the guides busy. Next time I would like to get up into the dome and check out the view of the city from there.

All told, it is a really neat building constructed by the Masons in the late 1800's. On the first floor the walls and columns are decorated with the only known Rose Onyx in the entire world. It was mined up in the Rockies.

Colorado Courthouse

Yesterday Jenny and I visited the Colorado state capitol building. While we were there we saw the courthouse. It is a grand building very classic in nature.

Blue Sky

This is a dusk view of Horsetooth Reservoir in Colorado. It was a bit of a hike to this vantage point. Through bushes and over rocks in our work clothes along a road with no shoulder or sidewalk.

The sky at this time of day is incredible and it usually is if you are in eye-shot of the mountains. Clouds coming over the mountains seem to have the most interesting shape and color.

Great View

Here is another great view from along Trail Ridge Road. Along the road there are several places to stop, many with magnificent views. At this particular stop there is a short paved walkway that leads to a great vantage point. The scale of this park really hits home while driving and photographing the stops along this road.

This is one of my first attempts at HDR. However, in my ignorance, I had my camera set up kind of funny. The camera bracketed the ISO instead of shutter speed (for those into cameras). It turned out in the end, however, next time I will be working with the shutter speed instead.

Aerial View of Rocky Mountain National Park

An aerial view of the valley by the camp sites. Last March we saw herds of elk feeding down there.

Fire Breathing!

This past weekend Jenny and I went to the Colorado Rennaisance Festival and had a great time. This is "Small" from the Barely Balanced stunt group. If you ever get the chance to watch them I highly recommend it.

More information on Barely Balanced can be found at www.barelybalanced.com

Foot Bridge

On the way back from Cub Lake we came to this neat foot bridge. The river was really moving with all of the recent rain. We did wade into the water at one point and boy was it cold! It was the kind of cold that makes your feet physically hurt to be in.

Cub Lake II

Here is the second shot of Cub Lake taken at ground level looking back toward the mountain we just hiked down. Once reaching the lake we visited some golden mantled ground squirrels and ate lunch at the rocks you see on the right.

Cub Lake I

Here is the first of two pictures of Cub Lake that I will be putting up. It was quite a hike for us to get here. Especially having just moved here from an elevation of 27ft in Texas. Cub Lake is at around 8,620ft so the air was a bit thin for us.

Up close the lake looks a lot like a wetland. You can see the lily pads in the water. At the edges of the lake there were submerged grasses and small plants. According to the news Colorado is getting a lot of rain so that probably explains the water level.

Aspen Forest

The aspen trees here in Colorado are really interesting. These trees grow in groups and share a root system, making them a single organism.

Their leaves are round and about two inches accross. When the wind blows they sort of rattle together making an interesting sound. Another interesting point if you haven't seen these trees before is their white bark.

From what I have seen these trees are really a site to behold in the fall when their leaves turn colors. Jenny and I will be making another excursion to check out the leaves later this year.

Trail Ridge Road

Here is one of the incredible views from Trail Ridge Road. This winding road follows the crests of the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. It takes about two hours to drive the entire road and is worth it.

There is a visitor center up in the tundra portion just under 13,000 ft. elevation. The road at some places is on the edge of nearly vertical faces of the mountain. At one point you cross from one side of a mountain to the other side of the next mountain where it is several thousand feet down on either side of the road.

Thankfully that portion only lasted a few hundred feet. This drive is definitely a white knuckle experience. I urge you to check out the birds eye view in Google Maps. Just do a search for Rocky Mountain National Park and zoom in on the road.

Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel

These little squirrels are everywhere at Rocky Mountain National Park. They have no fear of people and will come and eat out of your hand as you can see by the peanut in his hands. A caution, however, it is illegal to feed them. We didn't do this.

Bear Lake - Frozen

Here is another shot of Bear Lake in March. Jenny and I were able to walk across the lake almost to the middle. We didn't even see the path that goes around the lake as it was under five or six feet of snow.

Bear Lake

Late in the afternoon Jenny and I decided to take a walk around Bear Lake, which we had visited earlier this year while it was frozen. I could literally spend an entire day photographing this lake, there are endless angles to view from.

Rocky Mountain Elk

During our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park we passed a couple of elk right on the side of the Trail Ridge Road. If you haven't seen one of these in person, they are huge! We were able to walk to within thirty feet or so of this one.

Traffic in Rocky Mountain National Park

While driving back to our campsite we passed this coyote just trotting down the road. It was a lucky shot to catch this one as I did not have time to stop driving as I snapped the shot.

Blisswood Flower

While wondering around the ranch I found this unique scene where this flower was illuminated by the sun through the trees while the background was left in shadow.