Weekend Adventures: On the Road to Arizona

Greetings from sunny Arizona! Stay tuned for a blog post of the National Lampoon-style trip west. I planned to include photos in that post & this one, but my phone bit the dust and I lost all the photos I did not back up. Perks of traveling! 

In the meantime, here's a few shots from the past few days, courtesy of my new phone: 

Hiking with the pups! 

Love the scenery here. Superstition Mountain will make a lot of appearances in my photo gallery over the next several weeks. 

Conquered one of the toughest hikes in Arizona! 

Cholla -- it's everywhere! 

Easing back into running with this guy at my side is the best. 

Weekend Adventures: Through The Horse's Ears

A winter getaway is always nice, especially when the sun never stops shining, the views are incredible, and you get several hours of quality time in the saddle almost every day! I spent 9 days in Apache Junction, Arizona, visiting my mom earlier this month and lucked out with amazing weather and good horses to ride. I rode all over the Superstition wilderness area, hiked up the mountain (more on that later), soaked up the Arizona sun and -- of course -- took a ton of photos. I didn't take the "big camera" with me on the rides, since they were pretty rough, instead opting to take a little point and shoot camera. It got the job done! Sure, quite a few photos turned out blurry, but I did get some cool shots, and memories are forever. Here are a few quick shares from "between the horse's ears:"        

Heading out on my first ride of the trip -- 5 hours in the Superstition Wilderness. After not riding for 8 months, let's just say I was sore the next day!

BLUE skies.

Rojo -- my ride for day #1

Shirley led all of the rides -- she knows the trails around Superstitions like the back of her hand!

 

Looking back as we climbed one of many mountains. The Superstitions are peeking out in the distance.

Admiring the view at one of the many overlooks!

One of the narrow, winding passes where I wasn't afraid of dropping my camera!

Riding into what our group called the "Gene Autry Canyon" It was beautiful!

Riding up an easy leg of Hackberry Trail. We ended up climbing about 4,000 feet on this ride.

Lots of green this year!

Yet ANOTHER vista -- note the tiny ribbons of trails down below.

Heading home on my last ride.

Weekend Adventures: Superstition Views

Evening light makes the Superstitions even more spectacular. Yes, I did a middle-of-the-road dash for this photo! 

"Side" view of the Superstitions from the Superstition Mountain Museum.

Sunset view -- the evening light can make the Superstitions red, purple oe even pink. 

View from one of several horseback rides through the Superstition wilderness 

A selfie? Sure, why not? 

The view never gets old! 

Morning light. 

Stone Arch Bridge

I found a path down to the river bank to snap this shot. Would have loved to stick around for a night shot! 

A quick visit to Minneapolis-St. Paul gave me a few spare hours to play tourist in the state I used to live in. My first stop was the Stone Arch Bridge in the historic Mill District of Minneapolis.

Built in 1882-1883, the limestone and granite bridge was originally a railroad crossing over the Mississippi & built by James J. Hill. It's the only arched stone bridge on the Mississippi River.

When I lived & worked in the Twin Cities area, I didn't spend much time here (it wasn't anywhere near as popular then as it is now!) and I wasn't very into photography. How things change in 14 years!

Peeking out from under one of the arches and out to Gold Medal Flour.

Looking back at the Minneapolis skyline at dusk. 

Admiring the golden hour view from on the bridge. 

The curve of the Stone Arch Bridge was unheard-of in the 1880s. It's withstood more than a century. 

A Day at the Races

Somewhat captured at +100mph: Brad the Bullet

It's become a Labor Day (and Memorial Day) weekend tradition to spend the holiday weekend with my dad at the Springfield Mile. It's amazing how life can change in what seems like a blink of an eye. If you'd asked me 15 years ago what I was doing for Labor Day weekend, I would have told you I'd be showing horses at the Minnesota State Fair with my mom. But now? I'm at motorcycle races instead! I'm so lucky I've had the opportunity to share these experiences with each of my parents. 

Labor Day weekend has not always been kind to my family. Beginning 14 years ago, we went through a series of accidents that occurred over that holiday weekend over the span of several years. My mom had a terrible horseback riding accident that landed her in the hospital for several weeks. My dad had a motorcycle accident. My brother had a somewhat less-serious mishap that still involved a trek to the hospital. It's left me holding my breath until Labor Day weekend is finished and the regular work week begins again on Tuesday. 

But back to the track. It's fun to have pit access at the flat track races. Over the years, I've gotten familiar with a lot of the terminology, inadvertently learned a few things about motorcycle mechanics from watching the tuners in the pits and talking with my dad, witnessed some great races, and met some great people along the way. It's loud (I never have to worry about damaging my hearing, though!) but really a lot like horse shows -- a lot of hurry up and wait, standing around sweating in hot clothing, track grooming, and expensive equipment.

I'm sharing a few photos from this weekend. They're a departure from my regular photography. Most of the photos I took Sunday did not turn out as well as I hoped they would. My camera & lens combo are just not quite fast enough to capture quality images at over 100 mph! I'd love to have a better camera and lens to capture the bikes in action, but I've learned to make the most of the camera & settings I do have.   

My dad with the Harley Factory rider before his heat. 

Another view from the top of the H-D trailer. You can see around the whole Mile track from up there. 

The starting line for the GNC Main at the Springfield Mile

The leaders during one of the 25 laps of the Main. 

KC2 won the Springfield Mile -- way to go, Kenny!! 

I finally got to meet Stacey Markel Kelly! She's pictured here with Bart Markel's H-D motorcycle. Awesome piece of history. 

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake National Park & Wizard Island

What's better than a vacation to a national park? A vacation to TWO national parks! Brenda and Sophia, my travel companions, had never been to Oregon and wanted to at least step foot on Oregon soil. The Oregon-California border was not far from Crescent City; a closer look at the map revealed that we could make a day trip to Crater Lake National Park. How could we not go? As Sophia said, "We're taking a vacation from our vacation!"

Getting there required going through some white-knuckle-inducing but gorgeous mountain passes. The guardrails were there only to give you an illusion of safety. The scenic drive offered glimpses of the Rogue River, and I admit I fell a little more in love with Oregon. (I visited Portland and the Oregon coast in spring 2013 -- see this post.)

Steel Visitor Center

Crater Lake's main attraction is, well, the lake. It's not just any lake, but the bluest lake you'll ever see. It really is as blue as it looks in these photos -- no Photoshop. There were seven active wildfires around the park when we visited July 18, and my photos are a little hazy in places.  

Red Cone (I think!) The haze is from wildfires. 

Another perspective of Wizard Island. Note the snow on the right bank --in July! Crater Lake averages 533 inches of snow per year.  

All the overlooks are scenic. Note the pollen accumulation at the lower right shoreline of the lake.

Phantom Ship -- a natural rock formation.

We opted to take the Crater Lake Trolley for the 33-mile loop around the lake. While the $25 fee is reasonable, especially if you don't want to drive, keep in mind you won't have any say over which stops you'll make. Also, if you're a single traveler, you may end up being asked to move from your window seat for someone who was late, even if you showed up for the tour on time. (Can you tell they won't get a 5-star TripAdvisor review from me?)

It was an amazing national park, and I'm really glad we made the trek there. I'd gladly go again and take one of the hikes down to the lake. There's another item to add to the bucket list! 

Vidae Falls

Just me, blocking the view of the lake! 

One last look at Crater Lake. 

Thoughtful Thursday

Photo taken at Crater Lake National Park, July 18, 2014. 

"Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry." Jack Kerouac was right when he wrote that. Keep it simple, folks. Live without regrets. 

Ocean Views

I love the water. Next to being around horses, being in or near the water is my second-favorite place. The Redwoods vacation did not disappoint -- there were plenty of ocean views, overlooks and beach stops. Add in some tide pool exploration, a lighthouse, and a picnic lunch in the sand, and it's pretty much perfect. (Except for the snake I saw slither by our first picnic stop. Don't worry -- we moved pretty quickly!) 

The first day (the day my camera battery died!), we explored Jedediah Smith State Park (see this post) and then after getting a late lunch at the Good Harvest Cafe, we drove south on 101 to explore a little more! It didn't disappoint. 

Highway 101 is winding and steep and goes off into the redwood forest in parts of the drive. It's a beautiful, scenic drive. There are a lot of turn-offs, roads to trails, and camp roads and it's very tempting to take every. single. one. of them! The ones we chose were beautiful, even when it was foggy. There were times when we were above the blanket of fog, and it was neat to see. 

Crescent Beach Overlook 7.15.2014

Klamath River Overlook 7.15.2014

Wilson's Creek Beach 7.15.2014

Wilson's Creek Beach 7.15.2014

Wilson's Creek Beach 7.19.2014

Wilson's Creek Beach -- the black sand was awesome! 7.19.2014

Sunset at Crescent City Harbor. There's nothing like an ocean sunset. 7.15.2014 I didn't get a lot of sunset photographs because it was foggy most of the time the sun was setting! 

Battery Point Light in Crescent City, during high tide. You can walk up to the islet during low tide, which we did. The lighthouse was built in 1856 and is still in operation, although as a private aid to navigation.
7.17.2014

Crabby (found in the tide pools near the lighthouse) 7.17.2014

Anemone in the tide pool. And no, I didn't drop my camera in the water! 7.17.2014 

Last view of the Pacific beaches 7.20.2014

Next blog: Fern Canyon and Avenue of the Giants!