Back from North Carolina

Mountain Sentinel.  iphone image.

I am finally done traveling for a month or two.  My latest trip to North Carolina, and Asheville,  in particular, was to look at potential areas where we would like to move to in 2019.  With our realtor, we examined a number of homes for sale in the Asheville area.  When we were not doing that, we were exploring the area's natural beauty.   The more we saw, the more convinced we are about making a choice to retire there.  One of my prerequisites is that the future home have space for a darkroom, and some studio space.  It's amazing how many homeowners have completely finished their basements into living spaces, which makes installing a darkroom more problematic.    I am hopeful that we will find the right combination of size, amenities, garden space, kitchen space, darkroom space, and two-car garage by the time we are ready to sell our house here in Ann Arbor.

North Carolina is certainly a great place to move for nature and landscape photography.  The western part of course, is mountainous, and such a contrast to the flat state of Michigan and the Midwest, in general.  I grew up in the Adirondacks of New York, and while I miss that state's topography, I would like to live the rest of my life where winter is not such a big deal.  We have lived in Michigan since 1981, and as much as I enjoy the Great Lakes and the Upper Peninsula, it's an 8 hour drive at minimum to Marquette.  I am looking forward to new adventures in NC and of course, being in the eastern US again.  I am doing a lot of research on the photographic community, and people doing traditional photographic processes, in particular.  The film shooting will go on!

I shot some of the new Kodak Ektachrome E100 on the trip, and will have some examples to post in a couple of weeks. I shot with my Nikon FM, and it remains a great camera for trips.  I took the 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2.8, and 105mm f/2.5.    I only shot 6 rolls of film during the week, but I did do a lot of site scouting, and that was beneficial. 

Now I know why they are called the Blue Ridge Mountains

The Blue Ridge Parkway just has to be the most scenic route I have been on.  No commercial traffic, which makes the drive much better.  It seems like there was an amazing view of some sort almost continuously as we drove from Asheville NE to Blowing Rock.   I look forward to being able to drive just a few minutes to the BRP and enjoy the scenery!  NC has waterfalls galore, and I picked up a copy of Kevin Adams' "North Carolina Waterfalls."  Splendid photography, and a great guide.  I look forward to doing pinhole photography at some of the waterfalls next year.

Now that I am home, I have a lot of topics and reviews that have been on the back-burner and will start putting them on the blog shortly. 

Happy Halloween!

Leadville, Colorado

Colorado Trip, Part 3 of 3.

Our last full day in Colorado was spent on a day trip to Leadville, the highest city in the United States.  It was a bright sunny day (like most of our days on the trip), a bit cool, and we took Rt. 6 E to Rt. 24 S, which would eventually take us to Leadville.  Our first stop was the small picturesque town of Minturn, which the Eagle River runs alongside.  There are lots of antique shops there, and I suspect a good number of people live there that work in Vail and other  nearby resort areas. Incorporated in 1904, Minturn was named for Robert Bowne Minturn, Jr, the Vice President of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad that founded the town. It's a much quieter place (at least in the summer) than Vail and Beaver Creek, for sure.

Continuing past Minturn, Route 24 climbs, twists, and turns as we ascended along what's known as the "Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway." Indeed, it is. Our highest part may have been through Tennessee Gap at 10,424 feet.  We stopped at a few places along the way to look and take some quick snaps.  The aspens were turning gold in some places, making for some amazing contrasts on the mountainsides.   I wasn't prepared for the broad high-altitude flat areas - some of which are rangelands.  One other point of interest was the place where Camp Hale was located. Now, a broad expanse of grasses and sagebrush, the former US Army base was where the 10th Mountain Division was formed, with the aim of training troops in mountain (9200 feet elevation) and winter warfare.  It was decommissioned after the war, but the CIA used it in the 1960s to secretly train Tibetan Guerillas.  Finally, in 1965 the camp was dismantled, and pretty much everything removed.  You can get a better idea of the area from Google Earth, and it's hard to imagine 14,000 soldiers there.  Leadville must have had a lot of business, as there were few nearby places to go for a drink.  Anyway, it was a nice little stop to look and ponder it all.

Finally, we arrived in Leadville, and I was immediately struck by three things -- the colorful buildings, the clear dark blue sky, and that I wished I had an oxygen tank. Leadville is 10,152 feet above sea level, and to this Great Lakes flat-lander I might as well have been in Nepal.  I was slowly getting acclimated to Avon, but going up a flight of stairs at a Leadville antique store left me panting. People were attracted to the area of present-day Leadville by the lure of placer gold in 1859.  Later, the town was founded in 1877 by  mine owners Horace Tabor and August Meyer at the start of the Colorado Silver Boom. The town was built on the desolate flat land below the tree line. Over the years, it has been tied to mining silver and molybdenum, with the ups and down in the economy as a result.  Tourism is a big business now, but nearby mines also contribute to the economy. At its altitude, you get a good feel for alpine and subarctic environments.

Walking around town was a Kodachrome (if there was still Kodachrome) experience.  Many brightly painted buildings along the main street, and the side streets featured small houses that were gaily painted, some with bric-a-brac, like Victorian mansions. However, most of the houses were less than 800 square feet!  I was unprepared for the visual feast, and I would love to return there for a couple of days to do the place justice with my Mamiya C330 and color film.

The entrance doorway to the Saloon. How many feet have
trod through here?

antique store window

We ate a great lunch at the Silver Dollar Saloon, which dates from 1879, and is one of the oldest bars in continued operation in the US.  There are lots of memorabilia in the bar, and if you are going to be in Leadville, you'll be missing a lot if you don't stop in.  We had planned on going to the Mining Museum, but by the time we were done poking around, it was only 30 minutes until closing time, so we instead went over to the train depot, where the Colorado and Southern Railroad Station still stands.  Not only that, they have a daily tourist run on the Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad. That will have to wait for another time, as our day was getting late.   We left Leadville, and took a much shorter and faster Route 91 back to I-70 and Vail, and got to see the mining operations near Climax.  Some difference from Route 24!  Leadville certainly bears a return trip for a few days another time.

The next day, we drove Bev to the Denver Airport so she could return to Michigan, and Adrienne and I continued S into New Mexico.  We had a fantastic week in Colorado.

Images... and more images from Colorado

(Part 1 of 3)
I'm back from a vacation in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.  We spent a week in the Avon, Colorado area, and did day trips to nearby places that looked interesting. We had no planned places to visit, except for the Denver Botanical Garden after we arrived in Denver.  It was great to stay at a friend's condo for free, and not to have to stay in a motel for a week.  We were able to have breakfast and dinner "at home."  After we settled in, I went to look up nearby points of interest, and got out the maps.  The first thing I noticed after we arrived was that my body was not used to being above 5000 feet above sea level.  Chalk part of that up to age (61), and living in Michigan for the past 37 years.  I try and walk at a fast pace at least 2 miles most days of the week, and I have to wonder how much worse I would have felt had I not.  Avon is about 7400 feet, and as the week wore on, I felt more acclimated.  However, some of the days we were over 10,000 feet, and in Leadville, going up some stairs was pretty breath-taking.  The second thing I noticed was the sky.  The West has LOTS OF SKY.  Whether you are in the mountains of Colorado, or the deserts of Arizona, the sky is something. I'll talk more about that later.

As I noted in my previous post, I brought my D300 SLR and a bag of lenses, my Leica M2, Yashica A TLR, and a Debonair plastic camera.   I shot about 1000 images on the D300 over the span of almost two weeks, and I have yet to develop the film that I shot with the film cameras.  My M2 got lots of use, and the more I shot with it, the more it became almost second-nature to use. At times, I left the D300 in the car and just brought along the Leica and the Yashica.  My plan was to bring along my Chromebook laptop and backup my digital shots to my Google Drive every night.  That worked great, and was pretty much automatic.  I enjoyed the Chromebook's instant-on, ease of use, and light weight.  The only thing I also had to bring was a CF card reader to get the files from the D300. It also allowed me to post some photos online during the trip. While my Instagram feed from my phone was also used for Instagram and Facebook, the images I take with my DSLR are going to be different, so it was nice to be able to post those for a change. In the past, I have brought along my iPad, but a real laptop offers me more flexibility. The Chromebook fills the niche quite well.

After we returned to Ann Arbor, I uploaded my images from the CF card into Lightroom, and started the still-ongoing image selection and editing process.   I'll start developing the film this week, and will scan the negatives ASAP.   I have been shooting film so much, and digital so much less, that I don't think I was prepared for the number of images to go through in Lightroom.  I'm still at it, and of course it's great to look at them and think about where I was and what we were doing when I shot the image.

The Denver Botanic Gardens was a good way to start the trip, and see a bit of Denver in the process.  It always has amused me to think that Denver is in a flat plain, yet is a mile high.  Flying there is an instant intro to the higher elevation, whereas driving west, you get the sense of change gradually.   We had rented a 2018 Ford Edge at the airport for our driving around for 2 weeks, and I appreciated the mapping and directions on the console. It was a new experience for me, and it really made a difference in getting to destinations without any hassle.

Giant Spreadwing damselfly in the Gardens

Who knew that a shot of the waterlilies would get over 55,000
view on Flickr's Explore?

The gardens are extensive, and our 2 hour visit was all the
time we had, as we wanted to be in Avon before sundown.

So much to see! 

We had only a short visit at the Denver Botanic Gardens, as we needed to be in Avon before sundown. We arrived at the condo just before sunset, and it was a great scenic drive.  Avon is not far from Vail, and the area is mainly geared for skiing. I am not a skier, and of course, everything was green. There is still lots to see and do if you are not there in the winter.  Of course, that means we did some day trips, and I'll post some images from a few of them.  Colorado IS stunning.  I have visited other parts of it in the past, but all those trips were long-drive days, without the benefit of having a home base to start from.  I really enjoyed our stay in Avon.

View from our patio

Morning in Avon

Our first day there was spent getting groceries and checking out the Avon area.  The next day, we headed to Glenwood Springs. We drove along highway 6 until we got to Gypsum, then it was I-70. What a tremendous experience it was driving through Glenwood Canyon along the the highway! We crossed the Colorado River numerous times, and the view was just amazing.

You see a lot of weathered buttes like this.  Along Eagle Creek.

Along the Colorado River off I-70. The stretch of 12 miles through
Glenwood Canyon is jaw-dropping awesome.

A street in Glenwood Springs

I didn't dine there, but it sure has a great sign.

an old preserved barber pole 

As frequently happens, we got a rain shower in the afternoon

On the trail to Pioneer Cemetery

Wish ribbons for cancer survivors along the trail

The grave marker for "Doc"  Holliday.  It is presumed that he is
buried elsewhere in an unmarked grave at Pioneer Cemetery in
Glenwood Springs.

That's it for now.  I'll post some more image from Colorado in an upcoming post.