Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
06-28-2011, 05:00 PM   #1
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
My wacky vacation

Yesterday, did Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire near Las Vegas. 105 degrees. First time for RRC, though I did VOF before, when it was only 85 degrees.

Today, did Cedar Breaks in SW Utah, elevation 10,000 ft. Maybe into the 90's with 30 mph wind. "Snow turtles" and really slippery-sticky mud on the trails.

06-28-2011, 05:34 PM   #2
Veteran Member
Clicker's Avatar

Join Date: May 2008
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 3,241
That wasn't a vacation; that was an adventure, PHOTOS! pls
06-28-2011, 05:57 PM   #3
Veteran Member
rparmar's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2008
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 8,795
What does it mean to "do" a rocky outcropping? Or maybe I don't want to know?
06-28-2011, 06:00 PM   #4
Veteran Member




Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canberra
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 739
SpecialK: You should come out and spend some time in the Simpson Desert... sounds like you'd be right at home

06-29-2011, 08:51 PM   #5
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
Original Poster
Today was extremely windy all through Utah. Probably more than 40 MPH in some spots. Hot.

Used my GPS to navigate to a familiar brand of grocery store in Cedar City. It had turned into a "Big! Lots!". Just a block away was another grocery store, so no problem.

In Salt Lake Ciy, I used my GPS to navigate to the same brand of grocery store. It had turned into..."Big Lots".

Tonight is Jackson WY, ready to start 3 days in Yellowstone.

I've never used Faststone to convert a PEF. I'll see if I can figure it out during laundry in a day or two so I can post a couple shots.
06-30-2011, 05:28 AM   #6
Veteran Member




Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Melb. Aust
Posts: 840
QuoteOriginally posted by SpecialK Quote
I've never used Faststone to convert a PEF. I'll see if I can figure it out during laundry in a day or two so I can post a couple shots.
that's easy... for a single one, just do a 'save as' To do a lot, do a 'Batch Convert'
07-03-2011, 08:38 PM   #7
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by HGMonaro Quote
that's easy... for a single one, just do a 'save as' To do a lot, do a 'Batch Convert'
Yeah, I did one. It was simpler than expected. My little netbook is not the best for judging images, so I'm not posting any now :-)

I have returned from the Wi-Fi void known as Yellowstone National park. Gorgeous weather, but hot. Not a whole lot of wildlife, but the geology and hiking was great - though all uphill it seemed.

What's in a name? A tour guy asked my name and identified himself as Elder Johnson. He was LDS, which explains it. Another hotel person was named John Virginia. I thought that was unusual until the next one was named Alicia Texas.

My very expensive room at Old Faithful had a thermostat with no function as the hotel had no air-conditioning. The shower made a loud whining sound only when the water temperature was properly adjusted. The tissue box had only one tissue in it which i discovered after nicking a bug bite while shaving...

Some of the geysers and mud pits emit a foul smell. The upside is that if you have a gas problem of your own, you don't have to worry about offending the neighbors, and you don't have to blame it on the dog.

Today I spent mostly in Cody, Wyoming, which has an unbelievable Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center. It has a huge section of rifles and pistols and blunderbusses going back 600 years, a big Western art exhibit, Native Indian exhibit, Buffalo Bill exhibit, Yellowstone exhibit, and gunslingers wardrobes :-) Probably in the top 5 museums - ever.

Overnighting in Billings MT, where it had some 90+ degree windy thunderstorms around dinner time. I will be doing the Little Bighorn battlefield in the morning, then going to Devil's Tower and hopefully Deadwood and Mt Rushmore late afternoon/evening.

07-04-2011, 11:35 PM   #8
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
Original Poster
This was a pretty long day...Little Bighorn battlefield SE of Billings, then east to Devil's Tower.

By the time I walked around Devil's Tower (and had an urge for mashed potatoes) it was around 5PM. I had been planning for months to hopefully get to Mt Rushmore at the end of this day because whatever 4th of July celebration they do, it's on the 3rd. So imagine my surprise a few nights back when I realized I was a day off. Oh well, it doesn't really matter.

But it was still over 100 miles to Mt Rushmore, and I wanted to stop at the Mt Moriah cemetery in Deadwood to see a couple celebrities, so that would further delay my Mt Rushmore arrival.

I decided to make a mad dash anyway. I dead-reckoned myself to the cemetery because I could not find it in the GPS listings...It costs $1.00 to get in, which I found humorous as there are really only 2 real celebs and one other of interest.

I might have not mentioned my GPS faux pas the other day. I found my hotel out of the list which indicated it was 48 something miles away. I knew where it was, but I like using the GPS as a timer to give me some idea how much hiking and stopping I can do along the way. Anyway, when I selected the hotel, the route it prepared was in the shape of "C" and was 181 miles long....

All for now as it's 12:30AM and I have to get up early (again) to try to get into the first group at the Minuteman Missile Museum tour (first come first served), then see the Badlands, perhaps hit the tourist trap at Wall Drugs for fun, the town of Custer, the Crazyhorse monument, and another visit at Mt Rushmore. I did zero walking around there today - just planted the tripod and shot from the one vantage point.
07-06-2011, 09:01 PM   #9
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
Original Poster
I visited Mount Rushmore three times - first was on the 4th of July evening and stayed for (most if not all) the lights, second was early afternoon on the 5th and walked walked around the area, then third was returning in the evening to try to get the lights again as I think the first ones may be a bit soft. However, it was too foggy so I packed it in early.

Crazy Horse monument is a work in progress - 60+ years so far - and is funded entirely by visitor fees and donations. Crazy Horse's head is complete, and the top of his outstretched left arm is leveled off. They recently got a big donation and are about ready to start on the horse head which one guide expects to be completed in...18 years. The thing is huge - over 500 ft high. They are also developing a Native American college and other facilities.

Drove most of the Black Hills where the two monuments are located, but no sign of Rocky Raccoon. Massive thunderstorm in the middle of it.

The town of Custer was a bit disappointing - mostly touristy stuff, and half the restaurants were closed. Several artistically-painted buffalo statues on the main corners.

Ran a bit late this morning as I drove the Needles highway (awesome granite spires) in the Black Hills as mentioned, so I basically blasted through Casper WY so I could make a couple planned stops at Independence Rock and Devil's Gate before pulling into Rawlins WY for the evening. Going to do the frontier prison museum and maybe another one in the morning before the long drive to Cedar City UT via Salt Lake City.

Cheers!
07-07-2011, 06:45 AM   #10
Veteran Member
rparmar's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2008
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 8,795
Expecting lots of photos!
07-07-2011, 07:47 AM   #11
Veteran Member




Join Date: May 2010
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 5,901
How do you get snow turtles and 90 degrees at the same time?

;P

Sounds like you're having fun, but one hour of that and I'd be wilting. It's been well over 90 here almost daily for months. I'm doing most of my photography indoors at the moment, playing in the light tent. If it wasn't for the AC in the window? I'd be dead of heat stroke already.

DO post pics though so I can live vicariously, will you? I've never seen all that and likely never will given major heat and I just don't mix well.
07-07-2011, 09:52 PM   #12
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by rparmar Quote
Expecting lots of photos!
I will post them in the Post Your Photos forum, I guess, starting in a few days. I should get home tomorrow evening, and have the weekend to do up some. I'm going to whittle them down to maybe 1,000 keepers :-)

QuoteOriginally posted by magkelly Quote
How do you get snow turtles and 90 degrees at the same time?
Don't forget windy, too.

It was a pretty long driving day - Rawlins WY to Cedar City UT. I was at the prison museum in Rawlins early and was the only person in the first tour, which lasted almost an hour and was pretty in-depth around the facilities.

An hour side trip to Flaming Gorge was OK but a little underwhelming. It was the only attraction marked in the atlas around the area I happened to be in, so I figured I'd go see it - that's what vacations are for...I was essentially a boat launch on a nice river between some nice sandstone cliffs.

Ft Laramie WY is a historical museum of Jim Bridger's fort, from the 1880-90's located on the Mormon Trail. It was pretty decent.

I was running a bit late, so I decided not to even try to get the LDS temple in Salt Lake City, and just shoot down to Cedar City for the night. I did pull over illegally on the offramps, twice, to get some sunset streaming through the clouds.

More GPS humor - after getting gas, the GPS routed me out the southern exit of the parking lot onto a frontage street which parallels the freeway. Had to go over a mile, then cross over the freeway, then back the way I came up another frontage road on the other side, cross the freeway, and enter the freeway using the ramp located near the north exit of the parking lot. That was the "fastest" route...

The other event was the ""going west-going south" maneuver which totally bypassed Salt Lake City. If you consult a map, you will see SLC is the hub of the area. Anyway, it was rush-hour at the time (at least in So Calif terms), so perhaps it was correct in shooting my through Heber Valley and Provo, which included surface streets...

Anyway, I made it, and I am functionally done with sightseeing, though I may check out something in Las Vegas before shooting home. I'll probably pop in at the Route 66 museum in Barstow CA to see if they have any good T-shirts. I like the long-sleeve white ones with the map on the back :-) Last time they only had short-sleeves...


What's in a name? part 2...

When checking in at this motel, I said "I have a reservation for tonight", and put my driver's license on the counter. The young woman asked "Edgar Montoya?" I should mention I have a pretty good tan from all the hiking this vacation, but no one would mistake me for Edgar Montoya. And, there were only 2 names to choose from...
07-08-2011, 11:02 AM   #13
Veteran Member
RioRico's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Limbo, California
Posts: 11,263
Let's see, you started this thread on 28 June and now it's 8 July, about an 11 day trip. I would take 45-60 days and consider it a speed run. But that's just me. I'm reminded of sitting on the ledge at Grand Canyon Lodge (North Rim) some years ago, talking with a bunch of beery Aussies doing a USA bus tour. New York, Chicago, St Louis, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Disneyland, San Francisco. Plus flying from/to Sydney. In two weeks. See USA in 12 days. Yow. Are we having fun yet?
07-09-2011, 09:18 AM   #14
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by RioRico Quote
Let's see, you started this thread on 28 June and now it's 8 July, about an 11 day trip.
Well, there are only so many vacation days away from work...

Made it home with $16 in my pocket, 7 images left on my SD card, a traffic ticket and a small rock-crater in the windshield.

This is the end of this thread. Posting pix in PYP threads.

Cheers!
07-09-2011, 12:16 PM   #15
Veteran Member
rparmar's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2008
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 8,795
QuoteOriginally posted by SpecialK Quote
Well, there are only so many vacation days away from work...
Move to Europe. Not only will you get more vacations but everything is closer. Er, except America I suppose!
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
degrees
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Wacky color balance in sequence shooting fewayne Pentax DSLR Discussion 7 04-09-2011 11:24 PM
Wacky new Pentax RS1000 and NB1000 compacts deadwolfbones Pentax News and Rumors 16 09-14-2010 03:43 AM
Men and there Wacky Machines cupic Post Your Photos! 13 01-04-2009 08:17 PM
Photoshop doing some weird and wacky things? slip Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 6 01-12-2007 10:54 AM
Wacky Mother-In-Law pog Post Your Photos! 7 12-26-2006 06:21 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 10:45 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top