Snowbasin, Utah, January 2006

In January of 2006, we did a few days of skiing at Snowbasin in Utah, north of Salt Lake City. The mountain was huge; the runs were very long, and all of them were served by high-speed gondolas. As a result, even though we were in pretty good shape, we were tired out by midafternoon everyday, just because we had done so much skiing. The snow was perfect. The weather was sometimes foggy and sometimes sunny. Even though this was shortly after New Year's Day, the runs were wide open:



Skiing in the fog and the falling snow was a little challenging:



This tree makes it look colder than it was. I doubt that it was often lower than 20 degrees:



Alongside one of the runs, there was a frozen pond:



The nearby Ogden Valley was still largely agricultural, although some development had begun:

Canadian Bike Tour, July 2005

In July of 2005, we took a bike tour of the Banff area of the Canadian Rockies. This was a guided "inn to inn" tour very luxurious and not at all rugged. Our trip coincided with the height of wildflower season. These are Indian paintbrush; apparently, the Canadian Indians use brighter paint than we do:



The first part of the trip was along the Bow River Parkway:



We rode our bikes up the hill to the Lake Louise resort. The lakes in this area are turquoise because of the "glacial flour" in the meltwater:



Although the roads were fairly level, the mountains towered over us on every side:



This is a yellow columbine:



The most challenging (and exciting) ride was up Highwood Pass in the Kananaskis area:



This is the same shot, edited eight years later in Lightroom -- it really conveys the emptiness of this road, with the mountains looming over our heads in the chilly morning air:

This is the same shot, edited in Lightroom -  the early morning light really etched the chaotic layers of rock:

The moose were not impressed with the scenery:



In this shot, I am holding up my bike with my left arm -- I had shattered my elbow in a bike accident the previous October:



That evening, the moon came up over the Rockies:



We took a walk early the next morning:







Our last day was in Calgary. There was a terrific bike path along the river, and we came upon (surprise!) white pelicans:



(Copyright Dan Schechter 2005 -- All rights reserved to all text and pictures)

Sequoia & Kings Canyon, June 2005

In June of 2005, during the peak of the snowmelt, we headed into Kings Canyon. The river was thundering:



This is the Great Western Divide, from the top of Little Baldy Peak:



The bears were prowling around, looking for some early-season sustenance. This picture was taken with a telephoto; we were probably 100 yards from the bear:



In the early season, just after the snow melts, the "snow flower" or "snow plant" pokes up through the leaf litter. It does not have any chlorophyll and is something like a fungus:



That was a close-up. Here is what the snow flower looks like, next to a Sequoia:

Central Coast, April 2005

In April of 2005, we took a quick bike trip up to the San Luis Obispo area. We rode our bikes along the bluffs at Montana de Oro State Park. If you click on the pictures, you'll be able to see Felice on the bluffs to get a sense of scale:





Acting on a tip in the local newspaper, we headed up to the Shell Creek area, east of San Luis Obispo, and managed to catch the peak of a spectacular wildflower display. This was an "El Nino" year of record rainfall, and the rain triggered acres of flowers. The whole area smelled like honey:

Tahoe and Eastern Sierra, September 2004

We took a drive up to Tahoe for some mountain biking. When we got there, the aspens were just starting to turn:



There were some terrific singletrack trails on the North Shore:




After several days of riding, we headed back home down Highway 395. As we drove south, a storm was coming in from the west. We took a very windy and cold hike to Parker Lake (near June Lake):



The next day, we headed up Rock Creek toward Mt. Morgan. The weather was very changeable, sunny in the morning:



And snowy in the afternoon:



As we were leaving Rock Creek, the snow was really coming down hard. This shot is not doctored; if you click on it, you can see that the trunks of the aspens are in focus. But the leaves are shaking in the wind, and the snow is slanting down:

Costa Rica, July 2003

In July of 2003, we spent in two weeks in Coast Rica. It was the rainy season, but that was the only time that we could go. We started out with a fairly rugged tw0 day rafting trip on the Caribbean side:



The water was muddy but clean; in some of the calmer areas, we were able to get off the raft and float in the river:



We stayed overnight at a primitive lodge in the jungle:



Along the way, we passed several waterfalls. Ben jumped from one of them:



We then moved over to the Pacific side near Manuel Antonio National Park. Plenty of wildlife in the trees:



And plenty of wildlife on the riverbanks:



We went bodyboarding during a thunderstorm -- these waves look bigger than they really were (only about 3 feet):



The sunsets were gaudy. This picture is not retouched:



Neither is this one -- that's really the way it looked:



We then spent several days up in the Monteverde rain forest -- a very adventurous drive, with potholes the size of bathtubs. Felice seemed to enjoy the zip line: