This morning I got to answer questions from Mrs.Higdon’s Preschool class. Mrs. Higdon and I went to college together and now she teaches in northern Indiana. The kids always have great questions and are so curious. These kids, because they live in a cold climate could understand some of the cold concepts better than the kids I’ve done this sort of stuff with in California. While I was in Antarctica I corresponded with[...]
Antarctic Questions from Mrs.Higdon’s Preschool class
United States
24 February 2010
Five Fingers Time Lapse
Adventure Unlimited Ranches, Buena Vista, Colorado, United States
13 January 2010
While at Christmas camp, I set up my camera to take 30 second exposures for as long as the battery would last. Then I put another battery in and kept going. You’ll see the frame shift now and then, that’s probably a new battery going in. It’s not the most exciting video you’ve seen, but then again, this is my experimentation laboratory. Welcome to it. I’ll try to get a better one another time. Stay tuned.
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Christmas Camp at the Ranches
Adventure Unlimited Ranches, Buena Vista, Colorado, United States
4 January 2010
Christmas this year was a blast. I was up at the Adventure Unlimited Ranches in Buena Vista, Colorado with my mom. My primary job was to drive ski vans to Monarch and other ski areas as necessary, but I was also asked to put the “end of camp slideshow” together. Guests submitted their photos and Andy helped me sort through them (though, we asked the submitters to do a bit of editing themselves – this helped heaps). I took little video clips throughout the week and put it all together in iMovie.
In looking for a good soundtrack, I texted my friend Alex Cook and asked if I could feature songs from his recently released “Tree of Life” album and he was all for it. Better yet, he was cool with me posting the whole thing to YouTube. Since YouTube limits videos to 10 minutes, the slideshow is in two parts, both are below. Enjoy!
PART 1
PART 2
More videos at: http://www.youtube.com/offyonder
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Backcountry Skiing
Old Monarch Pass, Colorado, United States
29 December 2009
At Christmas Camp in Buena Vista, CO we offered something new this year: backcountry skiing. We only had one camp guest sign up, but that was just fine as seven staff (including myself) went on this trip. The slopes were gentle and the weather was perfect. See it all in the video below. I originally had Tegan and Sarah’s “Take Me Anywhere” as the sound track, but YouTube has a soundtrack copyright checker and disabled the audio. I think that’s pretty neat that they can check for that sort of stuff now, but it forced me to choose one of their “approved” audio tracks which was just a touch longer than the video so it gets cut off and I can’t fade it down for when I ask Daryl (our one guest) what he thinks of backcountry skiing. Fortunately, I had already added subtitles to the most important part of his response. Enjoy:
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Weekend: Music & Planes
San Diego, California, United States
5 October 2009
Alex Cook is out here on his West Coast CD release tour with a box of 300 “Tree of Life” CD’s. I made it to his show in Encinitas where the producer of the album, Jason Froese joined him to play bass. Andrew set up two video cameras to record the whole thing and I snapped a few stills, see below. The music is awesome and should be available to all via iTunes and the such soon. If you want to see Alex live yourself, check out his tour schedule at http://myspace.com/alexcookmusic. If your area isn’t on there, drop him a line and have him come out your way!
The next day, Dad and I headed to the Miramar Air Show. I’ve been to a few air shows, including this one years ago. But this was the best way to do an airshow: be on the Air Crew for a static display aircraft. Dad helped Pamala bring her T-34a Mentor over on Thursday and it’s one of the planes on display for folks to check out. As Air Crew, we got passes to the Air Crew Chalet, a little section of the flight line roped off where they provided us with meals, snacks, drinks and a place to sit and watch the air show in the sky. Dad and I got in early to get good parking in the special Static Display Crew Lot and really enjoyed the day. After the Blue Angles did their thing, we had to hand tow the T-34a past the public access area to the active ramp. Dad fired up the Mentor and flew it back to Gillespie while I drove the car over to pick him up. Select photos of the air show also below and on my Facebook Page and in my gallery.
Sierra Adventure: Hwy 395
Sierra Mountains, Mammoth, California, United States
29 September 2009
A little adventure up the Owens Valley and into the Sierra Mountains. Mammoth, Devils Postpile & Mono Lake. And some night photography! Click below to see more images.
Floating the Continental Divide
Panama Canal, Colon, Panama
8 May 2009
It was late afternoon when we motored from Shelter Bay Marina to the staging area in Bahia de Limon to await our pilot and extra line-handler. The past two days was a much needed rest after having just sailed over 1,700 miles from the Bahamas, around the western point of Cuba and due south across the Caribbean Sea. It wasn’t a lazy, sit by the pool with a frufy drink kind of rest. Rather it was a change from the ten days of being at sea where a constant watch is kept to ensure there is still wind in the sails, the course is maintained, the crew is rested and fed and collisions of any sort (with other vessels, drift wood, large containers or even land) are avoided.
Caribbean Sailing
Caribbean Sea, Nassau, The Bahamas
26 April 2009
A pod of dolphins escorted us out as we sliced through the electric blue waters, departing Paradise Island near Nassau in The Bahamas. With 15 knots of wind, our jib was enough sail to pull us along through the small swells of water as we headed out to sea. The joy and thrill of embarking on a 10-day, 1,700-mile voyage across the Caribbean Sea glowed from each of the four of us delivering this beautiful 65-foot catamaran sailboat to Panama City.
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100 Mile Mountain Ski Tour
White Mountains, Alaska, United States
20 March 2009
Spring means a lot of things for different people the world over. In the higher latitudes, in our case, Alaska, Spring is a particularly joyous time. Not for the grass turning green, flowers popping and gentle warm breezes caressing your face and hair, but grateful for the light.
Just one degree south of the Arctic Circle, the point north of which the sun hides below the horizon for a continuous 24 hours on the Winter Solstice, the White Mountains in Alaska, though still covered in their snowy winter coat were seeing more daylight than they have since October.
Nathaniel and I timed our ambitious 100-mile cross country ski trip through the White Mountains to take advantage of the best sun-to-snow ratio of the year, right over the Spring Equinox. Just a month earlier and we would only have up to six hours of daylight. Weeks later, the long sunny days will turn the snow to slush and slop and we’d need hip waders, pack rafts and full body bug net suits to cover and survive the same territory.
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Exit Glacier
Kenai Peninsula, Seward, Alaska, United States
22 September 2008
I arrived in Alaska only to find my host, Forrest, was going to be stuck out on St. George Island in the Barring Sea for another few days while the weather clears to fly out. So I took his car and headed for the Kenai Mountains on the Kenai Peninsula. It was amazing to me to have full on glaciers just sitting there, so easy to get to.
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