RIDE LONG AND SMILE

After work we drove up to the Black Hills just outside of Edgemont to find a quick camp spot so we could start the Mickelson Trail bright and early.  The plan: ride, and see new things.  Camp the first night under a nearly full Super Moon.  The start of the Mickelson.  Fully loaded and ready to roll.  The trail quickly separates from any roads and leads into the Black Hills.  As we neared Custer there was more and more exposed granite.  The November sun was casting long shadows.  Taking it all in. We had planned to camp out each night, but the weather was a solid 10 degrees colder than we had planned. So after riding to the top of the climb to the north of Hill City we made the wise decision to turn around and head back into town and get a hotel room.

The city may be good for black and white, but there is color to be found out in the country of California, especially up by Lake Tahoe.  The blue water and sky is amazing. The sunsets at Tahoe aren't too bad either. The blue skies continued into the grassy lowlands.  It felt like the Australian bush, although I've never been there, it's how I would picture it. We had the joy of attending a beautiful wedding. For the Dollar Dance the bride's boots were stuffed with cash. The festivities continued into a gorgeous evening.

Our trip to California was pretty quick, but we crammed a lot into those few days.  While in San Francisco I snagged a couple of candid shots of people going about their daily business while eating at a delightful hole-in-the-wall cafe on Ocean Ave.  The staff was very friendly. I think I will enjoy street photography, but I can see it taking a lot of practice.  It takes good timing and awareness to capture something interesting, while also being discrete.  Black and white seems  like a good way to go. We made an obligatory drive across the Golden Gate Bridge.  The fog and clouds were constantly changing how much of the bridge we could see, which set an interesting mood. This was a different bridge.  The bridges there are quite spectacular!  I could have spent some time photographing them, but mostly had to settle for snapping pics out of a moving car while Carol drove. The San Fran skyline from a bridge: I liked the wall of the bridg

Yesterday I went up to explore mining country on the fat bike. I had plans of riding several miles up into the mountains south of St. Elmo, CO and exploring and spending the night.  Well, plans change in the mountains.  It started off beautiful and sunny.  Then a quick rain moved in so I sought shelter in this old building while I ate my lunch: It was pretty neat inside and kept me dry. I really wanted to climb this ladder. That rain storm moved on and so did I. Above about 10,750 ft there is still snow.  In fact, there is a lot of snow.  The road quickly turned bad and after a while of short manageable hike-a-bikes, the hike-a-bikes became longer and deeper.  No fun. There was water flowing everywhere from all of the melting snow.  I felt like I was in a snowy rainforest.  I could have spent a while dialing in a great shot of this pretty little waterfall, but again the rains came along with lighting.  I