Day 29 - reconnaissance for bike ride tomorrow

Anita and I went for a hike in the Fells this afternoon. What a difference 30 inches makes! It was beautiful in there. My phone ran out of battery - no Strava documentation. Oh well! On the plus side, in addition to enjoying the quiet beauty of a fresh snowfall, the main trails appear to be tamped down enough for an interesting bike ride tomorrow!

Anita in the snowy woods

Cross country skiing on the reservoir!

January 28 - Day 28 - waiting at Wachusett

My friend Rob and I headed up to Wachusett Mountain today to check out the 30" of snow that dropped over the last couple of days. Sad to say, but much of it was groomed out. Fortunately, not all of the snow was flattened, and we found some nice pow patches on the Smith Walton, Balance Rock, and Conifer Connection trails. Day 18 of snowboarding in the '14-'15 season for me. Day 1 of skiing after 10 years away for Rob. He skied great by any standard and particularly well for someone who hasn't skied for 10 years.

Even though the skiing and riding was pretty good, we did have to wait in line a bunch.

Proof:

Day 27 - January 27 - Winter Storm Juno hits hard!

Two big activities today: shoveling the driveways and walkways free of 2 feet of snow, and a 2+ mile walk into town (round trip) to take some pictures. Of course, my phone froze along the way, so no Strava record today.

Day 26 - two fer! Snow walk and snow ride January 26

This morning I started off hiking in the Fells with Anita. We brought our yak tracks, but I don't think we really needed it. All the snow was nicely tamped down and not icy.

Proof: https://www.strava.com/activities/246421047

Fallen tree

Ice mound 1

Ice mound 2 (the other side)

Then around lunchtime I went for a ride in the snow. First time out on the Ripley with the 941 (wide) wheels. They did really well in the snow - much better than I could have done with the old bike!

Proof: https://www.strava.com/activities/246537430

Ripley in the snow

Day 25 - Sugarbush day trip / January 25

Paul took me to Slide Brook for the first time! It was not what I expected - less strep and more wide open than my preconception. 

From the top of Castlerock

Snowball

And leaving the Valley. 

All straight out of the camera - all Sony A6000 with Sigma 19mm except the first one - iPhone 5s

January 24 - day 24 - shoveling and sledding

A nice little storm came through our town of Winchester and dropped at least 6 inches of medium weight snow on the ground. 

After shoveling the driveway and walkways with Anita (and a few paths for the chickens!), Katie and I headed to the local sledding hill.

Here's a few shots of Katie working to get to the top and also on the way down.

Day 23 evening walk after a day of travel - January 23

I had a short walk with Anita around the neighborhood after flying across the country from Las Vegas. It was a little bit dark!

Proof: https://www.strava.com/activities/245114793

Us

Boston from Winchester

Day 22 - headed the other way on the strip, January 22

Another walk through Las Vegas, this time headed south on the Strip.

Photos taken with Sony A6000 and 35mm f/1.8 prime lens.

Proof: https://www.strava.com/activities/244523333

Sphinx in front of the Bellagio

The sad gap between haves and have nots.

Convention goers mixing it up with the locals

Empty police car

Dolce & Gabanna

Yves Saint Laurent

Day 21 - out on the Strip in Las Vegas - January 21

This morning I headed out for a 2 mile photo walk up and down the Las Vegas strip.

Proof: https://www.strava.com/activities/244065244

Waiting for the us

Mad man

Bench Repair 

Maintenance at MGM

Statue of occasional libery

Day 20 - walking through Casinos in Las Vegas January 20

Business travel and interesting outdoor activities do not mix. As much as I loathe Las Vegas, the confluence of bizarre and creative architecture and man-made lighting makes for some interesting photo opportunities. Below are some SOOC (straight out of the camera) shots from about 90 minutes of walking and shooting at the Aria and Bellagio resorts with the Sony A6000 and Rokinon 12mm wide angle lens.

View from my room at the Aria

Belagio Horse

Water works at the Bellagio

Year of the Goat at the Bellagio

Lots of funky angles

Statue in front of the back side of the Aria

Day 19 - powder and flakes falling at the Bush

The picture says it all...

Katie flying through 12" of powder at Castle Rock and flakes still flying!

The dominant trail in the background is Downspout, which leads to the lift Heaven's Gate, where the people are amassing. The chairs on the right side are the Heaven's Gate lift itself.

Day 18 - calm before the storm - at Sugarbush resort January 18

The calm before the storm tomorrow. Katie and I enjoyed a very nice day that was surprisingly sunny at Sugarbush today. Here's the view from the top of Castlerock Run, Katie's favorite trail at Sugarbush.

Castle rock warming hut

day 17 - snowboarding at Sugarbush and multiple photography fail

No pictures or Strava logs today. Just a day of fast and pretty decent snow at Sugarbush.

I did manage to snap a good family portrait of the family of a friend of Katie's whom we skied with most of the day. However, I'm not going to post that photo because it is their own private content.

The photography fails were as follows:

Photo (only 1) of Katie and her friend was out of focus. Should have checked the results.

Massive photo fail of the fireworks - the intervalometer was not plugged in all the way and I did not realize it. Whoops!!!!

I did not arrive at the fireworks in time to properly setup, had the wrong lens (should have used an ultra wide angle), because we were close to them, and just generally didn't have enough time to set the tripod and locate myself up so that I would get some good pictures The results were predictably lousy and I learned my lesson - preparation is key particularly if you don't have experience shooting a certain genre. And even my handheld shots of the fireworks were just atrocious as the composition was the lame "I am taking a snapshot of the fireworks". 

Wish me better luck tomorrow!

Day 16 - snow ride with the Rippers! Jan 16

Sunrise at the end of the ride

JD, Jared and I had a nice mellow Ripper Ride around the Fells taking our time on our mountain bikes through the lightly packed snow.

JD left, Jared right. Cold, but happy!

Proof: https://www.strava.com/activities/241726976

Day 15 - Dawn Patrol in the Fells / January 15

I had a nice mellow ride in the Fells this morning. Riding over glazed ice sections wasn't treacherous, as a thin layer of snow added some much needed traction.

My main issues were being able to take interesting pictures in the flat light. Not great work, but I think the close up of the branch in the pond did capture the quiet on this winter morning.

Photos today were taken with the Sony NEX-F3 and the tack sharp 50mm Sony prime lens for APS-C E-mount cameras.

Obligatory proof from Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/241339436

Obligatory Strava rant - their power calculations for offroad riding are a joke!

Resevoir scoured

Frozen reach

Day 14 - Yak Tracking - Jan 14

Anita and I enjoyed an icy hike through Whipple Hill at the border between Lexington and Winchester. Neither of us had ever hiked there before, and we were glad we brought our Yak Tracks. A lot of the paths were pretty icy!

Strava link:

https://www.strava.com/activities/240947580

Photos taken with Sony A6000 and Zeiss 16-70 zoom lens

Rant: Strava is creating ways for people to compete with each other and against themselves. I am so over that. I am just happy it records my activities. I am not in a race - I am doing things I enjoy doing, and the speed at which it occurs isn't important.

Uphill ice

Orange mushrooms

Peering into the tree

Lichen, ice and leaves