premshree

I love blue and Crater lake is all about that color. It had been on my list of places to see for a long time and I finally got a chance to travel to the place this summer - on the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. I headed out from San Jose several hours before dawn to beat the weekend traffic as I don't particularly enjoy driving in bumper-kissing traffic. I'm sure there are people out there who enjoy traffic and crowds and noise and such, but that's not me. Anyway, I had put in some good miles - bless cruise control - by the time I reached Redding in California when the first rays of the sun hit this part of the world. After a quick stop for fuel and coffee, the central valley of California had ended and the mountains had begun. Mountain roads are beautiful to drive on but they do need a lot of concentration as they are filled with distractions in the form of scenic places and wildlife. As the cloud cover cleared up a bit, a giant white peak was seen among the shorter pine-covered hills. It was the great white mountain of the Cascades - Mount Shasta. Traveling further north revealed that that mountain just rises out of flat ground and forms an incredible backdrop for the highways that run around it. I thought about going to the forests around the peak, but I had to decide between that and losing out on a camping site at Crater lake, so I decided to head on towards the lake.

I had imagined Oregon to be all rugged mountains but it started off pretty flat - with Mount Shasta looking over the land. By that time, distractions had taken control and I was on an Oregon birding trail near Klamath Falls. Nesting Sandhill cranes, courting Wrens and blackbirds and mud-collecting swallows were seen and though I could have spent hours and hours there, I had to move on. When I arrived at Crater lake, the first thing I needed to do was to get a campsite. Most campgrounds get filled up by noon on summer days. However, most campgrounds at Crater lake weren't even open and the few that were open still had some snow in them! And there I was for my summer vacation in shorts and sandals. After registering at the campsite, I pitched my tent and headed seven miles north to the rim of the crater lake. It was all foggy when I reached the rim and through holes in the cloud I could see the deep, dark blue waters of the mighty crater lake. It is one of the deepest lakes in the world and was formed when a volcanic peak collapsed and trapped all the water from the snowfall on the surrounding peaks, so it has a bit of interesting history.

The overcast conditions made me feel that I wouldn't be able to see the blue that the lake is so famous for, so I headed out to the trails nearby to catch some wildlife. I had to turn around soon though because it was obviously not a 'shorts n sandals' type weather and I had to head back to the campsite to change into something more appropriate - a layer of thermals and sweaters. :-)

The fog cleared up for a few minutes during the day and the breathtaking blue was seen at last, but I think the lake deserves to be seen on a clear day when three-fourths of the rim drive isn't closed.

The morning came early for me. I could hear rainfall on my tent and I dreaded the thought of having to get outside and pull apart the wet tent and dump it into the car. The sleeping bag had saved me from the bitter cold of the night and I only realized how cold it was outside after getting out of it. I quickly pulled apart the tent and started driving towards the lake from the campsite. It was still very dark outside and it was still raining. The car said that that outside air temperature was about 27F (or -3 Celsius) but since it was windy it felt a lot colder. When I got to the rim, there was absolutely no one there. And then I saw a shadow moving in the snow - a red fox in his gray winter coat was patrolling the village one last time before the sun makes an appearance. I put on my woolens and headed out to the rim to see what was happening on the lake. The lake was calm with clouds all around the rim and fog was moving in. I spent a couple of hours walking around the place till the sun broke through the clouds to show Crater lake one last time before I continued traveling north towards Seattle.





Crater Lake Blue




( More images from around Crater Lake and the road... )

I'm using an OLD iBook with OS X 10.4.6. A while ago I managed to get my mac so stuck that I couldn't even get it shut down by pressing the power button. Obviously the next (not so) logical thing to do is take the battery out. And I did. I put it back and restart. I was doing this on work ofcourse and had to serve a customer after booting. I left my computer alone for about ten minutes, when I came back the screen was black and there was these white stripers running on it. I booted again, this time the computer respondet to the power button. This time the mac started on a tigers' welcome screen asking me to fill out all the information etc. I didn't really have any important files on this computer so it doesn't bother me that much. But the hard drive on this thing is really small, like 14gb, and i had some big files on it and they still seem to be there filling my hd. So my question is this, is there any way to restore those files, defragmet this thing, anything, so that i can get that space back? I bought this thing really cheap from my school, so i don't have any backup systems or cd's or anything really. Please help me out, this thing is dying on my hands.

Still pregnant. The Baby seems quite content to stay where he/she is. I'm five days from my due date and never thought I would make it this far. Of course I am happy that from now on no matter when the Baby comes he/she will be good and ready. No preemie for me:o) Only problem is that because of my prior C-section the Doc is not too happy about me going all the way to my due date let alone beyond it. If I don't go into labour naturally within the next three days or so she will have to consider planning another c-section as inducing labour is not an option for me.

The false alarms come and go and leave me disappointed just as I start getting my hopes up. Well I am ready, the Baby is full term the only question left now is "When?". I am hoping for a normal this time and so far things are looking good so I'm keeping optimistic. All of you out there say a little prayer for me that all goes well and that my next update is all about my new Bundle of Joy.

Thanks!

Here are a few images from a recent trip to Monument Valley on the border of the US states of Arizona and Utah.




US route 163

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The drive from Denver to back home in California was going to be a long one. I wanted to get back home before the holiday crowd takes over the national parks across the country. It is amazing how popular remote places and outdoor activities are in this country and for someone like me who prefers to be in places where there are no crowds, weekends and holiday weekends are time to stay away from national parks and such.

I left Denver early on the morning of the 2nd of July. Interstate 70 through the Rocky Mountains is an amazing road. Besides being very scenic there is a lot of wildlife next to the roads all through the mountains. I saw lots of deer and big-horned sheep. They could be traffic hazards, but it is always nice to see that they are around even if they are next to a winding freeway at 11,000 feet where vehicles speed in excess of 75 mph. I picked Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border as the place to stop by for the night. It wasn't exactly midway between Denver and San Jose, but I couldn't have picked a better approximate midway point.

When I got to the Navajo reservation, it was all cloudy and dark. The day was still young but I didn't have much hope to see the sun that evening. I went into the park and went for a drive on the valley floor. The overcast and low light conditions was interesting to make some photographs but when I saw horses for trail rides, I decided to go for it. Riding a mustang in the iconic western landscape can be wonderful experience but with the Navajo tour guide telling me things about Navajo culture, beliefs and tradition, it was just awesome. The weather played its part with an occasional drizzle as the Navajo horseman sung his rain song. Almost as soon as I had finished with the horse ride, the clouds opened up a bit to show the magnificent landscape of the Colorado plateau.

Here are some photographs from the Monument Valley.




Route 163




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модель: Лилия
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Petropavlovsky Cathedral (Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral) in Kazan is an masterpiece of Moscow (Naryshkin) Baroque. The temple is consecrated in honour of heavenly Tsar Peter I patron.

Petropavlovsky Cathedral is builded in 1722. Constracting were operated by merchant Mikhlyaev, the head of imperial factories in Kazan. Most likely, orientally beautiful cathedral and its bell-tower were constructed by in common Moscow and Kazan masters.

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Алина
Форос, апрель 2009

The two weeks in the American west went very well. Some of you reading my (infrequent) updates on twitter may know what animals were seen, but here's a list anyway: 7 wolves, 4 grizzlies, 4 (wild) black bears (and 4 black bears in captivity), moose, coyotes, fox, badgers, beaver, muskrat, and countless elk, chipmunks, squirrels, pronghorn and bison. While Glacier National Park and Grand Tetons are very wild and perhaps untamed, Yellowstone is incredible. From geothermal features to meadows and mountains teeming with wildlife, Yellowstone has to be seen to be believed. Really. It is going to take a long time to put together the images and words from the trip, I guess. :-)

Meanwhile, Happy Independence day to all the Americans! This photograph is for you folks.



American Mustang. Monument Valley, Utah.