I’m working on my night photography skills.  Tonight I dragged Allison up to Maroon Lake to watch the meteor shower and to take some pictures of the night sky. We only had about an hour of meteor watching before the moon came out. The moonlight made it much easier to make a photograph, but I would call the trip strictly a learning experience.

In a total of 2.5 hours, I tallied about 40 meteors streaking across the sky. Allison clocked in at about 3 before she passed out cold.

But what a beautiful night…

Alex and Allison

Allison and I hiked up to Castle Peak. It is one the highest mountains in Colorado, but pretty easy to climb. Here are some pictures.

The top of Castle Creek road at the trailhead.

Looking down form Montezuma Basin.

Elk Mountains.

Scrambling up.

Snowmass and Capitol off in the distance. Maroon Bells in the foreground.

Looking south towards Crested Butte.

To the southeast.

Neighboring Counundrum Peak.

And in color.

With over 4,000 feet of vertical climbing, the trip down is much faster than the trip up. Especially when there’s plenty of snow to slide down…

Alex and Allison

Taken from Aspen Mountain…

Allison and I went on a hike to Conundrum Hot Springs.

It’s a 9 mile walk to the springs. Perfect for an overnight.

We took some photos along the way.

Here we stopped in a meadow to make a quick repair to my broken Black Diamond backpack.

We passed by an old shack in disrepair in a grove of mature aspens.

Allison and the shack and the trees.

Both the rain and the snowmelt are still keeping the rivers high. A few times we had to cross some pretty swift waist-deep water. This time we had a nice bridge.

Looking down.

In the wintertime, this hike has some avalanche danger. These trees were recently plowed over by snow.

The view half-way up.

Looking down the lower half of the Conundrum Valley.

And up the valley.

Allison carried all the heavy stuff. My pack has one t-shirt and a candy bar in it.

The trail.

The springs are at the top of the valley. A perfect temperature to soak in for hours. All with a nice view.

Since the springs are clothing-optional, I was limited in the photos I could take once we reached our destination. We will close with a view from inside the tent, the Black Diamond Betamid….which didn’t break.

Alex and Allison

For the last days of our cross-country adventure, Allison and I were able to enjoy ourselves a little.

We stopped by Yosemite National Park to stretch our legs and hike up to the falls.

We had great views of Half Dome along the way. A fellow tourist took our picture.

The Yosemite Valley is incredible.

We scored a campsite inside the park, which was great. Only one small problem…our tent was buried somewhere in the back of the Penske. I consider myself a master of poor planning.

With rainclouds looming in the distant sky, Allison wanted me to unload the truck to get the tent while she warmed up around the fire. I opted to Macgyver something up instead. Not pretty, but it got the job done. And yes, that is a blow-up mattress.

The next day we rolled into the Bay Area and unloaded the truck into storage. I learned that unloading is much easier than loading.

Mission Accomplished!

Sadly, we only had a few days in California. 48 hours of rest after 3,300 miles is hardly enough. And little consolation when you get right back behind the wheel to drive 1,200 more miles to Aspen. At least this time it was in a car…

On the trip west, we loved the backroads of Nevada so much, we jumped off the interstate around Reno and took a B-line down Eastbound 50 headed towards Colorado.

The Mass plates were totally out of place.

Nevada is a wacky place. Along the way we stopped at this Shoe Tree by Middlegate. It’s a tree full of shoes.

At the bottom of the tree is the Shoe Tree leaf litter. Really an astounding amount of footwear.

We drove the last 1200 miles straight through, in a segment I reffered to as “the final push.”

We pulled into Aspen at 5am, just in time to see the day’s first hints of light.

The car is now parked, and we are so excited for the summer in Aspen.

-Alex and Allison

Our rig. Cambridge to Berkeley. 3300 miles at 9 MPG.

Yes, that is many gallons….But not to worry! The car up on the trailer is a hybrid!

We stopped here for really bad coffee. But Lonesome Dove was playing in the truckers lounge (we were allowed in- see above photo). I love Gus.

America is cool.

Especially the backroads of Nevada.

A+A

We are on our way to San Francisco!

We made it to Erie, PA. Not very far, but not bad considering we didn’t leave Boston until 4pm!

This is our truck (pictured without the car in tow) outside the apartment this morning.

The storage area of the truck is 14′X8′ and it is FULL.

Allison was happy when the end to packing was in sight.

We worked on the truck for 2 days. Luckily, we didn’t bring everything…

Some things we left behind for the local gypsies to gather up and claim as their own.

Eventually, we  finished, and made a very late departure.

A late start is never helpful on a road trip.

And this is what it looks like pulling into downtown Erie at 1am…

Off to Minnesota tomorrow!

-A’s

We are packing up the apartment!

What a mess…..

Don’t ever attempt to a “do-it-yourself” move without this stretchy plastic roller. 7 bucks per 1000 feet.

Off to California in 2 days!

-Alex and Allison

Allison and I are dogsitting at a wonderful house in town.

Booker and I have been getting some extra bonding time.

Allison has been working on he thesis remotely from the kitchen.

She has a lot of work to do, so when she oversleeps, I send in Booker to wake her up.

You can’t hide!

Wake up sleepy head! Take me for a walk!

Since Booker and I can’t do yoga, we like to watch Allison do it…

Cosmo came over to visit with Chris and Quinn. Cosmo and Booker are buddies.

-A’s