Protected: Elopement (Million Dollar Highway #2)

Tags: Elopement

Elopement (Million Dollar Highway #1)

The following photos are from the Million Dollar Highway which is Highway 550 that runs from Durango to Ouray, Colorado:

(click to view)

We didn’t take a lot of photos as we were enjoying the ride too much. As you view the photos, pay attention to the footer notes as they will help explain where we were (roughly). BTW, more photos of Molas Pass (where Kate and I are relaxing in the picture above) can be found here.

Tags: Elopement

Elopement (Chimney Rock #2)

After leaving Treasure Falls and stopping in Pagosa Springs for lunch we headed about 17 miles West of town to the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area. We needed to catch the last tour for the day which left at 2pm. We managed to setup camp in the Ute Campgrounds (less than half a mile up the road) and make it for the 2pm tour with five minutes to spare. It was worth it:

(click to view)

There are a couple of interesting things to note about the Chimney Rock area. The first is that it is part of the Chaco Culture that makes up part of lower Colorado and Northern New Mexico. It was a major trading route that existed around 1000A.D. We learned that when standing from the top of the Chimney Rock area, you can see a plateau about 60 miles to the South. Apparently, back in the day, you could light signal fires from Chimney Rock to that plateau. The plateau could then be used to signal the Chaco Culture even further to the South. Makes me wish I could have spent more time camping at the Chaco Culture earlier this year. I plan to return.

The other interesting thing to note is that during that day in age, the people of this period would have witnessed a few major events. One is the explosion of the Sunset Volcano (now known as Sunset Crater in Northern Arizona), the other is Haley’s Comet, and the last is the bright light of the Crab Nebula super nova (if I have my facts right) which lasted for many days (even in sunlight). Pretty cool time to be alive despite that you started having a family at roughly the age of 12 and were probably dead by 25 or 30 due to tuberculous.

I mentioned that we camped in the Ute Campgrounds just up the road at the start of this post. Not a bad area with plenty of trees. My only complaint is that it is not far from the road so you do get some traffic noise. It was convenient though and, in this case, worth it.

Tags: Elopement

Protected: Elopement (Chimney Rock #1)

Tags: Elopement

Elopement (Treasure Falls #2)

Here are a few more pictures from the area:

(click to view)

I had always wanted visit this area but never had the chance until now. Treasure Falls, is located just a few miles North of Pagosa Springs, CO.

Tags: Elopement

Elopement (Treasure Falls #1)

Stopped at Treasure Falls just outside of Pagosa Springs, CO.

This post was composed with the WordPress app on my iPhone. Too bad I can’t mashup the Here I Am app with this one.

More pictures soon.

Tags: Elopement

Elopement (Departure)

Well, the time has finally arrived to get married. The motorcycle is packed and we are ready to hit the road in the morning. I’ll be posting updates on this site when apt. Otherwise, I’ll be Twittering as usual.

More from the road!

Trinity Brewing Company

© Trinity Brewing Company

For those in Colorado Springs area, the Trinity Brewing Company’s inaugural opening is today. We have been looking forward to this since catching their booth at the Craft Lagerfest.

We intend to be celebrating with friends and family around 5pm although others will be arriving sooner. So clear your afternoon schedule and head on down:

The Dark Knight

© The Dark Knight

Hopefully, by now, you have seen this movie. If you haven’t, then you really should.

The Dark Knight, for the unaware, is the sequel to Christopher Nolan’s first film: Batman Begins. Which is also the rebirth of the Batman franchise. To be honest, I haven’t really been into the Batman series since Tim Burton’s Batman (which I recommend seeing and owning, BTW). Unfortunately, the sequels that followed caused the series to get progressively worse. Especially Batman Forever and Batman & Robin which are horrible films. I didn’t care for some of the campy humor let alone the different actors that were chosen to fill the Batman role. For me, Michael Keaton was the ideal candidate for playing the Bruce Wayne/Batman role.

Now, over a decade later, the Batman franchise is being reborn and in a major way. Some are even saying that The Dark Knight is equal the The Godfather: Part II in terms of quality and impact. I would have to agree with that. It really is that good. So much so, that it got me excited enough to go to the theater again (which doesn’t happen very often these days).

Aside from the fact that the film is well written, well executed, and well worth watching. It also has some technical merit. I had read an article in Wired Magazine where I learned that Christopher Nolan had shot the film in IMAX format. Which, if you haven’t had a chance to experience yet, you really need to before it leaves the theater. However, I do want to point out than not all scense are in IMAX format. Which, for me, was a little disappointing. That being said, the scenes that were in IMAX format were truly astonishing, especially the beginning of the film as well as all city and aerial shots. There is just something to be said about having a movie totally engulf your vision and, for a short while, throw you into this dark world of super villians and super heroes.

Colorado Springs Open Source Meetup (Blender)

It has been a while since I last attended the Colorado Springs Open Source Meetup. This time the talk was on Blender and OpenOffice. I’m not even going to attempt to talk about Blender except to say I wish I had more time to play with it. Pretty amazing stuff but comes with a stiff learning curve. BTW, a good discussion on Blender can be found by listening to FLOSS Weekly - Episode 25 - Blender if you haven’t checked it out already.

As for OpenOffice, I use it in a rather limited capacity. Actually, I’ve been using NeoOffice but tonight convinced me that I need to drop NeoOffice and check out OpenOffice again. It has improved quite a bit since I last used it. It even supports extensions. Neat.

I spoke with Gary, who runs the Colorado Springs Open Source Meetup, and offered to give a talk on Ruby, Ruby on Rails, etc. I mean, c’mon, the meetup has only been running since January of this year and still, there is no talk of Ruby or Rails? That needs to change. Hey Brett, if you are listening, I think you should fly up. We could give a rather compelling demo of Ruby, Rails, and Google Maps.