Here is the continuation of my Favorite Experiences.

You can read about my previous favorite experiences #13-16 and #17-20 at these posts.

Here are my favorite experiences #9-12. Lots from the Southwest this time.

#12 - Overnight on Milford Sound, New Zealand

Way back in 1996, I had the fortune of taking a business trip to New Zealand. Since my company was flying me half way around the world, I took advantage of the trip and took 2 weeks of vacation to do a little touring of the country. After the conference, I hopped a flight to New Zealand’s south island and started exploring the beautiful sights.  This was a great trip, being the first where I traveled by myself and the trip where I really really discovered photography and took my photos to the next level.

Milford Wanderer pulls into the Dock

While down in Queestown, I drove into Milford Sound to take an overnight boat trip on the Milford Wanderer. A whopping 7 of us boarded a boat that holds 72 (it was off-season). We toured around the incredible Milford Sound in the afternoon then anchored in a small cove for a late afternoon kayak where I had dolphins swim right past my kayak and watched penguins on the shore. In the early morning, I went on deck and watch the misty morning develop all alone.  I loved the wildness and peacefulness of the place and would love to go back.

Early Morning in Milford Sound

Photos from my trip to New Zealand are at my Smugmug site.

#11 - 4-Wheelin’ in Moab, Utah

Back in 1998, I found myself at home, alone, during Christmas vacation.  For some unknown reason, I decided to pack myself and my cat in my Jeep and head to Moab, Utah.  It had just snowed, so the beautiful desert landscape had a wonderful white coat ing of snow.  I’ve been to the southwest several times and you often get tired of the same ‘ol pictures of red rocks. The snow cover in Moab made for some unique photos.

Colorado River Reflection

I visited Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, taking several off-road trails that were passable in the snowy conditions.  This was really the first time I had tested myself on off-road trails with my Jeep and have been a Jeep fan ever since (on my 2nd Jeep Wrangler now).  Going up a ice & snow covered switchback trail in Canyonlands was nerve-racking, but I had so much more confidence in my Jeep and my driving afterwards.

My Jeep (and my cat) on an off-road trail in Arches National Park

I had some nice alone time and again got some different perspectives from the normal tourist stops at these two parks. I specifically remember a 4-wheel drive trail on the middle plateau level in Canyonlands.  At one point I get to a spot in the road maybe 15 feet wide; one side shooting straight up to the upper plateau and the other side shooting straight down to the Colorado River.

A Snow-covered Arches National Park

Other then the creepy guy at the hotel (which had me moving hotels), the trip was an adventure.

More Moab Photos.

#10 - Rafting the Grand Canyon

This past spring, I found myself with a break in our hectic flight test schedule and a lot of vacation to burn. This was a perfect opportunity to tackle a bucket list item, rafting the Grand Canyon.

I had been to the Grand Canyon before in my youth, driving to overlooks along both the North & South rims. I remember my dad trying to see if we could get a last minute rafting trip down part of the canyon, but with 5 family members and no advance preparation, we were not able to get anything.

Heading for the Rapids

However, when you are just one person, it is a bit easier to get a last minute reservation on an exisitng commercial trip. I found a slot on a 7 day trip of the top 2/3 rds of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon with Western River Expeditions. This trip had the perfect combination of number of days, rapids, side trips, and raft for me.

Sleeping alongside the Colorado River

And it was certainly a great trip; everything that I thought it would be. The rapids were extreme and utterly awesome. Eating and camping out along side the river and under the stars was magical. And seeing the Grand Canyon from the river gives you such an intimate and different perspective of this immense canyon.

Stopping along the river for lunch

It was much more physically demanding of a trip that I thought it would be. Grabbing on raft ropes for dear life through rapids made for a lot of sore muscles and the extreme dry conditions had me going through moisturizer endlessly, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

You can see all my Grand Canyon Photos Here.

#9 - Sunrise and Sunset on Hunts Mesa

I like going to unique places. The “road less traveled” kind of places. This was definitely one of those kind of locations. Again, this was a last minute trip in 2008 with a professional photographer friend of mine who had a last minute opening on one of his tours of Monument Valley and Capitol Reef National Park.

Sunset of Monument Valley from Hunts Mesa

Many people have shot Monument Valley, but only a few every year get to shoot it from Hunt’s Mesa, a large mesa directly to the south of Monument Valley. You can’t just drive up to the this amazing spot, you have to have a specific Navajo guide take you up to this privately owned land in a 4-Wheel drive vehicle. But the view from the top is extraordinary. Spread out below you are all the buttes and mesa of Monument Valley. Its so vast, it is hard to capture on film.

More sunset from the Mesa

We camped out overnight on top of the mesa in order to shoot both sunset and sunrise from the rim of the mesa. I also got to try my hand at some star trails and paint with light shots while on top of the mesa.

Star Trails and Paint with Light on top of Hunt's Mesa

More Photos from the Hunt’s Mesa trip are here.

Scoreboard Reflection - Jan 08, 2012

Still at my nieces’ swim meet and still stuck in a bullpen of bleachers for the day.

Olympics on Approach - Jan 09, 2012

So, unfortunately, thats it for week 2 photos.  I missed about a week of taking photos due to “the Funk” that set in once I got back home to Seattle. When your struggling mentally, its awful hard to pick up a camera.

By the 3rd week of Jan, everything was better and the next post will have a full compliment of photos.

Note: Even though I may take multiple photos per day, I am only selecting one photo per day to post here.

Momma at Home - Jan 01, 2012

Kinda like this portrait of momma; at home folding laundry.

Morning Shawdows - Jan 02, 2012

Through the Front Door - Jan 03, 2012

Momma has this really cool stained glass front door. Interesting effect created when shooting through the glass.

Christmas Ball Portrait - Jan 04, 2012

While momma was in teeth surgery, I walked through the quaint Blue Ridge, GA downtown area where I ran into some Christmas decorations. Like how the reflection of the balls produced multiple little self portraits.

Morning on TN Lake - Jan 05, 2012

This is one of those photos I probably would have missed had I not been doing this project.  Driving up to my brothers house, we passes this lake in Tennessee in the morning. In the past, would have thought “oh, that would make a nice photo.”  and then just kept driving on.

Half Face - Jan 06, 2012

Pool Warmups - Jan 07, 2012

Swim meets where the parents are limited in their wanderings make it difficult to come up with creative photos.

I took out the Turkey altogether and substituted the chicken base & chicken broth for vegetable.  I also cut the recipe in half since I didn’t want to be eating leftovers for weeks. It turned out surprisingly delicious.  Here is the modified recipe:

Yummy Vegetable Soup with Tortellini & Kale

1 cups each sliced carrots, diced onion, diced fennel bulb, and diced Swiss Chard stems.
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Pinch ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1/4 cup dry Marsala
1 Tbsp. Vegetable Base
6 cups Vegetable Broth

2 cups chopped roasted turkey (1/2 lb)
NOTE: I left the turkey out of the recipe, but you can add if you want.
1-1/2 cups cheese filled tortellini
2-3 cups chopped swiss chard (1 bunch)
1 can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan

Sweat the carrots, onions, fennel, swiss chard, garlic, italian seasoning, pepper flakes, an nutmeg in oil in a large pot over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Deglaze pot with Marsala and simmer until nearly evaporated; stir in vegetable base. Add broth and bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add turkey (optional), tortellini, chard leaves, and beans; simmer, partially covered, until tortellini are cooked through, 8-10 minutes.

Stir in lemon juice and season with salt & pepper. Serve soup with parmesan.

Icy tree branch

Its been lightly snowing on and off all week, but yesterday morning, the heavy stuff started falling and this morning, the tree limbs that were covered in snow yesterday are all iced over.

Snowy Seattle

I grew up in Ohio and learned to drive on snow.  I also own a Jeep and know how to drive it in these conditions. But I also am smart and prefer not to get on icy roads with idiots who only think they know how to drive in snow and ice, so I am working from home today. Last thing I want is to get in an accident or get stuck somewhere.

But I am finally felling better, my eye is all healed, and I am back on task with the goals I set at the start of the year. Photos are being taken daily, healthy choices are being made in the kitchen, and ways to save money are being investigated.

Just got back from a fun vacation with my family.  Spent a week in Orlando with all the nephews, nieces, and brothers. Then it was off to mom’s house in Georgia for a nice and quiet New Years spent helping mom around the house and cuddling with my kitty cats (I miss them so much!).  Final stop was in Ohio to spend some time with my brother Jim’s and watch my niece swim.  It was a nice 2+ weeks of downtime after 3 months of challenging excitement in Tokyo.

So I go back to work and instead of being with the customer thousands of miles away in some great international location, I am twiddling my thumbs at a cubicle in Seattle with the prospect that my next assignment won’t be until late summer. Add to that, I scratched my left eye a little more severely than first thought and that ended up in a trip to the eye doctors and day spent at home with the blinds down struggling just to see. Oh, and Seattle has a pending snowpocalypse this weekend that the newscasters won’t shut up about. Thus….the Funk has set in.

Before everyone starts calling me making sure I am all right, please know I am fine.  The funk has come and gone before and I am sure this won’t be the last time it shows up when least expected. I will get over this and find the motivation to move forward.

But for right now, I am gonna spend the weekend huddled up under my comforter in my PJs catching up on movies and TV shows. I’m gone let my eye heal, maybe take a nice long soak one night and get lots and lots of sleep.  Come Monday, I will most likely be ready to move on with work and life. I will take the new year’s goals I made last week off the current holding pattern they are in now and tackle them anew. And maybe I will see the lack of a future assignment as an opportunity to tackle some other challenging task at work.

Its a new year and with that come new hopes and dreams.  I usually don’t make many resolutions, if at all, but this year, 2012, there are several things that I want to accomplish so I want to write them all down as a sort of accountability for these resolutions.  Call them goals if you don’t like the word resolution, but here are my “resolutions” for 2012.

1. Take the next step in my Photography.  Sometime I feel I take good photos simply as a result of traveling to great locations and I certainly don’t need any new camera gear.  I feel right now that for me to get better, I just need to practice at taking photos more.  Just like practice in sports or music or other activities make you better, practicing photography will make you better.  As a result, I have decided that my photo goal for 2012 is to take at least one photo every day. The photo may not be taken with my digital SLR in RAW format, it may just be taken with my smartphone camera, but I had been thinking of this goal for a while now, and I believe this is the year to accomplish this. I will probably not post the photos daily, but I have initially planned to post weekly one photo from each day of the previous week.

2. Save Money.  I am very fortunate in that I have a stable job, make good money, and have money in my savings accounts.  But I have never really been the best steward of my money.  I tend to spend impulsively, buying a lot of things that I use or wear only a few times before it ends up in the Good Will tub.  Or I overspend at the grocery store, buying to much food and a week or two later have to throw some of this food out due to spoilage. I just want to be better and have even more money saved up at the end of the year. The goal is on several fronts. a) Work on eating my way through the food I currently have in the pantry and freezer.  b) Never go to the grocery store without a specific list of items to buy. c) Before buying clothes or items for the home, check alternative sources for the same or similar items like ebay, overstock.com, or even repairable items from Good Will stores. d) Pay off my Jeep this year.  This will open up more money to go into the savings account. e) Look into good investments for the money I do have saved, but is only collecting small interest in my savings account.

3. Get Healthy. This is more than loosing weight, which I do plan on accomplishing.  This is eating better and healthier, working out more, and taking care of body. Again, this goal has several parts. a) Eat more fresh and organic meals. Cut out processed foods and fatty & sugary foods and drinks. b) Beat my addiction to Coca-Cola. This is a big challenge, but I know soda is not good for me and I need to cut this from my diet if I really want to get healthy and loose some significant weight. c) Work out 3-4 times a week.  Whether its swimming, cross fit, strength training, or an hour on the elliptical machine, I need to make the time for myself to hit the gym/pool several times a week. d) Keep up the walking. After 3 months in Japan and a week in Orlando, I have developed some good endurance for walking.  I want to keep that up this year, walking at lunch or after work on days I don’t go to the gym. e) Go to my doctors a bit more regularly or when needed.  I tend to ignore my doctors when they say come back every 3 months, thinking every 6 months is ok.  And walking on a sore heel for 9 months instead of just making an appointment to see a podiatrist is not the wisest move health-wise.  I need to get better at this, so this year, I will be seeing a podiatrist and dentist at the start of the year.  Scheduling my mammogram & gynecologist for 1st quarter and seeing my rhuematologist a bit more regularly.

4. Get Out More.  I know this may seem that I do this one pretty good already due to all my travels, but I am focusing this goal more for when I am home in Seattle.  When I am in Seattle and working a normal schedule, I tend to be a bit of a hermit, enjoying just sitting at home watching TV or on the computer. I want to get out an explore more of Seattle & Washington state, walking around some neighborhoods or camping around Washington’s many parks and natural areas.

Despite the crowds and traffic (and they both were severe at times), we found places where the crowds were smaller which added to the enjoyment of the place.  We ended up avoiding most of the major parks and tried some different things.  First up, we hit Epcot on Christmas Day.  Yes, it was crowded, but we got there early and got in the better rides in the front section (Test Track & Soarin’) of Epcot.

In the afternoon, we had a late lunch reservation at the Rose & Crown Pub in the UK part of the World Showcase.  We were seated outside right by the lake and away from all the crowds.  The food was fantastic and the setting was wonderful.  Our lunch reservation came with guaranteed seating at the Candlelight Processional, which was a Christmas concert held at the American Pavilion.  Blair Underwood was our celebrity guest who read the story of Christmas while a full orchestra and choir filled in with wonderful Christmas Carols.  It was a nice event and definitely felt like Christmas had arrived. After the concert, we walked around some of the other countries in Epcot’s World Showcase, but we were getting tired so we ended up leaving before the fireworks show.

The day after Christmas, we had reservations at Discovery Cove.  This is a small SeaWorld Park that limits admittance to about 1000 people per day. Its expensive, but its a all inclusive type of park where the price of entry gets you a swim with dolphins, towel, mask & snorkel, breakfast and lunch (and snacks), and a seemingly empty park.  The place was near capacity the day we went, but it felt empty.  We floated in the lazy river through an aviary, snorkeled in a new and awesome reef with fish and stingrays, and then had our swim with the dolphins.  After lunch we enjoyed some land time in the aviary, feeding beautiful and interesting birds.  The weather wasn’t the warmest, but the lack of crowds more than made up for the feeling of having the place to ourselves.

We took the next day off, only heading to Universal’s City Walk for lunch and a movie. On the 28th, my niece really wanted to eat at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary Hotel, so we worked our way through horrendous traffic to see if we could eat there without a reservation.  To our astonishment, we were seated in 5 minutes in a section where the Disney characters visited while we eat.  My niece was in heaven, getting pictures with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy & Donald.  We read later that at peak holiday times, Chef Mickey usually needed reservations 180 days in advance.  Boy, we were lucky.

After lunch, mom, my niece, and I went back to Epcot to just walk around the World Showcase.  We took our time and enjoyed exploring all the countries and shops.  We even got to see a great Mariachi band in Mexico and a street performer in Italy.  It was crowded, but we just took our time and had fun.  With that attitude, the park seemed a little less crowded.

Also with the Discovery Cove entry fee, we got free entry to one of the other SeaWorld Parks.  We chose Aquatica, the water park, and went there on a final day in Orlando. Again, the weather wasn’t the best, but that only led to a near empty water park.  We got there a little later in the day after the sun had warmed things up a bit and never had to wait in a line for a ride.  Again, it was like having our own private water park and that was extremely nice after a long crowded week in Orlando.

It was a fun week in Orlando and I had a great time with my nieces and nephews and family. Photos coming in the near future.

So sad…..

Anyway, here is this weeks goodness.

These just look like they hurt.

My friend Rebecca and I took a trip to Kyoto, Matsumoto and Nagano/Yamanouchi for 5 days at the end of November.  We hit perfect fall color in Kyoto, but that is the biggest pile of photos, so you will have to wait on those pictures a little longer.  We ended the trip with an awesome stop in the Yamanouchi area of Nagano where we stayed in a traditional Ryokan (japanese hotel) in Shibu Onsen and then went up the mountain to see the famous snow monkeys at the Jigokudani Wild Monkey Park.

Awesome up close experience with japanese snow monkeys!

We came into the train station at nearby Yudanaka mid-morning and dropped our bags off at our Ryokan hotel.  We then caught a taxi up to Jigokudani. A short 15 min hike up a path through the woods led to the monkey park.  I guess I wouldn’t describe this as a park….there are no fences keeping the monkeys penned in.  Its a small area where a group of about 200 Japanese Macaque monkeys live year round.  They are fed daily and have their own onsen (hot tub), so who would want to leave?

Food and a hot tub... not sure I would ever leave either.

I’d seen photos from this place in the past and this was definitely on the bucket list.  In a word, this place was incredible.  Anywhere you can go where wild animals act as if you don’t exists is pretty priceless, and those spots are very few.  And as usual, baby animals are just about the cutest thing on the planet and baby monkeys are no exception.  I so wanted to nip one of the small little fur balls in my backpack and take one home.

Mommy, can I please have one of these for Christmas?!

You could walk right up to these monkeys and they pretty much ignored you. There was  no touching or feeding the animals, but they were certainly close enough that you could if you wanted to risk breaking the rules. We were there about 2 hours and didn’t want to leave.  I liked this place so much that when a co-worker asked about heading up there, I quickly volunteered to go with him so I could see the monkeys again.  So, tomorrow, I am headed back to the snow monkey park.  The snow has set in so it should be a slightly different view than the first trip.  Just can’t wait to get there.

Japanese Snow Monkey Onsen

More photos at my Smugmug site.