When you go to a touristy place, it’s hard to get a photo that nobody has ever gotten before. Especially when you are visiting an iconic and photogenic destination in the middle of the day, when most other people are there also.

I guess what I am saying is that although I like these photos, you’ve probably seen them all before…

After a long weekend of seminars at Photoshop World, Gillian and I were just antsy to go out and shoot some photos! The weather was finally behaving on Monday, so we hopped on the metro from the convention center and landed ourselves at the Smithsonian stop right in the middle of the National Mall. We got our cameras out and started wandering, our first stop the Smithsonian Institution! We didn’t go inside, but we shot a few photos outside…

There are a lot of big differences between New York City and Washington D.C., two historic and iconic cities in the United States. One difference is the mass transportation. Everything in New York seems to be a bit dirty and grimy, especially the subway. In D.C., however, it is amazingly clean and beautiful. The architecture is the same in all the stations, and it is very easy to figure out.

On the last day, we found out why the metro was so clean. Gillian and I were on our way back to our hotel to pick up our bags and head to the train station, but we were so hungry that we picked up some food beforehand- I got a salad from Potbelly but we didn’t have time to eat right then so we took our food with us. I started eating a little bit on the metro to settle my growling tummy, and a lady in her mid-forties, very business-like with her briefcase and notebooks, came up to me and said, “You know, it’s illegal to eat on the metro.” She then sat in a seat right next to us and kept her eye on me until we got off at our stop ten minutes later.

Thanks, good citizen, for informing me before you whipped out your handcuffs and performed a citizen’s arrest.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
John Muir

On Friday, Luke was rearing to get back on the mountain, but my neck was all kinds of messed up from a nasty tumble at Keystone the day before. We headed to Breckenridge, a nice ski town nearby. Breck has a “Gold Runner Coaster,” a little roller coaster with individual seats where you can control your own speed. We decided to try it out… it ended up being not so exciting, but pretty unique! Luke shot a video on the GoPro, maybe I’ll do a blog post with a bunch of his videos when I get them.

After the roller coaster, Megan and I headed into town while Luke hit the slopes. Breckenridge has lots of little shops and restaurants, so we had plenty of things to do with our time!

There is a tattoo parlor on the main drag, and Megan wanted to get a tattoo that she had been planning for a long time, so we headed in, had a tattoo artist draw up some sketches, and made an appointment for later that day!

Luke met up with us and we went for some food at the Breckenridge Brewery, then went up to a lookout on a nearby mountain where we could see Breck.

We went back to the tattoo place, and they said they could not fit us in. What the crap kind of business takes reservations and does not honor them?! The correct response to a customer is, “Sorry, we cannot accommodate you at the time you want today.” Booooo. We left, and dipped into a grocery store to grab some toe warmers and dinner to cook back at Meg’s place.

Friday, we went to Vail!

Vail was huge and gorgeous, and that’s when the elevation really hit me. At the top of the mountain I couldn’t breathe well and was very overwhelmed, and just did not want to snowboard anymore (what a baby, right?). It took a while, but I finally convinced Meg and Luke to drop me off at a lodge, where I collected myself and let them go wild. They came back a couple hours later and I did a couple more little runs, but was ready to get off the mountain. I took a chairlift down to the main lodge, passing directly over the park where talented athletes were gearing up for the Teva Mountain Games!

Something that infuriates me is when I am in an extremely photogenic situation, and I have no camera. Alas, my snowboard cannot shoot photos! All I had was my crappy little phone, and I looked at the Nikon D3x shooter beside me with envy. I did the best I could, dying battery and all…

The first event (and only event I actually got to see) was mountain biking! Apparently this is the first time it had been done, and the athletes were bikers, not winter sports guys. It was pretty amusing seeing them slip and slide down the mountain, despite their big snow tires!

A bit later Luke and Megan were done on the mountain, and we wandered around Vail Village for a little bit, where Megan got attacked by a polar bear.

On our way back to Meg’s place in Keystone, I marveled at how the roads seemed to go straight into the mountains…

I don’t think I ever really recovered from the altitude, but the trip was amazing anyway! The towns are quaint and the sights are beautiful- I can see why people move to the mountains and never want to come back to the rush rush of the flat lands again!

Bald as the bare mountain tops are bald, with a baldness full of grandeur.
- Matthew Arnold

I am so far behind!!! Trust me, I have some fantastic posts coming up, once I have time to write them! For now, here is a teaser- Shot from the car while driving through the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains at 12,000 feet, above the tree line!