Rosey and I have had a lot of adventures over the last year and a half. Here is a photo slideshow that I've put together showing the life and times of Dan and Rosey. Thank you Rosey for all of the good times. If we've done this much in the last year and a half then imagine what we can do with the rest of our lives :)
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
A Little Less Wise
I celebrated my return to work this morning by stopping off at the dentist office before work and having a couple of wisdom teeth pulled. I can't feel my entire lower jaw or tongue right now and I have two gaping holes in my jaw stuffed with gauze. How fun is that? :)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The Honeymoon Is Over
We got home on Thursday night so the honeymoon has actually been over for several days now, but I was so exhausted from all of the traveling that it has taken me all of three days to write this post. Despite being a lot of driving (somewhere in the ballpark of 3500 miles), I would say that we had a pretty good wedding and honeymoon. I think that both Rosey and I would agree that walking on the beaches of the Oregon coast was the highlight of the trip.
So, why home so early? Well, I think that these pictures will explain everything...
This is me packing up camp at Yosemite in the snow.
And this is us driving out of Yosemite through the very treacherous Tioga Pass Road. We learned when we reached the east entrance of the park that they had actually closed the road in the other direction and were not letting anyone else travel into the park on that road.
We had originally planned on hitting Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and then coming down to the redwoods in California. But, we decided to prolong our drive down the coast a little further and go to the redwoods first before heading inland to Crater Lake. So, we stayed a night in Crescent City, California and spent a day poking around in the Redwoods.
Because of the damage to our lens we weren't able to get very many pictures in the redwoods. We snapped a couple of photos with our smaller digital camera, but it's just so difficult to get a photo in the shadows of big trees. The lighting is all wrong.
Rosey and I had a pretty good 4 mile hike through the Redwoods, but I have to say that the highlight for me was riding my bike from Crescent City into Redwood National Park on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. It was a spectacular ride through big trees and lush ferns. I was surprised to discover that just because you are proximate to the ocean does not mean that your elevation cannot quickly rise above sea level. The first couple of miles out of Crescent City I climbed a 'hill' that peaked above 1000 feet.
Before leaving our motel in Crescent City, I checked the weather and discovered that Crater Lake was supposed to be blanketed with snow over the next couple of days. In other words, it didn't sound like a whole lot of fun to hike, bike or camp in Crater Lake... especially if you're pregnant :)
So, we altered our course and pointed our car eastward in the direction of the nearest Olive Garden restaurant... Redding, California. Ok, so we were headed that way anyway, but we figured if we had to stay somewhere, we might as well get a good meal. We were on our way to Yosemite National Park and Redding was as good a place as any to stay for the night.
While in Redding, we stopped by a camera store and bought a new lens for our camera. It was much more pricey that I had expected, but we couldn't exactly go on a trip to Yosemite National Park without a good camera now could we?
It turns out that we could have. Not only was Yosemite overcast and gray, but they had been performing controlled burns in the park for the last couple of days so it was smokey on top of it. Here is an example of one of the astounding pictures that we got with our expensive new lens.
At least we got some good squirrel photos.
While at Yosemite, we managed to get in a hike in the Mariposa grove of giant Sequoias. Now those are some huge trees. This is also where I believe that we got the only photo from the whole trip of both Rosey and I (with the exception of our wedding photos on the beach).
We were planning on doing more in Yosemite, but if you read the beginning of this post then you already know how that turned out.
So, it's good to be home now. We've basically spent the last couple of days lounging around the house and unwinding from all the traveling. Unfortunately, tomorrow, the honeymoon really is over... we both have to go back to work :(
So, why home so early? Well, I think that these pictures will explain everything...
This is me packing up camp at Yosemite in the snow.
And this is us driving out of Yosemite through the very treacherous Tioga Pass Road. We learned when we reached the east entrance of the park that they had actually closed the road in the other direction and were not letting anyone else travel into the park on that road.
We had originally planned on hitting Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and then coming down to the redwoods in California. But, we decided to prolong our drive down the coast a little further and go to the redwoods first before heading inland to Crater Lake. So, we stayed a night in Crescent City, California and spent a day poking around in the Redwoods.
Because of the damage to our lens we weren't able to get very many pictures in the redwoods. We snapped a couple of photos with our smaller digital camera, but it's just so difficult to get a photo in the shadows of big trees. The lighting is all wrong.
Rosey and I had a pretty good 4 mile hike through the Redwoods, but I have to say that the highlight for me was riding my bike from Crescent City into Redwood National Park on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. It was a spectacular ride through big trees and lush ferns. I was surprised to discover that just because you are proximate to the ocean does not mean that your elevation cannot quickly rise above sea level. The first couple of miles out of Crescent City I climbed a 'hill' that peaked above 1000 feet.
Before leaving our motel in Crescent City, I checked the weather and discovered that Crater Lake was supposed to be blanketed with snow over the next couple of days. In other words, it didn't sound like a whole lot of fun to hike, bike or camp in Crater Lake... especially if you're pregnant :)
So, we altered our course and pointed our car eastward in the direction of the nearest Olive Garden restaurant... Redding, California. Ok, so we were headed that way anyway, but we figured if we had to stay somewhere, we might as well get a good meal. We were on our way to Yosemite National Park and Redding was as good a place as any to stay for the night.
While in Redding, we stopped by a camera store and bought a new lens for our camera. It was much more pricey that I had expected, but we couldn't exactly go on a trip to Yosemite National Park without a good camera now could we?
It turns out that we could have. Not only was Yosemite overcast and gray, but they had been performing controlled burns in the park for the last couple of days so it was smokey on top of it. Here is an example of one of the astounding pictures that we got with our expensive new lens.
At least we got some good squirrel photos.
While at Yosemite, we managed to get in a hike in the Mariposa grove of giant Sequoias. Now those are some huge trees. This is also where I believe that we got the only photo from the whole trip of both Rosey and I (with the exception of our wedding photos on the beach).
We were planning on doing more in Yosemite, but if you read the beginning of this post then you already know how that turned out.
So, it's good to be home now. We've basically spent the last couple of days lounging around the house and unwinding from all the traveling. Unfortunately, tomorrow, the honeymoon really is over... we both have to go back to work :(
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Camera Woes
We have two cameras with us on this trip... a smaller Fuji camera and our new Canon EOS Digital Rebel. The Fuji got dropped in the sand earlier this year when we were hiking the Zion Narrows and is no longer able to zoom in on anything. This morning, on the way down to the beach, I was holding the Canon when I slipped and fell and got sand all up in the lens. As we were trying to clean the sand out we somehow managed to completely screw up the telescoping mechanism and now the zoom lens is stuck out. So, now we have one camera that can't zoom in and another that can't zoom out :)
At least the camera itself seems to still be working fine. We're going to try and stop by a camera shop tomorrow to get the lens repaired or replaced. We have such horrible luck with cameras :(
At least the camera itself seems to still be working fine. We're going to try and stop by a camera shop tomorrow to get the lens repaired or replaced. We have such horrible luck with cameras :(
More Pictures From The Oregon Coast
Here are some pictures that we've taken over the last couple of days as we've traveled down the Oregon coast:
Friday, September 14, 2007
Wedding Photos
Hooray! We're married :) Here are some photos from the wedding ceremony on the beach:
Olympic Camping and Beaches
Here are some pictures that we took while camping and exploring in Olympic National Park in Washington. We stayed in the Graves Creek campground in the Quinault Rainforest area of Olympic National Park.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Photos From LOTOJA
Here are some photos that Rosey took of me (and Chris) riding in LOTOJA. Note that you probably need to view this in a browser instead of an RSS reader.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Marriage License Waiting Period
After LOTOJA, Rosey and I were originally planning on spending a couple of days in Grand Teton and Yellowstone park with our friends Chris and Shannon before heading out to the coast. But, we discovered just before leaving last week that Oregon requires a three day waiting period on marriage licenses. So, we had to book it out to the coast to get our marriage license waiting period started in time to finish before we were scheduled to get married on Friday.
We did still get to spend Sunday afternoon in the Tetons and we used it to do a hike to hidden falls behind Jenny lake. The hike was fun and the waterfall was beautiful but we got rained and snowed on a little bit as we took a ferry back across the lake. Because of the weather and in order to cut down on the amount of driving that we had to do on Monday we took off Sunday night and drove to Pocatello.
Monday was a day full of driving. It felt like my second endurance activity in 3 days. After spending 12 hours on the bike on Saturday, we got to spend 13 hours in the car on Monday. At least we got to start the day with some mammoth muffins from Perkins in Pocatello. And the scenery on the drive, at least once you get near Portland, was pretty spectacular.
We made it to Cannon beach in the early evening and got to walk on the beach that we'll be married on. Rosey made a good choice. It's a beautiful beach. The lady at the hotel mentioned that Cannon beach is currently rated as the #1 beach in the nation. Cool!
We did still get to spend Sunday afternoon in the Tetons and we used it to do a hike to hidden falls behind Jenny lake. The hike was fun and the waterfall was beautiful but we got rained and snowed on a little bit as we took a ferry back across the lake. Because of the weather and in order to cut down on the amount of driving that we had to do on Monday we took off Sunday night and drove to Pocatello.
Monday was a day full of driving. It felt like my second endurance activity in 3 days. After spending 12 hours on the bike on Saturday, we got to spend 13 hours in the car on Monday. At least we got to start the day with some mammoth muffins from Perkins in Pocatello. And the scenery on the drive, at least once you get near Portland, was pretty spectacular.
We made it to Cannon beach in the early evening and got to walk on the beach that we'll be married on. Rosey made a good choice. It's a beautiful beach. The lady at the hotel mentioned that Cannon beach is currently rated as the #1 beach in the nation. Cool!
Ninety One Point Eight Percent
LOTOJA kicked my ass on Saturday. I rode hard for just over 12 hours and made it 189 miles but just couldn't make it the rest of the way to the finish line. I am severely disappointed :(
I think that the biggest factor contributing to non-completion was letting up on my training regimen in the month leading up to LOTOJA. I had been riding about 200 miles a week for most of the summer but then dropped down to less than a hundred miles a week after riding ULCER in early August. Of course, it didn't help to train at a lower weight for most of the summer and then put on a few extra pounds towards the end of the summer.
It's kind of creepy that I finished exactly as much of LOTOJA as I did of RANATAD. I rode 147 of 160 miles of RANATAD and I rode 189 of 206 miles of LOTOJA. Those both work out to almost exactly 91.8% of the total. It's almost like a switch goes off inside of me and says, "You've done 91.8% of the ride... it's time to quit now".
After failing to complete RANATAD, I told myself that I just needed to have more mental toughness. I needed to push myself to get through no matter what. And, I was prepared to push myself to finish LOTOJA no matter what. The problem is that my body was ready to give up 120 miles into the ride. By the time that I had ridden over the three mountain passes (Strawberry, Geneva and Salt River) and descended into Afton my body was in agonizing pain.
It was sheer mental toughness that drove me through the next 70 miles to get me through Star Valley, Snake River Canyon and just outside of Jackson. From that standpoint I was actually proud of myself that I was able to push that far. It was particularly difficult becuase for much of the ride through Star Valley I was riding into a soul crushing cross/head wind. Several of the guys who rode last year said that the wind this year made the ride much more difficult.
The other factor that I think contributed to my failure was that I rode solo for much of the ride. The guys that I trained with from work all summer were actually riding in a different age category than me so I wasn't able to start at the same time as them. I stuck with my starting pack to Preston, got split up going into the mountains and then for the rest of the day just had a difficult time latching on to anyone. Riding 206 miles in a group is difficult but riding that distance solo is really just sheer stupidity. In retrospect, I think that I would have been better off even finding a slower group of riders and just sticking with them all day so that I didn't have to do as much work riding into the wind.
Again, I am hugely disappointed. I don't know if I dare to wear the LOTOJA jersey that I bought before the ride considering that I didn't finish. But all I can do is come back next year with a little more wisdom and preparation.
Rosey got some pictures from the ride, but I don't have the cable to get them from the camera while we are on the road, so I'll have to post them when we get back home in a couple of weeks.
I think that the biggest factor contributing to non-completion was letting up on my training regimen in the month leading up to LOTOJA. I had been riding about 200 miles a week for most of the summer but then dropped down to less than a hundred miles a week after riding ULCER in early August. Of course, it didn't help to train at a lower weight for most of the summer and then put on a few extra pounds towards the end of the summer.
It's kind of creepy that I finished exactly as much of LOTOJA as I did of RANATAD. I rode 147 of 160 miles of RANATAD and I rode 189 of 206 miles of LOTOJA. Those both work out to almost exactly 91.8% of the total. It's almost like a switch goes off inside of me and says, "You've done 91.8% of the ride... it's time to quit now".
After failing to complete RANATAD, I told myself that I just needed to have more mental toughness. I needed to push myself to get through no matter what. And, I was prepared to push myself to finish LOTOJA no matter what. The problem is that my body was ready to give up 120 miles into the ride. By the time that I had ridden over the three mountain passes (Strawberry, Geneva and Salt River) and descended into Afton my body was in agonizing pain.
It was sheer mental toughness that drove me through the next 70 miles to get me through Star Valley, Snake River Canyon and just outside of Jackson. From that standpoint I was actually proud of myself that I was able to push that far. It was particularly difficult becuase for much of the ride through Star Valley I was riding into a soul crushing cross/head wind. Several of the guys who rode last year said that the wind this year made the ride much more difficult.
The other factor that I think contributed to my failure was that I rode solo for much of the ride. The guys that I trained with from work all summer were actually riding in a different age category than me so I wasn't able to start at the same time as them. I stuck with my starting pack to Preston, got split up going into the mountains and then for the rest of the day just had a difficult time latching on to anyone. Riding 206 miles in a group is difficult but riding that distance solo is really just sheer stupidity. In retrospect, I think that I would have been better off even finding a slower group of riders and just sticking with them all day so that I didn't have to do as much work riding into the wind.
Again, I am hugely disappointed. I don't know if I dare to wear the LOTOJA jersey that I bought before the ride considering that I didn't finish. But all I can do is come back next year with a little more wisdom and preparation.
Rosey got some pictures from the ride, but I don't have the cable to get them from the camera while we are on the road, so I'll have to post them when we get back home in a couple of weeks.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Goin' to the Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married
Alright, so we're not really going to a chapel, it'll be more like a beach. But either way, we're gettin' married. After LOTOJA, Rosey and I are heading off on a two week wedding/honeymoon vacation extravaganza. We'll spend a couple of days in the Teton/Yellowstone area before heading off to the coast of Oregon and Washington where we will be married on the beach. After the wedding we'll continue exploring Oregon and Northern California (the redwoods) before heading back to Utah a couple of weeks before the reception where we hope to see you all.
Preparing for LOTOJA
Tomorrow is the ride that I've been preparing for all summer... LOTOJA. We'll ride 206 miles from Logan, UT to Jackson, WY in a single day. For the most part I think that I'm well prepared. I've ridden about 4000 miles on my bike since this spring. I'm a little concerned that I've let up a little in the last couple of weeks (things have been hectic between work and wedding preparations) but I think that I'll be OK.
I'm shooting for an overall course time of under 11 hours. That means that I'll have to keep a moving average of about 20 miles per hour and keep my stopped time down to about 45 minutes. I'll start in a pack of about 60 riders at 7:10 AM and hope to get to Jackson around 6PM.
Rosey will be following with the car, but she has already threatened that she will not let me into the car without finishing unless I'm dead :) She doesn't want to have to listen to me bitch for the next year about not finishing LOTOJA :) I guess I don't blame her.
I'm shooting for an overall course time of under 11 hours. That means that I'll have to keep a moving average of about 20 miles per hour and keep my stopped time down to about 45 minutes. I'll start in a pack of about 60 riders at 7:10 AM and hope to get to Jackson around 6PM.
Rosey will be following with the car, but she has already threatened that she will not let me into the car without finishing unless I'm dead :) She doesn't want to have to listen to me bitch for the next year about not finishing LOTOJA :) I guess I don't blame her.
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