Mike's Blog: April 2009

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

No post for the day.

We are all very busy with setup at the Show, so no blog post today. We will try to resume shortly.

cheers,
Michael, Mary Dawn and boys...

Monday, April 27, 2009

Oregon Trip Day 3

April 25, 2009 - Day 3 Twin Falls to Hood River

written by Mary Dawn (with all of the "fluffy words" : )

Link to Photo Map

The day began after our complimentary breakfast from the Shilo Inn at Perkins. Came back to our room, and Valentino helped me write the previous day’s adventures for our Blog. Arf! How fun was that : )

On the way out of town, we passed a giant balloon dog…probably the town Mascot - DID YOU KNOW, that Twin Falls is ranked the #3 ranked Pet Friendly town in Idaho?!? WOOF!

We then drove north west on I-84 along the relative route of the historical Oregon Trail, where thousands of Pioneers travelled out west to establish a new life in the “Wild West”.

We stopped for a break in the historical town of Glenns Ferry, where the Pioneers had to cross the Snake River. We saw some real Pioneer wagons, and Valentino got to see his first Tumble Weed and chew on his first Sage Brush stick! Both Smokie and Valentino had a great time stretching their legs at this scenic spot.

We were also surprised by the beautiful Winery that we passed on our way to Glenns Ferry. Did you know that Idaho has some very nice wines? We treated ourselves to a couple of bottles of Cabernet 2005 “Idaho” to try later on from a winery called St Chappelle .

Back on the road…and eventually we came to the Oregon Border. Yippeee! We felt like the Pioneer travelers, reaching another milestone and so we took a break to celebrate at a very nice rest stop where the pups had their “lunch” and where we met our first other Bernese on his way to the Specialty show in Portland. It turned out that this Berner was related to Smokie Bear! What a small world!

Still many more hours to drive, so back in the car…we continued our journey. Eventually I-84 met up with the Columbia river which would accompany us for many miles for the rest of the way to Hood River. The landscape became more rolling and hilly and what we remember from this stretch of the way was the wind. Powerful winds made driving a concentrated effort and we saw more windmill power generators than we had ever seen before.

A couple of hours later…we arrived eventually at the beautiful Columbia Cliff Villas , next to the historical Columbia Cliff Hotel, which would be our home for the next couple of days. After feeding and walking the pups, we went for dinner at the best restaurant thus far on our trip, Brian’s Pour House. . I had an amazing “Ahi Tuna Tower” and Michael had a wild “Morel” mushroom pasta dish. Yum!

We were both so knackered after our extremely long drive, that we did not last long…so early into bed that night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

As always check out the MAP at http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelmowerymedia/sets/72157617304372835/map/

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Oregon Trip Day 2

April 24, 2009 - Day 2 Moab to Twin Falls

Written by Mary Dawn,

Picture Slideshow at bottom.

Woke up to a brilliant sunshine day today and took the dogs to a wonderful park before breakfast for them to romp and play. Then, we went to breakfast at the "in" place to have breakfast in Moab - the Jailhouse Cafe, which started off as the county's first courthouse. After a power breakfast, we packed up the dogs, said good-bye to the friendly hotel staff got on the road for a long day's drive - ugh!

We took lots of pictures along the way...showing the change in topography as we drove from the red desert sands and rock of the Moab Canyonland/Arches area up through a snowy mountain pass, stopping off for a late lunch in Provo...and then trying to take pictures of the Great Salt Lake just north of Salt lake city.

After a good 7 hour drive, we finally arrived at our destination: Twin Falls and had quite the surprise! We took a short detour as we entered into town when we saw a sign saying "Scenic Overlook" and boy what an overlook!

We were presented with an amazing bridge called the Perrine Memorial Bridge, the Snake river and a breathtaking gorge. The bridge alone is a well worth a visit:

"The Perrine Memorial Bridge over the Snake River Canyon marks the northern entrance to Twin Falls, Idaho. At 1500 feet in length, the longest span bridge in the United States' west and stands 486 feet above the Snake River."

Indeed, when it was built, it was the highest bridge in the world! The bridge and gorge at this spot are famous around the world as one of the best BASE jumping bridges in the world.

Anyhow, after taking some great early evening shots of the bridge, we drove to our hotel, the beautiful Shilo Inn. We felt like royalty in our beautiful and spacious suite.

We were quite tired, so after feeding the pups, we went for some dinner to a local restaurant called Jakers. Afterwards, we came home and crashed...to prepare for our biggest drive coming up the next day.

ALSO make sure you check out the MAP with Geotagging!!!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelmowerymedia/sets/72157617252530301/map/

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Oregon Trip Day 1

Hello from the Oregon Trip:

April 23, 2009 - Day 1 Telluride to Moab

Written by Mary Dawn,
Mary Dawn, Valentino, Smokie Bear and Michael are heading out to Portland, Oregon for the Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty. It is actually a work trip with some sightseeing along the way.

We headed out of Telluride, with a very FULL vehicle. Valentino can't grow too much more or he won't fit. :)

After about a 2.5 hour drive down from the San Juan Mountains to the arid desert town of Moab, we unloaded at our "Fido Friendly" ** hotel, the River Canyon Lodge. After the dogs opened their complementary "treat" bag given to them by the hotel (yum!), we got changed quickly for an early evening hike. How nice not to have to put on jackets and sweaters, as the temperature in Moab was a pleasant 78 degrees : )

** (Note that Mary Dawn is writing an article about the places we stay for Fido Friendly Magazine, so all of the nice hotels along the way are complementing our stay! Sweet!)

The hike we chose was the Negro Bill Canyon Hike, which was quite the adventure and perfect for the dogs, as it followed a clear creek up the canyon the whole way. Both Smokie Bear and Valentino greatly enjoyed the hike, as they got to see their first cactus and ford the creek in many places! Valentino did great. At first he was a little nervous about crossing the creek, but in the end he was quite the pro!

We got a late start and did not make it all the way to the bridge at the end, but we had lots of fun. Indeed, we turned back just in time, as it was quite dark by the time we got back and I had to use my light off my phone to help guide Mary Dawn. The dogs had great night vision and had no problems finding the trail.

All-in-all, the exciting canyon hike and first night in Moab were a great kick-off to our western adventure trip - and such a warmer-upper after being so many months in the cold and snow.

The following photos are a collections of mine and Mary Dawns. She is doing a lot of the processing of descriptions and tagging as we drive on the road.

Click on the arrow below to see a slide show of our first day's photos.

Another exciting thing is that I am NOW Geogagging my photos. You can see on a map where the photos are taken. Click the link -> Flickr MAP of photos from day 1 VERY COOL. I will write more about how I did this later.

Note, I will TRY to keep a daily, running blog of the trip, so check back regularily!

Also, please make comments below or if you want to follow our tweets on the right, (Yes! We will be "twittering" along the way!) or at http://twitter.com/mmowery or http://twitter.com/marydawn or http://twitter.com/valentinoschatz or http://twitter.com/smokiebearpup

Ok better go, I now need to download day 2 photos and geotag them so Mary Dawn can add descriptions to them on the drive.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Annual digging out the grill (lots of snow)

For my friends that live on the Front Range of Colorado, we still have snow up in these hills.

I had wanting to possibly grill out "soon", so I started the process of "finding the grill".

For those who study snow pack, the first couple of pictures show the different snow events. As you can see December (early in the season) we had lots and lots of snow. Then our spring was less, with a couple of dust storms in between.

Even though it is snowing now, the snow will start to melt fast. The grills are in the shade, but a little solar energy should melt around the grill just fine.

Now that skiing is done her (at least lift access), snow events don't excite me as much. :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Signs of Off Season

The Telluride Daily Planet ran an article OFF-SEASON
What’s open, what’s closed this off-season with open/closed dates of Telluride businesses.

I took it a different approach by taking pictures of the posted Off Season Signs around town.

Note: Apology in advance for those that did not make it into this list. Please make a comment below, and I will see if I can include you.

Alpen Schatz