100 Things: No. 16

#16: Snowboard in Utah: Alexi and I flew to Salt Lake City, Utah in April 2009 to go hiking and snowboarding all over the state. We stayed with her friend, Eric, who was an awesome host and tour guide. We hiked and camped in Moab and then spent 2 days snowboarding at Snowbird. It was amazing- the entire trip.

We went snowboarding on Easter Sunday in gorgeous 70 degree weather. The snow was light and powdery and the sky was the most gorgeous shade of blue. The view from the summit was, for lack of a more fitting word, epic. We could see for miles and it was perhaps the most awe-inspiring view I've ever had. (It even made up for the absurd goggle tan lines my face was left with- and by "tan" I mean blistering sunburn.)

I hope I get some snowboarding in this season. Preferably out west because it  is so icy on the east coast and I fall- a LOT. Seriously, a lot. Alexi filmed some of my runs and I wish she'd kept the camera on for my falls because they were pretty awesome from what I remember.

100 Things: No. 59

#59: Photograph Star Trails: I've been wanting to photograph star trails for years. I've tried it at home in New York, but there is so much light pollution coming from Manhattan, my town and the surrounding area that you can only make out a handful of stars to begin with. I've brought my camera on trips to Utah, Vermont, and on a road trip out west, but the weather never seemed to want to cooperate with me at night- clouds and a full moon kept getting in the way.

I finally had a brief star trail opportunity this summer in Yosemite. Matt escorted me into the darkness and I setup my camera and tripod and took a few shots at varying lengths of exposure.

I am apparently afraid of the dark. I was freaked out. I come from a land of street lamps and traffic. It was so dark that the only reason I knew Matt was Matt was because he was talking- otherwise he just looked like a dark scary figure standing to my right.

This is my only decent shot from that experience. I'm happy with it.. it has about a million more stars than I could ever see at home. One day I'd like to do a proper exposure- maybe leave the camera on all night. For now my 6 minute exposure will keep me happy.

These next 2 shots are from home. I forgot I'd taken them one night during a lunar eclipse back in December. In the first photo a strange ring of light is surrounding the moon. The real thing was even more dramatic. In the 2nd photo the clouds had cleared a bit and the moon was glowing red. I love staying up for these things. During a meteor shower a few years ago and my dad, sister and I stood out on the front lawn at 3am with his telescope watching the streaks of light fall from the sky. Pretty amazing. 

Have you photographed star trails? I'm sure some of you live in the perfect locations to try it!

100 Things: no. 63

Yosemite National Park / Mariposa Grove / June 21, 2011

 #63. Hug A Giant Sequoia Tree: While we were in Yosemite back in June, Matt and I spent a day hiking among the Giant Sequoias in Mariposa Grove. The trees in Mariposa are the easiest Sequoias to get to in the park, so as you can imagine the trees closest to the parking lot were very popular. There were fences around those trees protecting them from their thousands of yearly visitors.

As with any trail, the further we got, the fewer people we saw. We didn't have to hike more than a couple of miles before we were completely alone with the trees. These trees were just as tremendous, but far less visited so there were no fences surrounding their roots (which can stretch as far as 100 feet from the trunk.)

We had lunch with one one of the largest trees in the park (who I also hugged) and then posed with this smaller, but still giant beauty.

I miss these trees like I'd miss a friend. They were that amazing.

100 Things: no. 6

#6. Ride a Horse in Wyoming: Why in Wyoming? (that sounds funny) Don't you think of cowboys when you think of Wyoming? I feel like you have to ride a horse while visiting that state. It's like riding the subway when you visit Manhattan, you just have to- it's like a right of passage. Well, I think so.

I grew up riding every summer really- none of that fancy stuff, just western saddle rides through the woods. It had been a while since I'd been in the saddle though. Before this trip I'd gone once in the past 10 years. I guess it's like riding a bike.

Last summer while we were on our northwestern road trip, Marissa and I went on an all day ride through Yellowstone National Park. It was unbelievable. Luckily, we were in the park for the very first ride of the season. It was just us and an older couple with our 2 guides. We had so much fun and could barely walk the next day (8 hours in the saddle will do that to you when you haven't ridden in years.)

Bandit and Flop, our trusty sidekicks..

Yellowstone basically looks like another planet. That's the best way to describe it to someone who hasn't been there yet. It was so crazy to ride along through the park passing colorful hot springs and smoke rising from the ground, bison and elk grazing in the fields, grizzlies in the distance all the while thinking "I'm still in America... I'm still on this planet." It looks so different.

100 Things: no. 2

#2: Road Trip Across the USA: In February 2008 (when I was officially done with school) I went on my first big road trip- upstate New York to California. It was 15 days of amazing sights and such an incredible learning experience traveling down Route 66.

Here are a bunch of my favorite snapshots from the trip.

So many shots out the car window.. 2,700 miles is a lot of miles! I saw some of the most beautiful scenery out the car window though.

St. Louis was great. The Gateway Arch is so impressive in person and the views from the top are incredible. It was pretty terrifying traveling to the top though. The "elevator" looks more like a slightly larger washing machine.. not ok! You can also feel the arch swaying ever-so-slightly in the wind.

Of course, a trip to the Anheuser Busch Brewery was a must. I had the best glass of beer I've ever had there.. Sun Dog. I haven't been able to find it again.. I guess we don't have it in New York.

Texas sunsets were the brightest and most colorful from what I remember. I only got to see the panhandle area of Texas on this trip. I definitely want to see more of that state eventually.

New Mexico was my favorite state. Maybe it was the sign I saw on the way in .. "New Mexico, Land of Enchantment," and I believed it. It looked like a painting. New Mexico even has it's own "state question!" Red or Green? They're referring to salsa chile peppers! (thanks Kel!).. mmm the food. Oh my gosh.

I only got to hike in the Grand Canyon for one day. I would have loved to hike down into the canyon, but time and ice made that a little difficult. It was early March at this point and I thought snow and ice would be long gone, but not really. Next time I'll have to bring crampons for my shoes.

It was so interesting to see more of California. There was so much desert between Las Vegas and Long Beach. At the end of the desert area there was a giant McDonald's billboard that read "This is not a mirage." I enjoyed that, oh yes I did.

100 Things: no. 22

#22: Buy Cowgirl Boots in Arizona: In the middle of freezing December 2009, my (old) job sent me to sunny, warm Arizona for 5 days to attend a color management conference (Oh I know- nerd!) The conference reminded me of being in school. There were different sessions going on throughout the day, sort of like classes. AND one of my former professors was speaking at the conference.. really just like school! Anyway...

I had a lot of free time in Arizona because the conference sessions ended around 3-4pm everyday. I decided to go exploring and by the last day I'd seen dozens of cowgirl boot stores. Not just cowgirl boots, but entire stores dedicated to cowgirl boots.  I had to have my own. I mean, I'd seen some for sale at home, but let's be serious- we don't have cowgirls on long island. This was my opportunity to buy real, serious boots.

I decided on purple and I love them. They also come in handy for Halloween- I've been a cowgirl for the majority of my former Halloweens. (It's because I not-so-secretly want to be a real cowgirl.)

p.s. I think I said "cowgirl" about 27 bazillion times in this post.

100 Things: no 93

#93: Be featured in some sort of printed material: Since I opened my Etsy Shop, it has been a goal of mine to have one of my handmade products published in a printed piece. I didn't know how I was going to make that happen, but I knew it wouldn't be easy.

One evening during the Christmas madness I got an e-mail from an editor at Australia's Home Beautiful Magazine asking me if it would be alright for them to feature one of my hand painted plaques in their February issue. They were going to run a segment about decorating a child's bedroom and my plaques fit the bill! Alright?! Of course it was alright! It was marvelous! I didn't really believe the e-mail at first.. I thought it was some sort of joke- too good to be true, but it was real.

This is the February 2011 issue of Home Beautiful Magazine. My piece is the oval plaque featuring a little girl with balloons. I was so excited to get a real hard copy of the issue in the mail! This was definitely a little dream come true. I think this feature was a combination of working really hard and luck. I mean, out of all the amazing artists on Etsy the editors found my plaque? Maybe I should play the lottery?

Oh and I just thought that picture of Boo was too funny not to post. The sun was in his eyes and he looks kind of annoyed that I was bothering him with a camera.. again.

100 Things: no. 26

#26. Bike 25 Miles: Marissa and I went to Burlington, VT for a long weekend 2 summers ago. We spent the entire time hiking, biking and eating. Burlington is such a great outdoorsy town. One morning we rented bikes from a little shop that was right on the trail and off we went.

Biking 25 miles wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be, although parts of it were slightly grueling. It definitely helped that the trail ran along Lake Champlain with a gorgeous view of the Adirondak Mountains in the distance. It was so pretty that I might even be able to run a marathon along this trail. Wait no, that is a complete lie.. but it is pretty. Promise.

Most of the trail was paved, which was nice, but at some point the pavement went away and we were stuck with gravel. It's much, much, much harder to bike on gravel, but I guess that means it was a better workout (wonderful. not.) Paved or not, I could have ridden along there for another 25 miles, but there was a cute little crepe shop (The Skinny Pancake) calling our names and it was time for lunch. 

100 Things: no. 84

84. Hike Breakneck Ridge in NY: I made this one of my 100 Things a couple of years ago and since then I've hiked breakneck about half a dozen times. I put it on my list because I'd been wanting to do it for a while and when I finally went for the first time we ended up hiking the wrong trail by mistake.

My very first attempt was with Niki.. saying it that way makes it sound like Mount Everest.. my first attempt. Ha. What I really mean is..  since I organized the hike this was my fault- we didn't have a map. Long story short we took a trail head about 3 miles away from where we meant to start and never made it to the actual breakneck trail that day. What we did do was turn our 4 mile hike into something like 12.

The real trail head is right here before this tunnel in the image above. We drove right past it! Today I could find that trail in the dark. With my eyes closed. No, that's a lie, but I can find it ok?

The above images are not from Breakneck- they're from that first mistake hike with Niki. It was a great day though, even though we were exhausted, had to walk 4 miles along the road back to my car after we got off the trail, and feared being lost a few times. (We actually met up with another hiker on the trail and took a photo of his map so we could find our way out of the woods.. he thought we were hilarious.)

This image below is of Marissa. A month after the mistake hike, Marissa and I finally hiked the real thing. It was really, really, tough.

Alexi and I hiked breakneck last summer. We met there just for the hike.. and an awesome meal of course. I hope we get to do a lot of that this summer! Anyway, Alexi is a much faster hiker than I am and she had me running up this trail, I thought I was going to die. We're at the first viewpoint in the picture below.

Matt and I had been talking about doing this hike for years before we finally got to do it together this past summer. Ah, It's such a great trail, I'll never get tired of it.

For anyone that lives near Manhattan, the town of Cold Spring (where breakneck is) is only about 1 hour away.. and you can even take the train (Metro North) to the center of town. I highly recommend this trail, but go early because it's popular.

The trail ascends about 1200ft in the first 3/4 mile, making it pretty strenuous with some great scrambles. The unobstructed views of the Hudson River Valley make the challenge worth it.

Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for hiking season to start.