2019 – ImNotEd

Snowy Mountain Pics | Lovell Canyon, NV

Feiya was invited over to her friend’s house over the weekend for an overnight stay. That left Dana and myself to ourselves for 24 hours. We dropped Feiya off and headed to the best Asian buffet in Vegas- Krazy Buffet. Delicious as always! It snowed in the higher elevations around Las Vegas the before and we wanted to get some photos of the snow capped mountains.

After lunch we made our way out of town. We drove along Highway 159 leaving Las Vegas and went by Red Rock Conversation Area. It’s a beautiful place and Dana loves it. However, I wanted to show her a secret spot I found earlier this year. As we drove by Red Rock traffic was backed up and they had actually closed the entrance because it was so full. Everyone wanted photos of the snow and Red Rock was no disappointment. We could see from the highway how beautiful it was, but I knew my spot was going to be good as well.

We took a left turn at Highway 160 and headed up the pass (sorry, I can’t remember what the name of the pass is) toward Pahrump, NV. The snow was getting deeper on the sides of the road and I started to get nervous. Not about driving on the pass, NDOT had deiced the highway and roads were clear. But, looking at the side roads into recreation areas I could see some issues. The roads were snow covered and muddy under the snow. My van would not stand a chance in those conditions. I kept driving anyway.

I reached Lovell Canyon Road and we were elated to see it was clear and dry. It’s a small one lane blacktop road that drives straight into the back face of Mt. Charleston. Clear road, no crowds, and beautiful weather. We were excited. Another miracle was the wind had died down in the canyon too. I had brought my drone and there were several wind advisories in Vegas and it was really windy for most of the dive. I thought I wasn’t going to get any drone flights in. That wasn’t so. The first stop we made, a makeshift camp site, the wind was next to nothing. So, fly the drone I did!

We spent a couple of hours exploring Lovell Canyon before making our way to Pahrump. There we refueled the van and stocked up on some coffee drinks. Our next goal was to get some sunset shots. We drove Northwest toward Highway 95. I didn’t like the light conditions and I pushed on to road that leads to Crystal, Nevada. I had stopped here once on my way back from a shoot I had in Pahrump for work. I knew it would be an excellent spot for some sunset photos. It didn’t disappoint. The sky could have been a little better, but who cares, right?

I love spending days like that with Dana. It takes me back to the time I spent in South Dakota and North Dakota. Not knowing anyone I would run around on the back roads listening to music, drinking cheap coffee, and chasing sunsets. I always wished I had someone with me that would find the joy in those adventures. Well, here I am and I’ve found her!

Dana’s 40th Birthday | Las Vegas, NV

Dana will turn 40 years old this coming week. We celebrated this weekend by going to a Chinese restaurant and going for a walk in a park nearby our house.

We tried a new place to eat that was recommended to Dana by her coworkers. SK Seafood didn’t disappoint. We had ordered 4 dishes- Mongolian Beef, Sweat and sour Pork Chop, Fried Shrimp and Green Beans. We also had a big bowl of Wonton Soup. All dishes were very tasty. They were a little on the spicy side, however. Feiya didn’t like that. Can’t really blame her. So, I bought her a boba tea on the way home.

After dinner we went to a park/walking path near our house. We’ve been there a few times and it’s a nice place for walk. The weather was near perfect. The trees still have a lot of color in them as they continue to cling to their Autumn leaves. I took a lot of pics.

I used my trusty Ricoh GR II point and shoot today. I readjusted the focus back to spot focus. It worked much better today than it did our last outing in California.

Glendale Thrift Stores | Glendale, CA

This is exactly where I was hoping this blog would go. I wanted to start catching our more candid moments. Feiya is constantly doing something crazy everywhere we go. It’s a riot. We try to get her to act “natural” but, it never lasts. One minute she’s doing something insanely goofy and the next she’s pouting because we didn’t get boba tea yet. Total drama queen. It won’t be long before she discovers the drama clubs.

Last weekend it was just Feiya and myself for an afternoon of antics and thrift store shopping. Dana had a ticket to attend a religious conference in Glendale, California. We left Vegas early in the morning on Saturday and made it to Glendale in time to have a nice lunch before the conference started. The three of us picked a Thai Food restaurant in the downtown area the night before. We weren’t disappointed.

After lunch we dropped Dana off at the community center where the conference was at. That left Feiya and myself a few hours for some adventures. One of our favorite pass times is going to thrift stores. Everywhere we’ve traveled over the past year we have reserved time to visit the local thrift stores. Feiya loves hoodies and sweatshirts that are from the local colleges, schools, and landmarks. We also shop for shoes. She has nice collection of Vans and Converse. All under $15 each. ;). She loves it, because she knows I hardly ever say know when it’s at a second hand price. She’s getting a good eye for finding the good stuff. We have a lot of fun.

After thrift store shopping Feiya and myself found a chain Udon noodle shop at the mall across the street from our hotel. The portions were generous. The food was good and we had enough to take back to the hotel and make use of the fridge and microwave in our room. I had coffee and noodles for breakfast!

Our plan was to get up and head back to Las Vegas Sunday morning. It rained all day Saturday and they were calling for more on Sunday. We didn’t see any point on sticking around Sunday morning. So, we hit the road bright and early. I was looking forward to hitting the couch to watch some football and editing the Saturday pics that afternoon. Somewhere near Pomona the water pump in my van decided to call it quits. The only shop open was the Pep Boys on Foothill BLVD. They saved the day!

It was a 6 hour layover while the repairs were being done on the van. There was a Mexican restaurant next door and lo and behold, two thrift stores just a short walk away. The stores were rubbish and we didn’t find anything, but we had a fun morning/afternoon. And I was able to get some extra shots. Not bad for a rainy day in Southern California!

Just a little photography geek talk: I used my Ricoh GR II on this trip. I had my Sony A6000 with me, batteries charged and ready to go, but I didn’t even turn it on. Anyway, I changed the focus setting in the Ricoh sometime on Saturday. This is the camera I used in China last year. When I was over there I was having focusing issues. I figured out what was wrong and set the camera to fix it. The focus is slow in that camera, but works pretty damn good. Well, for some reason I decide to change it back. What f*ck was I thinking? So, that’s the reason why some of these pics are focused weird. I really don’t mind how they turned out. They look ok. Maybe even a little creative.

Listening to- Baby Blue by the Scanners.