Surely all the mist won't ruin my camera...

Niagara Falls at night.

Visitors ride the Maid of the Mist tour boat at Niagara Falls wearing their provided blue plastic rain coats.

A Maid of the Mist tour boat heads towards the falls.

Onlookers gaze into the evening mist produced by the falls.

How will we ever return to a two-day weekend?

Dylan waits for the tube (BART - Bay Area Rapid Transport). We went to San Francisco for our three-day weekend and stayed at a hostel called El Capitan.

Dylan, Jen and Erica sit by a railing on the south side of the Golden Gate Bridge as we contemplate where we're going next.

The longest line we've ever seen for an ice cream shop. It's the Bi-Rite Creamery by Mission Dolores Park in San Francisco. Delicious but probably not worth the price and line.

The crew heads down the stairs to a BART station.

My new year's resolution is 1680 x 1050

Despite the colder than usual temperature of about 30 degrees, a record low for December 31 in Las Vegas, more than 320,000 people came to enjoy New Year's Eve on the Vegas strip.


At midnight, all the casino resorts along the strip synchronously shot off their fireworks.





Las Vegas Blvd. and some surrounding roads were closed to accommodate the large influx of party-goers. The city's Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) waived all bus fees after 6 p.m. on Friday to 6 a.m. New Year's Day.

Southern Nevada

NCC crewmembers place rocks in front of unauthorized trails in the Sunrise Mountain area outside of Las Vegas to prevent off-roading.


I wasn't planning on setting up my tent on this hitch. I was just going to sleep in my sleeping bag on a tarp. This tarantula, which was just a few feet away from my spot, changed my mind. Gold Butte, NV.


Keyhole Canyon, NV.


Ray, Macki and Marisa install vertical mulch to decommission an unauthorized road. A lot of our work so far has been dealing with unauthorized roads that run through environmentally sensitive or historically significant areas. One method of decommissioning roads is to install vertical mulch. We cut branches off of native creosote bushes, dig holes in the road, and then "plant" the branches in the holes. Although dead, the green creosote leaves last up to a year and helps make roads less visible to those who are searching for them.


Hugo prior to removing this unauthorized road in the Sunrise Mountain area, just northeast of Las Vegas.


Macki and Jamie install vertical mulch. Sunrise Mountain area outside of Las Vegas.


All NCC crews worked on an eight-day hitch in Corona, California the week prior to Thanksgiving. All crews set up their tents in this area.


Keyhole Canyon, NV at dusk.


Hugo, overlooking Lake Maed in the Gold Butte area of Nevada.


Crewmembers of the NCC carry salvaged irrigation tubing to be used for future projects. This land outside of Corona, California was previously used as a citrus orchard and materials like this tubing were left on the land when the land managers left.


A waterway exiting Las Vegas, which is seen in the background.

(Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.) At Ash Meadows, NV, NCC crewmembers installed native riparian plants alongside a man-made channel.

End of the Spring Mountains

The night sky over our camp, Blue Tree, in the Spring Mountains.


A few of our tents at night at Blue Tree.


Joel stands atop a boulder he climbed in Zion National Park, Utah.


A scorpion in the Spring Mountains.


Heading back to camp after work in the Spring Mountains.


The Spring Mountains.


Nevada Conservation Corps Crew #1 on our last day of trail work in the Spring Mountains.

Falmouth

A long exposure at night.


Max lying by the fire.

SIDEARM in San Francisco

San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

Alcatraz can be seen from Pier 39.

As seen from the top of the lighthouse on Forbes Island by Pier 39.

Heavy fog.

We took this boat out to Forbes Island where we ate dinner before watching Fourth of July fireworks.

Golden Gate Bridge.

Kate Bartlett.

Waiting in a lobby.

Food and Friends

Max and his fire breath.

Making pizzas.

Cutting up apples for hard cider.

This is how some people eat pizza:

Strange

Chittenango clouds.

Breaks are awesome

I have been up to nothing real important over winter break, and I can't complain. Took a walk up into the woods behind my house yesterday. London was cool, but I definitely prefer not living in a city. Not too fond of Syracuse, either.

Near the edge of the forest on a hill overlooking Chittenango, NY.

From the last week or so

Some pictures from the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. I did a photo story on a German couple from Bavaria that run a German wooden toy stand at the festival. They live up in Edinburgh and come down to London for the month-and-a-half-long event every year.

Night Shooting

30-second exposure of the Eye, which had closed down and was no longer spinning.

Just walking around

A street performer plays the bagpipe in the evening on Westminster Bridge; the London Eye in the background.

This is where I live, by the way

On the first floor, or second if you're from America.

Surprise couch surfing

Will and Levin met some American students studying in Italy for the fall who were traveling to London for the weekend. Looking for a place to stay, they invited them to stay at our flat. I'm glad it happened because they were awesome.

Danny, Will and Kiki assess some professional photographs at Piccadilly Circus.

AJ, Will and Danny enjoying the tube ride. Except Will, who is thoroughly displeased with me taking a picture.

More of being a tourist

Tourists looking off from the Eiffel Tower's second level.

Iron lattice of the Eiffel Tower.

Aww, it's a baby Louvre!

The Louvre at night, as opposed to the day when it didn't lend itself to a photograph.

A European Union and a French flag hang beneath l'Arc de Triomphe.

And for funzies, an animated gif of the tower at night. It would have helped if I held my camera still.