fstopandsee

The radio towers on top of Alpine Meadows. This scene is a short hike from the top of the Cornice Six lift, and is on your way to much of the better terrain that the mountain has to offer.

A beautiful evergreen tree offset from the bright sky, with a nice trimming of new fallen snow.

This dead tree at Squaw Valley marks a shoot and rock garden area off of KT-22. It is an imposing tree as you are approaching it, which is appropriate as so is the entrance to the shoot and surrounding area. There are lots of granite rocks to hit if you aren’t careful, but the snow below makes it all worth it.

The Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum is simply breathtaking! This was an addition to the original museum and is certainly more noticeable than the rest of the structure. The 217 foot wide sunscreen you can see here opens and closes each day, or when the winds become too strong. I think it looks like a huge bird about to take off and fly over Lake Michigan.

A very big satellite dish. It was either for a very big job or old technology. Either way, it made for an imposing subject in front of the direct sunlight beaming down on it.

Some strong storms came through Northern California last week. Clouds like these were more common than they have been for a long time, and I appreciated the change in the weather. I took the opportunity to get some detail shots!

The Milwaukee River at night! I don’t make it back to my homeland of Wisconsin very often in the summer. On this trip I was able to spend a night in Milwaukee with some friends, and had to check out this part of downtown. It was a cool clear night, and the lights shone perfectly off of the water. I didn’t have a tripod so I had to make the best of it by using a railing and some steady hands, and everything worked out just fine!

We were on our way to a warm land with pristine beaches. First, we had to fly over the beautiful snow-capped mountains. I’m not sure which I like better.

The hike to Round Top starts by going through a wooded area. You eventually break out to where you can finally see the top of the peak, your destination for the day, off in the distance. From this point it felt pretty far away but we all knew it would be worth it! I really like the way the trail and string of skiers extends out toward the peak, reaching out for it.

I had a great weekend. I spent one day back country skiing on a peak called Round Top in the Sierras with a great group of friends. I spent the next day skiing at a resort. There wasn’t much new snow which is uncharacteristic for this time of year around here, but the hike, view and overall experience were amazing. This was one of my favorite views from the hike. It was taken from the top of Round Top just before we began our descent. The true Kirkwood fans out there will recognize the backside of the resort in the right third of the image.