(Garden of the Gods- August 27, 2017)

Definitely a great time was had when we took a day to go visit the Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak. There's far more to see at the Garden of the Gods than the peak. For free you have incredible views, trails you can travel on for many days and all of it mapped and easy to follow.

Pikes peak on the other hand cost $30.00 each to just drive up a road and look out from the top. I did get a cute snap of the grand daughter and I with the fabled Sasquatch though. I've never done the new write up I promised to go over what was there for all to see. I'll get to that when I redo the proper story for the visit that I lost on my last update.

Below I have the shot of the huge boulders that sit precariously perched on a ledge that actually does overhang a part of the high way below. I could see these at times as we drove up and when came to one of the rest stops where they could be viewed I tossed on a zoom lens to get a close up. I really have to get more photos up from our Colorado visit. There's so many beautiful places we got to. So more to come.

(Over hanging rocks on the way up the Pike's Peak Highway)

(Eclipse Krispy Kremes)

Well another summer is close to past, but not yet. The highlight of the summer is here tomorrow. The thing that 2017 will be most remembered for and I will be out viewing it tomorrow at 99.2%. I could drive 30 miles for totality, like the rest of the world is, but I have decided to sit in the front yard and view it in comfort but get no photos of the sun. I did not invest in the dark ND filters to allow me to photograph the one time event. I will however take lots of photos of the sky around the sun, how dark it actually gets here and anyone else hanging around in their yards to watch it. I can't wait to see if it gets dark enough here to see stars or if that less than 1% light will not allow for that kind of darkness. Very exciting in any event and my grand daughter has been counting the days all summer. I'm sure if she wasn't so excited about seeing the eclipse she would have gone home as she missed her parents so much. More on the Eclipse to come in the news.

What a summer for the little one. She learned to ride a two wheeler, did great, visited Carowinds lots for rides and water park fun, and she was finally tall enough to enjoy many of the rides. We climbed Chimney Rock and up to Exclamation Point at the state park and spent a week with my cousin I hadn't seen in years. We cycled Riverwalk together at first with her in tow in the trailer and then she was ready to ride it, even the hills. More to come on the summer 2017 in the news later this week. I'll do a write up on Carowinds, Chimney Park, the big dark day, Riverbanks Zoo trip, Riverwalk, and a trip to Denver with her first time to the mountains. It's really hard to believe so much was done in just 8 weeks of summer. Well I leave this update with what's to come in the next two weeks and,

if you wondered...The dark Krispy Kremes were worth the wait, it's a sticky liquid chocolate coating on the same melt in your mouth hot Krispy Kreme original donut. The grand daughter says it's the best Krispy Kreme ever and worth waiting in the line.

(Oh the line to get the Dark Side donuts from Krispy Kreme, the eve of the 2017 Eclipse)

(Whistler's Coastal Photography, me in uniform)

So there I go, ski season is done for another year. Maybe now I'll have some time to take photos and update my web site. I did 143 days on snow at Whistler this season, skiing at least 4 hours each day with teaching. I worked 7 days a week, it was crazy fun. I've been home almost 4 weeks and been back to actively cycling along with this year I'm adding in some more serious time inline skating to keep the ski legs during the off season. I'll do a write up in the news on just how great teaching the full year at Whistler, British Columbia was. It will have lots photos and details of how the western Epic Gathering went this year and the great snow this year. Sad news, Epicski.com has closed. The platform it was built on is canceling their forum service and Vail (they own Epicski.com now) decided to close it rather than securing some other platform to run from. From now on it will be the Pugski.com gathering and my posts and references will be there. I'm sure any of you that followed Epic will find Pugski.com a great alternate forum along with great reviews and ski articles. Check it out.

Now that I'm home I have done a couple things. I ordered a new brake and pad for my inline skates. Seems Tecnica doesn't make skates under their name now that they own Rollerblade so I could no longer get the same brake pad. I needed to learn to change the wheels, rotate them and clean them anyhow since I'm using them almost daily so I ordered a Powerslide Urban brake system which did the trick. I installed it, rotated my wheels and wiped the bearings. I should be set for the season. Powerslide makes a fully universal brake if anyone has the same issue, my reading showed the one I ordered would also work and was a little smaller.

With the money I earned at Whistler working so many days I bought a new bike. Loving it so far, had it out 3 days now. It's a Diamondback Release. The lower end of the Release line but it is sweet. I do feel more power to the pedal as they claim the frame design achieves. The 1x11 drive train I thought I would hate (new in 2017 and on many mountain bikes) I'm loving, it has all the gears I need, very fast switching and goes into gear with no stutters ever, the slightly less travel than I had previously seems plenty for what I ride these days also. I may do a review on the bike in the news. Today's ride I set some pr's even though I had trees down to deal with.

This is the one made for Performance that they are now blowing out on Amazon and Nashbar as they will not carry this Performance Exclusive Diamondback now. Good time to buy it. My research finds it to be pretty equal to the Diamondback Release 1 components, but has a few different components which I researched and they reviewed well and priced out similar. Performance also has the Diamondback Release 3 on sale in the store.

From a great winter season teaching at Whistler Mountain moving into spring and summer you'll be hearing more soon. Watch the news for all the details from Whistler and those that came to join me for the season.

Niagara Falls Festival of Lights, November 19, 2016 to January 31, 2017

Niagara Falls, Ontario - Just a reminder, the Festival of Lights start very soon. Make your plans for Opening Ceremonies next weekend. I don't see anything posted for the New Years Even concert this year, maybe if you hear something you can send me the info. Click the email link right column for Lisa. Oh, and check out photos from prior years on the News Page Festival of Lights piece.

(Windsor waterfront multi use trail)

Amid my travels in the past month I took a beautiful fall bike ride along the Windsor Waterfront Trail while I was in the area. Beautiful, I haven't been along the river in Windsor in years since I almost moved there in 2000. If some of the Casino taxes helped pay for the waterfront revamp, art work at Odette Sculpture Park and creativity along the 25 km of multi use trail weaving on and off road with 15 km off road, then it was put to good use. While riding I ran into a few young gentlemen on bmx bikes prepping a rail for one of them to attempt. Parker's friends were waxing and setting up a stair rail along with carrying video equipment. He appeared quite accomplished on his bmx bike though nervously checking the rail and height several times before attempting the jump and ride down the rail. Parker agreed to let me take photos of his attempt which I emailed to him. In the News check out if he made it on his first attempt and see what more there is for fun fun in Windsor than the casino.

(Fall 2016 - Firestone Farm, Greenfield Village)

A few more updates to the web site done. I updated with links to my last couple articles I wrote for Digital Journal before I quit writing articles, and now I've a couple new photo albums up from the past month and so much more to do. I need to get a few news articles/reviews on the news page done. I'm hoping to hit that this month. I'm starting with some current fun from October at The Henry Ford, somewhere everyone should try to see.

Last year I purchased a membership to "The Henry Ford" $60.00. The best money I've spent in a few years. Love walking around the Greenfield Village and checking out all the things Henry Ford felt were important to be preserved and seen as they were 100 years ago. There is so much to see in the museum I haven't managed to see it all. Here's the museum photo album and Greenfield Village album. You'll get the gist of it from the albums, but I have added an in the news review with more information.

Henry Ford was so far ahead of time, looking around gave me so much respect for the man. I always use his quote on my page as one of my favorite quotes, but until you see his display in Detroit you don't know enough about him.

(Fall 2016 - Introducing Peter Parker)

This little guy is definitely the biggest news of the past few months. In August we were blessed with the newest Parker, grandchild number 7, Peter. I'm sure there's years of fun to come from him and he should probably be on the news page as a blurb, but since I'm going to start using the news for newsy stuff I'll put the personal things here, on the front cover. Mighty news like this should be a cover story. Halloween is coming soon and now that I'm really up and running I have lots of material to cover. Look for a short article on low carb life with some of the meals I indulge in, then a write up on the new Denver, and a visit to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Pictures and information will be uploaded in the next couple weeks in the news.

Along with that I hope to get a little time to write up an article on teaching my grand children to ski. Had the pleasure of teaching 2 more this past winter. I'll offer tips to make it fun for all and help for challenging situations. My oldest grandson has high functioning autism, which could have been a real challenge but we worked through it. He learned to ski in a day and I learned some new tricks to help with these situations in future. It wasn't really something new, but a great way to deal with something common. With ski season fast approaching I'll try to get this written before the winter to help others. Doesn't matter that I've taught skiing for 20 years now, my grandson taught me something great last winter.

(Aspen in February 2016)

Well it's not an easy task to try to catch up on 2.5 years so I won't. I'll give you an overview of this year coming and what I'm planning. In the past year I completed and passed my CSIA level 3 ski instructor exam, I've done some of the usual ski trips and I'm still taking tons of photos and working on my photography skills with courses, on line webinars etc. I've purchased some new lens since I last posted and some new ski equipment that I'll plan on reviewing now that I've time.

Where was I the past 2 years? I was getting in shape again. I wanted to be in great shape for my Level 3 exam as very few people actually pass that level. Only 3 of the 40 with me at the spring 2015 exam actually passed the full certification (both ski and teach portions). I was one, but that is what I was working on for that year. I cycled (single track trails) 2 to 4 hours a day, along with getting to the trails and home each day, I ate low carb (50 net carbs a day) to try and maintain nutritional ketosis to help my endurance. It all paid off. I passed; I have completed one season now teaching as a level 3. I am just going back to the low carb diet for 30 days this month. I really feel great when I follow it but it's a hard diet to stay on long term with no sugar or sweets and so much cooking required. I have tried to follow a semi low carb diet since passing my exam (more paleo style) but want to do 30 days to show people how healthy the meals actually are as so many think it's all bacon and sausage when in reality it is tons of vegetables, some meat for protein, fats, and little to no processed food. It's all real food cooked or treats baked at home to allow no sugar.

In the coming month I'll be doing a 30 day low carb stint and documenting 7 days of low carb meals in photos. I'll also post links to my daily diet in pdf format from nutritiondata.com. That will be my big post for next time since it will be very time consuming to log everything and do the photos. I have an end of the year ski trip coming up yet, of course I'll add some information on it and photos. If there's time over the summer (if I slow down my training), I'll get some reviews on my newest ski boots, my favorite skis and a couple of resort reviews.

(New Orleans Jazz in August - heat you can feel)

I spent a great deal of time on the road since my last update taking photos and writing for digital journal. I received an honorable mention in the Digital Journal Photo Essay contest for my Balls Falls Photo Essay. Balls Falls has been good to me this year, I also sold one of my photos of Balls Falls to Greenbelt.ca to be used in a Bruce Trail guide and on the trail sign header. I have been to Biloxi four times with popping over to New Orleans for dinner. My granddaughter decided to come for a 3 week visit and then fall was already here.

It has all been so much fun. Add to this to mountain drives and hikes along with adding tons of new stock photos to my Istock portfolio and finally starting to upload and get some sales on my Shutterstock portfolio, it has been a productive few months. You can also find my less stockish, more art photos now on sale at Fine Art America where prints and canvas' can be ordered. If I get any more serious and busy I'll have no time to write in here at all. What a struggle I've had getting time for this update. Wish I had time to add an update to the news too but I am booked for the next 3.5 weeks so that isn't going to happen. Next update will be after Christmas sometime in the 2104 year.

Cars and car shows are a main event these days. Corvette has finally launched their seventh generation Corvette, giving it back the Stingray name and a new look to go with it. You can read a couple of my articles on the vette at digital journal here and here. I'll be sure to add the slide show from the Rick Hendrick's Chevy corvette VIN 002 unveil to the photos page also. If i get really energetic I'll repost the unveil article one Parkersspace news.

I went and saw my first drag racing this past quarter. Greer, SC runs a 1/8th mile track. For $7.00 every Thursday night you can go check out friends race cars or race your own, provided you wear a helmet. It was fun to practice some motion blur photos and see friends race to beat their times. I felt like I had stepped back in time and been given the chance to participate in the race fun of the 50's and 60's. What a great way to spend an evening watching the cars and bikes race down the track and hearing the owners stories of the nitrous systems they've put in and mods they have done in hopes of a better time. The roar of the motors revving and ties spinning at the start line was an adrenaline rush. The owner of the vette in my photo was hoping to make it in to the 5's with some improvements he had made. Success, he made the 5.9 he was looking for.

By far the most fun of the past few months was three weeks with my grand daughter. She got her passport and the first thing she said is I get to go to gamma's now! No problem I was right there to get her. I have so many great photos of her (she's beautiful what can I say) but the one below from the park is one of my favorite. My next few weeks will take me to visit the grandchildren again over the US Thanksgiving.

(September with the granddaughter)

I have spent a lot of time hiking in October and November along with drives in the mountain. Nothing like the Autumn weather to make hiking a perfect pass time. Can't wait to do more. You can see more of my autumn photos at my Simply Photos Fine Art America site. Updates at Parkersspace are done for now until the New Year. Until the next time keep your eyes out for the photo page updates with the past few months photos. I'll be cruising Bahamas soon too and you'll hear about that on the next update. I'll make sure I note the main page when I put them in.

(November in South Carolina, Kings Mountain State Park)

Well, it has been an interesting spring and summer where I have kept myself busier than ever. With the new car came a new pastime to fit in with all the rest. Since purchasing the C6 Corvette I have attended a steady stream car shows, rides and corvette shows. A relaxed breakfast for fun and a favorite event has been the Cars and Coffee meet and greet in Charlotte, North Carolina on the first Saturday of every month. I was there in May and June and put up a photo album of the June event on the Photo page. You can read my Cars and Coffee article at Digital Journal with all the details and further information about Cars and Coffee. Another great show was the 1st annual Silver Willow Classic Car and Truck Show in Mansfield, Ontario. The grand kids came along for that show and we all had a great time. The Silver Willow Classic had a great turn out and was lots of fun. Find the Silver Willow photo album here and more information at Digital Journal where my Silver Willow Classic review is published.

I made lots of time for family over June and July. My mom and dad made it down to South Carolina for the annual visit. That was terrific. I thought my mom and dad may not be in shape to travel down this year but they were and they came for a full 2 week visit. They had their fun shopping as usual. It was just nice to see them here, relaxed and having fun. For the month of July I went and stayed with my grand kids for a month. I love the chance to get to play with them and wish I had more time for that.

With the grand kids I had fun at the beach, made it to the zoo, the Silver Willow Car Show, Niagara Falls and the Welland Canal with at least some of them along for each. I haven't made up an album of my time with the kids yet, but I plan to do that in the next week or two while I have a break from traveling.

I have decided with the time I need to write for Digital Journal I'll be cutting back updates on this web site to every 3 to 4 months. I may put up small updates in between, but my plan is for updates to show up by the end of December, March, June, September. As it's August now, it will likely be December for my next this year. I may post some news items in between or small recaps but no promises. Feel free to check more often.

(June 18, 2013 - Mom and Dad at the mall)

I have been updating a little, but what's really happened is I've been writing for Digital Journal and not put in a full update here over the winter, so yes, I have been busy and doing stuff and even writing. I did get to teach my neighbours daughter how to have a snow ball fight who had never made a snow ball!. Now it's time to catch up all my regular readers.

First off I've been to Victoria for a few weeks and Whistler to ski twice but not done the photos or updates so that will be coming this month. I went to the Blue Knob, PA epic ski gathering for the first time in a few years, had a fabulous time but I've not done that story or photos. I hit Sugar Mountain, NC as usual, and did a write up for Digital Journal about North Carolina skiing, but no separate write up on Sugar Mountain, guess I have to work on that too. I have been out Myrtle Beach to visit great friends, Jim and Joy Cuff who own the Bear Lake Lodge I took the grand kids to last summer. While heading to the beach a needed stop in Conway, SC had me finding it has lots of historic flare to offer and put up a photo album and wrote an article on the Historic Conway, SC, for Digital Journal. As you can see, I have been busy. Stories or at least photo albums will come in the next month or two of all the happenings to go with the two photo albums that I already added to the photos page.

All this along with getting a new car, some hiking, the Charlotte Auto show, and the Thin Blue Line Ride, 5th annual was this past weekend to keep me busy all winter while I wasn't able to teach skiing this year. You will find the re-posted article from Digital Journal on the Thin Blue Line 2013 ride in the news now. Feel free to read either or just check out the photos here.

In November Shutterstock accepted my images for contribution, so I have been very slowly sending in photos to them also. The sales there are quite good I hope to have time to get many more sent in to them.

(February 10, 2013, Whistler Blackcomb, Ruby Bowl)A sneak peak from Ruby Bowl, Whistler/Blackcomb, BC and I hope to get a review article up with information for all on accommodation, terrain and runs.