Road Trip Parte Fina

So here is the San Francisco treat, toured all of downtown for a day. Fisherman's Wharf, the Bay Bridge, The Golden Gate was socked in with fog, but the tops broke out every now and then. Went to Ghirardelli Square, and ate at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Restaurant.

Went to Santa Cruz the same night as San Fran, toured the old downtown area, and listened to some great musicians on the street.

Big Sur. I spent a couple days with my sister Amber, Dave and Zoe, Micah, and Ely. Good times with them. Dave and I went for a 25 mile bike around Monterey, Carmel by the Sea, and Pebble Beach and then we all went down to Cannery Row for the night and there was big car show. Sadly I forgot my camera for all that.

Stopped in Los Angeles for a day and visited an friend, Ali Taylor. She gave me the tour of Pasadena near her house as well as Santa Monica and Downtown L.A. Then went down and spent a couple days in Huntington Beach, read on the beach and did a little surfing. The pictures aren't of me surfing, but you could imagine what it would be like.

Then San Diego for 3 days with my best friend Coy. Need I say more, nay. We had a good time, we always do!

That my friends was the end of the California road trip. It was a grand adventure for 2 weeks that healed my soul and helped me refocus on life. I now work for the man, but don't worry I won't let him hold me down. There will be more adventures! Just you wait.

Road Trip Parte Dos

Here is the recap of the hike up Half Dome. This little jaunt of 16 miles was quite the test of strength and determination. I had already hiked out of my camp for 10 miles, and the Half Dome hike gains 4,800 vertical feet in 8 miles up and then 8 back down. I was plumb tuckered out by the time I got to the top and probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have if I wasn’t a little dehydrated and my quads cramping every step I took. But it was still a spectacular site to behold and worth the effort.

I entered the famous Yosemite Valley on the El Portal road and was immediately struck by the amazing cliff faces, the famous El Capitan rose above the valley and beckoned me to climb it one day, just another thing to add to my list of things to do. The things I add these days seem to all require lots of gear that I don't have, but hey its out there and so is REI. The valley was carved anciently by glaciers and left this amazing gorge of cliff faces and waterfalls.

The Trail passed two splendid waterfalls, Vernon and Nevada Falls. They were super small compared to there early spring size. You can see the darker brown rock behind the falls that show the massive size they get earlier in the year. This is Vernon Falls. This is me on the top of Half Dome; a lovely mother took my picture of me on the crazy “diving board of death.” There were tons of cairns on the top of the dome as well; I added my own little addition to many of them. Then the cable trip back down ensued with my crazy Belgian friends, Casper and Rico.

Nevada Falls

So that is the second volume of my journey! After I hobbled down the 8 miles from the top of Half Dome, I went to San Jose and stayed with some friends and started my journey down the Pacific Coast Highway. Yosemite was amazing and I will certainly be returning one day to explore the vastness that I only saw from a distance.

Road Trip Parte Uno

So I quit my job! Yep, I was done, finito, so I quit, no plans, no back up just quit. I found another job three days later, but that’s not the point. I was free. I stuck it to the man. To fully celebrate the liberty I was experiencing I went on a road trip, just up and left, with a plan in my head, but no set details. I set off in my trusty Subaru for California. So I drove 2680 miles, had one oil change, saw some beautiful scenery and had many good times in between, now I’m back, working for the man again. It was great while it lasted. Freedom, that is.

Here is the famous UTAH TREE, what it is and what it represents can only be spoken of by the creator, which I don’t know who that is, and really don’t care. The tree is located on I-80 just before the Utah-Nevada border.

There was an odd beauty to behold as I crossed Nevada at sunset. It’s probably the only time that this beauty can be found, so I’m glad I had good timing.

I got to Lake Tahoe around 10:30 on September 21^st and found a campsite on the south west side of the lake called Emerald Bay and plopped down to take some night pictures with my tripod. Amazing stars!

I woke up to the sunrise coming over Emerald Bay, and as you can see I was breathless! I proceeded to drive around the rest of the south side of the lake and decided I will one day live in Lake Tahoe. You’ll probably hear that a lot throughout this journey, I want to live everywhere.

I stopped here at the MeadowCliff Lodge and Resort for breakfast. Martha (I just made that name up, she seemed like a Martha) was the greatest server ever, and I enjoyed sourdough French toast special. I told the lovely ladies of the restaurant, I was the only one in there, about my job quitting and road trip, they fully endorsed my get-away!

This is Mono Lake, just to the east of the Yosemite east side entry. It was an interesting experience; it is a sulfuric lake and thus reeked of salty farts and seemed to be void of all life forms of life besides these seagulls. The brown specks you see on the side of the lake and in the water are brine flies, inches thick and quite repulsive. I didn’t know these flies were there until I walked to the edge of the lake and saw the ground moving beneath my feet.

After my stellar sausage links, French toast, and fly breakfast I entered Yosemite National Park through Tioga Pass on the east side of the park. I checked into the ranger station and got my backcountry permit and picked a 15 mile loop to the Young Lakes to backpack into. This was not the ranger station, but it might have been back in the day.

I hiked in for about 7 miles and found the first of the 3 Young Lakes to be a solitary and beautiful to set up camp for the next 3 days. The picture below is the view of my campsite and the next picture is the view from my campsite looking north. The other 2 lakes were to the east of the first lake and I explored those on the next day of my camping trip. I also climbed the mountain right above my campsite on the second day and watched the sunset to the southwest over the entire Yosemite Park. I could see Half Dome and Cathedral Peak from my perch on this rocky precipice.

The many faces of this mountain, which I do not know the name of but woke up to said goodnight to for my first three days in Yosemite. Here are some more pictures of my adventures around the Young Lakes.

So yeah that what my adventure around the Young Lakes. I backpacked in on Monday night and left at 5 am on Thursday morning. I then drove to the “tourist” part of the park and saw the glorious El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls, and proceeded to hike up the famous Half Dome. I’m going to include the Half Dome pics and recap in the next post.

Brett and Carlie Engagement's

So here is some of the photo's from the engagement set I took of Brett and Carlie. They are getting married on August 12th. I'm also shooting the wedding day, so look for those soon after.

The Photography Site!!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!!
Behold the photography website of Tyler Neal is now in existence!! Go henceforth to it and enjoy the visual splendor!! And spread the news like wild fire among the provinces of your lives.

Disclaimer, the site is still in a very rough outlive version, there are still quite of few glitches to work out and many more photos to come. Be patient, check often and you will see the growing work of me!

Thanks, yer all the best.

The Address-www.tylerparrisphotography.com

RollerCoaster of Emotion

Transient, wanderer, vagabond, hitchhiker, one who moves from one place of residence to another in a matter of weeks. That has been my life the past few months. Since November 22, 2008 I have lived in three different homes, some less permanent than others. I think that I might be done moving for the next 2 months, which for me is stable and I'm enjoying not living out of my backpack's and boxes.

I moved from Driggs, Idaho to Logan, Utah for about a week. Mostly sleeping on my friends couches, I did find a new place to live, a couple roommates, and a job at Cafe Sabor. Then the bigger better deal came up in Heber City Utah. You might be thinking the only redeeming quality of Heber is Dairy Keen, and what a joint it is. Smashing good shakes. I got a job at the Zermatt Resort in Midway. When I say I got a job I really mean they offered me a job, and then a month long ordeal ensued of actually trying to get the job and start working instead of living of my savings account. During this ordeal I also pursued other possibilities for employment and luckily I was hired in Park City at the restaurant Maxwell's East Coast Eatery. Long story short the Zermatt lasted about 5 working shifts and it was time to be done. Scheduling conflicts and poor managament made me decide to just stick with the job at Maxwell's. I commuted to Park City every day and then extenuating circumstances at my residence in Heber created the need to find another place to lay my weary head. This was four weeks after I had moved in. I never really moved in, the boxes were still full, the clothes still in suitcases and backpack's were still full. I somehow felt that I wasn't supposed to be in Heber.

I found a new place in Salt Lake right at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, the moment I checked out the property I felt at home. This is the place!!!! At least for another couple weeks. Well my contract is until June, so I'm here till then. Who knows what will happen after that. California, Colorado, Oregon, New Zealand. The options are endless really. Any input will be accepted with an open heart and arms. I'm still working up in Park City as a waiter at the Maxwell's restaurant, come in for some amazing pizza if you so desire. I feel somewhat stable in knowing the plan of my life for the next 5 months. Thats as far as I can think ahead. I will be traveling back to Rwanda in May, if I can raise the fundage, upon my return I will be working in the wonderful world of Especially For Youth, as a Building Counselor. This will be taking place in Salt Lake and in Logan. After the joy of EFY I have volunteered my body to science and will be traveling to Guatemala to test a new patch that is supposed to prevent a common travel aliment, diarrehea, I'm sure you all wanted to know that so I felt inclined to tell you.

I have been working alot lately with my friend and master web designer, Katrina, on my photography website. The goal is to have it up and running my the beginning of April, once that is ready I'll be more diligent in posting my photos up on that website, and I'll post here to let the 4 of you that read this in on the secret web address so you can spread the news like wildfire.

Pre-Emptive Powder

So yesterday, Thursday, whilst my kiddies were in Anthropology I went skiing. Its true, on November 6th, its a little early you might be saying, but you forgot I live in the arctic tundra of Idaho. The resort Grand Targhee, the locals mountain, won't be open for business till the day of Thanksgiving, but there is snow on the mountains and plenty of it. I drove to Targhee, about 20 minutes from my cabin, packed the skis on my back, donned my ski boots, walked right in front of all the employees preparing the resort for opening day and hiked up the mountain. I'd say "ok, when I get to the top of this little hill, I'll ski down" then I would get to the top of that little hill and see another little hill, so I'd climb to the top of that one. Come to find, I went all the way to the top of the mountain. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top, a 7 minute chair lift ride. Who needs chair lifts when you have legs? Well the ride down was about 14 minutes, but man was it worth it. The powder was up to my knees, not much base, which means I scraped quite a few rocks, but nothing too damaging. I got back to the ranch after my euphoric experience, and the kids were still in class. Poor saps! Its just the first of many good powder days to come this winter.