Cruise to the Bahamas – Day 1, 2, 3

On By stefrobrtsIn telescope, travel, vacationLeave a comment

In May Dave set up a great vacation for us – our first cruise! We’ve had friends go on cruises who really enjoyed it, so we decided to give it a shot. He got a great deal on a Bahamas cruise, and all we had to do was fly to Florida to catch the boat. And if you’re in Florida you might as well go to

-Disneyworld!

We started with what was supposed to be a day at DisneyWorld, and a day at Animal Kingdom, before heading to Cocoa Beach to catch the ship. The first afternoon in town was just spent checking out areas outside the park, riding the gondolas, stuff like that. Lots of bus-catching.

Dave has a way about visiting places like Disneyland, He has everything planned out, with the passes and the waiting queues and all that, I don’t even know, if it was just me I’d probably get through 5 rides a day. he’s got us there early and dashing from ride to ride at top speed.

This is all I need to say…

Unfortunately going from 3k steps a day in my sedentary job, to 12k steps in the longest day of my life resulted in me getting blisters on my foot, which left me feeling pretty crippled. There was no way I could do another 12k at Animal Kingdom the next day. So Dave shuffled our schedule to put off Animal Kingdom, and took me to..

Cocoa Beach

a day early. And that day was mostly spent:

With my feet up, enjoying the view from the balcony. This may be my new favorite way to spend vacation.

There were planes!

There were ships!

Endless entertainment. Seriously, I was loving it! Dave went and took a dip in the pool (I didn’t want to with the blisters on my foot, so I just stayed on the sidelines and relaxed)

Dave absolutely nailed it with his selection of this authentic mid-century hotel

Also, there was food and putt putt golf within easy walking distance.

Rockets!

The most exciting thing that happened, we did not get any decent pictures of – there was a Space X rocket launch that evening! We had stopped in a Walgreens to pick up some clip on sunglasses because I lost my sunglasses at Disney, and while chatting with the clerk she mentioned we might get to see a rocket launch that evening. So we looked it up, and sure enough, it sounded like it would be visible from our hotel room balcony! Dave went and picked up takeout so we could eat on the balcony, and wait for the rocket launch. It kept getting delayed, and we were afraid they were going to call it off, but finally it was a go. When the countdown on the Youtube feed hit zero, we saw the sky to the north light up, and this tiny bit of fire appeared above the neighboring buildings. As it climbed higher it was crackling and you could feel it in your chest, it was amazing! No video I’ve ever seen has captured how much of it you can *feel*! It disappeared off to the East over the ocean. What an awesome thing to get to see!

Kennedy Space Center

The next day’s scheduled activity was a visit to the Kennedy Space Center. I was super excited when I found out they had a Space Shuttle! That has been on my list for a long time! So we got there bright and early, and as soon as the gates opened we headed straight for the Space Shuttle – it was easy to locate.

We were among the first people there. Although the place was full of children being offloaded from school busses, the first group in to see the shuttle was almost all adults. We watched a little pre-movie, and then they opened the screen, and we were face to face with Atlantis – it was stunning!

Since our small group was the first in, we could slowly walk around and enjoy looking at it from every angle, listen to the museum guide, and just take it all in, it wasn’t crowded, it wasn’t loud, it was perfect! We had it to ourselves for about 20 minutes before the first mob of screaming children got in.

And of course, if there’s an Airstream around, we’ll find it!

There was also a really stunning memorial to the astronauts of the two lost missions, and a few pieces of the shuttle debris from each, tucked away in a quiet corner. It was a very humbling tribute to who those people were, and the cost of adventuring into space.

We went on a bus tour of the facilities, which took us out to see some of the launch sites, and along the way the road was blocked for a few minutes because they were bringing back the SpaceX booster rockets from a previous launch! I don’t know if it was last night’s launch, or if they turn them around that fast, but either way, it was cool to see.

As space geeks it was pretty cool to see all this stuff we have been seeing on TV our whole lives!

This was the Apollo/Saturn V area.

It was a great experience, I’m so glad we worked it in. Seeing a rocket launch the night before and then getting to see all this was amazing! It was hot though, and humid, and we were pretty wore out by the end of it. We were ready to go get pampered on a cruise ship.

Sweet Navi turns 14!

On By stefrobrtsIn naviLeave a comment

Navi continues to be a little spitfire, chasing squirrels, harassing cats, destroying toys, barking at everything going on in the neighborhood. She is my little shadow, constantly underfoot, and always wanting to go places, even if it means riding in the car, which she hates. She loves going to visit her Aunt Sherry for Spa Days and Sleepovers. She may nap a little more than she used to, but that’s about it. Without jinxing anything, I hope she continues running the house for a long time!

Kayaking, fishing, and kayak fishing!

On By stefrobrtsIn boat, dave, fishing, kayak, outdoorsLeave a comment

All of 2023

It was a good year for getting out on the water!

Back at the very end of 2022 I bought this adorable little blue rowboat on a trailer. I was hoping this would be the trick for getting out on the water more regularly.

The guy I bought it from was really nice and didn’t mind signing extra paperwork the DMV wanted as I tried to get it registered. The boat was no problem, as it had a title, but the trailer did not, and that caused me a world of headaches. Because of Covid, the State Patrol was short on inspectors and had closed the Vancouver inspection station. To get it inspected for a temporary title, I would need to take it to Centralia! It wasn’t in any shape to go to Centralia, and I never intended to take it so far anyway. It definitely needed some work before that trip.

As soon as we had a sunny day, we took the little boat when it was a slow time (when there would be no pressure at the boat ramp) and launched it at Lacamas. I HATED it! I mean, H A T E D it. I did not like how wobbly it felt, and I was sure I was going to fall in at any moment. It was really hard to get in and out of. Two thumbs down from me. There was no way I would be launching and using this boat by myself.

So I sold the boat (It had a title, so no problem). But I had other plans for the trailer. I tried fitting the kayak on it.

I just couldn’t adjust the rollers to fit the kayak.

First I stripped off the old rollers and winch, then I set it up for my kayak.

I used 2x4s across the frame, and two big 3″ PVC pipes for the kayak to ride on, because the PVC fits down the center channels in the hull, and flexes slightly to support it. I put a roller up at the very front for the nose to ride on. And then the real piece that made this all work:

Its own set of wheels!

Now I had the ability to take my kayak wherever I wanted, all by myself. I can hook up, backup, and take the kayak off and launch it.

And so that is what I did all summer long. I got the kayak out more than ever before.

There is no such thing as a bad day in a kayak. Kayak makes every day better.

I did a lot of fishing inside and outside of the kayak this year. I got my hands on a lot of little fish.

The biggest fish I caught this summer! Considering I have had summers without catching *any* fish, I think this is a sign I’m getting better.

The Boat Trailer

So, I was having a great time, but the boat trailer was still a problem, because I was running around without a license on it, and I felt like my days were numbered before I would have to explain myself to a cop. So I did all the work it needed. I put proper chains on it, I got the wiring working, I replaced the lights with submersible ones, I put new tires on it. I got it a spare. I made sure I was meeting every requirement in the State Patrol rule book. I tried every week to get an appointment in Vancouver, but they kept saying the only appointments available were still in Centralia. So I gave up and got an appointment there.

In July we finally made our way up there (it’s like an hour and a half each way of high-speed freeway driving), stopping at a CAT Scale on the way because the inspection requires a weight – only to find the trailer was too light to weigh. Just as we got to the exit on the freeway for the inspection station, I looked in the rearview and saw a fender fall off! It was still attached, but just barely! We got to the station and I went inside to find the inspector, and Dave tore the broken fender off, and noted that the other one was about to break off as well. All the bouncing down the freeway had cracked the mounts.

The inspector came out and looked at it, gave it a VIN, stamped it into the tongue, signed us off, and we were ready to go. We drove out of there, pulled over once we were out of sight, and Dave went back and wiggled the remaining fender until it broke off, and we drove home. The best part though, was that as we were getting ready to leave, I said to the inspector “You guys must be pretty busy with all the appointments coming up from Vancouver?” and he said “No, the Vancouver station is back open again.” So in the end, we didn’t really need to drive to Centralia after all!

It didn’t matter, because it was all done at last! I took my paperwork to the DMV, they gave me a license plate and a temporary title. In 3 years I can turn that into a permanent title. The trailer still needs a little work, but it’s just what I needed, and I’m really happy we got it all worked out.

Leavenworth Airstream Rally

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, travelLeave a comment

October ’23

Our last rally of the year was in Wenatchee, WA at the Wenatchee River County Park. It is a very nice clean park, trapped between a loud highway, and an active freight train line. For that reason, I would not recommend it, unless you are a very sound sleeper! But it was fine for just a few days at the rally.

We had a lovely drive up to Wenatchee, enjoying the fall colors in the forest.

Soon we were back up in Wenatchee, which was a place we visited somewhat frequently back when we lived in Yakima. We got the trailer settled and went exploring.

Hmmm, those brown hills sure seem familiar. I’m getting a bit tired of the gloomy/wet side of the state. Maybe we will retire to the sunny/dry side?

Our first morning there we got up and went to have breakfast at a golf course. Another camper had been telling us about it the night before, so we thought we’d give it a go. It was really nice, and had a heck of a view off the patio!

It was a lovely place to eat while watching activity going on in the hills and down on the river.

Then we headed up to Leavenworth. We stopped at a couple antique malls along the way, but didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without. Up in Leavenworth it was Octoberfest time, but the activities didn’t really start until the next day. This way we could wander around and enjoy it without the complete chaos of drunken visitors.

We stopped for lunch with balcony seating and a beautiful view of the river.

I ordered a lovely soup with clams, and there were SO MANY clams, it was like the clams were non-stop, some sort of magical bottomless clam dish!

Parade time!

After lunch we drove up in to the mountains a ways. Everything was so pretty with fall colors, and we saw a couple salmon swimming upstream.

We saw this guy rock climbing! That’s a big rock!

The next day we drove up to Pinnacles State Park. This was a neat park up on the dry hills with all sorts of rocks to climb around and on.

Rocks!

I didn’t notice that tree when we were setting up the photo!

Once we were done there, we wanted to get in one more activity so we headed over to Ohme Gardens. This is a private gardens where the paths wind around, over and through the hill, around rocks, beside man-made ponds, with gazebos and lookouts along the way. It’s really magical! And we happened to be there on the last day of the year!

There are all kinds of firepits and benches and paths all made of stone, built by the family who originally owned the land 80 years ago.

Quite a view!

There was beautiful fall color in the campground.

This is the view of the river behind the park. Unfortunately you can’t see the railroad tracks right on the other side of the river.

We swung through Yakima on our way back home so we could have lunch with our friend Gary. Then we drove up and cruised by our old house, just to see how it was doing. And we stopped at Los Hernandez Tamales in Union Gap for the best tamales in town. Then we headed home, leaving the brown hills of Eastern WA behind.

You know, maybe the dry brown hills just really aren’t our style. I think we’ll stay on the wet side after all.

Mighty

On By stefrobrtsIn cats, mighty, petsLeave a comment

June ’23

On the last day of our trip to Vegas, Sherry called to say one of Mighty’s eyes looked goopy and weird. Since we were flying out the next day we couldn’t do much about it but wait until we got there. We figured Mouse had probably scratched her in one of their little squabbles. When we got home her eye looked pretty gross, so we took her to the emergency vet, where they thought it might be a tooth abscess pushing on her eye from below. Then we took her to East Padden Vet, who did an x-ray to figure out how to treat the abscess, and instead found a tumor. Mighty was feeling pretty poorly by then, and so we had to let her go. She had made it to the ripe old age of 17.

When we got our sister kitties in 2006 they didn’t look like twins, but the older they got, the harder they got to tell apart. Also, they snuggled and played together for the first few years, then decided they hated each other, and after that it seemed like every time they ran into each other the fur was flying. We bought them to keep each other company and so they would have a playmate, since they were supposed to be indoor kitties, but that didn’t last long.

I thought I was a kitty person, but all of our cats have loved Dave best.

They grew up to be very pretty kitties!

Mighty had a tendency towards ‘resting bitch face’, but she never really meant it.

Well, most of the time at least.

Both kitties grew up with dogs and so they loved the dogs. Here’s Mighty exploring Baby Barclay’s playpen, wondering what sort of creature this is!

The last few years she really got into using her paws for attention, which was so cute!

They had a great time growing up on the farm, and then spent the second half of their lives in suburbia at The Rancho. Things were a little more relaxed here.

Mighty was a very good kitty. Except for the part about hating her sister, life would have been a lot easier without that! And she definitely had opinions about things! But mostly she liked to be petted and cuddled, and be in the center of whatever was going on. We will miss her.

Mr Miata

On By stefrobrtsIn miataLeave a comment

Mr Miata lives in the garage, where he is warm and safe from the elements, and only tippy toes out on beautiful days to romp around the countryside.

I got lucky when I bought him, in pretty much bone-stock condition, and I immediately dropped a couple grand into catching up on his maintenance, so now he is in really good shape, and doesn’t need much work done on him. Which is good, because while I used to enjoy working on cars:

(Photo for proof)

I no longer enjoy working on cars too much, what with smashing my knuckles and swearing at bolts that won’t come off, so I try not to do that.

So now it’s mostly sunny day driving…

Visiting with friends

Hanging out with the cool kids (play Find The Miata – I was the only one there!)

Comparing him with others (LOOK HOW SMOL!)

And playing dress up 😀 I found a great deal on a hardboot for him. My last Miata had a hard boot and I loved the way it looked. I had to remove the rear windblocker to get it in, but I like more wind in the cockpit anyway. I bought him so I could feel the wind! It’s not like I am taking it for long highway drives.

I spraybombed it white, and I really like the look. Nothing fancy. I wish I could do the whole interior in white, but I priced it out and it was quite expensive to get new seat covers and door panels and all that.

Navi approves!

I did replace the steering wheel this year. It came with an aftermarket wheel the previous owners had installed, but they included the original wheel and parts to return it to stock. I had it in the shop for the last bit of maintenance work in the spring and asked if they could swap wheels for me, and my mechanic came back and said one of his guys wanted to do it in exchange for the ricer wheel, so I was like ‘of course!’ Good deal, and sometimes mechanics don’t like to mess with aftermarket stuff like that, so I was happy for that. And I was really happy because that ricer wheel just didn’t feel right to me. It felt like cheap, slick plastic, and it stuck out so far I had to take my hand off of it to reach the turn signal stalk. The original wheel is bigger, wrapped in leather, in the position the designers intended when they built this nearly perfect car, and has an airbag. Good trade!

The other things I did to it this summer were to rebuild the shifter with new bushings, fresh fluid, and new rubber seals – a job I have done so many times I don’t even consider it working on my car, and so I didn’t think to take pictures. And replacing the original radio for a new one with bluetooth, because I listen to all my music off my phone.

This was my first time poking around inside the dash. I’ve done this many times on NA Miatas, but this is my first time on an NB, so there was a little learning involved. And this project happened before the shifter rebuild. Look at that deteriorating rubber shift boot! I wonder if it was original? Anyway, that’s when I realized I had to refresh all that before I buttoned everything up again.

But back to the radio, that thing should have easily slid out after inserting the Ford Radio Removal Tools in the holes and squeezing the pins open. I watched a bunch of videos, and tried over and over again, and could not get it out.

Dave even came out to help lend a bit of brute force (and Mighty decided to sit in his lap while doing it). The longer it took, the more ‘brute’ it got, until we pretty much just got in there with a screwdriver and pried and bent things and forced it to come out!

It turned out some of the clips were broken! I’ll bet the PO had had an aftermarket radio in there and just popped this back in before he sold it. Luckily none of the wires were cut, so it was easy to plug in a new adapter, which I had wired up to the new radio’s plug.

And look how thin the new radio is! It’s just a radio and bluetooth, so it doesn’t need the depth to accommodate a tape player or CD player.

It all went back together and looks like it belongs.

I also had a little run around with a check engine light coming on. Of course the first time it came on I was driving out to Moulton Falls, which is way up in the hills, with no cell coverage, and it scared me a bit. He was still running fine, so I drove him straight home, watching the gauges the whole way. Scott loaned me his code reader and we figured out which sensor it was, which turned out to be a cheap and easy fix, and it was located on top of the valve cover, so it was even easy to get to, so I did that myself. Then I took him for a nice long drive up to Amboy and back, just enjoying the sunny weather!

But summer was over way too soon, and I love driving Mr Miata, so I still sneak him out on dry sunny days, even if it is inappropriately cold.

And that was my Miata summer. Here’s to many more!

Elkamp

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, navi, travelLeave a comment

September ’23

This year the annual Vintage Trailer Rally for our area was held at Elkamp in Mineral, WA at the foot of Mt Rainier. (https://www.elkamp.com/) This is possibly the prettiest campground I’ve ever stayed in.

Dave was busy doing something at home for this trip, but since I had such a successful trip last summer by myself, I decided to go it alone again. Just me and my Airstream, heading up into the wilderness!

It was actually much closer to home than last summer’s solo trip, and the weather was beautiful. I had no problem at all. I did need a little help getting backed into my spot though. Luckily there are always friends around to help at a VAC rally.

What a beautiful, peaceful spot!

This spot was super secluded and peaceful!

Navi stayed home, but since Dave was busy all weekend, she stayed with Sherry, who sent me updates 😀

Navi was much happier being at home than being stuck on a trailer trip!

The next day I headed into the nearby town of Elbe to see what was up. This row of colorful Cabooses was a hotel!

And this is a cool old church. Neat history plaque included.

I headed on up to Mt Rainier National Park. Got to tick another National Park off my list since I’m so close. There were so many people there I couldn’t even get close to the visitor’s center and museum. Maybe next time. I had to settle for pretty viewpoints.

On the way back down I stopped for lunch at a Nepalese resteraunt. My coworkers are in Nepal, so I had to stop and try it. The food was delicious! The best beef stew I’ve ever had!

The owner was a Sherpa who had been to the top of Everest, set a world record for how fast he did it, and ‘retired’ to lead people up Mt Rainier instead.

Very cool! I wish I’d had room for pie. I’ll definitly try to get Dave up there this summer. (https://mt-rainier.com/vendor/wildberry-restaurant/)

Back at the rally I relaxed the rest of the afternoon until happy hour. Everything in the trailer was working, and it was such a wonderful place to crash and read a book, listening to the birds and chipmunks.

The next day I took a walk around the camp. It’s really pretty. I thought I was lost for a bit, but I came right back out in the campground.

Then I grabbed my rod and headed out to find some fishing. There was a lake nearby that I heard was pretty dry, since it was the end of summer, but I heard Mineral Lake was a good choice.

When I got there I had a nice time chatting with a couple from Puyallup who were hanging out by the water. We were talking fishing, and I caught a little baby bass, but that was about all. There were a bunch of ducks getting in the way, including this one with a striking red head.

I went to grab something out of my car, and came back and there was a lady taking pictures of it. I said ‘weird looking duck, eh?’ and she said ‘yeah, I read about it in the paper and just had to come take pictures of it!’. In the paper? ‘Yeah, there was an article about it being here!’ and I thought, wow, that is some slow news day. Good for them!

After that I drove up the road a ways to get a view of Mt Rainier over the lake. You couldn’t see it from the boat launch, but it was beautiful right up the road.

So that was a really nice rally. Elkamp is beautiful, and Mt Rainier is beautiful. I’ll definitely go there again when I have a chance!

Airstream Rally in Montesano, WA

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, navi, travelLeave a comment

July ’23

Update: Found some pictures for context

This was at the Friend’s Landing Campground in Montesano, close to the Gray’s Harbor area.

It’s a really nice handicapped accessible park, with lots of fishing docks on both the lake, and the river, and a round-the-lake accessible walking trail, which turned out to be 2 miles! I didn’t realize that when we started out, or I wouldn’t have taken Navi along. That’s a long ways for an old dog!

She was getting pretty tired by the end of it. No pics on the walk, but here’s a tired dog at the end.

From the far side of the lake we could see our trailer (behind the tree, the shiny one is Gail’s Caravel).

One nice thing was that our friends Scott & Sherry were camping right down the road, so we actually dropped Navi off with them for a day while we went to some Airstream activities. Then we came back and hung out with them in their house-sized 5th wheel and had dinner.

Airstream Happy Hour

One funny thing we did find was we stopped by the grocery store to get something to bring to dinner, and saw these on the counter. Bug suckers!

Those are real bugs!

All in all it was a nice rally. It’s a really pretty park (go check out their website at https://www.friendslanding.org/activities.html ). I hope we get a chance to go there again.

Oh, and Navi got nervous and peed on our bed on the last night. Just in time to go home. She really isn’t a fan of trailer trips!

Vegas, Baby!

On By stefrobrtsIn travelLeave a comment

June ’23

In June my company, which is entirely remote, had a get together so everyone could meet and get to know each other in Vegas. They had a bunch of fun activities arranged, I picked a couple of the tamer ones – escape room, and the Pinball Museum. I was so excited to see the three pinball machines I used to own, even though none of them were actually on to play that day.

Oh, X Files, I missed you!!

The work field trip was fun, and it was great to meet my coworkers. The last day of the work party we all went to see the Cirque du Soleil water show ‘O’ at the Belagio, which was AMAZING! After the party was over Dave and I stayed a few extra days to get in a little more touristy stuff.

I took him to the Pinball Museum so he could enjoy it too. Here he is playing Wacky Gator

We had stayed at Planet Hollywood for the work event, but switched and moved over to The Plaza on Fremont Street for the last couple days. I really enjoyed Freemont Street when we had been there about ten twenty years before. It really still had a Rat Pack vibe going on that I loved. Quiet card table games, where Dave had been able to find an empty table and a dealer who took the time to show him the ropes of how to play Blackjack at a table. But wow, Fremont Street was not like that now. Every casino had the same personality, nothing unique about any of them. You could walk from one to the next and not even know you had changed casinos.

Dave found the shortest couch ever in our hotel room.

We went and wandered through the casinos and played some slots, and watched some shows out on Fremont Street. It was just a flurry of crazy aactivity. I did like how the buskers had designated areas they had to stay in, so they weren’t getting in people’s face as you walked by.

We went and had dinner in the Stratosphere Resteraunt one night. Dave does not like heights.

The food was kind of foofy for me, and huge portions, which we had to throw away because we wouldn’t use leftovers on a trip like this. It was worth it for the view. I love rotating resteraunts!

The next morning we got up early for a bus trip to the Grand Canyon. I wanted to get in an outdoorsy adventure while we were down here. I had looked into photographing Antelope Canyon (a famous place for photographers) but after reading the stories about people basically lining up to all get the exact same shot, I passed on the idea, and boy am I glad I did – it turned out to be a crazy lightning and rain storm!

So we were outside a casino waiting for our bus, and we were already annoyed because they had said they would pick up at the Plaza, but they changed to a casino on the strip so we had to Uber over there at 5 in the morning. While waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the bus, we got to talking with some folks who were also waiting, one of who was a lady from Italy who had done the trip we were signed up for the day before and said it was not great. Primarily because this went to a view of the Canyon where there is a big glass bridge, and it costs to go on the bridge, and you can’t take your own pictures, you have to leave your stuff behind and pay for them to take a picture of you on the bridge. Plus it’s an ALL DAY trip, longer even then we were expecting. And it was raining a monsoon. These were all signs. We got another Uber back to The Plaza and went back to bed until a decent time.

We spent the day be-boping around the casinos, haveing fun losing money on slots, and playing this cool old horse racing game with mechanical ponies.

We finished off our evening by taking an Uber over to the Neon Museum. I’m sure there’s lots of pictures online, but here’s a few, because it sure was neat, and of course everything was bigger than you expect!

The guide doing the tour was funny, and sprinkled lots of history tidbits in his stories. It was great! It will be so cool someday if they get the signs all restored and lit up!

And that was the big finale for us, so we were homeward bound the next day. It was great to meet my coworkers, and Dave and I had fun on our own, but I am definitly an outdoors girl, noisy crowds and buskers and slots and confusion and activity everywhere is definitly not my gig. I was happy to get home!

Crown Point

On By stefrobrtsIn camera, outdoors, photographyLeave a comment

May, 23

One afternoon in May we decided to grab the camera and go for a drive somewhere where I could get a scenic shot, and have some dinner with a view. We headed over to Gresham, Oregon, and swung by Abby’s Pizza, got a pizza to go, and then continued on to the Portland Women’s Forum Overlook – a beautiful viewpoint on the Historic Columbia River Highway. It has a lovely view of the Gorge all the way to Beacon Rock, and particularly nearby Crown Point, with it’s little gem the Vista House.

It was relatively busy at the overlook. Other picnicers and photographers were hanging around to see the view. I set up my camera and tripod pointed at the view, and waited for the sun to break out of the clouds and light things up. Things were pretty dull at first.

However, by the time we’d finished our pizza, things started to jazz up a little.

That’s more like it. The light on the wall of Crown Point really makes it pop out of the background.

Next we headed over to Crown Point ourselves to check out the Vista House. The sunset was pretty, but I couldn’t get the sunset and Vista House at the same time, and there were a ton of people around. Dave walked around to the other side to check out the view from there.

While I was waiting for him to come back, I realized the battery in the camera had died! That’s annoying. My Sony A7II DSLR really eats batteries compared to the little a6000 I used to shoot with, so I hadn’t stuck any extra in my pocket before we left.

Right about then the light got low enough to shine through the art-deco stained glass windows of the Vista House, so I grabbed my cell phone to get the shot.

It actually did a nice job! This is why on vacations I just use my phone instead of dragging a DSLR around anymore.

So I went home feeling accomplished, with a couple nice pictures, and a dinner our favorite pizza, eaten in one of the prettiest spots in the area.