Another Class and Some Photo News

Posted on June 9, 2017June 8, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Class number 2

I took my lunch very late today so I could leave work early. I missed some of the traffic and made it to class with time to spare. Class #2 was pretty basic. But I did learn some tips about menus, not the restaurant kind, and had a good review of various hosting companies like, Bluehost, Go Daddy. Word press and others.

This week’s enhancement

The change I made to the site from the class was to add some more Tabs. Right below the heading photo where the Home, About and Contact live I’ve added 2 more choices. One is My Photo Page and the other is Travel. If you right click on My Photo Page it will take you right to my zenfolio web site! No more searching to find my pictures. The Travel Tab will take you to all my previous posts that have to do with Travel. I’m not sure if I’ll keep them all. I may have to “tweak” them a little but time will tell. Comments are welcome!

Some Photo News

I’ve been found again! Yay! This time I was approached by Landesblasorchester Baden-Württemberg, What’s that you ask? They are an amateur orchestra who compete on the world stage.

This is from their email to me:

After several reflections, we have chosen a serious theme: “Every child has a right to future”, which is accompanied by pictures during the music. We will play at the Wind Band World Championship in Kerkrade/NL,

They found one of my pictures and want to use it. I am honored and of course gave my permission.

The photo they asked to use it the one I called the Longest Dirt Road in the World from our South Dakota adventure. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Their interpretation is “The Road to Nowhere”. Without knowing the history of the picture I can certainly see why that would come to mind. I don’t know if there will be any photo credits but that’s ok. In this case I am just honored to have my work included. It amazes me that my little picture has come to the attention of someone from Europe! It’s a small, small world.

Whales From Shore

Posted on February 11, 2017February 11, 2017 by Dusty Roads | 6 Comments

Everybody said I’d be able to see whales from shore in February and they weren’t kidding. I found my turn off but there weren’t any surfers there today but I was able to drive down much further.

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I found a little surfboard memorial. I guess its like the crosses on the side of the road. Somebody died there. A surfer didn’t return.

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As I turned away something caught my eye. I’d swear I saw a huge splash but there were a lot of white caps so after watching for a few minutes I went back to the car. As I was turning around I saw it again only this time I was looking right toward it. Right after the splash was a blow! I decided the first one was probably a whale too. By the time I’d driven up the dirt road I’d seen 2 more. Cars were lining up along the road and people were running around with binoculars.

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A bit too crowded for my taste I headed on up the road looking for pull offs where I could either find scenery or a view of the ocean for whales.

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Everywhere there were people lined up. Pull outs were full of cars. Some regular visitors I spoke with said they had never seen it like this.

From the shore you glimpse the whale but its more the splash that catches your eye. There’s not much to photograph at that distance.

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I figured I’d continue on a bit. I wanted to try to locate the park Sandy and I found in November. I know it was on the Road to Hana but I don’t recall it being very far along it. I have no desire to drive the bad parts of that road; single lanes, no room to pull off, massive cliffs. No thank you.

The Most Twisted Dirt Road in the World

Posted on June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 by Dusty Roads

“They” all said it was quite the drive. “They” all said it would take a long time. Most encouraged me to skip this stop but it’s in the auto touring pamphlet…and “they” promised me ELK!

Do any of my readers remember my trip to South Dakota when my sister and I got lost on the Pine Ridge Reservation and drove the ” longest dirt road in the world”? Well that one was straight. I found it’s twisted cousin here in the Cataloochee. Actually a good portion of it was on the way into the valley.

The brochure describes the Cataloochee as a an “idyllic mountain valley “, off -the- beaten- path”, and lovely destination. I’ll add fun if you are adventurous.

The 11 mile dirt road is basically a one lane road that spends much of it’s 11 miles twisting back on itself. There are sharp corners with blind turns and pray you don’t meet a vehicle coming in the other direction. There’s no shoulder to speak of and very little room to pull over. I did meet a few cars and we mostly hugged the sides of the roads til we could squeak by. It was the longest 11 miles I’ve ever driven. More than once I wondered if I’d gone the wrong way but there really wasn’t any place to make a wrong turn.

Finally I found a gate and a small sign “Cataloochee”. But beyond the gate was , you guessed it. More dirt road. I’d come this far I. I wasn’t going to stop now so Onward!

Finally as I rounded a turn and slid (literally) down the dirt and gravel hill, the road dumped me out of the trees and into a big valley. Several historic buildings were bordering the road. I came to a one lane bridge with not 1 ranger but 3 all parked right at the bridge. I stopped and asked if I’d found the Cataloochee and where were the Elk?

I was assured that I was in the right place but that it was too early. I could cross the bridge and follow the road to the end where there was a trail head and a place to turn around. They said the elk would be around eventually as it got closer to sunset.