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Massey Monday: Shoes and Paws

Terry started taking photos like this when he takes Massey out for various activities and posts them to his Instagram account. So, when we were hiking the Yuba River Trail, I did the same with the regular camera.

The best part is the apparent torture inflicted on Massey was we make her sit patiently to compose the photo. The words "sit" and "patiently" are rarely used to describe the ball of energy.

Thirsty Thursday: Garland

Rambler: Terry
Drink in Hand: 2009 Paraiso "Faite" Pinot Noir Clone 115 Santa Lucia Highlands
Background Tunes: Counting Crows - Mrs. Potter's Lullaby

Typically, when we go to Garland Park, we run to the top. It's grueling for about 30 minutes on the way up (it's pretty steep) and terrifying for about 15 minutes on the way back down (again, it's pretty steep). But this day we didn't make it to the top...we just hiked around somewhere in the middle. Garland is obviously one of Massey's favorite places (and yes she willingly models for us). I think looking at all this pics in order is kind of cool (even the accidental one of the blue sky before we got in the car). Perhaps this weekend or next we'll opt for the run.

Thirsty Thursday: Ft Ord Stroll

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Newman's Limeade

Yep, its Friday, not Thursday. Ooops! We didn't get a Thirsty Thursday posted last night. In fact, it seems its been a few weeks since we've posted our regular Thursday evening babbles and pixels. We've been a bit busy, but hopefully things will settle down soon! 

Back in October, when we still had the luxury of getting home from work before dark (darn daylight savings time change), we hopped over to Ft Ord with our new cameras to play around a bit. Our old cameras were stolen earlier this fall, and we both dearly missed our camera time while we waited through the replacement process. While the location was a spot we hit up a couple times a week (the dog has to run!), we enjoyed having cameras in hand, daylight, cool clouds, and watching a dog that loves her open space just as much as her owners. 

Hopefully we'll have a few less clouds than we've had the last few days to get out and enjoy this weekend. 

Thirsty Thursday: A Sunday Hike

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Trader Joe's Pomegranate Limeade

Thirsty Thursday here again...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. I got busy doing MBA homework and didn't even get to a glass of wine tonight, but I did make time for a little photo editing. Maybe because I love scrolling through Instagram feeds, I was inspired to go square today. Enjoy a few photos from our recent hike up Gaviota Peak near Solvang. 

It was definitely a warm hike, but the cool ocean breeze at the top was worth it, along with the views. For our central California friends it looks to be a much needed wet weekend, but hopefully you find time to get out there and enjoy some outside time! 

Thirsty Thursday: Hot

Rambler: Terry
Drink in Hand: 2011 Ventana Pinot Noir

This is a continuation of this week's Massey Monday and Two Word Tuesday. All the photos posted this week are from our first hike in Chico. If you read MM (and you should) then you know that it was crazy hot. Massey and I had no business hiking in those temperatures.  That may explain why the Strava GPS track clocked me in at about 2.9 miles. I think the Mas only clocked in at around 3.5 miles (she needs a GPS collar...where's the Kickstarter for that!). We were both tired and just looking for shade. With today's set of shots, I tried to capture the heat and the stillness of the area. Nobody was crazy like us and thus it was very quiet and still. Fortunately, I was able to get one of my favorite shots of the year at sunset here (if you didn't see TWT, you should go check it out)!

 It was a great way to start our random weekend!

Start of the trail...

Our first shade tree

so hot

fenced

Finding my tree

waiting for the sunset

fleeting moments

Massey Monday: Just Another Day Hike

This is a continuation of last week's Thirsty Thursday​. Massey enjoyed the 8 mile hike but was always looking away from me (at least mostly) so I didn't get to many shots of her running at me or the smile she had on her face (I assure you that she was smiling the entire hike). I did get a shot of her running to see her best friend with her "Big Paws" :-) . 

Thirsty Thursday: Mt Whitney Trail

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Bogle Vineyards 2010 Old Vine Zinfandel (thanks Kelly!)

Hey friends, Thirsty Thursday is here again! Time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. Here at Welliver Photography we're already planning our summer weekend adventures, and we're hoping that we win a lottery slot for an assault on Mt Whitney for one of those weekends. ​

For those who might not know, Mt Whitney is the highest point in the continental US. We summited the highest point in Japan three times in three years when we lived there, so the fact that we live mere hours from the highest (and easily hikeable) peak ​in the lower 48 and haven't climbed it yet is a little embarrassing. So when we were in Lone Pine over Thanksgiving, we did a little piece of the Mt Whitney Trail up to Lone Pine Lake. 

I had such a great time on our Thanksgiving hikes. Hopefully we'll get to do the full Mt Whitney trail this summer! Massey is pouting because she won't get to go, but we'l make it up to her. In the meantime we'll be getting out for some training hikes and trail runs on the weekends. Get out there and find your own fun trails! ​

Thirsty Thursday: Ft Ord Stroll

Rambler: BethDrink at Hand: 2005 Mission Trail Vineyards Friar's Reserve Garnacha (local Monterey County wine at its best!)

Thirsty Thursday here again! Time to pour something yummy (we certainly did) and make those weekend plans. This week I recap a backyard adventure.

A few weeks back I ran the Salinas Valley half-marathon. After turning in a personal worst 1/2 marathon time, I decided that Sunday needed to be a recovery day. Unfortunately, Massey doesn't understand recovery days, so she still needed to go out for an activity. We are pretty spoiled to have the seemingly endless trails of Ft Ord Public Lands less than 5 minutes away, so its not too much effort to get the dog out for some quality exercise. Since I wasn't running, I grabbed the camera, slapped on the 180mm macro lens, and off we went!

Terry and I shoot most often with zoom lenses as they give us the most versatility when we are out and about. The only prime lens we own is the 180mm macro, but I wish we had a few more...I love the crispy sharp images and distinctive depth of field that you can only get with a prime. One of these days...

Get out and find your own adventure in your backyard this weekend!

Thirsty Thursday: On the Trail

Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: Yogi Ginger Tea...wine taper for a little race I'm running this weekend.

Thirsty Thursday here again. Time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans! A few weeks back we went backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness. It was a tough journey as we decided to do roughly 2 miles of cross country travel to reach our final destination. I'll put it this way...hiking on established trails in the Sierra is fairly straightforward; backpacking over granite slabs with 42 lbs on my back, not so easy.

On the second day of our trip, we found our way back to some trails. I think I have a thing for singletrack. I spend more time hiking on singletrack these days than swooping along on a mountain bike, but I still love a tidy little dirt line cut neatly through a wildflower-choked meadow, snaking lazily through a deep forest, meandering around an alpine lake.

Get out there and find your own singletrack this weekend!

Thirsty Thursday: Fingers Crossed

Rambler: BethDrink at Hand: Scheid Reserve Chardonnay (Tied for 1st on my chard list)

Hey Welliver Photography fans! Welcome to another addition of Thirsty Thursday...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. We are headed off to backpack this weekend, or so we hope!

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed up to backpack to George Lake in the Kaiser Wilderness. The in-house meteorologist blew the weekend forecast, and long story short, without a four-season tent, we were snowed out of our first backpacking trip of the season. So much for the unofficial start of summer! So this weekend we'll try again, and hopefully the trail doesn't look like this... But we definitely can't say it wasn't beautiful, even if we didn't camp in it. Get out there and doing something this weekend...and hope you get a good weather report before you go!