Tag: postaday

Guadalupe Mountains National Park – Day 1

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 21mm, f/1, 25 sec, ISO3200
 “Nightlife” Salt Flat, 2021

Today my friend and I drove out to Guadalupe Mountains National Park to begin a long weekend of camping and hiking. It was the first time to the park for both of us so we were excited to explore the new park, and the ~8-hour journey seemed to go by quickly.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 20.5mm, f/7.1, 1/1500 sec, ISO640
 “Park Sign” Salt Flat, 2021

We reserved a campsite at the Pine Springs Campground online and when we arrived we immediately set up our tents and got the site in order with our camp kitchen, lanterns, and food. The sun goes down quickly these days! By the way, I highly recommend site #18. It’s set back a ways from the road and has some nice views of the mountains and is great for watching the sunrise.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/4.5, 1/220 sec, ISO640
 “Campsite 18” Salt Flat, 2021

For dinner we splurged with some Japanese Miyazaki steaks which were amazing on the grill, and cold beer and refreshing whiskey sodas made for some tasty beverages!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/2.8, 1/90 sec, ISO3200
 “Steak Dinner” Salt Flat, 2021

After cleaning up, we set up our tripods and camera gear to capture the amazing night skies. We got lucky with the weather as the skies were clear and our timing was nice because of the new moon and as a bonus, the Geminid Meteor Shower was just beginning. The coolest thing I saw was a line of light moving across the sky. While it was dark on the ground, a plane’s contrail up at 30,000 feet was lit up, but disappeared only a short distance behind it. The effect looked like a train moving across the sky, or even like a white dragon. One of the neatest things I have ever seen! I don’t have video of it, but in the photo below, just imagine that line moving slowly across the sky from left to right, with the line not changing size. Incredible!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 21mm, f/1, 20 sec, ISO3200
 “Dragon’s Flight” Salt Flat, 2021

Tomorrow we have a long hike to Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest peak in Texas… it’s going to be fun!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 21mm, f/1, 25 sec, ISO3200
 “Star Trails” Salt Flat, 2021

Hario Mini-Slim Ceramic Coffee Mill

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec, ISO800
 “Hario Mini-Slim Coffee Mill” Cedar Park, 2021

We’ve been upgrading our car-camping gear recently and one area that we were lacking in was our camp coffee prep. I’ve always pre-ground the beans at home and brought it with us in a plastic bag, but I decided to buy a Hario Mini-Slim Ceramic Coffee Mill so that I can grind the whole beans just before brewing. Freshly ground coffee is so much better than pre-ground!

This mill is hand-operated with a crank and takes about 2 minutes to grind 12 grams of beans, which is a good amount for one cup of coffee. On this mill’s measuring scale, that means filling it to the #1 marker. It definitely requires a little bit of muscle, so if you don’t have strong arms and wrists, a coffee mill such as this might not be a good idea. On the flipside, the extra exertion would be a good way to get your blood flowing in the morning. 😀

I need to mention that the coffee mill comes with a barcode sticker on it that absolutely sucks to remove. It tears and is super gummy, and the mess gets everywhere. Just getting it to the stage where I can use Goo-Gone on it took a while. What a pain in the butt!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/18 sec, ISO800
 “Sticker Frustration” Cedar Park, 2021

Weekend Distance

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Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/200 sec, ISO32
 “Under the Tracks” Cedar Park, 2021

The marathon training schedule I am following suggested a 7-mile “long run” this weekend, but I felt like I should up the mileage from last week’s distance so I went for a 14-mile run along Brushy Creek Regional Trail. I felt really good, especially because at about the halfway point (where I turn around and head home), there’s a water fountain and bathroom. What a huge difference that made!

Anyways, it was only 49° F when I started so I wore my Uniqlo leggings on and my old thrift-store Adidas pullover. With that combo, I am pretty comfortable running in the 50-60 degree range. Yay.

Regarding the training schedule, I think I will follow the schedule for rest days, but will use the recommended distances as a guideline. We’ll see how that goes. 😄

Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/1700 sec, ISO32
 “Sunrise” Cedar Park, 2021

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