When words fail, show pictures!

Certainly there’s an excellent quote somewhere, much more articulate and impressive than anything I can type, about finding the delicate balance between living life and recording it. You know: does taking pictures, writing in your journal, posting to a blog afterward significantly take away from your available time to do and enjoyment of the things you’re recording in the first place?

I was thinking about that because it’s taken me an unprecedented amount of time to sort through the copious pictures I took during my trip to California (not to mention the awesome Portland-based things that have since unfolded). In large part, that’s because sitting in front of my computer looking at pixels has felt so painful when there are roads to explore, books to read in the summertime parks, people to talk to–in short, life to live.

So that being said, the only reason I’m typing this now is because I know that in about half an hour I’ll be on my bike for a few hours and then at the river for a few more. And in the meantime, I finally have pictures I can throw at you! :)

  • If you want to get psyched about the Death Ride, an amazing 129-mile ride through the California “alps” with a shit-ton of elevation gain, check this set

brake check(check your brakes indeed: the only time not spent crawling up on this ride was spent screaming down:)

  • If you’re interested in biking to all the 14,000-foot peaks in California and then climbing them (or if you just want porn of the Sierra Nevadas to get you excited about adventure:), check this one

cedar and langley(Cedar Wright, doing one of the things he does best in front of Mt Langley;)

  • If a bike-n-hike adventure to Dick’s Peak is more your style (or if you’re just interested in hikes you can bike to from Lake Tahoe), this is the set  for you

dianes bike lake tahoe(a loaner bike from my aunt and Lake Tahoe in the background–one of many hikes around the area accessible by bike)

So there you go.

And just to set the record straight, I’m not entirely anti-recording here. I think that setting things down in writing post-adventure, or processing pictures, or whatever, is often a fun way to make concrete what you gained from any given trip. Not to mention a fun way to share with others and build the excitement.

But still. I sort of hope that right now you’re also too busy doing things to spend too much time in front of a computer with these;)

 

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