June 28, 2007
Buena Vista Work Retreat!
Once again, Jenny and I were feeling like we needed to get out of Denver. It’s been crazy hot and congested in perfect Denver form. We love packing up our laptops and heading out to a cute little cabin in the Mountains for a few days. We got so much great work done! We also had a lot of fun!!! Check it out!
Gary boy loves the cabin. He too was feeling like he needed a break from D-Train.
In 1996 I moved out to Buena Vista and lived in a two man tent for the summer. I was a starving college student, working as a white water raft guide for American Adventure Expeditions. I was dirt poor, basically homeless by choice. It was the best experience in my life and has added so much value to it. For dinner each nite, I would go to the El Duran and drink .99 cent margaritas and eat free chips and salsa. On a good day I would head here to Panchos and treat myself to a bean burrito, also for .99 cents. I brought Jenny here for lunch for a hot date. The burritos taste just like I remember them.
On a REALLY good day, if I got a good tip from my customers, I’d MONDO my burrito!
Jenny and Gary LOVE PANCHOS!
I treated Little G to a kiddie cone!
Jenny makes love to the camera
Later that evening I packed up my family and we went to Salida for a nice dinner out! My family, waiting so patiently in the car while I take photos like a real tourist! 
Photo
(That’s Mt. Princeton, just a few 14ers North of Shavano, which is what T and I will be climbing next week.
This is the home of Colorado Whitewater Photography, where I worked my first summer out here (Before I decided it would be WAY more fun to be a raft guide!!!). Funny story: The owner of this company is such a grouch, he used to ream me when I’d drop a .99 cent lens cap in the river. Once I even lost a company tent into the river. We’d shoot out of a little tent when it was raining. I was packing up and a big gust of wind came and blew the tent into the river. I watched an empty tent float through Zume Flume, a class 3/4 rapid. Good times. Anyway, I ran into Josh, he didn’t recognize me at first and YELLED at me for taking photos of his building! ha! Then I think he remembered me after I told him my name.
I used to get to this building early in the morning, grab my cameras (two Canon Elans with 300mm fixed lenses), jump on a 4-wheeler, drive into the canyon to where the 4wheel trail ends, then hike for another 3/4 mile to my rock by the river. I had 3 “film runners”, young high-school athletes who would change the film in my camera, and run back and forth from the river to the lab (pictured). It was such a cool operation. I fine-tuned my photographic timing with this job, those rafts move so fast. I think my experience here helped me so much with my candid photography. It taught me to compose my shots, focus, and shoot at the split-moment of “gut-reflex”.
After a couple years of living in a tent, I, and 6 other raft guides moved into this preschool, The Strawberry Door (they were closed in the summer. Rent: $250/month. It was expensive for me, but worked out great. It was like a really grungy version of REAL WORLD. Ha!
I peeked into my “bedroom”. I pushed these very same desks together, and on top of the desks I put my sleeping pad and a sleeping bag on top. I stored all my river gear and clothing underneath. This was my life for 3 amazing months. I’ll never forget it!
Wow that was a long post. Fun! I LOVE THE ARKANSAS RIVER HEADWATERS!
June 28, 2007 |
