Pictures from outdoor exercise.
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Disclaimer: it's not ME doing the outdoor exercise. But for us over fifty, it's inspiring to see a senior who stays so damn active. Let's follow in his footsteps... er, ski tracks! See you at 82!2
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Hiking in Glacier 
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I rode a shorter distance in the this year's Tour deCure. That's probably a good thing, because I had two flats on my back tire (only carried one spare tube, so had to call SAG). This is my favorite shot from the day!
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I am just getting back from a fantastic California Channel Island dive trip. Five days on the Vision operated by Truth Aquatics.
We did four dives per day for four days and three dives our last day. That makes 19 dives for me because I decided to skip the two night dives in favor of happy hour. Good call on the first one -- conditions were crap, and the folks didn't have a good dive. The second one was apparently really nice. Oh well. I spent 15 hours underwater. The list of species I saw was fairly large, and I saw three species I had not seen in the wild before -- a California Halibut, a bunch of Orangethroat Pinkblennies, and a Finscale Triggerfish. We also saw octopusses, California Moray, Horn Sharks, Angel Sharks, and a long list of more common animals.
One highlight was when a Giant Black Sea Bass came to see me and my buddy at one of the dive sites. We had pretty good viz that dive, and this animal hung out with us for quite some time down between 40 and 70 feet. My buddy and I are pretty good divers, so we just hovered and let the fish swim around us. It got really close. I was building nitrogen, so I got a little shallower, and it kept swimming right below us and up to where we were. We had about 15 minutes alone with this fish until a couple more divers found us and swam over. They were "noisy" divers, flailing arms and all, and they chased the fish away. We continued our dive, and in about four minutes, that fish CAME BACK TO SEE US!!!! Wow. That was fantastic. This wasn't one of the REALLY big ones -- probably only about 600 or 700 pounds. It couldn't put my head in it's mouth like some I've seen, but WOW.
The galley crew feeds us really well. Too well. Oh my dog it's good food. I planned to eat pretty much as much as I wanted, and I sure did. From turkey dinner to tri-tip to really caloric breakfasts to dessert to baked brie to more bacon to ...... Oh my! I wasn't feeling like my pants were getting MUCH tighter, but I figured I would have gained two to four pounds (hopefully no more) by the time I got home and would pay the price for the next few weeks. Worth it! But to my surprise when I got on the scale this morning, I was actually a half pound LIGHTER. Wow. We will see if that's just a blip or if I really did burn so many calories. We sure did a lot of up and down the stairs and ladders on the boat, and we were generally active even out of the water. Yes!
Great trip, and I got to know my buddy a lot better. We have very similar gas consumption and dive objectives. That's really nice. He is also an aquarium volunteer, but not on my shift. I recruited him and his wife for years, and when he retired, they started. They love it. Too bad his wife couldn't come this year, but it meant we got to spend more time diving just the two of us. I did a couple solo dives and I did one dive each with two other folks who needed a buddy.
We were trying to drag our heels a bit on the way down so we didn't get to the boat until at least 17:00. Good thing -- we didn't get to board until closer to 20:00. I suggested we stop at Firestone Walker in Paso Robles for a beer. Oh my! It was like going to the shrine. Very nice. My buddy enjoyed seeing me sample six three-ounce tastes of their offerings I don't see in Oregon.
Our boat came in later than planned, and we waited for them to clean and fuel before we could board.
Then we were off diving!
I am already signed up for next year's trip. The owners of the dive shop are trying to convince me to join them for a Fiji trip they are organizing, but it's out of my price range and is during prime whitewater season. They also said I should join them to Bonaire, and I might just do that. I'm honored they would like me to join them.
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@mtaratoot - wow! wow! wow! What an incredible experience and amazing pictures! Thank you so much for sharing. Loved reading about your adventure. You sound like a pretty cool dude.
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Glad you enjoyed the pictures. I enjoyed the opportunity to have the experience and bring home images to enjoy and share. I am in the process of planning the next vacations, and while it will be some warm water diving, Fiji ain't in the cards for me at this point. Instead I'm going to the second largest barrier reef in the world, and the largest in the western hemisphere. Mmmmmm.....
I do try to take advantage of the one spin of the wheel of life we get here on this planet in this Universe. A buddy today told me a relative of his went to Fiji for his honeymoon. He said they sat by the pool and drank mai tais. I'm all for that, but you can do that in San Diego or Sarasota. No need to travel halfway around the planet for that. I still have a river trip in the planning stage for the fall. Not so sure I'm a cool dude, but I do like to get out there. It's fun to share with other over-50 folks.
I am glad YOU get out there, too! That's what it's all about. Well, that and really good beer
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The Channel Islands have a lot of good dives. I got a few in when I was out that way, wish I had made the time to get in more. I never got much north of that area, but over the years got in some snorkeling and dives from there all the way down (on both sides) of the Baja peninsula. Saw the schooling Hammerheads once, and it was amazing.
I haven't really taken advantage of much diving in the area I'm in now. I've been meaning to make it more of a priority and hit some of the "Torpedo Alley" historical dives. I'm not sure if I will go for a wreck diver cert, but I guess I'll know if that bug hits after spending more time on the outside of the wrecks.2 -
Went on a moonlight hike last night. A thing I have wanted to do for a while. There's something primal about being out in the desert after dark.
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My companions.0
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The cairn at the top of Guffey Butte.
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What is the best way to share some photos from Google Photos to this thread? I paste the links, but the photos don't show. Extreme frustration here.0
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@robertw486 -- get out there and dive! The Gulf Stream brings you warmer water. When I was growing up, we would vacation in Florida most years. I could always be found face down with a snorkel in my mouth exploring what was underwater. Mostly sand; a few fish. Every now and then I'd find some structure, and there were more critters. I bet there's a lot to see. I don't really have any interest in PENETRATING a wreck, but just diving down to explore the exterior sounds fun. I've only seen a few wrecks. One was so far disintegrated, it looked like a lumpy rock reef until you got really close and noticed it was metal.
I'll even suggest it's worth flying out to Santa Barbara and getting on a multi-day trip with the outfit I went with. Top notch diving on a budget since you're in a rack and just have that much personal space. I'm going back fo' sure!0 -
alteredsteve175 wrote: »What is the best way to share some photos from Google Photos to this thread? I paste the links, but the photos don't show. Extreme frustration here.
I can't make it work from my phone (iOS). It just posts a link, not the picture. I have to do it from my computer on the web page. I have to upload the image through the MFP app. Once there, if I note the location of the link, I can use the same link for other posts so the image isn't uploaded multiple times on MFP's server.
I have also noticed that it helps to first EDIT any images I want to post because if they are off my camera, they are rather large files. If I upload those, they take much longer to download for me and others to look at. I have a free piece of software called Irfanview that works really well to downsize. I typically downsize to 1024x768. That seems to still provide a very detailed image that uploads and downloads pretty fast. I wish MFP would provide this guidance for people because I know other folks upload big files -- you can tell because it slows things down.
If I have a picture from my phone, I have to either e-mail it to myself or connect my computer (PC) to the phone and download, then upload from the PC to MFP.
It's also a pain in the rear to try to upload a picture onto my profile. I can't do it from my computer. From the phone, I have to add a STATUS, then pick an image. It's supposed to show progress, and the interface is really klunky. I think you can just stuff an image on your profile if your phone uses Android.
Good luck!0 -
My companions.0
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alteredsteve175 wrote: »What is the best way to share some photos from Google Photos to this thread? I paste the links, but the photos don't show. Extreme frustration here.
Use the little mountains/sun icon above the area where you type in your post, in most versions of MFP. It will give you a space to either paste in a URL or pick a photo from your device.0 -
My companions.0
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Thanks, Mark and Ann. I get a link and paste it. Click the Post Reply button and the link disappears.
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I could navigate to the link provided, but the syntax is wrong as it includes a < /img > tag at the end. The link should just be https://photos.app.goo.gl/afjQ9NWsf73xqq6r5
Alternately, you can use the hyperlink button (looks like a chain). Highlight the text for your link, click the hyperlink button, and then enter the URL there. I have to erase the default httP:// that comes up and add the entire address. That would look like this --> Here's a LINK to the pictures @alteredsteve175 put on google photos.
But be aware, this post might get flagged because it's directing people to another web platform.0
