markpastor

Biking Near Sturgis

We headed up to Sturgis, SD for a few days to do some exploring, hiking, and biking (well… the pedaling kind). Our friends have a house in Sturgis that they typically rent out during the world-famous bike (motorcycle) rally that takes place in Sturgis every August.

On the drive to Sturgis we stopped in a town called Deadwood. A lot of the real bikers spend time in this town which was very charming and had a lot of very interesting shops and history. We had a great lunch at Mustang Sally’s.

Exterior view of Mustang Sally's restaurant with outdoor seating, adorned with red, white, and blue decorations, located in a historic area surrounded by trees and buildings.

A street view of a historic downtown area lined with brick buildings, featuring storefronts with awnings and patriotic decorations. Motorcycles are parked along the side, and people are seen walking on the sidewalk under a blue sky.

Monday: Biking the Mickelson Trail

While I used “biking” and “Sturgis” in this post’s title to grab attention, I would say that promoting the George Mickelson Trail should gain as much attention. According to the website, “The trail is 109 miles long and contains more than 100 converted railroad bridges and 4 rock tunnels. The trail surface is crushed limestone.” Six of us adventurers set out for an out-and-back ride (about 22 miles total) on the Mickelson Trail.

A group of six cyclists posing together at the entrance of a wooden tunnel, with one person holding a bicycle.

The trail offered a great ride and a lot of beautiful scenery.

Two cyclists riding on a wooden bridge through a scenic natural landscape with green foliage and mountain views.

A serene forest scene featuring a flowing stream with small waterfalls, surrounded by lush green trees and rocky banks.

Tuesday: Exploring SD Badlands and Wall Drug

Four of us were still together on Tuesday. Since the weather looked favorable (cooler) we decided to explore the badlands of South Dakota that I have never been to. Driving to Badlands National Park took about an hour and a half from Sturgis. We drove around and stopped at a few places to walk around. What a beautiful place!

A panoramic view of arid, rugged terrain featuring layered rock formations, canyons, and sparse vegetation under a cloudy sky.

A panoramic view of the Badlands with layered rock formations and a cloudy sky.

On the way back we visited Wall Drug (established in 1930), in the city of Wall, SD. I’ve never heard of it before but it is apparently world famous and their story and what it’s grown into is amazing!

A busy indoor walkway in Cowboy Alley, featuring wooden decor, storefronts, vintage signs, taxidermy displays, and a mix of visitors, including a child in a light blue dress.

Interior view of a historic town square featuring shops with colorful facades, vintage decor, and visitors walking through the space. An American flag hangs prominently from the ceiling.

Wednesday: Driving Home

We took the scenic route home that consumed about 8 hours which included us visiting some sites, exploring some towns, and grabbing a bite.

Thanks Pat and Judy for hosting our stay; your hospitality is greatly appreciated!

A Beautiful Hike to Crater Lakes

We wanted to escape the heat in the lowlands (5,000 ft.) and get some exercise where it’s cooler (9,000+ ft.). An excellent trailhead for many of our hiking adventures is East Portal just outside of Rollinsville, CO. Here’s the hike map, courtesy of AllTrails.

The going was steady. We stopped for a break and a bite to eat at the the lower lake on the north side of the trail. We figured it would do us well for the upcoming steep ascent to the upper lake. We sat on a log to have our snack and absorb the beauty including the scene with the fisherman in the lake.

A man and a woman sitting on a log in a forested area, smiling and holding drinks. The background features trees and a serene landscape.

A tranquil lake surrounded by tall evergreen trees, with a person fishing from a small boat on the water.

The journey from there is a steep slog that includes a beautiful waterfall and a stream crossing.

A cascading waterfall flows down rocky terrain covered with lush greenery and pine trees under a clear blue sky.

A hiker stands near a flowing stream surrounded by lush greenery and wildflowers in a forested area.

The top of the steep ascent culminates at a very peaceful mini lake.

A serene mountain lake surrounded by lush greenery and rocky hills under a clear blue sky.

From the mini lake, a cross over some rocks and through a tightly foliaged path got us to upper Crater Lake.

A hiker standing on rocky terrain beside a small pond, surrounded by lush greenery and towering mountains under a clear blue sky.

A serene landscape featuring a calm river surrounded by large rocks and patches of green grass, with pine trees and blue sky in the background.

A panoramic view of a clear lake nestled among rocky mountains, with trees lining the shore and a bright blue sky dotted with clouds.

We sat along the shore of the lake, relaxed, snacked, meditated and chatted a bit and then we worked our way back down the mountain and headed home where we enjoyed a take out Chinese dinner.

A Canoe Tour of Gross Reservior

We’ve been anxious to break out the canoe for what feels like a maiden run as it’s been a while since we took it out for a spin. There were a lot of remarkable sights.

A person standing beside a gray canoe on a dry riverbank, surrounded by sparse vegetation and trees in the background.

The water level was quite low.
The dam extension is well underway and built up to its new height.
The water in the morning was amazingly calm (it got choppy later).
There was no one on the north finger, oh… ooops, there was a naked sunbather.
We saw the golden eagle that hangs out in the area.

Here you see progress on the dam extension as well as how low the water is.

The water was very calm during the early part of our trip.

Leslie captured a rare glimpse of the lake monster.

Here’s the golden eagle and his crow friend looking the other way.

It was a beautiful day. We ended up covering almost the entire perimeter, and between paddling that distance and hauling the canoe back up to the shuttle point we got a pretty good workout.

4 E’s… Pshaw!

“Pshaw” was a Wordle word a week or so ago, and I realized I don’t use it very often. I feel this post is a great opportunity to use it now. This is also a great opportunity to get something off my chest that has been bothering me for some time now.

Several weeks ago I published a post: “Finding Balance in Retirement“. In that post, I came up with the 4 E’s: Expressing, Educating, Exercising, Exploring.

While I still think those are accurate and reflective of the pillars of my retirement, I realized I am missing one. One that I have pondered a lot over the past weeks and am convinced it belongs in this group of pillars. I have been frustrated about this in two ways. First, I felt bad that I left it out in the first place and that I have not yet made the correction here on my blog. Secondly, one of the factors that has delayed me is trying to come up with an “E-word” to capture the missing piece. I have not been able to find one!

I am now ready to add the fifth pillar and accept the fact that it won’t start with an “E”.

The fifth pillar: “Helping Others“.

This is not blind altruism as I am not that saintly, but I do want to spend some of my time helping others. I made a fairly decent commitment along these lines for some months now as I have signed up as a Victim Advocate volunteer working along side the local police department. After 40 hours of training I now commit at least 4 days a month being on call to act when needed by helping victims of crimes or events that the police get involved in. This is all part of an initiative that exists at the national level, but is more actively managed by the state to help victims find resources to help them get through the trauma of the event they were impacted by. Without this type of help victims are left on their own to sort things out which can further exacerbate the victim experience.

Not only do I find great value in having a purpose associated with helping others, but I also find this experience educational and adventuresome. With that said, I wanted to acknowledge that reality and officially add it as a fifth pillar of my retired life.

The 5 Pillars of My Retired Life

Expressing, Educating, Exercising, Exploring and Helping Others.

A Hike to Lake Dorothy…

… told me I need to get in better shape.

Wow. I’ve done this hike several times over the years and this year it was harder than it used to be.

Was it the heat?

We started the hike around 7:40am and the trailhead starts at about 10,000 feet elevation. It was warmer than usual, but I don’t think heat was the culprit.

Was it the altitude?

The elevation hasn’t changed much since my last venture up this trail, so given that I’m comparing my performance to the same trail at a different time, I think elevation is not the culprit.

Was it food and water?

I had plenty of water to drink along the hike and I had a healthy eggs, cheese and salsa with bread breakfast as well as a 250 calorie Cliff Bar on the hike. I’m sure that’s at least as much nourishment as I’ve had previously.

There’s not much left to blame.

I can’t do anything about my age, so I guess I need to work on getting into shape. Let’s see how I do in future blog posts.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the beautiful hike. This is truly one of my favorites and I thank Leslie for showing it to me years ago.

A vibrant meadow filled with a variety of wildflowers in different colors, alongside a flowing stream, surrounded by lush green foliage and trees in the background. — Beautiful Wildflowers

A moose standing near a pond with lush green vegetation and trees in the background. — Beautiful Wildflowers

I Love Paddleboarding

Leslie and I went paddleboarding a couple days ago. We haven’t done that the last couple summers, and it’s not clear to either of us why. I know I thought I might be losing my ability to stand on the board because the last time out I recall it was choppy and windy and I had a very hard time staying upright.

We went to Union Reservoir which is very close and accessible from our home; it’s also a very nice body of water with lots of flora and fauna to enjoy. The water level was pretty low as is the situation this year, but that didn’t get in the way of enjoying our trip.

We both started out feeling pretty shaky and insecure but we got more stable as the day went on. We launched from the south and visited the west and north shores. Next week I am hoping to go there again and visit the east shore. Here are some pictures from our outing.

Inspiring Gardens from Erie’s Cultivate and CO-Create Tour

Yesterday we drove around the town of Erie to see homes that were featured in Erie’s annual “Cultivate and CO-Create Garden Tour”. There were many inspiring displays by people who really put time and effort into creating their beautiful gardens. I expect to incorporate some new ideas into our garden as a result.

While I didn’t focus on taking pictures to highlight all the cool things we saw, I did capture a few as shown below.

A vibrant garden filled with various colorful flowers, including red and yellow daylilies, roses, and other flowering plants, surrounded by lush green foliage and a decorative garden light.

A person stands in a garden surrounded by decorative rocks, artificial cranes, and lush greenery, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a light shirt.

Why I Blog

In a recent post: Finding Balance in Retirement, I indicated the need to explore the answer to: “Why do I blog”. Answering this question will help ground my thinking, my motivation, and my style for future posts.

Motivations for blogging

What are my motivations?

Having Fun

Without overthinking it I will state the obvious: it’s fun!

It’s fun because it gives me a creative outlet. I love deciding which visuals to include and preparing those visuals.

I also enjoy the creative writing challenge, doing my best to keep it entertaining and readable.

Making Myself Findable

If anyone out there actually wants to find me, I would like my blog to help them do so.

My recent Google search for “mark pastor” did not go very well, which highlights the need to work on findability.

My strategy is to have straight forward URLs like “markpastor.com” and “markpastor.blog” and a link to those from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. The good news is I have done all of that; now let’s see if anyone actually looks.

Journaling

An illustrated landscape featuring a winding path through nature, with figures engaging in various activities like hiking, gardening, and conversing, surrounded by trees, flowers, and mountains in the background.

I have over 100,000 photos stored in the cloud. I do not expect anyone to take the time to parse through those pictures. Even now that Google, Apple and Adobe have come a long way with search tools, the effort it takes to peruse the pics is still detracting. And, without a narrative to accompany the photo’s, their value is further diminished. With that said, perhaps a journal (i.e. blog) that is searchable, focused on the highlights, and provides a narrative for the visuals, has a chance of finding a reader. Who might that be?

Who is the Audience?

Ahhh… the always present questions when I pursue any creative project: “Who cares?”

Me

I love the occasional look-back.

Where have I been?

What was I doing at the time?

What was I thinking 🙂 ?

The Possibility of Someone Else

Over 6 billion people on earth have active access to the global internet¹. It’s possible that one or more of those people might find some of my blog interesting. At the moment I have no idea who they are or why they might be interested, but here are some possibilities.

Someone who knows me: a friend, family member or acquaintance: perhaps they’re curious about “what has become of Mark?”, or “what has he been up to?”. I believe in the possibility that there is someone like that.
A stranger from the blogging world. Often after publishing a post, someone from out there will comment on or like my blog. Sometimes they may just be looking to gain their own visibility. Might there be others looking for interesting content from strangers? I hope that’s a possibility.
Someone who finds my content interesting. Do they like the artistic approach to photos or other art? Did I write about a topic or say something that actually took flight? I dream of the possibility.

The truth is out there.

Summary

I blog because it’s a fun and creative outlet where I can produce a searchable repository of images and thoughts for anyone out there that might be interested or that might want to find me.

Finding Balance in Retirement

Now that I am fully emersed in retirement I am surprised by how much time there is to fill. I no longer have to squeeze my hobbies into the weekends along with all the other obligations that needed to get done during non-working time. Weekends, that were once coveted for getting out to do all the things I wanted to (and needed to) do, are now reserved for doing things at home to avoid the always prevalent weekend crowds. That means weekdays are now my playground!

With all this freedom I find it useful to categorize my activities to help me strive for balance (until the day comes where I find I no longer desire such balance). I came up with the 4 E’s that seem to work well for me, at least for the time being: Expressing, Educating, Exercising and Exploring. I find that all the things I have ventured to do so far fit nicely into one or more of these categories.

This post is sort of a kick-off for what I hope are many posts to follow. One of the first posts to follow will be “why I blog”. With free time and a clear mind I look forward to exploring that question, which will help guide me on who exactly my audience is. Is it just me? My friends? The public at large? I don’t know… yet; I look forward to working on that question soon.

Mount Blue Sky

For a few years now I wanted to add Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) to my list of 14ers (primarily because you can drive to it). So, we finally had the opportunity to drive there this year. The access road has been closed for maintenance for the past couple of years, so I believe this was the opening of a new window in time to take the drive.

It was an awesome drive. The road, while safe, had a lot of exposure at various times and the views were spectacular. On the way to the peak we stopped at the visitor center that had interesting displays inside and a really nice set of nature trails out the back.

We walked along the nature trails and in addition to beautiful scenes and views there were awesome Bristlecone Pines which are known to be among the oldest living type of trees on the planet.

Further up the road was a parking area with restrooms and trailheads and mountain goats.

When we got to the parking lot near the peak we saw the observatory as well as the trail that goes up another half mile or so the peak. We headed up the trail and as we got to the top the wind and sleet were hitting us really hard. Nevertheless, we captured a few nice pics and hurried down for some shelter. The people that were just getting to the parking lot at that time were not able to climb to the peak because the precipitation and wind got too strong.

A panoramic view from a rocky mountain summit, showcasing snowy patches and distant mountain ranges under a cloudy sky.

A panoramic view of a mountain summit featuring a building and an observatory dome, surrounded by rocky terrain and patches of snow, with a parking lot in the foreground.

Yellowstone in Winter

Leslie and I visited Yellowstone National Park this February. It was the first time I have seen Yellowstone in the winter. We had a great time exploring the park and taking in all the great sights. While the park was mostly covered in snow and ice, it wasn’t nearly as deep or cold as typical years.

We took a bus tour to get a good look at the geology and wildlife around the park.

The next morning we took a walk to catch the park at sunrise.

What an awesome place to visit with spectacular views, lots of geothermal activity and wildlife everywhere.

I posted pictures from our trip here at markpastor.com.

Morocco

I started creating a blog post for this trip, the old way. There was so much packed into this trip that I would never get that done. So, I’m going with a different approach to make things go faster.

I have separated the trip into 14 locations (listed below), and each location has its own photo album covering that area. The collection of those photo albums can be found on my Adobe site: Mark Pastor – Morocco. This approach allows me to organize photos as I normally do, in Adobe Lightroom. Then I avoid the next steps of converting them and transferring them to this blog site. Instead, I just link to the Adobe photo albums.

It was a 17-day trip, starting in Casablanca and wrapping up in Marrakesh. We covered a lot of territory visiting many cities and locations during that time. We arranged the trip via Intrepid Travel.

Here is a high level view of the path we followed. (Map courtesy of Intrepid.)

Below is a list of the location/albums, each one links to that respective photo album. These are listed in chronological order of when we visited those locations.

We traveled with a fantastic group of 12 people (including our tour guide). The photos below collectively captures each one of us.

A group of eight travelers posing together with mountains in the background during a trip in Morocco.

A group of twelve people enjoying drinks and chatting together on a terrace with lush greenery and mountains in the background.

I will be actively updating the verbiage around the photos on my adobe website. Please check back for updates whenever you feel the urge.

Here is where you can find the photos: Mark Pastor – Morocco

As far as the group goes, we remain in touch with each other and I look forward to keeping that going.

It was a great trip, we covered a lot of territory, and I will need a lot of time to reflect and absorb all we did and learned.