Sunset . . . Sunrise (Or why it pays not to be a cheapskate)

I know, I know, I know, the song goes, “Sunrise . . . sunset.”  But that’s not the way it happened and I’m not yet suffering from Romnesia. Also, I suspect artistic license only allows for so much variance and I’m not going to try and change time.  As for the rest of the title of this post, it will be explained (in part) below.  But for the full story, you have to ask Ann (even though she has formally forgiven me for it and said that she wouldn’t ever bring it up again, it’s such a good story I’ve given her permission to tell it.  So visit Ann and ask her . . . ).

Day one of the mini-vacation was largely a travel day.  As Ann and Kit will tell you, Springfield, Oregon to Port Angeles, Washington is not a short ride.  We made the best of it however, timing our trip to get Ann a warranty on her new iPad at the Apple store, make a short stop at Portland’s Pro Photo Supply to (yay! they had it) pick up a new point and shoot for me (1” sensor and Carl Zeiss optics - you’ll see samples from the trip), and the main reason for the stop, to eat at my favorite restaurant, Piazza Italia (heavenly, just heavenly).  (Why I didn’t take any pictures there I don’t know - maybe I was too busy eating!)  

After taking care of business in Portland it was a long haul to the Olympic peninsula.  Beautiful for much of the way, but slow once you’re on the west side of Puget Sound.  It took almost 5 hours of driving (after the hour and a half from Springfield to Portland and the time spent in Portland), and wound up being a long day (that or I’m just getting older).

Anyway, I had planned in advance and booked a room online for a couple of nights at the highest rated hotel in Port Angeles, which wasn’t very highly rated.  I’d learned my lesson on trying to skimp on hotel costs before - if you want to know, ask Ann (I can only give her so many stories to rib me about . . . ).  Anyway, I decided that, since the hotel was right on the water, I’d even pay a bit extra to face the water (if it even was truly a water view).

We got our room keys, climbed up the stairs to the second floor and walked down this endless dark hallway.  For a second I was worried that maybe I did give Ann another story - but the place at least smelled clean (if you want to know, ask Ann).  Well, when I opened the door I was hit with a wave of deep colors.  The room indeed was a room with a view.  

I pulled the bags quickly into the room, “Kit, here are the car keys, run back and grab my tripod, quickly!”  I immediately pulled out my Contax 645 camera and started loading film into it (yes, film - it’s still alive).  I also pulled out my Fujifilm x100 digital camera.  I looked at my new sony, which wasn’t even out of the box and thought, “No, it will take too long!”  The light had already lost some of its brilliance while I was loading the film and I didn’t want to lose any more.  I stepped out onto the balcony and started shooting with the 645.  Kit came back with the tripod.  I set it up, plopped on the 645 and shot some more.  Made a mistake and had to reload film again.  Shot some more, grabbed the x100, plopped it on the tripod and shot some more.  Here is a sample of the view:

I shot until the light was totally lost.  But we enjoyed the reds, pinks, blues, purples and (Ann’s favorite) the yellow boat while it lasted. I guess the extra $20 per night was worth it.

We went out looking for dinner afterwards and had a hard time finding any place that struck our fancy.  Dinner wound up being decent, but just that, decent.  I think we were all kinda tired and wiped - at least I was from all that driving.  We got back to the hotel and didn’t last long before we went to bed.  My only goal was to get my new camera ready for tomorrow’s shooting.

The next morning I heard the shower start-up.  Ann must have woken up and, unlike me, was unable to get back to sleep.  I rolled over on my back and realized, through my eyelids, that i was seeing orange.  I opened my eyes and the ceiling was coated reddish-orange.  It could mean only one thing - another photo opportunity.  I jumped out of bed, threw my pants on and grabbed my gear.  Kit grumbled as I swung open the drapes and opened the balcony door.  “Kit, you’ve got to see this!”  More grumbling.  By this time I had charged my new sony so I was armed with three cameras as I set up on the deck.  

This is sunrise compared to sunset (with the closest image to the one above I could come with from the shots I’d taken).

Here is another sunrise shot from our balcony.  I have literally made no adjustments to this photograph, this is essentially straight from the camera (the slight color differences between these two images comes from the fact that they are from different cameras and I didn’t want to try and make them “match.”  They were taken within 3 minutes of each other [I love exif data - it tells you stuff like that]).

If you ask me, it was a pretty good start to the vacation!  Maybe my room selection skills aren't so bad after all.