Riding High Into 2018! A Year In Photos

2017 was jam-packed full of my favorite things: travel, great live music, lots of running, time with friends and family, and exciting new experiences.

I kicked the year off camping with my wife, daughter, and a lot of friends in Santa Barbara. We rented out a large private campground and booked some bands (including ALO and Shaky Feelin’) to play for a few days leading up to New Years Eve.

It was a lot of fun. It was cool to ring in the New Year in a campground with a big group of friends.

I made an effort to take more photos in 2017, particularly with my DSLR. My efforts didn’t ramp up until later in the year, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made.

I left the house with my camera a number of times with the sole intention of shooting photos, rather than carrying it around as an afterthought. I’m hoping to do this a lot more in 2018.

I shot a wedding in San Francisco (as a second shooter) with a talented photographer friend of mine, and took my camera out on more excursions with me. I plan to continue this in 2018, and hope to get more comfortable shooting on manual!

The Bay Area is home to countless trails. I did a lot of trail running in 2017, and it has taken my love of the sport to a whole new level!

I ran 156 days in 2017, covering just over 900 miles and almost 64k ft of elevation! I’ve been working my way through the parks listed on Trailstompers. It’s been a great motivation to wake up early on weekend mornings and get out for a nice long run on a new trail.

My running accomplishments for the year included a run over the Golden Gate Bridge, my first Bay to Breakers, and the Berkeley Half Marathon, where I shaved three and a half minutes off of my PR!

I decided to switch up my work transportation methods a bit to keep things interesting. I used the Tideline ferry to get from the East Bay to San Francisco quite a bit, and caught some awesome sunrises and sunsets out there.

I also experienced a rare phenomenon known as a “fogbow”, and my photo got picked up in a story by SFGate.

There was no shortage of amazing music in 2017.

I finally made it to Oregon’s Northwest String Summit, which has been on my radar for years. The venue for that festival (Hornings Hideout in North Plains, OR) was on my “venue bucket list”, and it didn’t disappoint.

I also went to my first Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park, and went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass again, which is always a blast.

My musical highlights in 2017 were:

• 2 nights of Radiohead at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley
• Metallica at Outside Lands and AT&T Park
• Sigur Ros at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley
• Phish Baker’s Dozen (7/25) at Madison Square Garden
• Ween at The Masonic
• Broken Social Scene at the Fox in Oakland
• A Perfect Circle at Bill Graham
• Umphrey’s McGee at Fox Theater and Terrapin Crossroads

Oh yeah, and of course… A number of shows by The Disco Biscuits. I saw them at Red Rocks, Playstation Theater, and the Philadelphia Fillmore. They played some of the best sets I’ve ever seen in 2017.

I went on an epic backpacking trip with 4 of my closest friends. We spent 4 days backpacking Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park.

There were absolutely stunning views around every turn. I’m in the progress of pulling all of the photos together into a blog post and hope to finish that in the coming weeks. (blog post is here!)

I also spent 10 days in Hawaii (Maui and Kauai) with my family. We covered a lot of ground while there, but my favorite part was catching a sunrise at the summit of Haleakala Crater at 10,023 feet, and then riding bikes back down to sea level.

Kayaking down the Hanalei River into the Pacific Ocean at Hanalei Bay was a close second.

Everyone was talking about the total solar eclipse of 2017. We weren’t able to leave town to view the eclipse from within the path of totality, but we did go camping on top of nearby Mt Diablo, 600ft above the clouds, where we saw about 80% of the eclipse.

A big “first” for me in 2017 was Burning Man. I’ve wanted to go for over a decade, and this year things just fell into place. I ended up with a last-minute free ticket and decided to make the drive up.

It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and I only spent about 48 hours there. I can’t wait to go back with more friends and better preparations.

I haven’t even touched on trips to Portland, Seattle, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia, or the beautiful weddings that I was lucky enough to attend… but suffice to say that there wasn’t a dull moment in 2017.

August marked one year of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Moving here has certainly presented it’s share of challenges, but it is finally starting to feel like home and our social circles continue to expand.

I look forward to continuing to explore the Bay in 2018, and I’m confident that it will be a year full of continued growth and traveling to exciting new places!