So, I couldn’t sleep the other night and woke up at 3am really thirsty. Heading out to the kitchen to get a glass of water, I noticed something odd in the backyard. There was a quarter moon shining down on a huge cloud bank covering most of Washoe Valley! Needless to say, and being an adventurer at heart, I threw on some clothes, and jumped in the Jeep, heading up to shoot down on this enormous cloudbank.
We see lenticulars all the time in the Valley, and I’ve shot my fair share of those, but cloud banks don’t happen all the time. As I drove up, I kept my speed down, we’d had a ton of rain in the past 48 hours, and the roads were covered with black ice. As I came up to the base of the Winters Creek Lodge, I parked right by the guard rail, and stepped out cautiously, treading lightly on the slick surface under my feet. I had rushed out of the house so quickly that I forgot my ski jacket, and with the temperature down to 35 degres, it was a little chilly. Needless to say I took two 1 minute exposures, checked to make sure they were in focus, and jumped back in the car with the heat blasting.
I then drove over to Lake Tahoe, hoping for a bank of clouds over the Lake, but I was out of luck this time. So, I turned around to come back home, stopping twice to shoot the stars overhead. I was back in bed by 5am, and back up at 7am, ready for my run and to start the day. Officially start it anyhow.
Dotty Molt Photography 