independence pass

It is hard getting back into the swing of things after 5 months in the air force. I decided to give it an attempt though and go on a day hike just to see if I remembered how to take a photo.

I was a little disappointed in the fact that the area I planned on going had way too much snow. The summer here so far in Colorado has been very cold and the snow seems to be a little more than normal at this point in the game. With that said though, I decided to head to Independence Pass instead and take a couple of photos.

As always, I was not disappointed. The low clouds gave me some opportunity to take some unique shots. Although, I didn't get the spectacular. I was excited to get out again and blow the dust off the camera.

Here are a couple of photos of the trip. I have more photos posted on my website of this adventure. Enjoy :)

back in colorado!!

It has been a long 5 months but an eventful 5 months. As you know I spent the past 5 months in San Antonio training with the Air Force. The past 3 months has been spent at tech school for security forces training. It has been a blast and an adventure to say the least. Maybe at some point, I will post more detail of my last 5 months. But for now I have to make this quick.

I am currently back in CO and very excited to be home. I love CO and became very homesick while I was gone. It has been a hectic week but I was able to get out one day this week and drive up to Independence Pass. It was still very snowy up there. I didn't get any great photos but just enjoyed getting out again.

I have another busy week planned and it will include a backpacking trip with a friend next week (hopefully).

I am going to start up this blog again so keep checking back to find out the latest in Kevin Adkins Adventures. Until my next post enjoy a couple of photos of my air force venture :)

last post for awhile

Well, the time has finally come. On Tuesday, Dec. 30th. I report to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. From that moment until Feb 27th I will be in zero contact with the world. My cousin in law has graciously accepted my request to keep my friends and family updated during that time. If any of you are interested, you can just email her at davidandjilljacobs@hotmail.com and ask her to be added to list. Although 2 months isn't long, it will probably be an eternity to me. She will also have my address and graduation info in San Antonio as well.

After graduation, I get my cell phone back and will get some free time...but not much. Because of that I don't know when I will post an update on my blog. My guess is sometime in mid to late March. I am sure I will have lots to say by then but not much photography (maybe a graduation photo or two) but no mountains :(

Whether you visit my blog for my photography or my life adventures, I want to take this moment for thanking you for being a fan of my photography and the happenings of Kevin Adkins adventures. It is fun doing this blog and I love taking pictures for you guys!!!

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, I enlisted in the Air Force Reserve back in the summer. I went on the DEP which is why it has taken so long for me to report. Security Forces is the career field I have chosen with the Air Force and upon graduation from tech school in June, I will have received an Associates degree in Criminal Justice. After that, who knows what lays ahead for me. I have decided that I am not going to worry about that until the time comes. Serving my country is something I have thought about for the past few years and I am both excited and nervous that I finally took the plunge!!!

Happy new years to all of you. I have a feeling my won't be so fun hehe. Thank you guys again for everything. God Bless!!!

Kevin Adkins Adventures Update

I finally completed my 2004 archive. I lost a little momentum on my updates but got it done when I realized time was running out on me. These are some photos I haven't viewed in some time and it was interesting noticing how much better my gear and photography have gotten over the years. Although I did enjoy the 2004 archive, I was pretty disappointed with the overall quality of the photos. The composition was decent on a few of the photos though. Overall, if you take my photography for what it is, I think you will enjoy the 2004 archive.

With that said, I have had a few people ask how they can view my latest postings. There is only one way. Just go to the bottom of my home page on smugmug (not my splash page at kevinadkins.com). At the bottom of that page, you can subscribe to my feeds and get updates any time I upload any images. It is a pretty cool feature if you are not familiar with that and many websites have that service now (including this one). Also, if you don't like viewing my photos by adventure since that is so sporadic on what year I went on that trip, you can use the date search on the bottom of my page. You just enter the time frame and all photos I took during that period will show up. That is another great way to view my archive as it continues to grow.

With that said, my 2004 archive will be my last update for at least the next seven months. If you don't know, I enlisted in the Air Force Reserve this summer and the time for me to report has come. I will be in San Antonio away from all this beauty until mid June. I don't know when I will be able to start posting updates again on my website, but rest assured, no matter where I end up...my passion for photography will go with me. Hopefully that is still in CO but time will tell. Regardless, I still plan on posting my photography from 2001-2003 at some point. Those were the beginning years and I can't wait to view those photos again to see how far I have come.

Hopefully my near 1000 photos I have already posted will keep you guys busy for awhile. And if you are curious which photos of 2008 are my favorites, I have included them in this post. My favorites are often different than yours due to several reasons. I have had a couple of people tell me they miss this part of my old website. I may implement it again at some point but for now, just enjoy these select few that I really like.

weekend in dallas - Cowboys

My last trip I had planned before I report was to go to Dallas to see my buddy Jerod. I had not seen him since he got his 754283165975 promotions and moved to Dallas. I was pretty excited to see him and spend the weekend with him talking about sports and times past. I was also going to get to see my other buddy Ken who graciously invited us to go to the Cowboys - Giants game. Well, I have to admit, I did try to see if I could get some tickets through him but he ended up giving us 2 of his tickets...THANKS KEN!!!

It was a great weekend and nice to be able to see Jerod. He has a beautiful home and a beautiful family . It was cool getting to meet his kids and wife for the first time. They were great hosts and put up with me for 3 days.

The highlight of the trip though was the going to Texas Stadium for the Cowboys - Giants football game. I am not a huge fan of either but have several friends and family members that are huge cowboys fans. I was also excited about getting to see the old stadium before the cowboys move to the new one. Another item I can remove from my bucket list :) And it was an added bonus that Ted Nugent performed the National Anthem :)

It was a great time and a great game. It was a defensive struggle throughout the game before the Cowboys finally pulled away late in the 4th quarter. The fans were louder than I expected and it was fun to cheer on the Cowboys to a much needed victory.

As you will see in the photos below, Ken has great seats. We were 11 rows up from the sideline on the 35 yard line. It was a different perspective than what I am used to with my seats at Mile High. For those of you who don't know, I am at the bottom of the upper level at the 45 yard line. Although I like my seats better, there is something to be said sitting so close to the sidelines and hearing the hits, seeing the face expressions of the players, etc...

I also made a new friend, Rob. He is an avid Cowboys fan even though he lives in New York. It was fun watching the game with him and giving him high fives throughout the game. He is some sort of Vp with the March of Dimes which is a wonderful cause. I am probably going to extend my fund raiser efforts once again to help with the March of Dimes as well as continuing helping the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation...more to come next year.

Last but not least, I have some photos I took at the game. I am not posting these on my facebook page so you will see all of the photos here. You will notice there are no pictures of me and that is kind of on purpose...I was wearing a cowboys hat and t-shirt. It was kind of weird not wearing my broncos stuff and I didn't want to confuse people haha.

Thank you Jerod, Ken and Rob for a weekend I will always remember!!!

football weekend with the cuz...

Ever since I joined facebook back in July, I have reunited with several friends. One of my most impactful reconnections was finding my long lost cousin I haven't seen in about 17 years. We had the typical small talk once we reunited on facebook but after I watched the CU - CSU football game at Mile High, my cuz wrote on my wall telling me I needed to come watch some "real" college football. Well... the rest is history.

My cuz is an Auburn alum and I told him I was ready to come watch some SEC football. I don't think he was serious but before he knew it, I had booked a flight to head over there and watch the Auburn - Georga game. And oh...what a coincidence, the Broncos happen to be playing the Falcons that same weekend in Atlanta ;)

A great time was had. My cuz was the ultimate host and had everything planned out perfectly. Although Auburn lost the game, they fought hard and the game went down to the final play...an incomplete pass in the end zone that would have resulted in a victory. Broncos Sunday however resulted in a solid victory. I clutch comeback by Cutler in the 4th quarter led us to a much needed victory and has positioned us to win the division.

The trip ended up being so much more though. I am a football freak and always will be but probably the coolest thing was being able to meet my cousin's wife, kids and friends. What a great bunch of people. Although I hate to admit this, the highlight of the trip was hanging out and getting to know all of them better. Did I just say that!!!

So to the crew in Georgia and Alabama, thank you so much for a great weekend. This was one of the highlights of my year and something I hope I can do again in the future.

If you are interested in viewing some of the photos I took, you can view a gallery I posted on facebook.

the methodology behind kev's broncos caps

I was in the process of reorganizing my bedroom and was trying to create a little bit more closet space. Well, shortly after beginning, I quickly got distracted when I emptied my top shelf that had all of my broncos caps. The result is, an unfinished closet and a random post explaining the history and methodology of my broncos caps.

There are several reasons that make me a very "unique" (another way of saying "single") dude, hehe. This is just one of many. In the photo below, you will see my complete collection of caps that I have collected over the years. I actually thought that I had more than this and was disappointed to only count 40 total caps.


If you look closely, you will see variations in the amount of wear and tear with each hat. You will also see some still in mint condition. There is a reason for this. I have different hats for different purposes. Let me explain the methodology behind my broncos caps.

First, let me just say that I update my collection yearly. I usually buy somewhere around 3-5 caps a year depending on how cool the selection is. Then, the new caps just get stuck up in my closet until they are called upon. Some caps in my closet however will never be called upon again as they have been officially retired. A cap will be called upon for one of three reasons.

The first is for my hiking/backpacking adventures. Once a year, I call upon a broncos cap of my choice and wear the same cap for every single hiking adventures I take during the course of the year. I never wash this hat and the wear and tear is dependent on the amount of times I get out during the course of the year. Sometimes the cap is looking pretty nasty by the end of the season. Sometimes, the rain cleans it a little but I just basically wear this cap on every backpacking adventure. At the end of the season, the cap is officially retired never to be worn again.

The second cap is my everyday use cap. This is the cap I always put on when I just go out for whatever reason. I don't have a specific time line for the longevity of this cap but I average choosing a different one once or twice a year. Once I switch caps, the old one is officially retired never to be worn again.

The third cap that I wear is for special occasions. For example, I went to GA to see my cuz. I took that cap. Next year when I am at my buddy's wedding, I will wear that cap. This cap only gets worn for special occasions and is considered a very high honor to be chosen. I don't have a time frame for the duration of this cap but it is usually once every other year. Once a new one is selected, the old one is officially retired.

The last cap is the luckiest cap on earth. This is the one I wear for all the broncos games (home and away). This cap has been with me since the first year I got season tickets in the year 2000 and will be worn at every game until the day I die. This cap will never retire...and yes, I am very superstitious.

So in summary, I basically have a crap load of broncos caps, hehe. But there are 4 lucky ones that sit on the mantle and christen my head at any given time. Below is a photo of my mantle with my current caps that are active. The rest will just have to wait in the closet or enjoy their retirement in the closet mantle shelf.

I know all of you were dying to understand the methodology behind this so hopefully this clears everything up...and I wonder why I am so "unique" hehe ;)