June 2010

Going above timberline on Fall River Road , headed toward the Alpine Visitor Center and gift shop on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Gallery – Fall River and Trail Ridge – September 2, 2009

(click on image for larger version)

Fall River Road was the first road to cross the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National park.  It provided a connection from Estes Park over Fall River Pass to Grand Lake.  The road was constructed between 1913 and 1920 by the State of Colorado and the two counties, Larimer and Grand, through which it crossed.  It was the principle road across the park until completion of Trail Ridge Road in the 1930s, which follows the old route on the western side. 

The nine-mile eastern segment, between Endovalley and Fall River Pass, remained in use until it was closed by rock slides in the 1950s.  It was reopened in 1968 as a one-way motor road, widened over the years, but never paved. The restored segment offers motorists an experience similar to those of the first over-the road travelers in the park.

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Lake Yellowstone Hotel, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Gallery: Around the Lower Loop, September 15, 2007 

(click on image for larger version)

The Ionic columns, dormer windows, and deep porticos on this classic yellow building faithfully recall the year it was built: 1891.  (Frommer’s Montana & Wyoming by Eric Peterson)

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This guy was swishing his horns back and forth in the long grass, apparently gathering up enough that he could toss some of it in the air over his back.  Apparently, this is part of an elk’s instinctive rutting behavior.

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I like to incorporate images into my blog posts.  Because I’m an amateur photographer, often that photo is the object of the post.

If my post is going to be commentary on something or other, though, I like to use a photo that has something to do with the topic.  For instance, in the post Leave all that rush – rush – rush at home! – don’t bring it here, “here” was Yellowstone National Park.  For that post, a picture of the iconic Old Faithful Geyser was a good choice.

Since I use my own images most of the time, copyright is not usually a concern.

Sometimes, though, I can’t think of any photos that would fit what I’m going to be writing about.  That’s when it’s time to start searching for something that will go with the topic – something that is also legal.  I’m not always successful in finding the right image, but sometimes it works.

I like to use flickr.

The first thing I’ll do is search on something related to the topic I’m writing about.  The flickr search box is on the upper right hand side of the page.

I’ll search “confederacy,” since I’m doing a civil war blog, and see what I get.

I’m generally conscientious when it comes the authors’ rights, so I want to make sure whatever image I pick can be used without restrictions.  To accomplish that in flickr requires a second level of search.  On the upper right side of the page, Ill select “Advanced Search,” which will take me to a page with a number of additional search options.

I’m looking for content that I can use with no restriction.  Scrolling to near the bottom of the page, I find the Creative Commons options.  I’ll check all three boxes and then click the search button below.

After that, all the images that show up should be available under Creative Commons.  But how can we be sure?  It’s not obvious at first.

Once an image has been selected, there is a row above the image on the photo page.  I select “all sizes.”  Once we get to that page, there is a statement at the top that says “All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.”  The link takes you to a couple of icons below the picture.  The icons are linked to pages that describe the limitations and requirements of usage.

What do you use for finding images to use on your blog?

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While I really do like the Thesis blog template, the 404 error message that comes with it just doesn’t work for me.

I was doing some research, trying to learn how to do some modifications of my new blog, Diaries of the Civil War (http://dotcw.com), when I stumbled on a way to get rid of the Thesis “You 404’d it. Gnarly, dude.” message.

I would like to be able to make all of the changes that I want without doing any coding, but I don’t think that’s likely in the near term.

The nice thing about Thesis is that all it is written in such a way that all of the coding done by the user is in a couple of “custom files.”  By doing it this way, all of the customizations are retained when the next version of the theme comes out.  On most other themes that I’ve worked with, the changes are made in the theme’s working files.  Then, if there is a new version, all of the customizations get lost.

Once I had it figured out on the other blog, I went ahead and copied it over to this one.

Now I can go back to researching what I was originally looking for.

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Lost post recovered ! — Originally posted September 7, 2007 — Recovered from Internet Archive.
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My blogging has evolved a bit since this piece was posted back in September of 2007 — and my climate blogs are not included in the picture as I am moving on to other things.

I’m finding that as this blog develops — and I develop along with it — that I am enjoying writing and that sometimes the words flow really well.

When words are flowing really well, some folks have the tendency to ramble on and on and on and… well, you know.

I try not to do that. Often times, a short succinct article is more effective and has a better result than longer articles.

A long article has it’s place. It’s good for detailed explanations, in-depth reporting or descriptions, and, sometimes, even humor  or satire. However, it needs to flow and generally be well organized, not ramble on and on and on and… well, you know.

Speaking of which — I think I’m going to keep this short and ramble on… to something else!

© 2007 Mike Goad

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For the most part, we have found the other visitors to Yellowstone to be very courteous and polite — with most of them not in any big rush.
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Old Faithful from trail

It doesn’t do any good to rush. You’ll just have to slow down a further down the road when you come up to more traffic — or a buffalo, elk, bear, coyote or , just maybe, wolf traffic jam.

Some people just can’t leave it at home. Some just have to bring their hurry up, go-go-go life with them to the park.

This morning, we were driving less than the 45 mile-per-hour speed limit somewhere between Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs. Coming from the other direction a vehicle whipped out from behind a camper as soon as the vehicle in front of me was past him and then, as soon as he was past the camper, he whipped back into his lane. If I had been driving the speed limit, we might have been in a head-on collision.

As they went past our vehicle, I tried to make feel them more like they were back home. I pushed down hard on the center of the steering wheel. I’m sure the sound of the truck horn was something they were probably very familiar with — back home.

That may have been the first time I ever used the horn.

While at Mammoth, I talked with a park service worker who had been cleaning one of the restrooms yesterday when several tour buses showed up. Apparently power was out in the area at that time— and with it water pressure — and flush toilet. When she tried to tell the passengers that the flush toilets were not working, all she got was anger and verbal abuse. So she locked the doors.

I don’t understand why people have to be that way.

Yesterday, we were in one of the park stores in the Old Faithful area. Karen was waiting in line behind a lady who had brought an undercharge on a purchase from the grill to the attention of the cashier, which was the right thing to do, although it took time to figure out the right price and make the correction. However, the guy behind Karen was moaning and groaning loudly to his wife about the slow service and that there was only one checkout counter open. Karen said that she felt like telling the guy that the girl was just doing her job and that he should just give his purchases to his wife and go outside to cool off. But Karen would never do something like that.

Why do people have to be that way?

I guess for some, it’s just the way that they’re built.

© 2007 Mike Goad- All Rights Reserved.

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