Precipitation shafts and stormy sky over Lake Dardanelle from paved breakwater at Dardanelle State Park, Arkansas, July 20, 2013 (Apple iPhone 5)
This photo is a panorama using the iPhone panorama feature.
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Post-processing1 #16 |
Hoodoos above Mossy Cave Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah – October 8, 2015 (Pentax K-3 II)
The Mossy Cave trail is an excellent hike for children, senior citizens, or others wishing to see hoodoos up close but without having to hike long trails up and down steep slopes. It is rated as an easy trail with a round trip distance of .9 miles2
Tyndall Creek, between Nymph Lake and Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, September 3, 2009 (Pentax K10D)
Tyndall Creek, in Rocky Mountain National Park, is named for John Tyndall, an Irish physicist and student of glacial phenomena, as is Tyndall Glacier.
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Shenandoah Valley rest stop, heading north and east from Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, May 15, 2009 (Pentax K10D)
Our motorhome has only made it to the eastern states one time, in the spring of 2009. I had been off several weeks, my first job as a contracted instructor finished. I was pretty sure I would asked to come back, but wasn’t really sure when. It turned out that I got a call asking me to return while we were at the KOA campground in Harper’s Ferry, where we were staying while visiting family and exploring some of the sights.
In the photo, the Shenandoah Mountains are hidden by the morning fog.
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Art on Sunday #27
“Alexander Hamilton,” 1794, Marble, Giuseppe Ceracchi, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, August 1, 2015 (Pentax K-3 II)
Alexander Hamilton ( Wikipedia) is a marble bust portrait of Alexander Hamilton, done in the style of a Roman Senator, by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi. Ceracchi also created many replicas, in both marble and plaster. The bust was later used as a model for sculptures and paintings.
Ceracchi created a terracotta model of Hamilton, from life, about 1791–92. This was then sent to Rome, where he created the marble version. As written to Hamilton in July 1792, Ceracchi was “impatient to receive the clay that I had the satisfaction of forming from your witty and significant physiognomy”. He returned to deliver the bust to Hamilton in 1794, but did not receive payment until later. On March 3, 1796, Hamilton wrote in his cash book: “for this sum through delicacy paid upon cherachi’s draft for making my bust on his own importunity & as a favour to him $620″
The Hamilton family kept the bust until 1896 when it was bequeathed to the New York Public Library along with the portrait painting of George Washington, The Constable-Hamilton Portrait, by Gilbert Stuart. Both were sold together, as requested by the will, on November 30, 2005 to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for over $8 million.
A copy of the bust is now housed at Hamilton Grange, in New York City. The original is displayed at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, June 12, 2012 (Pentax K-r)
Most evenings, on our 2012 visit to the Charleston area, we made it over to one of the islands to walk on the beach.
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Pathfinder Reservoir and Dam, Natrona County, Wyoming, July 13, 2010 (Pentax K12D)
Based on state-wide, year-round, average precipitation, Wyoming is the third driest of the 50 states in the US, though it’s fourth for winter precipitation and seventh for summer.
During our summer 2010 trip, Wyoming was benefiting from significantly above normal winter snow pack and spring rains. We had observed high lake levels and high river flows along the North Platte since we had left North Platte, Nebraska. When we camped west of Casper, Wyoming, at Pathfinder Reservoir, the lake was full, with water flowing through the overflow spillway of the 100+ year-old dam.
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Historic Forestville costumed interpreter, Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park, Minnesota, June 14, 2007 (Pentax K10D)
Historic Forestville, part of Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park is operated by the Minnesota Historical Society as a living museum set in 1899. Costumed interpreters portray Forestville residents and go about daily activities in the general store, house, kitchen, farm, and barn.
Forestville was a rural trade center in the 1800s that declined after the railroad was built elsewhere in 1868. Thomas Meighen, son of one of the town’s founders, owned the entire village by 1890, including the general store, and the local residents worked on his property for housing and credit in the store.
Admission to Historic Forestville is separate from the caves. Historic Forestville is open from May through October.
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Exit78 Photo of the Day #47
In the fall of 2011, we were traveling in southeastern Utah and stopped at Natural Bridges Nation Monument, thinking that the park was far enough off the beaten path and, with it being late in the year, we wouldn’t need reservations. Well, all the sites were full and, even if they hadn’t been, all the sites were very small, too small for our little motorhome and the car that we tow. Fortunately, a ranger at the desk directed us to on overflow camping area a few miles away on BLM land.
A vintage Lazy Daze Class C motorhome in Natural Bridges National Monument overflow camping on nearby BLM land, October 1, 2011 (Pentax K-r)
Besides the Lazy Daze motorhome in the picture and us, there were at least four other RVs in this overflow site. There was plenty of room between all the campers – except for the guy in the class B camper van who decided to camp right next to us!
This is totally dry camping – camping without hookups – and totally free. It was pretty far out in the boonies. Natural Bridge National Monument is a dark sky park – there is no light pollution to wash out the night sky. We had a couple of clear nights at absolutely great views of the night sky. On one of those nights we went to the visitor center for an astronomy program where they had 3 telescopes set up for view objects in the night sky.
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Exit78 Photo of the Day #46
Several years ago, on a hike in Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, I took a picture of a little tree growing out of a rock up-side-down.
Tree growing up-side-down, Colorado National Monument, September 18, 2011 (Pentax K-r)
Four years later, we took the same trail and found that the tree had not survived the harsh seasonal environment and limited nutrients available to it.
Dead tree that had tried growing up-side-down, Colorado National Monument, October 1, 2015 (Pentax K-3 II)
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