We wrapped up our western swing with a 2 day visit to Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park. This is a classic view of the Teton Range from an area called the Mormon Row Historic District. The photo is a bit of a cliche but I can’t imagine a photographer passing it by. Some photographs just need to be taken! We had some pretty nice clouds on this day, which helps a lot.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a beautiful location, where the Yellowstone River has carved a magnificent canyon with several waterfalls. We were fortunate to time a visit to Artist Point to photograph a rainbow that occurs at the Lower Falls at certain times of the year.
Artist Point was originally named in 1883 by Frank Jay Haynes who improperly believed that the point was the place at which painter Thomas Moran sketched his 1872 depictions of the falls. Later work determined that the sketches were made from the north rim, but the name Artist Point stuck.
Midway Geyser Basin is home of the famous Grand Prismatic Spring as well as a number of other equally impressive features. We did see Grand Prismatic, but on the day of our visit the temperatures were in the low 30s, making for a lot of steam. Despite being in the “off season” the place got so busy later in the day when the temperatures did warm up, that we elected to go in the morning before all the selfie-shooting tourists showed up and crowded the boardwalk.
Kathy & I have decided that there is such a thing as “Geyser Fatigue.” 🙂 But geysers are one of the highlights of visiting Yellowstone. The most famous one of all is Old Faithful, so it deserved a spot on this postcard. We had a room facing the geyser basin and specifically Old Faithful, so we watched it erupt numerous times over the four days we stayed at the Old Faithful Inn.
Kathy & I are wrapping up our visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It’s been a great couple of weeks, with beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife and some interesting weather. We had very limited connectivity in the parks (a good thing!) and also limited time to look at photos (also a good thing). This is a sample of the images from our first stop in Yellowstone, at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Those who know me know that I love to bring home “liquid souvenirs” from our travels. Our recent cruise on Celebrity Beyond was no exception. For our visit to the island of Barbados I had arranged a tour to take us to three distilleries. As luck would have it, our driver/guide for the day is a rum aficionado, so he was the ideal person for us to spend the day with. He also had a great place for us to have an authentic Bajan lunch!
We visited Foursquare, Mount Gay and Stade’s distilleries, and brought home several bottles from each. Just like with bourbon, gin and other spirits, rum distilleries all have their individual stories, methods and recipes. It is interesting to learn about them, in the interest of science, of course. 😉
I have finally completed all of the processing from our winter adventures and posted galleries on my Adobe Portfolio page.
Kathy & I visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC recently. I carried a camera with me in case I came across anything interesting. This was a bit of a “happy accident” as I photographed the hood ornament on an old truck repurposed as an ice cream shop. Sadly the ice cream shop was not in operation at the time…. 😉
With apologies to 2clicksaway for borrowing the title, I thought this group of photos made for an interesting study. Taken during our recent cruise aboard Celebrity Beyond.
On our way to Ohio to see the eclipse, Kathy & I stopped off in western Pennsylvania to visit our friends Jim & Lisa. While we were there we made a trip to McConnell’s Mill State Park to do a little hiking. The mill itself has fallen into disrepair, but the covered bridge has been nicely maintained and makes for a picturesque scene on Slippery Rock Creek.
I had been to this park years ago, but enjoyed the time outdoors and with friends. I even managed to make a few photographs.
I would suggest that anyone who claims that a total solar eclipse is no big deal has never seen one. Yes, this one was heavily hyped and over-commercialized, but that should not detract from the significance. What I saw today was beyond explanation. You truly had to be there!
Kathy & I drove to Avon Lake, OH which was right on the centerline of totality. My sister-in-law is an astronomer who led the sciency part of a celebration at the local high school stadium.
I didn’t take photos of the actual sun (well, to be truthful I did but they suck). I did take quite a few photos of the crowds, and of my brother and sister in law, Kathy, our son Scott and grandson Edison enjoying the show. We were all first timers and agreed that we hope to see the next one in the US, in 2045!
Here is an actual eclipse photo from my niece Cassandra.
