When going through my Mackinac photos I realized that I had assembled a small collection of what I call “detaily” photos. Small bits of stuff that are often overlooked in a scene. This is just an example from one place. I do it all the time but don’t usually post it as subject matter. Hmmm…. 😉
We hadn’t originally intended to have extra time in St. Ignace, but a small schedule change allowed us a chance to visit Mackinac Island before heading just an hour up the road to Sault Ste. Marie. We made the best of the opportunity by booking a ferry trip to the island, exploring Fort Mackinac and visiting the Grand Hotel.
The town is extremely touristy, but it is quite picturesque and there are plenty of people watching opportunities. Getting to the fort requires a bit of a climb, but once there the views were worth it and it was quite interesting.
We retreated to the Pink Pony restaurant for lunch and to cool off. We had been debating whether to walk over to the Grand Hotel and had almost decided not to. But our helpful waiter asked us if we had been, then proceeded to convince us that we should make the effort. Then he told us about the “Secret Garden” that offers beautiful flowers and a nice view of the house. It wasn’t completely secret, but there were way fewer people there than there were up at the house.
We didn’t take the time or spend the money to go inside the house, but we did enjoy the classic views from outside. And I found the official Picture Spot so I could be sure to properly document our visit!
The conditions finally aligned so that I was able to capture a bit of color here in NC. Nothing that will win any prizes, but it works for me!
Technically I didn’t see the aurora, but my camera did…. 😉
One of the most popular spots in Yellowstone National Park is the Midway Geyser Basin. It is so popular that if you arrive after about 10:00 (earlier in the summer!) you could wait for hours just to get a place to park.
With that in mind, Kathy and I decided to make a non-peak visit to the basin, early (-ish) one morning (my first photo was taken just before 8:00. Unfortunately that meant that instead of dealing with bunches of crowds, we ended up dealing with bunches of steam. As it works, the bigger the difference between the air temperature and the springs, the more chance for steam and fog.
We knew this going in and decided that seeing it, even in less than ideal conditions, was better than dealing with huge crowds. It was still quite dramatic, and even though I didn’t get the “classic” Grand Prismatic Spring” shot (in reality very few people do get the classic shot, and to get it you kinda have to be there in perfect conditions, preferably in an airplane!), we were happy to have gotten there on a nice day with plenty of sunshine to show off the rainbow of colors.
After our morning visit to Midway Geyser Basin we headed on down the road to Fountain Paint Pots, another popular spot. That lot was starting to fill up when we got there, and by the time we got back to Midway the traffic was already starting to line up for the parking lot. But that’s a story for another day. The lesson though is that timing is everything!
Posting this for Ken, who liked the bird in my last post. I think I got the right one, the right way. 😉
Imagine our surprise when we read that a “hydrothermal explosion” had occurred at Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone on July 23. We had visited just two months prior, and the news photos of the devastation were incredible. All of our tour guides had joked about how Yellowstone sits on a huge underground volcano, and “you never know….” It’s well known that violent eruptions can happen at any time, and sometimes they actually do. Yikes! Fortunately no one was injured, and damage appears to be mostly limited to the boardwalk. And of course the size and shapes of several of the pools were dramatically altered.
Our visit was in an evening and the sky was overcast. As a result a lot of the colors are quite muted. But the various colors of the pools and the surrounding bacterial mats are quite evident.
And gnarly trees! 🙂
We’ve been staying in Houghton, Michigan the last few nights and managed to snag a hotel room with a high floor and view of the Portage Canal which connects Portage Lake with Lake Superior. We had this rather nice view just after sunset.
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.
I liked how the shapes of the canopy give the impression of a sunburst to the reflection in the glass.