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.
I started the most recent installment of my photographic journey chasing waterfalls in western North Carolina, and still enjoy checking out new-to-me waterfalls during our travels. We recently stopped by Tahquamenon Falls State Park in the U.P. of Michigan to see and photograph the Upper Falls.
Tahquamenon Falls is sometimes referred to as the “root beer falls” due to the amber color of the waters caused by tannins in the cedar swamps from which the river drains. The water really does take on the cast of root beer barrel candies!
Kathy & I are currently on a journey through cool, comfortable Michigan. We’ve visited a number of places so I’ll likely be posting images completely out of order as I get to them!
We recently visited Sault Sainte Marie, MI and did a boat cruise (never pass up a boat cruise!) on the Soo Locks. These piles of Taconite are used in the production of steel and were waiting alongside the Algona Steel Company on the St. Marys River. The black piles made me think of the opposite of something like White Sands, NM.
Yesterday afternoon the thermometer on our patio (in the shade!) read 100 degrees. The month before we were taking a photography tour in Yellowstone. In the snow at 30 degrees!
Still processing photos and a bit behind, but couldn’t resist commenting on the temperature differential.
Stay cool, wherever you are! 😉
I’m kind of used to people looking at me funny when I am stooped over my tripod composing a scene instead of taking the ubiquitous ‘selfie’ with my phone. I was reminded of that while visiting the Mormon Row Historic area of Grand Teton National Park. While everyone else’s lenses were pointed at the Moulton Barns, I was facing the other way looking for compositions on the other side of the road.
Kathy is often reminding me to “turn around.” But this time I remembered it on my own!
The Chapel of the Transfiguration is a small log chapel in Grand Teton National Park, in the community of Moose. The chapel was sited and built to frame a view of the Cathedral Group of peaks in a large window behind the altar. The chapel, which was built in 1925, is owned and operated by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson. The church is open daily, and still hosts services on Sunday. On the day of our visit, an organist was playing in the chapel.
The chapel was built to serve guests and employees of the dude ranches that stretched north of Jackson along the base of the Teton Range. The land was donated by Maud Noble, owner of nearby Menor’s Ferry, predating the establishment of Grand Teton National Park in 1929 and its expansion into the Moose area in 1950. The chapel played a primary role in the movie Spencer’s Mountain, which was filmed in Jackson Hole in 1963, and featured Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara.
The chapel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 10, 1980.
Yes, I’m sort of working backwards through my (4,888!) photos from this trip, because there are so many from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It’s gonna take me a while to get through them all!
Hoping for extra credit in Professor Curto’s History of Photography class 😉 Kathy & I visited Fort Scott, KS to see the Gordon Parks Museum. We had previously been to Fort Scott in 2020 to visit the Fort Scott National Historic Site, but the museum had been closed.
From the Museum website:
After Gordon Parks attended the first-ever Gordon Parks Celebration in 2004, he gifted the Gordon Parks Center with 30 of his photographs. This spectacular group includes many of his iconic works such as American Gothic, Tuskegee Airmen, Flavio, Ali Sweating, Ingrid Bergman on Stromboli and many others.
In 2006, after his death, his personal effects and other memorabilia, per Gordon’s wishes, were given to the Museum. This valuable collection included many of his awards and medals, personal photos, paintings and drawings of Gordon, plaques, certificates, diplomas and honorary doctorates, selected books and articles, clothing, record player, tennis racquet, magazine articles, his collection of Life magazines and much more.
Since that time, more gifts have been given by his family and friends such as his camera, gifted by his daughter Toni Parks; his film camera and tripod, donated by his son David Parks; a collection of photographs of Gordon donated by Patricia DuBose Duncan, and much more. These gifts have made this collection substantive and significant and we are proud of Gordon’s faith in us to preserve and protect his legacy.
The museum houses a nice collection of Parks memorabilia, including a number of prints, some cameras, numerous awards and displays chronicling Parks’ life and work. I knew him as a photographer and film maker but didn’t realize that he was also a talented musician, composer, writer and poet.
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.
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.
