Autumn Beauty

Beauty along the road from Silverton to Ironton. Red Mountain, Colorado. September 2015

Wolf Creek Pass

Yes, it is that Wolf Creek Pass. And, yes, this is way up on the Great Divide. And if you keep on trucking on down the other side, you'll be in downtown Pagosa Springs. We can thank C.W. McCall for that tune playing in your head for the rest of the day.

September 2015

Colorful Telluride

I just had to pull off of Route 145 rolling into Telluride to try and get all of this into one shot.

September 2015

Celebrating Autumn

Happy Fall! Here's looking back to last year's roadtrip through Colorado. These trees are somewhere between Silverton and Ouray.

September 2015

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

You would think that there would be lighthouses all over the place in Florida. When actually we needed to drive an hour down the coast to find the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Sitting on the Jupiter Inlet along the Loxahatchee and Indian Rivers since 1860 it is still in service today. (I'll let you read the sign yourself). The tower is 108 feet tall and there are 105 steps up to the light. The one lens was damaged in a powerful hurricane in 1928. The Keeper had it sent away to be fixed and it is sill in use. 

Room With a View

The lifeguard shack at the South Beach Park area of Vero Beach, Florida. September 2016

Anhinga

Say hello to the Anhinga. Anhingas are water birds known as darters. They spear their prey with that pointy beak. They also, like a cormorant, do not have waterproof feathers (that's why they sit like this, drying their feathers). By not having waterproof feathers, like ducks, they can swim below the surface of the water. This is why they are sometimes called the snake bird. This one was hanging out at the Indian County Lagoon Wetlands in Vero Beach, Florida.

Sunset Bridge

That moment as soon as the sun dips below the horizon and the real colors haven't quite arrived. Beachland Bridge, Vero Beach, Florida

Pelicans at Sunrise

Some brown pelicans looking for a morning meal. South Beach Park, Vero Beach, Florida.

To Bennu and Back

 Yes, that's the rocket there.

On September 8, 2016 an Atlas V rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral, Florida. Carrying the OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral-Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) (but you knew what that meant already). The OSIRIS-REx is headed for the near earth asteroid Bennu. It will land on Bennu sometime in 2018. Release a puff of nitrogen and vacuum up between 2 ounces and 4.4 pounds of asteroid dust. Then return to earth. Flying low over Utah it will release that dust collection vessel and it will parachute down to earth sometime in 2023. Maybe I should start planning my return to Utah in 2023. That would be 40 years since the first time I arrived in Utah.

Black Crown

One of the birds from the Indian River Lagoon Wetlands. A black crowned night heron.

Required Sunrise

What would a walk on the beach be without sunrise pictures? Well, here you go.That big bird there in a black skimmer (a first for me).

candygram

These buggers were everywhere. In the morning the wall you see in the background would have 4 or 5 of them crawling up or down. Leave the door cracked open a little and they're in the house.

Dragonflies

In researching my time in Florida I found the Indian River Lagoon Wetlands in western Vero Beach. The morning I walked around was following a rainy overnight, so I got some wet feet. I saw a whole lot of wetland birds, some flowers, swarms of dragonflies and other critters. And yes I said swarms of dragonflies.

Back From the Treasure Coast

Well, I'm back and I'm live again. Things here have been on autopilot for the past two weeks,  between work and vacation. Well there is still more work, vacation is over for a while. Today's image is a shot I took while walking Florida's Treasure Coast beach. Many more to come.

Open the Roof

The truck captain opening the roof. Cumberland County, Pa. May 2015

Blue Skies at Dusk

Some evenings just turn out to be non-sunset evenings. So you work with what you have.

A Pair of Cormorants

These two double breasted cormorants were hanging out on the slough along the beach road on Assateague Island.

Portage Cove

The beach at Portage Cove looking north towards Mt Ripinski, Haines, Alaska. June 2014

Sunset from the Marina

Sunset from the Bay Bridge Marina and Yacht Club, Stevensville, Maryland. May 2016

Middle Spring Presbyterian Church

First built in 1738 by some of the earliest Scotch Irish settlers in Pennsylvania. This building was built in 1847 across the street from the original.

135 Middle Spring Road, Shippensburg, Pa.

That Moment Before the Sun Rises

This is that moment right before the sun rises and the sky fills with color. 

Vero Beach, Florida, June 2016

One if by Land, Three if by Sea

Ketchikan International Airport, Gravina Island

Ketchikan, Alaska. June 2014