...Photographic Memories

Grandpa's place

2012-01-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

If I am not mistaken this is the house that my oldest sister was born in. Rose use to live in the house that would have been in the foreground if it hadn't burned down a few years ago. This was just down the holler from our old home place. My grandfather(on my dad's side) owned this place and our old home place. I don't know how long my mom and dad lived in this house but if I have the story correctly four days after my oldest sister was born my grandfather on my mothers side died (1933). As a result, mom, dad, and baby picked up and moved back to where my mom had grown up to help with the family. There were 8 in my mom's family....all girls.

This is the same barn that is in Rose's Time Stands Still blog. As you can see it is really grown up around it and the barn is not in very good shape any more.

The "road" up the holler to our old home place.

The fields just in front of our old house. You can't quite see the old chimney standing.

Here's the old chimney. I am going to guess and say that chimney was built in the mid to late 30's. Our well was probably 25 feet to the right of the chimney. It was hand dug and if I remember correctly it was 26 feet deep. I would love to have some water out of that well....it was cold and good. It's never been filled in but has a slab of concrete over it. I would love to know if it still has water in it.

Old home

2012-01-20T01:00:00.000-05:00

The house at the old home place that I mentioned in the previous posts was very small. If I recall correctly I believe may parents told me that it was 28 feet long by 24 feet wide. It had 4 rooms, a living room, a kitchen, and two bedrooms. It also had a front porch and a back porch. It had a tin roof and no insulation in the attic so it was very noisy when it rained but I loved it and still love rain on a tin roof even today. Figuring from our ages I have come to the conclusion that at one time there were seven of us kids and mom and dad living in that house. We never got electricity until around 1953-1954 time frame so that means that I lived several years in that house when we didn't have any electricity. When we finally did get electricity we got a refrigerator. The kitchen was so small that we cut a hole the size of the refrigerator in one of the kitchen walls and shoved the refrigerator into that hole so just the face of it was showing in the kitchen. Therefore, the bulk of the refrigerator stuck back into one of the bedrooms. My mom cooked everything on an old fashion wood burning cook stove. We had a Warm Morning coal burning stove in the living room to keep it warm in the winter. In the summer we would take it down and move it to the porch so we had more room in the living room. However, that stove would not keep the house warm all night so it got really cold in the bedrooms at night. I could go on and on but I don't want to bore you too much.:) As a side note: I have never been able to find a picture of the old house....:(.

Below are some OLD pictures but they are not very good.

This looks like it was taken down the hill from our front porch. The National Park Services owns those woods.

This is a picture of my dad holding Rose. The part of the building that you see is the front porch of our house.

I believe (not 100% sure) that this is Rose.

This was taken from our front yard looking down the holler. You can see the road that leads out of the holler. You can also see the top of a building in the distance. That is our neighbor's barn and the one Rose is showing as a header on her Time Stands Still blog and just recently used the entire picture in a blog on that site. If you look at her blog on the barn when you look at the barn you would be looking up the holler towards where we lived. As you can see we had electricity when this picture was taken.

This is my dad standing in the front yard (1954). If you look real closely you can see someone standing on the porch. I am sure it was one of us kids but I have no idea which one. The very last tree on the left in the picture is a walnut tree. It is still standing today and is still about the same size.

Home

2012-01-18T01:00:00.000-05:00

To give you an indication of where our old home place was I have captured a couple maps.

The map above show the relationship between our old home place and the place where we moved. It's probably about one mile between the homes. You have to walk down the holler (green area) from the old home place and cross a creek to get out. When I was a kid there was a little foot-log across the creek that we had to walk. Once across the creek you got on the railroad and walked down to the new house. My older brother still owns the old home place so I go visit it any time I am in TN. As you can see it is nestled back in a holler and if I was to drop you off up there you might think you were a hundred miles from civilization yet you would be only 7 or 8 miles from the little town of Middlesboro, KY.

The map above is a little wider angle because I wanted to show where the school was that I know you've heard Rose and I talk about. I measured it with Google earth and it was 2.25 miles from our old home place to school and we (older kids...Rose was too young) walked that every school day...rain or shine. I can remember there were a few times when there would be a lot of rain that the creek we had to cross would be so high that we couldn't get across so we would have to walk through the woods to get to school (didn't have to cross creek if we went that way). Needless to say that we were pretty wet when we got to school because none of us had raincoats. Throughout all my school years I never had a school bus stop in front of my house to pick me up. I always had to walk at least a mile to get to school/bus. You can see a picture of our old 4 room school here. They recently converted the old school to a church which you can see below.

Home sweet home

2012-01-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

This is the actual home place where I lived until I was 12 years old. I have many fond memories from that place. If you look at this map you can see where the old home was located. The picture in the center of the map in a actual picture from there. Notice how it was really overgrown when I took that pictures. We killed a rattlesnake or two about every year up there. For some reason they really like that holler.

If you enlarge the picture above you can see the old chimney from the house standing. When we moved my brother and I (ages 12 and 15) tore down the old house and used the lumber in it to help build a barn at the new place.

This little stream run real close to our barn. As a kid I loved to play in it, especially when there had been a lot of rain and it was overflowing. The road out of the holler was on the left side of this picture.

Here's a better look at the old chimney. Notice the vines coming out of the top of the chimney.

This is the fireplace that was in our living room. I can remember baking potatoes in the fireplace....yummy.

If you were sitting on our front porch this would have been to the left. The woods is part of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. It was our playground when we got a chance to play. There was a hickory tree that squirrels really liked that we could see from the porch. I can remember sitting on the porch and seeing a limb shake in that tree(which mean there was a squirrel) and my older brother would grab his shotgun and head out there. Normally, he would bring a squirrel back with him.

Looking straight ahead on our front porch this is what you would have seen.

Looking to the right this would have been the view. It was beautiful in the fall when all the leaves were changing. You can see the road right along the tree line on the left of the picture.

Tennessee home

2012-01-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

This is the area where Rose and I grew up as kids. It has really changed since we left home. The 4 lane road was a winding two lane road. The road went over the mountain rather than through the mountain as it does now.

The road you see here (heading away from you) is US-25E. If you keep going south on it I believe you will end up in Ashville, NC. I don't know where it goes from there.

If you look closely you can see where the road enters the mountain. The town that you see a little of is Cumberland Gap, TN.

Believe it or not there is a city under all of that fog...Middlesboro, Kentucky.

Glacier ice

2012-01-11T08:34:00.002-05:00

The ice at Portage Glacier was so beautiful because of the bluish color. It looks so cold to me yet I think it is beautiful.

Portage glacier

2012-01-06T16:39:00.000-05:00

All of these pictures were taken on the Portage Glacier Hwy in AK. After we left the visitor center the road went a little farther and these are the pictures along that part of the road. As you can see the weather was good and this was the first time in five trips to the Portage Glacier area that the weather has cooperated. We went the day before I took these pictures and it was foggy and sprinkling.

If you look at the picture above you can see the glacier peaking out of the valley.

Waterfall

2012-01-04T14:31:00.001-05:00

I am sure Betsy and George will recognize this waterfall. I can't remember the name of the waterfall but know it is close to the Tennessee end of the Cherohala Skyway.

2012-01-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

First, let me apologize for all the pictures. I probably shouldn't have put so many of them up but I couldn't decide which ones so I selected all of them. :) After the beautiful fall colors on the Cherohala Skyway we ran into this as the elevation increased. It was absolutely gorgeous and unexpected. I saw a couple people that could hardly contain themselves they were so excited. The best part was that it wasn't cold. I had on a short sleeve shirt and wasn't cold.

Cherohala Skyway

2011-12-29T07:53:00.001-05:00

All of these pictures are on the Cherohala Skyway, a road that goes from Tellico Plains, TN to Robbinsville, NC. We have driven this road several times and have never been disappointed. We were a little late this year so the leaves weren't at their peak colors. However, it was still an enjoyable drive and was still very pretty.

Merry Christmas to All

2011-12-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Blue Ridge Parkway

2011-12-23T22:43:00.002-05:00

These pictures show the one day that we got to go north on the Blue Ridge Parkway out of Maggie Valley. You may have seen some of them before so I apologize if I repeated any pictures. Maybe your memory is as bad as mine and you won't remember. :)

Panoramic

2011-12-21T01:00:00.000-05:00

I have always loved photography and love to play with pictures to see what I can do with them. When we were on vacation in Colorado I took several sets of photographs so I could construct panoramic views. I tried Canon's Photostitch, Photoshop Elements 8, and a couple free software packages that I found on-line to construct the panoramics but the one that I think works the best is Microsoft ICE (and it is free). I made this panoramic and published it to Photosynth so you could see what they look like. Photosynth gives it the appearance of being three dimensional. You can also export the file as a two dimension picture. If you look at the above panoramic you will probably want to enlarge it a little and then either drag the photo or use the arrows (close to the wheel at the bottom) to see the entire picture. The picture linked above is 15 pictures that are stitched together. You need to keep the plane of the camera steady (not vary up and down). I always turn on the grid display and try to keep the horizon in approximately the same area. If you take your pictures vertically you have more area to play with but of course it requires more pictures. The pictures need to be overlapped at least 15-20 percent. I probably overlap 30 percent just to make sure. I've not had very much luck with trying to make a panoramic picture of anything up close. The problem with that is that the pictures are taken from different angles so the end result is that you will get a funny looking picture. I haven't tried a lot so I haven't given up.

If you are ever interested in trying panoramic shots here are some pointers to improve your odds of success:

If possible, manually focus the camera and don't touch it again. Of course this won't work if you're taking things close to you.
Set the aperture and the shutter speed manually and take all the shots at the same setting. If the light varies try to pick a average for the picture and set it there.
Don't let the camera set the white balance (Auto). Use your judgement in selecting the appropriate setting.
Obviously you cannot have anything moving where the pictures overlap. Otherwise the software can't find the overlapping area.

After all of that I leave you with this video.

The beauty of fall

2011-12-19T01:00:00.000-05:00

The first two pictures were taken on the outskirts of Maggie Valley, NC. George and Betsy will definitely recognize them. The rest of the pictures were taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was so beautiful that it was impossible to really capture it all with a camera.

National Parks Road

2011-12-16T15:06:00.000-05:00

All of these pictures are from the National Parks Road that goes towards Cosby, TN from the Maggie Valley, NC area. This is a two way road so you can go in from either side. We were past prime as far as the leaves but it was still very pretty.

2011-12-14T13:57:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more shots from the Blue Ridge Parkway. As you can see the weather wasn't very cooperative that day but it was still beautiful.

We're done

2011-12-12T13:58:00.000-05:00

It is only fitting that the below picture was my final picture of our Colorado vacation. I know my good friends George and Betsy would think seeing a waterfall was a good way to end a vacation. This waterfall was just outside of Colorado Springs up a winding road..Cheyenne Canyon Road I believe.

Air Force Academy Chapel

2011-12-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

All of these photos are at the Air Force Academy chapel in Colorado Springs. There were several different areas in the chapel... Christian, Budda, Jew and I can't remember what else.

Garden of the Gods

2011-12-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

While in Colorado Springs you have to go see the Garden of the Gods. Sadly we were there on a weekend and it was so crowed that we didn't get to stop a see a lot. There were NO parking places anywhere. The pictures below are essentially all the pictures I got while in there.

Down we go!

2011-12-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

All these shots were taken as we were going down the mountain. It's a long ways to the top so you have to be aware and not over heat your brakes going down. It always amazes me how many people don't know how to go down a mountain. It's difficult to capture how steep some of the road is. Hopefully, you'll get the idea from a couple of these pictures. The last shot is from the bottom looking back. If you look closely you can see one of the buildings on top.

Pikes Peak

2011-12-04T01:00:00.000-05:00

Of course no trip to Colorado would be complete without going up to the summit of Pikes Peak. All of these pictures were taken from the summit. I've driven up there several times and I never stop on the way up. I drive to the top and then make all my stops on the way down. It is really beautiful to look out over the surrounding country. If you've never been up there and get a chance to go don't pass it up. While there are steep banks on the side of the road it's not a bad drive at all because the road is good. It's a much better/wider road than the one that goes up to Mt. Evans. However, if you want to take your half of the road in the middle of the road I wouldn't advise driving up there. :)

Rails of the cog train that you can ride to the summit for a fee.

Here comes the cog train.

Headed to Colorado Springs

2011-12-01T19:58:00.001-05:00

After the Royal Gorge we headed to Colorado Springs to meet one of Patti's cousins for dinner. We decided to take a back road because we thought it would be pretty. It was very pretty along the way BUT it was so wash-boarded in places that it would shake your teeth out. I was driving down the road when I got a glimpse of something in the road so I stopped and backed up and the little fellow below was what I had seen. Of course I pulled up a little and got out and went back to pester him. It didn't take a lot to get him mad and rattling...just a few pebbles dropped on him. :)

As you can see from the other pictures it was very beautiful. It would have been so much more enjoyable if it hadn't been so rough. However, we still got to Colorado Springs in time to meet her cousin.

Onward we march... :)

2011-11-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

First let me apologize for putting up so many pictures...
After we left At Elmo we drove by a little waterfall and hiked back to see it. Then, we saw the old mine and I love old mines so I had to stop and take a picture. It was raining so it's not a very good picture but you get the idea.

After the old mine we headed to Salida where we spent the night, We were hoping the weather would be good the next day because we were going to the Royal Gorge.

This is another picture of Salida.

This is the first picture the next morning after got to the Royal Gorge. I am standing on the bridge looking down at the bottom...it's a long ways down. :)

I just had to take a picture of this sign because I thought it was funny. It's almost 1000 feet down to the river below and I doubt there's a rod and reel made that you could put that much line on.

A photo looking across the bridge.

This is looking up at the bridge from the bottom. I know it's not a good picture but you get the idea. I had to use the building to block the sun since I was looking almost directly at it.

This is the cog train/carriage that we rode to the bottom. This picture is taken from the bottom looking back up the tracks.

There's also a tram that goes across the gorge and this picture was taken when we were about half way across.

2011-11-28T01:00:00.000-05:00

From Crested Butte we headed over Cottonwood Pass. The first three pictures are from the summit of the pass. It was all gravel/dirt on the way up but paved on the other side...does that make sense? From there we went to St. Elmo, an old mining town. I've been there before but always love going back. My former dentist(now retired) had a cabin in St. Elmo. We were looking in one of the old buildings and a couple young men from Michigan began talking to us (it was some of their kin's cabin). They were out there for a week hiking and fishing and having a good time.

Now, on to the last picture. :) How many of you knew a deer squatted to pee? I didn't so it was a new one on me. :)

Crested Butte, Colorado

2011-11-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

All of these are from the Crested Butte Colorado area. It is a beautiful area as you can see. A guy that I used to work with just retired and he bought a house out there to spend a lot of the year. They get a LOT of snow...I believe around 300 inches. I love it in the summer but I think that much snow would get me down since I'm not much of a skier.

End of the road

2011-11-23T11:56:00.001-05:00

All of these were taken at the end of a trail that we hiked at the end of the road in Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It kept looking like it was going to rain so we didn't spend as much time as we would have liked. However, you can see from the pictures that it was very beautiful.

Black Canyon

2011-11-21T01:00:00.000-05:00

This is Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. It is impossible to capture what it looks like because you can't capture the depth of the canyon with a camera. In some places it is over 2,000 feet deep. The waterfall in the picture is supposedly 20 feet high according to a park ranger but it is so far away in the bottom of the canyon that it sure doesn't look like it is that high.

More fall colors....and snow.

2011-11-18T23:09:00.001-05:00

These pictures were taken at a variety of places.

This is just outside Maggie Vallley, NC.

On the Blue Ridge Parkway near the east entrance of Smoky Mountain National Park.

Also on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Smoky Mountain National Park.

This is in Smoky Mountain National Park...an old mill.

On a gravel road that goes from near Cataloochee Valley to Cosby, TN.

Same road as previous shot.

Cataloochee

2011-11-17T01:00:00.000-05:00

These pictures are from Cataloochee Valley where some of the elk in Smoky Mountain National Park are located. Even though it may be hard to tell the weather was not very good. If you look at the elk you can tell that he is wet so all of these pictures were taken with it sprinkling. I got the deer shot through a open window since s/he was right along the road.

Balsam Mountain Road

2011-11-16T08:33:00.001-05:00

Balsam Mountain Road pictures. I think Betsy and George have been on this road. It's a beautiful road if you like driving out where there's hardly anyone else. The pictures are typical of how it looks so don't be afraid to drive it if you happen to be in the area.

Dreary day

2011-11-14T16:46:00.001-05:00

As you can see from these photos this day wasn't a very nice day. It was foggy and raining most of the time. Most of these pictures were taken through the windshield with the wipers going so you might see some raindrops in some of them. Some were taken in Smoky Mountain National Park and some were taken on a one way road near Maggie Valley, NC.

Tail of the Dragon

2011-11-10T18:50:00.001-05:00

All these pictures were taken on the "Tail of the Dragon" road. You can see a motorcycle in one of the pictures. Some of the riders are idiots....just my opinion of course. :) It was very colorful along the road as you can see from the pictures.

Fontana Dam

2011-11-09T17:45:00.000-05:00

All of these pictures were taken either on the way to or at Fontana Dam in North Carolina. It was a beautiful day so the leaves were pretty even though they hadn't reached their peak colors. To get there we drove on the "Tail of the Dragon" road. The road is continual curves...supposedly have 318 curves. Motorcycles love to fly through the curves of course.

One way road

2011-11-08T06:44:00.000-05:00

All of these pictures (except the first) were taken down Parson's Branch Road out of Cades Cove. I know George and Betsy have driven in a time or two so they are familiar with the road. It is a very pretty drive with not much traffic since it is a one way road out of the park.

The Smokies

2011-11-01T17:59:00.002-04:00

A few pictures from our recent trip to TN and NC

How Great Thou Art

2011-10-29T19:06:00.001-04:00

2011-10-25T18:14:00.001-04:00

After the Blue Ridge Parkway we went to the Cherohala Skyway in NC and TN. At higher elevations the pictures below show what we saw. It was gorgeous. My biggest regret is that Betsy and George weren't there. I know how Betsy loves snow and she would have really enjoyed both the BRP and this road.

Snow instead of leaves :)

2011-10-22T19:00:00.001-04:00

Just got back from visiting the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went down to see the beautiful leaves. Instead we saw the scenes below. Actually we didn't get to get on it very much because it was closed where we were because of ice and snow. However, the day we left I checked to see if it was open and to my surprise it was so we drove a little stretch of it before we left and got the pictures below.

Colorado National Mounument

2011-10-15T17:11:00.001-04:00

All of these were taken in Colorado National Monument. It's not a place I'd want to live but it was very beautiful.

Old mines

2011-10-06T21:17:00.000-04:00

All of these are pictures from old mines. For some reason they have always kind of fascinated me
.

Don't think I need to say any more about the picture above...kind of self explanatory. :)

Near Havana, IL

2011-10-01T12:37:00.001-04:00

This was/is a lake near Havana,IL. We were there last year and it had a lot of water in it so you could launch a boat. However, this year it was a marshland with almost no water. I don't know if that was by design or if they just haven't had enough rain to keep it full. Everything else looked pretty green so it didn't look like it had been dry.

2011-09-16T01:00:00.000-04:00

I know there are a lot of pictures (probably too many) in this blog but all were taken on the Grand Mesa near Grand Junction, CO. I wanted you to see just how beautiful the flowers were up there. As you can see in some of the pictures there were fields of flowers. They were absolutely gorgeous and it was hard to know when to quit taking pictures. :)

In the picture above you can see one of the roads that go off the Grand Mesa. It was a gravel winding road so we just had to go down that one. :)

2011-09-12T01:00:00.000-04:00

These pictures are from a hike we took near Glenwood Springs. The lake in the picture below is called Hanging Lake. The trail (1.1 mile) was really rough and we gained 1000 feet in elevation from bottom to top. It was absolutely pooped when I got to the top.

When we were almost back to the bottom I got the picture of the train coming through Glenwood canyon.

2011-09-10T21:08:00.002-04:00

The picture above is another Maroon Bells picture....I just thought this mountain was pretty.

All the pictures below are from Rifle Falls near Rifle, CO. While we were there we walked up under the falls. There were some caves (small ones) that you could go back in. We knew that before we went so we had a flashlight. My wife and I were back in a little room looking at the formations when I heard a couple girls coming. I told my wife to be quiet and we just stood in there with the flashlight off. The girls wandered around a little and then one walked in (no flashlight). I said "Boooo" in a normal tone of voice and she screamed. :) She thought for sure something had her. :)

Off to Maroon Bells

2011-09-08T07:26:00.000-04:00

From Leadville we headed to Maroon Bells near Aspen, CO. The picture above is along the way there.

To get to Maroon Bells we went over Independence Pass. The picture below is also taken at the pass.

Of course this is Maroon Bells. I was there once back in the 80s when the aspen trees were bright yellow and there was a little snow on the ground. It was absolutely gorgeous. Of course, it is pretty gorgeous in the shot above.

Look at all the flowers in the picture above and below.

Leadville

2011-09-05T16:26:00.000-04:00

The first picture is Dillion Lake....just off of I-70 near the west entrance to Eisenhower Tunnel.

The lake below is between Copper Mountain and Climax, CO. I cannot remember the name for sure but think it was call the Clinton Gulch or something like that.

An old mine just outside Leadville, CO on the road to Mosquito Pass.

Flowers along the same road.

Church in Leadville.

Colorado

2011-08-29T01:00:00.000-04:00

We left Rocky Mountain National Park and headed to Leadville, CO. The fastest way would be to go out I-70 and go through the Eisenhower Tunnel which enters the mountain at approximately 11,000 feet and goes for approximately 1 2/3 miles through the mountain. However, we elected to go over Loveland Pass just for the scenery.

The picture above is I-70 entering/exiting the Eisenhower Tunnel on the east side of the mountain.

The picture above shows the road going up to Loveland Pass.

We made it!

The above picture is from Loveland Pass.

After going down the other side of the mountain we come to Dillion Lake.

Rock Mountain National Park---IV

2011-08-27T01:00:00.000-04:00

All these pictures were taken from the visitors center on Trail Ridge Road. As you can see there is still quite a bit of snow. We normally see elk there but we didn't this time. We had seen a bunch shortly before we got to the visitors center so I would assume that they were the ones we normally see.

In the picture below you can see a gravel road. It is called the Old Fall River Road and we wanted to drive up it again on this visit but it wasn't open. We were so disappointed. It's normally open by July 4th (we were there on the 27th or 28th) but they had so much snow that it still wasn't open. To make matters worse they told us it was going to open the following weekend. :( We've always loved driving up it. It's a gravel, one way, steep and winding road but it sure is fun to drive up it and take in the scenery.

Rock Mountain National Park---III

2011-08-25T19:02:00.000-04:00

The picture below is an open meadow where the Bighorn sheep come to graze and get water. When we got there in the even there were none in the field as you can obviously see.

However, it wasn't long before we spotted them coming down the mountain. There were 15 of them and one of them was obviously the leader because when he stopped they all stopped. They crossed the road about 50-100 feet from the parking lot and went out into the meadow.

The pictures below are just scenes from the drive up Trail Ridge Road to the visitor center. These pictures are from the next day after we saw the sheep. The weather was nice so it was really, really beautiful.

Rocky Mountian National Park -- II

2011-08-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

If you've never been to Rocky Mountain National Park you have been deprived. :) It is a beautiful park with lots of trails and lots of beautiful scenery. One of the first hikes we took was up to Alberta Falls. If I recall correctly it was about 1.5 miles up to the falls. It was almost impossible and dangerous to get a shot of the falls head-on so I just took what I could get (first 2 photos) without taking chances.

After the falls we headed up another trail that went to three lakes...Nymh Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake. I think it was around 1.8 miles up to it but it was a beautiful hike. On the way up we saw some elk and as you can see from the picture below one of them was posing for us. When we came back down the trail a big buck was standing 5 or 6 feet from the trail and there was really no way to go around him. Of course people were standing there with cameras in his face taking pictures. He would get real alert once in a while and look at them and then go back to eating. We waited until he had his head down eating and zoomed by....wild animals are unpredictable so I do NOT take chances with them.

Of course while we were close we walked out to Bear Lake. I'm sure Betsy and George have a similar picture to the picture below.

Rocky Mountian National Park

2011-08-22T07:02:00.000-04:00

Before I go to far I would like for you to see a short video. This was taken at our reunion. They had a ropes course and of course Allison had to do it. One of the things they could do is climb a telephone pole (it had steps so it wasn't hard to climb) and do the following.

George and Betsy will probably remember the following scenes in Rocky Mountain National Park. The video is of Horseshoe Park...Alluvial Fan. You can read a short summary about it here. The other pictures were taken on the way to the top. The weather was not very good the first time up. We ran into some rain but still managed to get some pictures although not very good ones.

Mt. Evans--II

2011-08-21T01:00:00.001-04:00

Not to be outdone by the weather we got up the next morning and decided to head back up Mt. Evans for a second time. The time the weather was a little more cooperative. It was absolutely gorgeous as we drove up and back. The road is not for people who are scared of heights. In some places if you went over the edge you wouldn't stop rolling for a long time because it's straight down. The road is not exceptionally wide either and you ALWAYS meet a few people who shouldn't be driving it because they want to take their half of the road in the middle. You can see their face and see that they are scared to death. The only thing that would ever concern me is other people like the ones I just mentioned. If you don't have confidence that you can stay in a lane 8 feet wide then you shouldn't be driving that road.

Mt. Evans

2011-08-18T20:50:00.000-04:00

Before I leave the reunion I want to show one more thing and that is a short video of one of the hummingbird feeders there.

On of the first things we did on vacation after the reunion was to drive up Mt Evans (14,200 feet at the summit) which is near Idaho Springs, CO. Mt Evans is advertised as the highest paved road in North America...don't know whether is true or not but that is their ad. The weather didn't cooperate with us when we went up. It was okay at the bottom but as we went up it got foggy and then eventually started raining.

Above....Look at the road down there. It winds back an forth and there is no guardrails any place so you have to pay attention to what you are doing.

On the way down we saw the mountain goats crossing the road. They must be used to humans because the didn't seem very afraid of us.

The two shots above are of Georgetown, CO where we spent the night. In the bottom picture you can see I-70 as it winds it way past Georgetown.

Family reunion

2011-08-16T18:51:00.000-04:00

My wife's family has a reunion every 3 or 4 years and they always ask her to come but she never has so this year we decided to go. All the pictures below are from the area around where the reunion was held. It was in the mountains and around 9,000 feet in elevation. They had two hummingbird feeders out and I've seen beehives that were not as busy as the feeders. There would be a hummingbird at every port and others flying down trying to get in. Both my wife and daughter got close to the feeders and eventually got some of the hummingbirds to land on their fingers.

The area was gorgeous and the weather was perfect. There were people from all over..California, Washington, Washington,DC, and Indiana of course. They move the reunion around and were talking about Washington, DC for the next one. I am not that much interested in going out there.

Refreshing

2011-08-15T14:26:00.000-04:00

All of these pictures were taken in Poudre Canyon near Fort Collins, CO. I've always loved rushing water like this. They had a lot of snow in CO this last winter so the flow is still really good and a lot better than it would normally be this time of year.

Pawnee Grassland

2011-08-14T01:00:00.002-04:00

All these pictures were taken in the Pawnee Grassland area in CO just west of Sterling, CO. That is where we ran upon one of the rattlesnakes we say. Most of it was just rolling hills (see picture of road below) but in one area there were a few buttes sticking up. They looked out of place because the rest of the area was pretty flat.

The last two pictures are pictures of a wind farm to generate electricity. It was a huge farm seemingly stretching for miles.

Colorado here we come

2011-08-11T18:43:00.000-04:00

We recently went to CO for my wife's family reunion. It was held at Pingree Park which is a part of Colorado State University. My wife's uncle was a professor at CSU for years and still has an office there which he uses every day even though he is 91 years old. My point is that we were fortunate to be able to use Pingree Park and the only reason we could use it was because of my wife's uncle.

Our daughter wanted to go to the reunion real bad so we stopped on the way (July 21st) out and picked her up in Bloomington, IL. The Strategic Air Command museum was on the way so we decided to stop there and look around. Below you will see a few pictures from the museum. The first plane is a picture of a U2, a very high altitude (70,000 feet) spy plane. Some of you may remember when a U2 piloted byt Gary Powers was shot down over Russia in 1960. Up until then they could fly the U2 over Russia and there was nothing Russia could do about it because they didn't have anything that could get that high.

The picture above is a B-52. If you've every seen one you know how big they really are.

2011-08-09T08:27:00.001-04:00

We recently just returned from a vacation in CO so I thought I would make my first blog of pictures that Betsy just loves. :)

The picture above was taken in front of the Pawnee Grassland sign on the CO plains. I tried to get him to move by dropping some pebbles on him but he wouldn't budge and never would rattle. I wanted him to move because I was afraid someone would step on him if they got out to take a picture of the sign.

This little fellow was in the mountains and I had no problem getting him a little riled. As you can see in both pictures he is coiled and ready to strike. He was also rattling those rattles to let us know that he was there.

Cool down

2011-07-17T08:15:00.000-04:00

With temperatures predicted to be in the 90s here for several days I thought I'd put up some pictures to at least give the appearance of being cool. :)

Snow

2011-07-09T15:29:00.001-04:00

When we were on our cruise to AK one of the stops was in Skagway, AK. One of the attractions there is a train ride into the Yukon. We took the train ride the first cruise we took but decided to rent a car the last time we went. We enjoyed the car ride much better than the the train ride because we could stop when we wanted to and take pictures. :) The train ride was on the Whitehorse Pass Railroad. Below is a video that I found on another blog of them clearing the railroad of snow. I've got a couple of pictures of a snow blower in AK that were diesel powered. Obviously, this snow blower is powered by steam. By the way you can see much better if you go to the full screen mode.

Barns in IL

2011-07-08T08:11:00.000-04:00

I few of the barns that we saw in IL when moving Allison. Seems like there are a lot of barns in that area with some that are really kept up well.

Remember me

2011-07-04T21:21:00.003-04:00

Remember me
In a Bible cracked and faded by the years
Remember me
In a santuary filled with silent prayers

And age to age
And heart to heart
Bound by grace and peace
Child of wonder, Child of God
I'll remember you
Remember Me

Remember me
When the color of the sunset fills the sky
Remember me
When you pray and the tears of joy
fall from your eyes

Remember me
When the children leave
their Sunday school with smiles
Remember me
When they're old enough to teach
Old enough to preach
Old enough to leave

Age to age and heart to heart
Child of wonder child of God

Remember me

Age to age and heart to heart
Child of wonder child of God

Spring flowers

2011-06-27T07:42:00.000-04:00

These pictures are from Bernheim Arboretum & Research near Louisville, KY. When we were there the red-bud and dogwood trees were absolutely gorgeous.

Video

2011-06-22T19:42:00.001-04:00

I happened to run upon this video and just have to share. I just love the kids...just love to grab and hug some of them. :) I have listed the lyrics below in case anyone is interested

You lived among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.

All my needs you have supplied.
When I was dead you gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/leeland/follow_you.html ]
Use my hands, use my feet
To make your kingdom come
Through the corners of the earth
Until your work is done
'Cause Faith without works is dead
And on the cross your blood was she'd
So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.
(X2)

I give all myself.
I give all myself
I give all myself... to you.

And I give all myself.
Yes, I give all myself.
And I give all myself... to you.

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.
(X2)

Fathers day

2011-06-19T15:43:00.000-04:00

For Father's day here is a song about trying to be a good father....along with the lyrics below it.

I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames, I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling, but on the inside

Oh, I can hear her saying

Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, but what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They're just children from the outside
I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine
They're independent, but on the inside

Oh, I can hear them saying

Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone

So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be
Oh Father, show me the way
To lead them

Won't You lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love
Chasing things that I could give up

I'll show them I'm willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me 'cause I can't do this alone

Father, lead me 'cause I can't do this alone

2011-06-17T16:01:00.000-04:00

Blue Ridge Parkway a couple or three years ago. I love that drive in the fall. It is so relaxing and beautiful (if there isn't any fog. :) )

Old fire truck

2011-06-15T21:06:00.001-04:00

When we moved our daughter we went for a drive and happen to run upon this old fire truck. If you look closely you can see the fire hoses through the back window. Also, you can see all the gauges a hose connection points on the front. I wish I knew how old the truck was but I'm not any good at guessing the age of old cars and trucks. I enlarged the picture and looked at the hood ornament but I can't recall what make that ornament went on.

National cemetery

2011-06-12T20:34:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken at a National Cememtery in Macomb, IL. It's a beautiful cemetery and there's another (not National) cemetery that joins in. You can see the other cemetery in some of the pictures. It was beautiful there. The grass was so green and lush. The cicadas were out in full force there. When I first got out of the car I thought frogs were singing but it didn't take me long to realize that it was cicadas.

Barges

2011-06-11T14:26:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is about locks and barges that fascinates me but there is something because I've always been fascinated by them. I can stand for hours and watch them go through locks. I have a first cousin that used to work on barges. He would be gone from home for 28 days and then be home for 28 days.

Army Corp of Engineers moving up into the outlet of the locks to unload stuff. I must say they make the road workers look really good :) There were 18 people out there and they needed 3. The others just stood around and watched for 2 hours.

Here comes a barge into the locks. They had to sit in there for over an hour since the Corp of Engineers had the outlet blocked. You can see a power plant in the background.

Barge has been lowered and the doors are opening to let the barge continue downstream.

Here he comes...

There it goes on down stream.

Memorial Day

2011-06-08T20:26:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken over Memorial Day at a little park in Macomb, IL where our daughter is going to school. I thought all the flags were just beautiful. Each flag pole had a person's name on it. I would assume that it was the name of someone who had served (and probably died) in the military.

Barn

2011-06-05T19:17:00.001-04:00

I thought this was a nice looking barn. We saw it last weekend when we went to IL to move Allison. See other barns here.

More critters

2011-06-03T14:39:00.000-04:00

More Costa Rica

2011-06-02T19:32:00.002-04:00

Some critters and some scenery

2011-05-31T09:18:00.002-04:00

Some more critters

2011-05-30T09:55:00.000-04:00

More varmints

2011-05-27T19:02:00.001-04:00

More Costa Rica

2011-05-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

More Costa Rica pictures...

Now that is what I call a bug! :)

Sure is a peaceful setting.

Costa Rica

2011-05-23T16:37:00.000-04:00

Some more of Allison's pictures from Costa Rica..

Don't look too happy does he? :)

2011-05-20T10:32:00.000-04:00

First, let me say that these are NOT my pictures. These are my daughter's picture that she took on a Costa Rica trip a few years ago. As you can see she loves wildlife. She is currently getting a Master's Degree in wildlife biology.

There she is.....holding her pet. :)

Mountain Farm Museum

2011-05-17T19:24:00.000-04:00

All these pictures were taken at the Mountain Farm Museum on the east side of the smokies. It is located just before you exit the park. I've always been a sucker for old buildings. I just wish they could talk. :)

Smoky Mountains

2011-05-16T17:06:00.000-04:00

These were taken in the Smoky Mountains last fall when we were on our way to meet George and Betsy. I still love to go to the Smokies even though I've been there many times.

Pinnacle

2011-05-14T16:10:00.000-04:00

Here are some more pictures from Tennessee/Kentucky. These were taken from the Pinnacle in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Middlesboro, KY is actually under the fog which is pouring through the Cumberland Gap. The next to last picture shows Middlesboro. The last picture is mostly TN. You can't actually see the homes where my brothers live but with binoculars you can see the railroad just a little ways from their houses.

Tennessee

2011-05-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

Rose would recognize these pictures immediately. All three were taken from the cemetery where our parents are buried. I have always thought this was a beautiful location. The only problem is that it is located near a major highway (US 25E). You may be able to see the highway in the top picture if you look closely.

Garden of the Gods--II

2011-05-09T21:41:00.000-04:00

A few more shots from the Garden of the Gods. If I recall correctly, the top photo is a picture of what is call "Kissing Camels" because it looks like two camels nose to nose. The angle is not right in this picture to get a really good view of it.

Garden of the Gods

2011-05-08T08:23:00.000-04:00

All the pictures below are from the Garden Of The Gods in Colorado Springs. There are some very interesting rock formations in that area.

Pikes Peak--III

2011-05-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

More pictures from Pike's Peak drive.

More Colorado pictures

2011-04-30T21:56:00.000-04:00

The first three pictures were taken in Denver...or Littleton which is part of Denver. The last two were taken northwest of Denver out toward Nederland, CO.

Pikes Peak--II

2011-04-29T19:24:00.000-04:00

More Pikes Peak pictures. As you can see there are a lot of pictures of the fox. He gave a lot of different poses. :)

Pikes Peak

2011-04-27T17:20:00.000-04:00

All these pictures were taken (by my wife) from the Pikes Peak toll road in January of this year. We'll be in CO later this year and I'm going to drive to the top. It wasn't open all the way to the top when my wife and daughter went up it. I've driven it before and loved it.

Above is I-25 out of Colorado Springs.

Cypress Grove Park

2011-04-24T16:51:00.000-04:00

First, let me make something clear that I didn't in my last blog. The bird pictures were from our trip down the Natchez Trace Parkway. When we were returning home we stayed in Jackson, TN and the bird pictures were taken in Cypress Grove Park on the outskirts of Jackson. The pictures below were also taken in Cypress Grove Park. It was getting late in the day so it was getting kind of dark when these pictures were taken. However, I still like the shadows and reflections that you could see walking along the boardwalk.

Birds

2011-04-23T08:52:00.000-04:00

These were taken at a place where they rehabilitate birds. As you can see all the birds are in cages except the last shot (not a good one) which was an owl flying around in the wild. Right after I took this shot s/he swooped to the ground and caught something. Before I could get another shot s/he was gone.

Vicksburg National Military Park

2011-04-17T07:41:00.000-04:00

All of these pictures are of a boat in Vicksburg National Military Park. As you can read below this is the first armed boat ever sunk by a torpedo (known as a mine today).

Some of the wood work on boats amazes me. How did they make this? I looked at it closely and it looked like a bunch of bent 2x4s put together.

Vicksburg

2011-04-10T18:44:00.000-04:00

All these pictures were taken in Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, MS. We only had time to spend about a half of day there and you really need a lot more time to really see the whole thing.

Looking at part of Vicksburg from a lookout in the Military Park.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- X

2011-04-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

Another Indian burial mound.

Top of mound.

The picture above and all the ones below were taken in Vicksburg National Military Park. I love to look around in places like this. However it is sad when you think about all the you men that died in the Civil War.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- IX

2011-04-04T11:06:00.000-04:00

All these pictures are at the Ruins of Windsor near Port Gibson, MS. It was an old plantation house and was used both by Union and Confederate troops. It survived the war but was later destroyed by fire. These columns have appeared in several motion pictures.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- VIII

2011-04-02T16:10:00.000-04:00

This was the normal scene driving down the parkway. Hardly any traffic and it was green and beautiful. It was such a relaxing drive.

A lake along the parkway. I was along the parkway for something like 8 miles.

A trail with beautiful flowers.

Close up of flowers.

Church along the way. I thought it was beautiful.

Finally a video of some small kids singing. I thought this was worth sharing.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- VII

2011-04-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

Another field of flowers.

All the reflection pictures of the cypress trees were taken in the same area.

A baby alligator in the same area. We also saw a couple big ones but they were too far away to get any good pictures.

These are called knees of cypress trees.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- VI

2011-03-31T07:03:00.002-04:00

Not anything really great about these but I thought the reflections were interesting and kind of pretty.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- V

2011-03-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

Old buildings at a stop right along the parkway. This was not a scheduled stop. We just happen to see old buildings and thought it would be an interesting place to stop since all of us like old buildings. I enjoyed this place a lot. Just as we were getting ready to leave I happen to notice the moon up there so I took a quick shot of it.

Natchez Trace Parkway -- IV

2011-03-29T01:00:00.001-04:00

Lost Confederate graves. There are no names and they're back in the woods. We had to use a GPS to find the graves.

A field of white flowers with a few daffodils mixed it.

Another shot...same field.

Daffodil up close with the white flowers around it.

Two more Indian burial mounds.