Dubrovnik Cannon

Continuing with my old photos of Dubrovnik for Sunday Scans, here's another looking seaward, showing some of the city's protection against sea raiders.

I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that!

Yellowstone's Streams

For this week's Scenic Sunday post, here are some photos of various streams at Yellowstone. This first one is near Old Faithful.

And these are in the Lamar Valley.

There's stuff to see wherever you look in Yellowstone.

Snowy Park

We continue to get some moisture, both rain and snow, and that's a good thing after the extremely dry winter. For Skywatch Friday, here are some photos from Fox Run Park on Tuesday morning.

The quality of the softly filtered sunlight and the snow melting off the trees was incredible, but very challenging to capture.

There's nothing like a Colorado blue sky after some snow.

Hiking Ruins

Sometimes when hiking I see ruins - Loud's Cabin is one of the best examples of this, and one I've posted on in the past. Here's another example from last weekend, hiking just west of Monument, where there's nothing left but a foundation.

These stairs probably led into the cabin at some point.

Somebody had more recently walled up this section, and it was filled with trash.

There was a much more interesting ruin later in the hike, but I'm saving that for a future post. And that's my entry for My World Tuesday.

Dubrovnik Seaside Walls

For this week's Sunday Scans, here's another photo from the beautiful city of Dubrovnik back in 1977, showing the city walls on the seaward side.

It's scanned from a slide, then cropped slightly and sharpened using the GIMP program. Visit Sunday Scans for more scanned goodness!

Lots of Waterfalls

Last summer, Unni and I went for a hike on the Thomas Trail, on the north side of Pikes Peak. You start by walking up a street in the small town of Green Mountain Falls, and crossing over a wooden bridge.

From there the trail leads steeply up, with various waterfalls next to the path.

Then the trail winds around a mountainside with steep, high dropoffs in places. Yes, this is the trail.

And this leads to - another stream and more waterfalls!

If you like waterfalls and can handle a trail with steep rocky sections and some heights, this is the the place for you. And that's my Scenic Sunday entry for the week. (Socks loved this hike - here's a photo of him resting on one of the many rocks.)

Sun and Clouds

We've finally had some grey skies this week (although there's been sunshine too). For this week's Skywatch Friday entry, here's a photo from my Saturday hike where I was in the only patch of sun around.

The wonderful Skywatch Friday meme has lots more sunny and cloudy photos from around the world.

First Spring Wildflower

I saw the first wildflowers of the spring this weekend while hiking locally. I'm sure there are more at lower elevations, but I was pleased to find these nearby, and such a nice grouping in various stages of unfolding.

For more signs of spring (or fall in southern parts of the world), visit My World Tuesday.

Dubrovnik Rooftops

Continuing with my series from Dubrovnik for the new Sunday Scans meme, here is a photo taken within the city walls, probably taken from the walls themselves although I don't remember that level of detail. This is a scanned slide from the summer of 1977, when I was just getting into photography and was only 11 years old.

Kaori asked whether I was on a plane for last weeks aerial view of the city. I was actually on a cable car that went up into the mountains in the distance in this photo. I have no idea whether that cable car still runs or not - after all, this was 34 years ago and the region has been through some unpleasant times since then! I have very fond memories of this vacation - it stands out as one of my favorite places I've ever been.

Please visit my new Sunday Scans meme to see more scanned photos and other interesting things.

Lamar Valley (Yellowstone)

For Scenic Sunday, here are a couple of shots of the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of Yellowstone.

And here's the Liberty Cap, in the northwest corner of the park, in the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

I can't believe I'm still posting photos from last summer's Yellowstone trip, and some of my favorite photos are still to come. Yellowstone is beyond amazing - it's the most scenic place I've ever visited in my life, and that includes the Grand Canyon.

Summer Sunset

For my weekly Skywatch Friday post, here's a fairly dramatic sunset, from last August. Now that we're getting towards spring, and storm season, hopefully I can start getting some more good Skywatch shots because I'm running out of archived photos!

Arapahoe Basin

Ski areas are a big part of life in parts of Colorado, so here are a few photos of one for the great and wide-ranging My World Tuesday meme. This is Arapahoe Basin, one of the higher and steeper ski areas in the state.

Some of the ski area is above treeline.

And some of it is very steep. People ski everything you see here, including the very challenging terrain to the right of the lift.

I haven't skied in a few years, but really want to start again.

Old Scan - Dubrovnik

For Sunday Scans, here's an old scan of the city of Dubrovnik, in what was then Yugoslavia and is now Croatia. We were there when I was a kid back in 1977, and for the next few weeks I'll be posting the few photos that are worth publishing from that trip, which are all scanned from slides. I have fond memories of this trip; I was very sad during the 1990s wars when I read that the city was being shelled. I'd love to go back again.

Please visit the Sunday Scans meme for more old photos.

Yellowstone's Silex Spring and Fountain Paint Pots

Next to the roads in Yellowstone are various boardwalks that take you on short walks to interesting sights. For this week's Scenic Sunday post, here are a couple of photos from one of these boardwalks. First up is the Silex Spring.

And here are the Fountain Paint Pots, bubbling mud pots. They're much more impressive in person than in this photo.

There was more to see from this boardwalk, particularly the fabulous Fountain Geyser, but that's for another post.

Hilly Sunset

For this week's Skywatch Friday entry, here are a couple more photos near sunset at Fox Run Park.

Local Wildfire

When I was pulling in to work on Friday morning, the fire engines were just pulling away after putting out a wildfire that burned a couple of acres very close to my office building. These photos aren't up to my usual standard because I only had my little point-and-shoot camera (an old Cybershot) and I didn't have much time.

Fortunately the fire didn't get out of control, due to the excellent work by the local firefighters, and also because the wind blew the flames back on themselves. The line between what burned and what didn't is very clear.

It's tinder-dry around here. We need some good rain or snow badly or it's going to be a bad wildfire season - I've seen the smoke rising nearby from several in the last couple of weeks.

Sunday Scans - Radio Veronica Shipwreck

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, various "pirate" radio stations would broadcast in competition with the government-sanctioned stations. One of these, Radio Veronica, ran aground near where I lived in Holland in April of 1973. This scanned photo may be a reprint of a photo taken by my father, but in any case it's interesting to see a large ship grounded like this. There's a great Wikipedia article on this subject at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Veronica.

This photo is for the new Sunday Scans meme I'm trying to get started - if you have scans you'd like to link, head over there and add your link today!

Large Horses

For the fun Camera Critters meme, here are some photos of the horses that pulled the sleds during our Keystone trip. They were some of the largest horses I've ever been close to, and I thought they posed nicely for the camera.

And don't forget my new Sunday Scans meme goes live tomorrow or Sunday depending on where you live - if you've got scans you'd like to post, this is the place to link them!