Grand Prismatic Spring (Yellowstone)

This is my last Yellowstone post; it says something about the place that I'm still posting photographs a year after my vacation there. This is the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is a huge expanse of multicolored, steaming, other-worldly vistas.

The boardwalks take you right above this remarkable geothermal feature so the views are incredible anywhere you turn.

At times the sulfur-tinged steam completely covers you.

All this water flows into the Firehole River.

This is my Scenic Sunday post for the week, and I don't think it gets much more scenic than this. I think it also works as a Water Wednesday post. I'm a little sad that there are no more Yellowstone photos to post, but you can revisit them at any time all by clicking on the Yellowstone tag below, or on the right column of the blog.

Fair Skies

My Skywatch Friday entry for the week, taken on May 30 in Portland, Oregon, at the Rose Festival and City Fair on one of the few days we saw any sunshine during our Seattle/Vancouver vacation. An hour later it was raining again.

Vegas Palazzo

This week's My World Tuesday post finds us back in Las Vegas, this time exploring the Palazzo.

Inside there's a very attractive shopping center, complete with waterfall and other attractions.

And, of course, it's well-lit at night.

Zaanse Schans

For this week's Sunday Scans post, here's an August 1973 photo of Zaanse Schans, a village in Holland.

I'd love to go back there now with my family and my DSLR!

Mount Cutler Views

I seem to be only posting recent photos this week, so here is another set, this time from a hike up Mount Cutler on the edge of Colorado Springs. I was playing tourist guide and this a nice hike to take guests on, and I thought the photos were perfect for Scenic Sunday.

There's a cliff that drops a few hundred feet straight down a few feet in front of me in that last one. After this we went to Garden of the Gods, but by then it was cloudy with very flat light, so I may not post those photos.

Cloud Shadows

For today's Skywatch Friday, here is a cloud casting air-shadows due to the smokey air, taken just a few days ago.

I think it looks like a reversed comet!

Birds and Flowers

For My World Tuesday today, I'm going to publish two photos taken in my yard over the last week. I'm also entering it into Camera Critters because of the birds.

We get birds that nest on the ground in our yard, digging into tufts of grass. Their eggs have hatched, and here's a photo of them.

The bushes in front of our door suddenly burst into flower, and the smell is wonderful, almost overwhelming every time I walk outside. (Yes, spring can be late here.)

And there are a couple of pieces of the world in my yard over the last week!

Waterloo

Not the Abba song, here's a photo of the Waterloo monument in Belgium, taken back in 1973. It's my Sunday Scans entry this week.

Yellowstone's Fountain Geyser

My favorite geyser at Yellowstone was the Fountain Geyser, which erupts a couple of times a day. It looks like a wild fountain as it erupts, with constant explosions of water. It's definitely worth seeing if you get a chance.

Enjoy more beautiful locations from around the world at Scenic Sunday.

Seattle Skies

Here's a wet Skywatch Friday entry - looking up through a glass ceiling at the cloudy Seattle skies while we were on vacation there a couple of weeks ago. These skies were a common feature while we were there, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. I'm also entering this into Watery Wednesday, as I think it qualifies!

Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)

Continuing with the Las Vegas theme, here are some photos around the outside of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

For more interesting sights from around the world, visit the My World Tuesday site.

First Pets

Here is a photo of the first pets we had as I was growing up, the cats Gopah and McCavity.

For more old photos and other scanned things, visit Sunday Scans.

Pikes Peak Highway Views

Coming back to Colorado for this week's Scenic Sunday entry, here are some views from the Pikes Peak Highway taken last September. You can drive all the way to the top (elevation 14,110 feet, or approximately 4.3 km above sea level). My little Toyota Corolla which has been driven 180,000 miles (approximately 290,000 km) has been to the top more than once.

A trip to the top of Pikes Peak is one of the must-do things for visitors to Colorado Springs, either by driving, taking the Cog Railway, or if you're ambitious and in good shape, hiking up the Barr Trail (13 miles one way with a lot of elevation gain).

Smokey Sun

I'd planned on a Seattle Skywatch this week, but these photos are more topical. Our skies have been very hazy due to smoke from wildfires in Arizona and Colorado - bad enough that they issued health advisories for a couple of days. I took these first two shots last Thursday at sunset, and the smoke was thick enough it was easy to smell.

And this last photo was Saturday's sunrise, when the sun was a faded red. It almost looked like the moon!

Hopefully we'll get some precipitation and get these fires under control, but the forecast continues to be dry for the next week. For more sunny, cloudy, and smokey skies, visit the always fascinating Skywatch Friday meme.

Casino Royale (Las Vegas)

For the great My World Tuesday meme, here are daytime and nighttime photos of the Casino Royale in Las Vegas. This isn't the one made famous in the James Bond films.

I've still got lots more photographs to post from this unusual city.

Madurodam

For this week's Sunday Scans, here is a photo from Madurodam, a miniature city in Holland where I remember spending several fun days when I was growing up.

Petrified Tree (Yellowstone)

Volcanic eruptions create large-scale fossils. In the case of Yellowstone, this includes the stump of a fossilized tree, which I think is a good Scenic Sunday blog post.

In the past, there was more to this, but souvenir hunters used to take pieces of the trees home with them. A fence was finally built around the site, and this is all that remains.

Reverse Butterfly

This week's Skywatch Friday entry is also being entered into Random Challenges. It's a photo taken in Fox Run Park of a break in the clouds which looks like a butterfly to me.

If I haven't visited your blog lately it's because I was on vacation with my family in Seattle and Vancouver. I've got lots of grey photos to post once I finish sorting through them!