Foggy Golden Gate Bridge

The last of my worthwhile photos from a 1998 trip to San Francisco, here's the Golden Gate bridge complete with fog moving in. I converted the photo to black and white after scanning the print, as there wasn't a lot of color in it anyway!

I'm linking it to the Vintage Weekly meme, and also to the Sunday Bridges meme, which is based out of the Bay Area.

Pancake Rocks Views

Here are the last of my photos from my hike to Pancake Rocks last summer, this time showing some of the gorgeous views to be seen from the trail.

I think any one of these would qualify for the Scenic Sunday meme!

Hiking Weather

I've been posting some photos from a hike to Pancake Rocks last summer The high ridge can get some nasty weather, and many trees have been hit by lightning.

 And even as I was coming down the trail, a storm was forming.

The key to hiking in high places like this is to start early and finish by noon if possible, since the thunderstorms usually form in the afternoon. I was safely in my car before much lightning and thunder was happening, and was off the ridge before any lightning at all was visible. In the summer, these storms can be an almost daily occurrence so safety must be your priority (although I did see people still heading up as the storm was clearly on its way). This is my Skywatch Friday entry for the week - come back in a couple of days for the last of my Pancake Rocks photos, some more views from the trail.

Where's The Fence?

Tina's PicStory theme this week is Along The Fence. So this struck my fancy, as there should be a fence here but it's missing!

The photo was taken on a December hike in town. And it's a strange part of Our World...

Submarine Pamanito

For this week's Vintage Weekly photo, here's a scanned 1998 photo of the submarine Pamanito, now moored in San Francisco as an excellent museum that you can walk through. I didn't get any shots inside on this visit to San Francisco, so you'll have to wait until whenever I get round to the next visit for more!

Pancake Rocks & Socks

Continuing with the hike I started last week, the trail I showed takes you (after 3.5 miles or 5.5 kilometers) to Pancake Rocks.

And Socks hiked the whole 7 miles with me! By popular demand, here's a photo of him at the Pancake Rocks area. (He's sitting with me at home as I write this post.)

After reaching the Pancake Rocks, it's time to head back! This blog entry is for both Scenic Sunday and Camera Critters.

Blue Skies, Palm Trees

To match last week's Skywatch Friday photo of the moon behind a palm tree, here are some Palm Springs palm trees with their classic blue skies.

Portland Riverfront

Here are some photos I captured during a walk along the Portland (Oregon) riverfront when we visited for one day early last summer. First, for Sunday Bridges, here's the Steel Bridge, complete with a train crossing it (just to the right of the towers).

For Watery Wednesday, here's a water-skier.

And just for fun, this is the Salmon Street Springs fountain.

And of course, it is the City of Roses - this was about the only rose we saw when we were there.

And of course, it's all part of Our World Tuesday.

Seals & Golden Gate Bridge

I've got a handful of photos from a 1998 visit to San Francisco I'd like to share with the Vintage Weekly meme. This week, here is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background with many wild seals in the foreground.

And I'm also going to enter it in the Sunday Bridges meme.

Pancake Rocks Trail

From a hike last July, here are some photos of the trail to Pancake rocks on the western side of Pikes Peak. This trail goes up to approximately 11,000 feet elevation (3,350 meters), passing through evergreen forests and glades of aspen.

This is one of my favorite hikes, but it's a fairly long round-trip (over 6 miles) and over an hour's drive from the house, so I don't do it that often. But it makes for a couple of great Scenic Sunday posts when I do! Check back for more photos from this hike soon, including the famous rocks for which the trail is named. (And yes, little Socks hiked the whole way with me!)

Many thanks to Elettra for honoring me with the Reliable Blog award!
 

Moon Behind Palm Tree

I just got back from a nice warm place (the Palm Springs area), so here's a shot of last week's full moon behind a palm tree for Skywatch Friday.

This was a hard shot to get handheld with my Nikon D40X, which isn't a great camera for low-light photography (and it's old so it's starting to develop too many hot pixels). It's occasions like this that make me wish I had a D7000, which is much better at capturing images like this. But I'll work with what I've got!

Air Force Academy Chapel (Inside)

Continuing with last week's Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel photos, here's the inside.

 Looking through the windows you can see the nearby mountains.

And this is for the great Our World Tuesday meme.

Hawaii Lava Tube

Here's the last of my scenic scanned photos from our 1997 trip to Hawaii (taken from a print from a point-and-shoot film camera). It's a lava tube; in an old eruption, lava flowed out of this tube.

You can get a sense of its size by the people dimly visible on the left railing just before it's completely dark. And yes, we walked into the tube, and it was a very unique experience on many levels.

Please visit the new Vintage Weekly meme, which is picking up where Sunday Scans left off. I'll certainly be a regular participant there!

Vancouver Harbor Area

Here are the last of my photos from the Vancouver harbor area, a real variety of shots without any unifying theme. First, here's a seaplane landing...

...some tall buildings...

...and a couple of handheld night shots.

And that's my Scenic Sunday entry for the week.

This is my 500th blog post. When I started, I never imagined I would go this long or get over 200 followers. Thanks for all the encouragement!

Bare Trees, Blue Sky

For Skywatch Friday, here are a couple of recent shots of bare trees against our beautiful blue winter skies.

Air Force Academy Chapel

If you were wondering what Saturday's photo was, it's the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, one of the most recognizable buildings in Colorado when fully shown.

Here's a view looking up the steps.

I liked the regularity of the lines in this shot looking up the side with an ultra-wide-angle lens.

Here's another shot of the famous roofline.

And finally, I liked the pattern of shadows the spires were casting on the plaza in the early-morning sunlight.

This post is for Tina's PicStory theme of C (Cadet Chapel), and for Our World Tuesday. Next week we'll go inside the chapel.

What?

Does anybody know what this is?

If you're curious, come back on Monday and I'll show you more.

Stanley Park Flowers

As we head into March, our snowiest month of the year here in Colorado Springs (April is our second-snowiest), I'm going to look back at some beautiful flowers I found in Vancouver's Stanley Park late last spring.

Well, as they say, March and April snows make May flowers (or something like that). Anyway, this is my entry for the Scenic Sunday meme, and my last photos from the lovely Stanley Park.