Pueblo City Park

This week's theme at Tina's PicStory is azure, so I thought it's a good time to post photos taken at Pueblo City Park with azure skies. It's also for Our World Tuesday, taken in a city approximately 50 miles to the south of where I live.

Here's a ruined seating area next to the tennis courts.

And I loved these trees.

Busan, South Korea (2)

Taken from the same tower as last week's photo, here's another view of Busan, South Korea.

We were there at the end of the rainy season, so it was overcast a lot. But I still loved it, and I've got many more photos from South Korea to share for Vintage Weekly!

Muscoco Mountain

Since I haven't been able to do much hiking yet this year, here's a couple of photos from a climb up nearby Muscoco Mountain last August, starting with the stream we forded to start.

Socks bravely led the way up the steep trail.

And the reward for all the climbing was this wonderful view!

And that covers my weekly Scenic Sunday post.

Strange Storm Clouds

Here's a long-delayed post. A few weeks ago we had a severe storm pass just to our south, and here's a photo of the clouds from our back deck.

It's my Skywatch Friday entry this week.

Las Vegas (Night and Fountains)

On our way out to California in the spring, we stopped in Las Vegas for one night. Of course, I took the opportunity to get at least a few photos, and these are the ones worth sharing.

Three of the four involve fountains so I'm sharing it with Tina's PicStory theme of "wet." And of course it's my weekly Our World Tuesday entry too.

Busan Overlook

The city of Busan, South Korea has over 4 million people in its metro area, and it's where my wife was born. Here's a view of the city from a tower.

It's my entry this week for Vintage Weekly.

Horses

It's been far too long since I've posted to the Camera Critters meme, so here's a post to rectify that. It's some horses I encountered in a local park, and the riders were kind enough to let me take some photos of them.

They are such beautiful animals and a joy to be near.

More Cloud-to-Cloud Lightning

It's been a while since I've posted any lightning photos, so here are a couple of cloud-to-cloud bolts.

Of course, this is my Skywatch Friday post for this week.

Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods

I thought I'd take Tina's PicStory theme of Garden today to post another photo from the Garden of the Gods - a classic view of Pikes Peak. This is a garden indeed!

Colorado Springs is open for business!

Wildfire Results

We were finally allowed back into our office this week after it was professionally restored and declared fit for people (it survived the wildfire but had some serious smoke damage). Here are some photos I took. First are a couple on the drive in - in the first one you can clearly see where the fire was stopped on the mountains (notice the line where everything to the left is blackened). I pulled over to take these as I didn't want to try using the camera on a busy highway at 75mph (120kph).

Here's a closeup of the worst-affected part of the city, at the base of the charred ridge.

This ridgeline is directly behind the office and you can see burnt trees.

The fire came onto the office property, as these photos are right next to the parking lot. Notice the houses in this shot, their fences were burned down.

 I don't think this tree in the parking lot will live, too much was burned.

And the real toll - all that's left of this house is the foundation, and you can see the remaining stumps of what used to be a fence for another house (that survived) in the foreground. This is right behind the office.

Several people where I work lost their homes in this fire. It's very strange how some trees are still green in the middle of all the devastation. Hopefully this is my last wildfire post for a while; visit Our World Tuesday to see wetter parts of the world.

Fox Run Park

I love taking our dog Socks for a walk in the nearby Fox Run Park. Here are a couple of photos from one such walk.

In my mind, Fox Run Park always qualifies for a Scenic Sunday post.

A-10A

For Skywatch Friday, here's a Fairchild-Republic A-10A on display at the United States Air Force Academy.

Garden of the Gods Climbers

Although these photos were taken last year, Garden of the Gods is again open, and was not touched by the wildfire. With proper equipment and registration, climbing is allowed here.

This sport isn't for me. But it is for Tina's Picstory theme of "G" this week (Garden of the Gods), and also part of Our World Tuesday.

The fire is all but out and Colorado Springs is open for business - please visit our lovely city! Almost all the tourist attractions are again open and running on a summer schedule, the major exception being the Flying W Ranch which was burned to the ground.

Seoul Olympic Stadium

The Olympics were held in South Korea in 1988. For Vintage Weekly, here's a photo of the Olympic Stadium, taken from the Han River in Seoul taken 10 years after the Olympics, in 1998.

Summer Flowers

Here are some summer flowers at America the Beautiful Park, near downtown Colorado Springs.

This post is serving double-duty, as I'm linking to both Scenic Sunday and to Weekend Flowers.

Happy Independence Day!

July 4th is the U.S.A.'s Independence Day.

Happy July 4th!

All photographs were captured hand-held at last year's fireworks display at the United States Air Force Academy - due to the extreme dryness there won't be any displays this year. And I'm linking it to Skywatch Friday.

The wildfire is largely under control at this point, and hopefully it won't flare up again.

Helicopters in Seattle

I found these last couple of photos left over from last year's trip to Seattle. These were taken along the waterfront, catching some type of rescue training by the Coast Guard.

It was probably more interesting to see in person than the photographs show. But it's my post for Our World Tuesday, and it does capture the classic grey Seattle skies (it was raining at the time).

Here's a quick wildfire update. 17,827 acres have burned, 346 homes burned, and 2 people lost their lives. I still can't get back into my office building but I consider myself lucky. Containment is at 55%. Hopefully the worst is over for the fire, but there are a lot of people who have lost everything.