Palmer Park Rocks

For Scenic Sunday this week, I'm focusing on some rock formations in Palmer Park, one of the many parks in Colorado Springs.

I love looking up at the spires.

I also love the contrasts of color between the rocks, the sky, and the pine trees.

And when the sun hits them, the rocks themselves can come alive with color.

This is a nice place to walk around in the winter as it's relatively low-altitude, at least for this area. In fact, these shots were taken last December.

Forked Lightning

I can't go too many weeks without posting a lightning shot for Skywatch Friday, so here's one I rather liked.

And there's lots more still to come!

Air Force Football

I was recently at an Air Force Academy football game.

It's always a fun thing to see, even though I'm not particularly interested in watching sports. There are interesting traditions, such as cadets doing push-ups whenever Air Force scores, one per point. In a game like this where we scored over 30 points, that's a lot of push-ups!

And of course military bands and the like are always a pleasure to watch (and photograph).

And that's part of Our World this week, and all the colors make it my entry for PicStory's "color" theme this week!

Newcastle Beach Trail (Bellevue)

Last week for Scenic Sunday I left you at Bellevue's Newcastle Beach Park. This week I'm showing you a nature trail next to that beach. It was typical Western Washington, with lots of green vegetation. It ran near the lake for a while.

After a short distance it turned inland among the trees.

It was typical Western Washington, with lots of green vegetation.

If you end up at the beach, this short trail is well worth exploring.

Mammatus Clouds

Going back to the archives (August of 2004) for this Skywatch Friday photo, here's a shot of some very distinctive mammatus clouds from several years ago, underlit by the sun, taken with a Canon Powershot. I've got lots of interesting shots from that camera, my first digital camera, when I run out of newer photos.

Mirage at Night

For this week's Our World Tuesday entry, I'm going back to Las Vegas for a couple of night shots taken in front of the Mirage.

I liked the upwards illumination of the palm tree on the sidewalk near where I took the above photo.

Newcastle Beach Park (Bellevue)

Newcastle Beach park sits on Lake Washington in Bellevue. Since I don't see many beaches in my part of the world, while my family was shopping I took a short visit there and came back with some photos! I liked the trees that lined the path to the beach.

Although the weather wasn't perfect, I loved the large expanse of water. And the solitude, as the place was empty.

And there was real sand!

Next week I'll show you some photos from a short nature trail next to the beach. But until then, visit Scenic Sunday, where I'm sure you can find more beach photos.