Old Mountainous Skywatch

Here's an old scanned slide from 1995 for this week's Skywatch Friday entry. It's near the famous town of Aspen as the clouds cleared at the end of a small snowstorm.

Phantom Canyon Brewing Company

Brewpubs which brew their own beer are very popular in Colorado. Here's one in downtown Colorado Springs.

Their beer is excellent and the food is tasty too. It's my entry for Our World Tuesday this week.

Kyongju Palace

Continuing with photos from Kyongju, South Korea, here is the first of a series from a palace.

My wife is visible in this photo! And it's for Vintage Weekly.

Siamese Twins Rocks

If you've read this blog for long you know that Garden of the Gods is one of my favorite places to go, and I visit several times every year. Here are some photos of the Siamese Twins rock formation; it's not as well-known as some of the others because you have to hike a few hundred yards to it (it isn't visible from the roads). We start with the trail leading up to it.

And here's the formation itself in the classic Colorado sunshine.

You can look through it at Pikes Peak (this time the sunshine had disappeared).

There are other rock formations nearby.

Climbing without the right equipment is not allowed in this park.

This is an obvious entry for both the Orange Friday and Scenic Sunday memes.

Unusual Sunrise

This week's Skywatch Friday entry is a sunrise with unusual clouds.

It doesn't have the deep reds we sometimes see here but I still loved it!

Driving to California

Long road trips are part of Our World here in the American West. These are photos from when we drove to California back in May; we drove approximately 2,700 miles (4,345 km) in five days. We start with Interstate 70 (shortened as I-70) here in Colorado, which leads through mountains. This major highway tops out over 11,000 feet (3,350 meters) above sea level, at which point it goes through a tunnel!

There are pretty canyons too.

In Utah the terrain is much dryer but still very pretty.

This final shot is from California, which is also often very dry. We're no longer on the interstate but on a smaller road.

Road trips can be fun but this much driving does become a little monotonous.

South Korean Bell

This week's Vintage Weekly post is the famous Bell of King Seongdeok in Kyongju (Gyeongju), South Korea. Don't read the text after the photo if you're squeamish.

The legend (which may not be true) is that when the bell was initially cast it made no sound when struck. A monk dreamed that if a child was thrown into the metal as the bell was recast, the bell would ring. So this was done, and the bell now rings with the most beautiful tones (although it's no longer rung due to its age and condition).