Back to the Everglades for an eight day expedition with my friend Al Borchers [photo gallery]. This year we decided to attempt some more difficult routes, starting with a long paddle to North River Chickee on the first day. It was quickly apparent that the “great freeze of 2010″ had occurred the week before—there were [...]
Just back from a short vacation in the Yucatan with my brother and sister-in-law. We started and ended our tip at Merida, which has a delightful old city center to explore. [photo gallery] First on our list was Uxmal, my personal favorite! Located in the gently rolling Puuc Hills, it is one of several significant Late [...]
Next on our tour was Chichen Itza, perhaps the most famous Mayan ruin of all. [photo gallery] Most of what we see today is a combination of Terminal Classic Maya and Post-Classic newcomers such as the Toltecs.
The site is dominated by the iconic El Castillo Pyramid, which was dedicated to the feathered serpent god [...]
On our drive to the coast we stopped for a few hours to see the ruins at Coba. The site sits between two lakes and is divided up into groupings several kilometers apart. These are much more rustic with less restoration. [photo gallery] One exception was the Ball Court which was very small an intimate compared with the others [...]
Our final stop was Tulum on the east coast. [photo gallery] While the buildings may be less elaborate, the setting is certainly spectacular. A thick wall surrounds the site on three sides with the ocean on the fourth. The site has its own small cenote as a source of fresh water. There is a guard house of sorts just [...]
This was the view out my hotel window in downtown Madison! My brother Bruce came down for an evening and we toured the capital building. Discovered that the iPhone 3G has a pretty decent camera!
I drove back to Iowa through southwestern Wisconsin on a grey, rainy day. Fortunately there was already a bit of fall [...]
Made a brief visit to Iowa over the week-end and took some new roadside flower photos, plus a few rural HDR scenes, including the historic Hurstville Lime Kilns near Maquoketa.
Most of these flower photos were taken along a 150 ft stretch of median where I-74 joins I-80 West. The sheer number of blooms was impressive! The mostly purple asters [...]
While in Colorado we had the opportunity to visit Rocky Mountain National Park.
The first day I hiked around the Bear Lake area and took HDR photos of the taller peaks. I was lucky the sky stayed clear until noon (gallery photos 1-15).
On the second day we did a car tour along Trail Ridge Road. There [...]
We recently returned to an old favorite from the time we lived in Wyoming called Vedauwoo. In spite of their weathered sandstone appearance, these rocks are much harder—granite I think. The snow had only recently receded and the wildflowers were out in full force! I’ve posted a gallery of macro and HDR photos for all [...]