Yucatan Trip 2009 – Tulum Ruins

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 above that looks out on the turquoise Caribbean.

Other small buildings spread along the cliffside create dramatic views. It is ironic that the largest temple structure faces inland and is therefore unattractive when viewed from the shoreline. It is completely closed off to the public. <frown> Here’s a panorama (large file).

By far the most interesting building is the small Temple of the Frescos. It has huge humanoid masks (see above) at each corner and badly eroded carvings of the diving god above the doorways. Inside are still visible paintings of various gods. (You can just make out the goddess Ixchel carrying the infant Chaac toward the center of the photograph.)

Visit to Wisconsin – Photos 2009

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 color! Took several flower and HDR photos. I’m particularly pleased with this one!

Iowa Roadside Flowers and HDR Scenes

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 contrasted nicely with the intense yellow goldenrod.