Some time ago we had rented a small boat near Little Hickory Island, south of Fort Myers, Florida. These two Pelicans remained perched, even though we were slowly approaching, giving me an opportunity for this image. I particularly like the sharpness of the nearer bird’s head, as he peacefully scrutinized our passing.
Thanks for viewing and as usual, comments are always welcome M 🙂
It is late March in Northern New Jersey, and dirty piles of leftover snow have just about melted away. Along back trails of the Ramapo Mountains, streams are flowing again creating interesting shapes and patterns in their melting ice. Sandy, our faithful hiking companion back then, was exhausted after this particular late March day ….in 2006.
At forty-two stories, 462′ (141 m,) the Smith Tower was the tallest building in Seattle for fifty-five years, 1914 to 1969. On a vacation some years ago, we enjoyed the history of that building and climbing to the observation level near the top.
Eastern Elliot Bay forms the waterfront of Seattle.
And the view south is the old King Dome, which we thoroughly toured earlier, with the King Street Train Station (with tower) and I-5 in the distance to the left, here looking south
Thanks for viewing, zoom in for a closer look and comments are always welcome. M 🙂
Lucy Kaplansky, a Greenwich Village honed musician and singer-songwriter with pitch perfect vocals and acoustic guitar mastery, has impressed us during a number of local performances over the years. This past Saturday, as snow fell on the city and suburbs, my city savvy son and I made the trek, first by car in N.W. Bergen County, NJ, to the local train station. The end of the line is Hoboken, just steps away from the ferry terminal where we waited a few minutes for the frigid ride across the Hudson River to the “Battery” terminal (WTC area.) A cold half mile walk thru accumulating snow and partly along the water front, brought us to the pleasantly impressive “City Vineyard” restaurant on Pier 26.
Preceded by an excellent dinner, Lucy would perform flawlessly with her music and stories, right there on the Hudson River, and practically in the shadow of One World Trade Center.
This is how we got there…
The last image above is through the window next to our high top table while watching the show, – overlooking the summer deck and Jersey City beyond.
City Vineyard is marked near the upper right on the map above.
After the show, with my son leading the way, we would take a cab uptown to Penn Station, where the trains would bring us back under the river and eventually to the car (via Secaucus Jct.) and the final slippery road home.
Note that these are i-phone images.
Thanks for viewing and comments are always welcome. M 🙂
The New York skyline, once dominated by the Empire State Building …is rapidly changing!
As seen from Weehawken, NJ, across the Hudson River, 12/19/19
Thanks for Viewing, Comments are always welcome, and zoom in for a a closer look. M 🙂
Lately, I seem to be hung up on Swiss Army Knives. See here. Originally, in that post, I wanted to compare the enormous display with my real knife. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the knife. But …here it is. I had used it as contrast to the ash from the Mt. St. Helens explosion, nine years earlier. The two pictures below, from our vacation in August, 1989, were taken on the banks of the Toutle River some 30 miles downstream from the catastrophic event which literally blew the top off the mountain.
ABOVE: A few miles east of the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center in Washington State, Rt. 504 crosses the Toutle River, (located near “Toutle” on the satellite image below.) BELOW: Topless Mt. St. Helens is visible from Interstate 5, about 35 miles away.
The Visitor Center is between “Castle Rock,” and “Toutle.
Thanks for viewing, and zoom in for a closer look. M 🙂
Family Vacation, 32 years ago. American Airlines 747 from NYC’s Kennedy Airport to LAX. After the image below, is the story of “Early A.M. in L.A. on 11/10/87”
Images: Above: Giant Swiss Army Knive at Museum of Contempoary Art, Downtown L.A. – and L.A. as seen from Griffith Observatory, 11/11/87 with City Hall to left – 5.6 miles (9 km) distant.
Above, the iconic L.A. City Hall, known at the time as “The Dragnet Building.”Twelve hours after landing, I would be exploring Los Angeles by foot before the morning’s rush hour, while the family slept off jet-lag in the Holiday Inn about a mile away. An awesome two hour adventure into an “architectually diverse” downtown, with parks and plazas, and… WHAT??? – a Giant Swiss Army Knife??? Yes indeed!
And, not far away, …Swinging Cars!
hi
Years later, and of course living 3000 miles away, I wondered exactly where these two photos were taken. I searched maps, and photos where I could, without success – until now. Thanks to the remarkable 3D satellite image and orientation tools available on most any smart phone and/or computer, I “flew” between the buildings and first found the cars: W. Fourth street, and S. Grand Ave. See it below?
The Swiss Army knife was a lot harder. In fact, it’s not there anymore. BUT, by looking at the photo I took in 1987, and specifically for the glass pyramid in its background, I zoomed way in on the “Tom Tom” 3D map, and searched until noticing the glass pyramid structure. Below is from today’s mapping app, zoomed in showing that same glass pyramid. A “new” contempoary display is in the exact place where the knife was 32 years ago.
Above: The Plaza at The Museum of Contemporary Art, on S. Grand Street, L.A. (From Tom Tom Maps, Apple I-Pad)Below, another photo of downtown Los Angeles on that beautiful morning. 
Thanks for viewing. Comments are always welcome, and zoom in for a closer look. M 🙂
“New York’s Finest” on foot, and on motorcycle, as the latter start one final sweep of the roadway just prior to the official opening.
See Part Two, as we prepare to cross the new bridge, which after 2018 became correctly and officially named as the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge with two z’s, finally conforming to the explorer’s actual name. Giovanni va Verrazzano was the first documented European explorer to sail through this waterway, in 1524!
Thanks for viewing, zoom in for a closer look on these original 35mm film images, and comments are always welcome. M 🙂
Our March 2019 Vacation continues …Saint Simons Island
Above, looking across inlet to Jekyll Island. Note the horses!
Saint Simons Island is about 60 miles south of Savannah, Georgia …just north of Jekyll Island
“Google Maps”
Thanks for viewing, zoom in for a closer look, and comments are always welcome. M 🙂
Continuing a theme from my last post, once again we have the last quarter moon hanging above a fairly well known landmark – the Griffith Observatory and Science Center overlooking Los Angeles. It was day two of a family vacation with a somewhat newer SLR film camera, early in the morning of November 11th, 1987.
As usual, click on the image for a closer look, and thanks for viewing. Comments are always welcome. M 🙂
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