It has certainly taken me longer to blog about this trip then the trip itself! So here we are at the end. Two things are true: (1) The port cities look very much alike. (2) You can’t take good photographs from a moving bus with dirty windows.
Portland. We walked this city to the point of exhaustion. It was fun, but we should have stopped for a snack or lunch. I loved the old buildings and noticed that the electric wiring was still above ground. I thought this added to the charm of the city. There were a few parks within walking distance. Here are some photos and captions.
This was one of the first buildings we saw. Yes it’s for sale. Made for a nice picture .I liked the way the windows were framed.Windows , reflections and architecture.Notice the above street wiring.Just a nice street scene.Wedgwood looking windows.Oh, you know how I love red!Red doors on this church.A war memorial.I love these old buildings.
St. John’s New Brunswick. While the “Hop on and Hop Off Busses give a great overall tour, it’s difficult to take pictures. Most places didn’t warrant getting off.
The tour bus guide told us our ship was across the bridge.The Reversing Rapids, are rapids that are created as the high tides of the Bay of Fundy collide with the Saint John River in a rocky gorge in Saint John, New Brunswick.I did get out of the bus for this one.Another decaying structure.Street with a church at the end.Closer look at the church.The only synagogue.
So, this is the end of my trip. I had a great time. I loved the ship’s food and was careful not to eat too much. I would have liked to go further into the cities, but there’s not much you can do in one day and a limited amount of energy. Would I do it again? YES!!
Wow Tina, you sure put me on an emotional and visual trip this week! When I read your wonderful challenge, I immediately went back to 2013 when we took a cross country trip of the United States in our 5th wheel trailer. This was my dream vacation and so Richard conceded to take me from coast to coast for our 50th wedding anniversary. Conceded, because he had a torn meniscus and long trips are not his delight.
I had also just taken up photography as a hobby and bought a Nikon D3100 (an entry level camera). I honestly didn’t know what I was doing. As I was going through my archives for this post, I had to laugh. Some of the pictures were down right bad. Some were okay. Some were good. That was the visual part for me. The emotional part came as I remembered how moved I was at some of the towns we visited.
The United States is a BIG country and in three months we couldn’t see it all. We set out with no plan except to visit relatives along the way. It’s difficult to put it all into one post, but I’ve chosen the most important to me.
We pushed on through parts of Nevada, New Mexico and Texas where we visited relatives. We stopped in Little Rock Arkansas near the border of Tennessee. While there we enjoyed the grand Mississippi from our campsite. I was amazed at the push boats that push barges up and down the river. Some of them pushed three and four across and many barges deep. The pilots only stop for provisions and drive the boats night and day.
We also found great baby back ribs one night, and Larry’s Pizza which was an amazing place. Waitresses walked around with whole pies, offering slices to the customers. When I asked for a pie that I didn’t see at the buffet, she had them make one and brought it to me! Now that’s service!! Yes, food is a great motivation for me. And, no, I didn’t eat the whole pie! She brought it around to other patrons.
We can’t leave Little Rock without a visit to Central High School which was integrated in 1957. Nine black children dared to integrate this school. There was such an uprising that then President Eisenhower called out the National Guard. The school is now a National Historic Site. A park ranger gave us a tour, acting out what those children went through. It was as if she were living through history again and bringing us along. This is something that I will always feel and remember. The school is still integrated and its history is its past.
Before we left Little Rock, we went into Memphis Tennessee. This is where I filled my soul with music and my tummy with cat fish. Beal Street was our destination because it was mentioned in one of my favorite Marc Cohn songs “Walking in Memphis.” I wanted to walk the streets and hear the music like he did. I was not disappointed. Hucksters were outside restaurants and music came through the open doors of the clubs. I have posted pictures of Beal Street in LAPC posts before. On our first visit, the street was close to autos for bikes.
We continued north through Tennessee to the Great Smoky Mountain NP. We didn’t realize that the campground we chose required us to go through Pigeon Forge, a vacation spot that is much like a Disney adventure. We did go there some nights. Great entertainment, but not as amazing as the NP.
We continued through Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, stopping in New Jersey to visit our cousins. Our mistake was made there. We should have parked the trailer, gone into New York and picked it up on the way back. Driving a large rig was not easy in New York. But we made it to Long Island to visit some more cousins. Richard just had to go into NYC to visit Times Square. We paid $30 to park.
Leaving New York City, our next stop was Niagara Falls. This was a must for me. I was amazed at the amount of water falling from the three falls: American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls and the largest and more well known, the Horseshoe Falls. We had dinner on the Canadian side to get this photo.
We then started home and stopped in Springfield Illinois where the corn is “as high as an elephant’s eye!”
Next we drove to St. Louis Missouri so Richard could get a shot in his knee. He was ready to get home!
Our last big stop was the Rocky Mountain NP in Colorado. What magnificence and altitude!
Our trip didn’t end here, but this post will. Through it all, I learned more about my country and its people, what unites us and what divides us. There is so much more to the United States then New York City, Florida, Hollywood and San Francisco. I encourage you to visit the lesser known places of your home country.
Thank you Tina for taking me back in time and reliving this trip. Please remember to link your post to Tina’s and use the Lens Artists tag. I enjoyed seeing and experiencing all your textures in response to guest host Jude’s post last week. Next week’s challenge will be hosted by hosted by Patti on her Pilotfish blog.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.
It started here. The Boston Tea Party was the foundation for the Revolutionary War.
The last post on my New England trip left us at the USS Constitution. We took an Uber to get there from the cruise ship. Getting back to the center of Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, we took a shuttle boat. That was a great ride. On the way to the dock, we saw sculptures of faces. I left in the informational sign regarding these art works. I think they are amazing.
Once on the shuttle boat, we saw:
Off the boat, we walked into town so we could fill our hungry tummies. I remembered Faneuil Hall Marketplace from my previous visit. In colonial times it was a place to gather and eat. Nothing’s changed except for the crowds. We bought lunch and fortunately found a place to sit. With our stomachs full, we went out to see the rest of the area. I basically photographed buildings and things I liked. Here are some of the photos with captions.
This trio are buildings I just liked.I liked the black and gold sign.The Faneuil Hall MarketplaceNotice the metal sculpture on the left. I liked the buildings center back.A closer view .A bagpiper in front of the MarketplaceParkman Plaza is within Boston CommonsParkman Plaza SculpturesReligionIndustryEducation
There was so much more to see, but we were so tired. We Ubered our way back to the ship to put our feet up and rest. Our next town to visit was Bar Harbor Maine. I’ll try to get to that town sooner!
It’s been a while since I’ve been in a truly urban environment. Downtown Sacramento is as close as I’ve gotten, but I already posted many pictures of buildings and street art. So how do I put a twist on this challenge from Sofia? I thought immediately of San Francisco. In July, 2018, Marlene and I took the ferry from Tiburon to the Embarcado.
A couple of pictures taken from the ferry.
It was a full day of walking, taking pictures and people watching. The Embarcado attracts tourists of all ages, people who live in San Francisco and want to eat in well-known restaurants, and anyone who is looking for a speciality item. People watching was what I enjoyed the most.
I was immediately overcome with sadness and wonderment at watching a couple help their very senior dog. I’m now helping my senior dog, a schnoodle, although his stroller is much smaller.
Kids just love the environment on the Embarcadero. This red-head was a stand out and this girl was enjoying this unusual swing.
Street entertainers helped liven up the crowds.
Workers also need breaks.
Artists are also creating and selling their finished products.
And, I can’t close this post without crowd scenes!
Do you see Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream shop in the last picture. Of course I just had to get some Cherry Garcia! I want to go back and do this again. I love street photography. These were just some of the pictures from that trip. Maybe Marlene and I will do this again in the Fall.
Thank you Sofia for letting me go down memory lane with this twist to your challenge. When you post your reply to this challenge, be sure to link it to Sofia’s post and use the Lens Artists tag. Last week John’s challenge brought us to many places in a variety of ways. It was fun reading your posts. Tina leads next week’s challenge so look for her post.
I will be taking 3-weeks off. Yes, I’m actually going on a vacation! I’ll be back soon.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.
Each year Fremont Park in Sacramento hosts Chalk It Up where artists claim a sidewalk square and create art with chalk. Some use liquid chalk and some use regular chalk. We went on the last day of the festival. I was surprised at how many artists were still at work. It was to be another triple digit day. So when we arrived at 7:30 a.m.. there were many others trying to beat the heat.
There were many wonderful squares, but you know art, it’s what you like! I narrowed down my many likes and came up with these to show you. First look at some artists at work.
These artists are willing to stop talk and explain their art. Next there were some pictures that were 3D.
Now, the best of the rest!
It was difficult to choose which pictures to show you. Maybe next year you’ll have to do down to see them for yourself. Or, find a festival like this in or near your home town.
Sometimes architecture calls, especially for photo buddy Richard. I don’t object, because I like it also, especially when there are great reflections. Here are the results of a recent downtown Sacramento outing. Some images have descriptive captions. There are more than my usual picks, so have fun!
I loved this mural!You know I can’t resist red. Taken in Old Sacramento.Lady Gaga mural, reflections and shadows.Trying to emphasize the window terraces.Window terraces and shadows.Lines, shadows and angles.The Golden One Center
You can see there are a lot of new buildings in Sacramento. One of our outings must be focused on the old structures in Sacramento.
The annual Wide Open Walls Festival is adding more beauty to Sacramento’s buildings. To beat the heat, we left at 7:30 a.m. and headed to downtown. I had a list of about 30 murals and addresses. Diane was our navigator and I drove the one-way streets which sometimes turned into two-way streets. And when you’re not familiar with the streets, mistakes are easy to make. Need I say more.
I’m not going to show you all that I photographed, just some special art pieces. Let’s begin with this one. The artist did separate panels on the building’s walls. I loved the colors and surrealism.
Next is a mural and a close up of the woman’s face. We found on a SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) building. Tea anyone?
This next set is full of symmetrical and asymmetrical designs.
Here are some odds and ends that I thought were great.
I’ll end with art that isn’t a painted mural and I don’t think is part of Wide Open Walls. They are mosaic art images and in some places raised. They are beautiful.
We will return for more mural photography and I hope to have more fantastic pieces to show you.
I didn’t mean to tease, but various challenges had me show pictures from the architecture of the Manetti Shrem Museum on the campus of U.C. Davis in Davis. I promised more images in a forthcoming post. Well, here it is!
The building is amazing with its curves, lines, angles and shapes. So lets look at the outside. Notice how the shadows created by the building are art in themselves.
A modern day boom town, Roseville was stretching its borders when we first moved here in 2001. What was once a small railroad town is now a hub for corporations (At least before the pandemic hit.) and new housing. When I was doing business in Roseville there were four main areas: Downtown Roseville, the Historic District, East Roseville (corporate) and West Roseville (housing). A couple of weeks ago, we ventured into Roseville for sunset and night photography.
We began at the Roseville Sculpture Park. This large red metal sculpture can be seen from the Interstate 80 freeway. The sculpture is named “Cosmos” and was dedicated to the people of Roseville in 1990 by a local developer.
We did find a couple of mushrooms along the path to the sculpture. I didn’t have my macro lens, so I photographed these at 55 mm. Actually the car was in the parking lot and I was too lazy to go get the lens. I think if there had been more than two mushrooms, I would have changed lenses!
Next we went to Downtown Roseville and its main street: Vernon Street. There are two theaters, restaurants and shops around Roseville’s City Hall. Here are some of this area approaching sundown.
After we enjoyed dinner, we returned to Downtown to catch some of the town’s lights. The Christmas tree was up in the Town Square and a decorative display of a house caught peoples attention. These were taken without a tripod because you know, I’m lazy!
Architecture surrounds us whether it’s a historical building, a small store, a different sort of home or an iconic skyscraper. In this week’s challenge, Tina encourages us to share our images of interesting architecture, opening the field to what is fascinating to us.
While California is known for cities like Hollywood and San Francisco, it is primarily an agricultural state. In Sacramento we are so close to a countryside of farms, ranches and orchards. Here are two country houses, very different in architecture, that I’ve visited through the Yolo Arts & Ag Project.
Clos Cavanis Farm
Oliver Farm
Close to Sacramento is Donner Lake, a busy place for summer and winter recreation. Some people live there full time and some have homes to enjoy as a get away. Here is a winter scene.
We also have buildings of historical value. One is the Gibson House, It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, in Woodland and another, bulging in the front for years, is located in Locke which is a historic district. I think it’s amazing that it is still standing.
And, of course there’s Folsom State Prison. Its architecture gives us a hint as to its age–141 years. Built in 1880, it’s a minimum to medium security prison and houses only men.
Next is Sacramento’s very own Tower Bridge. Spanning the Sacramento River, it connects Sacramento to West Sacramento, and is used as a branding image for many ad campaigns.
And finally, my favorite building, the CALSTRS building. In the picture above, it’s located just after another amazing architectural wonder, the Pyramid (The Ziggurat) Office Building. Here you can see it up close.
This ends my tour of interesting architecture in and around Sacramento. Thank you Tina for this fun challenge!
Slow Shutter Speed 