Monday, September 23, 2013

38/52 - Photo Project 2013

One of my most favorite events of the St. Louis fall is the Balloon Glow - but it rained ALL day, almost until the Glow. I was unwilling to play chicken (again) with the rain, nor navigate the mud puddles. Instead, I decided to play in the rain and visit the Missouri Botanical Garden.

It was definitely worth it. I crept about in the front half of the garden (no farther than the Climatron), huddled occasionally under my brightly colored umbrella and had a ton of photo opportunities. So many more plants hold water droplets on their surface than I expected.

My crowning glory?

Macro Mobot September

Close runners up?

Macro Mobot September  

Macro Mobot September    Macro Mobot September




Friday, September 20, 2013

37/52 - Photo Project 2013

I carry my camera with me every day... but I haven't been taking it out to take pictures recently. Thank goodness I had a photo flood in Benton Park and took a few pictures recently. This was one of my favorites:

Benton Park

Close runners up:

Benton Park     Benton Park

Friday, September 13, 2013

Update #6 - Task #5 - Visit All 50 States




See older lists here and here and here and here and here.

I don't have any specific plans in place for any others yet - though Mississippi/Louisiana/Tennessee is to happen in the near future. It was supposed to happen in January but atypical winter weather prevented that road trip.

Several states will be dual trips, like South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Maine and New Mexico - which also have National Parks I still need to/want to visit. 

Others, I have friends living in or near and I'd love the excuse to go visit folks I haven't seen in awhile. I'm still puzzling over Maryland - with as many trips to DC-area, how did I NOT manage to officially cross that one off???

States I've Lived In: (4)
California, Indiana, Missouri, Texas

States I've Worked In/Already Visited: (29)
Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming

States I'm Already Planning On:


States That I Still Need To Visit: (17)
Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin


Do YOU have any ideas of what I should go see in the remaining states? 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Task #22: Visit all the National Parks in the continental United States - UPDATE #3

Updated 8/31/2012

Here's info on the original post which explains why there might be some missing. And the previous post here.

I've made a lot of progress, but have a long ways to go...

Visited But Don't Remember Clearly and/or Would Like To Revisit: (6)
Acadia (Maine), Badlands (South Dakota), Black Canyon (Colorado), Bryce Canyon (Utah), Canyonlands (Utah), Zion (Utah)

Visited and Remember Clearly and/or Visited Post-College: (22)
Crater Lake (Oregon), Death Valley National Park (California), Glacier National Park (Montana), Grand Canyon (Arizona), Grand Teton (Wyoming), Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina/Tennessee), Joshua Tree (California), Mount Rainier (Washington), Mesa Verde (Colorado), North Cascades (Washington), Olympic (Washington)Rocky Mountains (Colorado), Yellowstone (Wyoming), Hot Springs (Arkansas), Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Ohio)Mammoth Cave (Kentucky), Kings Canyon (California), Sequoia (California), Lassen Volcanic (California), Redwood (California)Shenandoah (Virgina), Yosemite (California)

Still Need to Visit: (18)
Arches (Utah), Capitol Reef (Utah), Big Bend (Texas), Guadalupe Mountains (Texas), Biscayne (Florida), Dry Tortugas (Florida), Everglades (Florida), Petrified Forest (Arizona), Saguaro (Arizona), Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico), Channel Islands (California), Pinnacles (California), Congaree (South Carolina),  Great Sand Dunes (Colorado),  Isle Royale (Michigan),Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota), Voyaguers (Minnesota), Wind Cave (South Dakota)

Looks like I need to make a trip to Utah... and maybe one that also includes AZ/New Mexico. 

It's time to sit down and plan these out... and then figure out how to afford it!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

35/52 and 36/52 - Photo Project 2013

I'm playing catch-up again...

Week 35 saw me at the Chalk Festival - my one and only day out with the camera. I braved wicked heat for these shots... so it's only appropriate that this is the winner:

Chalk Festival

Week 36 found me at the Japanese Festival on Labor day, because it was too darn hot the rest of the weekend. And I didn't really pick up the camera again. I really must break the camera fatigue I have - I blame the heat.

Japanese Festival 2013

I skipped out on a photo shoot today because I wanted a day all to my own to do as I wished but this upcoming Saturday, I have a Photo Flood and those seem to get the creative juices flowing...