The ‘Warren W. Hines’
The MV ‘Ronald L. Sensenbach’
The ‘Barry Griffith’
The ‘James H. Hunter’
The Montgomery County Courthouse
Long overdue, here are some photos of my 2021 trip to Maine. If you like them, you can find more at my Flickr page.
Fort Gorges sits in the mouth of the Portland Harbor.
The MT Eurotrader
The old grist mill in Yarmouth, Maine
The Royal River flows through Yarmouth, Maine
The US Post Office in Brunswick, Maine
The Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Another view of this glorious lighthouse
Mackinaw City remains my favorite place on earth. I paid it another visit in October 2022. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip.
Located within the City of Lansing, Hawk Island County Park is a lovely gem of a park that offers year-round recreational activities. These photos are early fall photos, though, so you get to see flowers and greenery and such.
I took my new camera (a Canon Rebel SL3) out for a spin on September 7. I wanted to see what I would get from my 18-55mm and 55-250mm lenses, and Hawk Island Park seemed like a good place to do it.
One can climb to the top of the tubing hill and get a nice view of the lake and the landscape.
Throughout the park, there are all sorts of flower and wildflower gardens.
I went on a walk with a friend in Hawk Meadow Park. We mostly walked and talked, but we did take a few photos. I was fairly happy with these two, taken near the north edge of the park.
While on vacation in May, I did lots of running. Here are some of the best things I saw in Anniston and Oxford, Alabama.
This is such a beautiful, historic building.
Ty Cobb spent some time in Anniston. I’m sure some folks will dispute the “greatest baseball player of all time” designation, but he was definitely very good.
The dogs hanging out at Piper’s Playhouse were very happy to say hello when I ran by. And when I stopped. And probably any other time.
There are so many ducklings here!
I lived in Calhoun County for many years, but I had never before seen this creek, or drain, or whatever it is.
Before Michigan became a complete sauna, morning runs occasionally offered different encounters. I found this patch of fog during an early morning run that included a chunk of the path in Frances Park.
I like to run distance races. I used to run marathons, but my marathon-runner sports medicine doctor advised me that I wasn’t doing that any more after my last one in 2015; it was apparently a bad thing that my right knee sounded crunchy for six weeks after the race. Half marathons aren’t banned, and I haven’t had that kind of problem after one of those, so I run them.
Sometimes, I run more than one a weekend. In 2015 and 2016, I completed the Midwest Half and Half Challenge by running both the Wisconsin Half Marathon and the Borgess Run for the Health of It in the same weekend. In 2017, I missed the event due to my ongoing recovery from my 2016 ankle surgery, but I returned to the event in 2018.
I didn’t snap many photos in Kalamazoo, because I’ve spent years there. I hadn’t been to Bloomington or Indianapolis, though, so photographs were required. I have family-level friends in Bloomington, so my trip started early enough to allow me to hang out with them.
The real queen of the house in Bloomington is Pearl. She’s a lovely gray-and-white cat with lots of attitude and a solid vocabulary. Pearl is amazing, and here she is:
Bloomington has a lot of great eats and fun places to go. Here are a few of my favorites from the trip.
The Owlery in Bloomington has legit vegetarian poutine, and it is delicious.
This bridge carries the B Line Trail over 3rd Street.
This coffee shop is both excellent and located right along the B Line.
Look at this beauty of an espresso machine! The folks at Hopscotch couldn’t bring themselves to part with it.
Bloomington was fun, and seeing my friends was even more fun, but I had to move on to Indianapolis for race day #1. I didn’t get around much, given that I had a race the next morning, but I had some great views from my hotel room.
White River State Park
All in all, it was a great trip, and I can’t wait until my next visit to both cities.
When I was in Bloomington the morning before the Indy Mini, I got in my standard day-before-the-race, 3-mile run. Bloomington’s B Line Trail is a beautiful, vibrant portion of the community. There are both residences and businesses that face the trail. I snapped a couple of photos along the way.
It’s my favorite number!
This update is late, but whatever.
Gobo loves shoes and feet and smelly things. He’s so weird.
Gobo also loves the heat vent. Maybe he’s not so weird.
Apparently, Wembley decided to hang out by the bathroom door while I showered. When I opened the door, this scene greeted me.
Wembley is overly dramatic.
Wembley also likes to see if his dramatic reactions have any effect.
Wembley is round, y’all. He’s been on a diet, and it’s had some positive effects, but it’s still a work in progress.
Sleepy kitty.
Look at all those toes!
Cats don’t need two eyes to be awesome cats.
The eye of the Ursula is upon you.
She’s a little round.
The People's Democratic Republic of Hardenistan 