My run Wednesday morning started early — well before dawn, but not before the snow started to fall. I don’t usually get to lay the first set of footprints in the snow, but it worked out Wednesday morning.
Category Photography
Non-Road Trip: Alabama, 2016
In June, 2016, I traveled down to Alabama to help take care of my mom while she recovered from a knee replacement. Normally, I would have driven to Alabama, but my doctor discouraged that, given that I had surgery scheduled a little more than a month from when the trip started. So, I flew to and from Alabama, making this a non-road trip, even if I did some driving while in Alabama. I still took photos of things during my travels, because that’s just what I do.
When this trip took place, we didn’t have Chick-fil-A restaurants popping up all over Michigan, so this sign was a welcome sight, because I knew waffle fries were in my immediate future.
This is the post office I visited when I was growing up.
This is Phoebe. She allows my sister and brother-in-law to live with her.
She also felt the need to carefully inspect my camera.
The folks who named this place were doing it right.
It was nice to explore a bit of history while awaiting my flight home.
This is Fisherman by Frank Fleming.
My mom sent me home with toys for the cats. Here, Wembley shows his approval.
Photographs: Trains, an Observatory, and Two Cats
As I go through the photos that I want to post and share, I’m randomly selecting photos from the virtual pile, organizing them, posting some to my Flickr account, and then sharing a few here. I’m not going in any particular order; actually, I’m avoiding it by letting a random number generator pick the photos that I work with on a given day. Here are the things that I thought were share-worthy from this batch.
Grand Elk Railroad engine 4002 in White Pigeon, Michigan
Grand Elk Railroad engine 4017, also in White Pigeon
Albion College Astronomical Observatory
Wembley’s feet are huge.
His nose is stinkin’ cute, though. (Also, see what I did there?)
Gobo has so many toys that he ignores. Bottle caps and cardboard, though, get his undivided attention.
That said, Gobo did like this pillow for a little while.
He’s not dead. He’s just sleeping *really* hard … on top of his head.
Road Trip: Mobile, 2017 – Part 3
The last full day in Mobile featured a fun 5k and some more sightseeing.
Ben Mee branch, Mobile Public Library
This is one of the best-ever backdrops for a race finish.
The Government Street Presbyterian Church is one of the myriad historic sites in Mobile.
All good things come to an end, and we had to take our leave of Mobile and make our way back to Michigan.
This sign needs to be everywhere.
My hotel waffle-making skills are strong.
It’s also nice when someone else makes the waffle. Yes, I had waffles twice in one day. #sorrynotsorry
One does not simply walk into Waffle House and make a breakfast taco. Wait, one totally does that.
No matter how well they treat him, Wembley fears cat-sitters. He was very happy that we returned home.
That’s it for this trip! If you missed the previous parts of this series, you can check them out here and here.
Road Trip: Mobile, 2017 – Part 2
A visit to the USS Alabama (BB-60) was the centerpiece of the road trip. Literally, it’s the thing that was on the schedule first. My father, who as a young child donated to the effort to bring the Alabama home to Mobile, had never seen the ship in person. That had to be corrected. Here are a few photos from our visit to Battleship Memorial Park.
A panoramic shot of the USS Alabama
Three of the Alabama‘s 16-inch guns
Sight for a 20-mm machine gun
Looking toward the bow from a perch several decks above the main deck
The superstructure of the USS Drum
If you’re curious about part 1 of the photos from this trip, click here; for the next part, click here.
Road Trip: Mobile, 2017 – Part 1
I’m way behind on a number of things; one of those things is in sharing photos. I’m 2-3 years behind on that stuff, so I’m trying to dig out the backlog. This post will share a few of my favorite photos from the trip that my wife and I took to Mobile, Alabama, in May 2017.
Pretty much every trip south for us hits a Waffle House early. We don’t have those in Michigan, so Waffle House is a must-visit location. This one is in Daleville, Indiana.
Waffle House, Daleville, Indiana
The next highlight of the trip was in a little commercial strip in Athens, Alabama. Here, we found Joe’s World Famous Pizzeria. In most cases, the phrase “world famous” is a bit of an exaggeration, but that’s not really the case here. Joe Carlucci has won multiple world pizza championships and hold a couple of Guinness world records for his pizza skills. Joe left my wife and me feeling like we were his long-time friends, and prepared amazing calzones for us. He shared a number of stories from his pizza-making adventures, and treated us to cannoli for desert. We look forward to our next visit to Athens.
The man himself: Joe Carlucci performing his wondrous craft
Legendary calzone (well, half of one)
Our first day proper in Mobile featured a walk around downtown Mobile and a trip to GulfQuest, the national maritime museum of the Gulf of Mexico. Given that I enjoy photographing ships and neon signs, both of these destinations worked well for me.
GL Calmena
Naman’s Department Store neon sign
Hoffman Furniture Company neon sign
For the next parts of this series, click here and here.
What I See When I’m Not Running: State Capitol After Dark
I wasn’t sure this would turn out with the camera in my phone; however, it ended up looking pretty good. The capitol dome wasn’t quite this bright, and the rest of the building wasn’t quite that dark. With the moon hovering over the capitol like this, though, I couldn’t pass on the photo.
What I See When I Run: Whovian Edition
For a few days, flooding has kept me off most of the Lansing River Trail. There was a bit of trail near downtown that didn’t flood, though, and I visited it during my 11-mile run on Saturday.
Along the trail, starting at Impression 5 (a museum) and extending south(ish) toward Potter Park Zoo, there are markers that represent the planets (and Pluto, which was no doubt considered to be a planet when these markers were installed) in our solar system, spaced to scale how they are generally spaced in the solar system. It’s a nifty way to make walks along the trail into educational opportunities.
All of that leads to this photo, taken along the trail near the marker for the fourth planet.
My friends who enjoy Doctor Who will understand and appreciate it when I say that these are, obviously, the waters of Mars.
By the way, I am not looking to pick a fight with folks who aren’t down with Pluto’s having lost its status as a planet. Personally, I’m neutral on the issue; I’m not planning to visit any time soon, so I just can’t get worked up about it. If you firmly believe that it should be classified as a planet, I won’t argue with you about it.
What I See When I Run: The Grand River Overflows Its Banks
When you get a lot of snow, and then you get unseasonably warm temperatures and lots of rain, your rivers, creeks, and streams run out of capacity to hold it all. Unfortunately, that’s happening in Lansing right now. While I was out running tonight, I took a moment to capture the scene along the Grand River in downtown Lansing. I didn’t get to cover much of the waterfront, as plenty of the non-motorized trail along the river is already underwater. Nonetheless, I did get an image to share.
There’s a non-motorized trail that runs along the waterfront by the Lansing Center (the building at the right, for those of you who may not be familiar with Lansing, MI). The fence is immediately adjacent to the trail; based on its appearance, I’d guess that trail is at least a foot under the river, and maybe as much as two feet.
The water is still rising.
What I See When I Run: The Grand River
My phone almost always travels with me when I run. It’s a good safety protocol, and I sometimes get the bonus of a great photo. That was the case a few days ago, when I ran along the amazingly still Grand River as the sun rose.
It’s one of the better views I’ll ever get for a morning run.
The People's Democratic Republic of Hardenistan 