No, this is not the Budweiser brewery. (read more)
By Scott Shephard
Deb spent her day in meetings and I spent my day exploring the sites of St. Louis. More specifically, I went on the “Brewmaster’s Tour” of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. And for contrast I visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which is pictured here. Talk about contrast and juxtaposition. If you are interested in more information on the Basilica, check this out. If you want to know what it looks like to tap a giant tank of Budweiser, here you go:
My blog title today is figurative, of course. And literal.
By Scott Shephard
I’m not old enough to have been present at The Creation, which happened eons ago. But I can finally say that I did witness the slow and geologic creation of a little more earth – in this case the Big Island of Hawaii.
I have seen videos of lava flows on Hawaii before and while the lava seems dangerous, it also seems deceptively sedate – it has an amazingly warm glow and it seems to move languorously. But when you witness molten lava flowing into the ocean from as close as 50 feet away, it is anything but benign.
The sound of the boiling sea water, the whiff of sulfurous gas and the crash of the waves against the new-formed earth are both fascinating and scary.
The boat ride to this amazing place wasn’t exactly easy as we were pounding into 7 foot swells most of the way. And it wasn’t cheap, either. But it was certainly worth it.
A few more from our outing . . .
And a short video . . .
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAotLMTzZBk&w=854&h=480]
A turn here and a turn there and you are a world away from the throngs. . . (read more)
By Scott Shephard
On a typical summer day in Venice, Italy, it is likely you’d find throngs of tourists. Some complain that the city has become a sort of Disney Land in that it is a place that people visit for all of it’s attractions and leave at the end of the day.
I don’t like crowds but being a tourist myself, I am often part of the crowd. I discovered, however, that in places like Venice it isn’t hard to “get away from it all.” This 2005 photo is evidence. Not too far from this place you’d be hard pressed to avoid bumping into someone. But here you’g be hard pressed to find another person. It’s my kind of place. I love the textures in this old place. And I love the silence, which I hope you, too, can appreciate when you look at this photo.
Canon 20D 1/15s f/4.5 ISO400 30mm
By Scott Shephard
Deb told me that if I posted this, I couldn’t post another of us the two of us for the rest of the trip “because,” she said, “people can post too many selfies.” So be it. Tomorrow, if I have an Internet connection, it’s back to animals, places and things.
Canon 5DIII
By Scott Shephard
“A dog’s life” on the beach at Cane Garden Bay in the BVI isn’t all that tough. I had seen these two roaming the beach and working the crowd the day before. On this day, they seemed exhausted. No towel and beach chair for them – the cool, white sand is enough creature comfort. Life is good!
iPhone 6s 1/1150s f/2.2 ISO25 4.15mm (35mm eq:29mm)
By Scott Shephard
It is 5am as I sit here writing this and there are at least three roosters crowing. They have been doing this all night long. The idea that roosters make good alarm clocks because they crow at dawn is a “city-folk” concept. Certainly, on the island of Tortola is isn’t true. They seem to call out out 24/7.
This particular rooster was part of a band of chickens we encountered on our explorations yesterday morning. There were other roosters in this group so I can’t say if this one ruled the roost. Since chickens like this are free range and appear to belong to no one, I don’t know what the island culture is about turning them into food. Deb had chicken on her salad yesterday and it makes me wonder. . . .
Canon 5DIII 1/350s f/2.8 ISO400 100mm
By Scott Shephard
Deb and I have re-located for a few days and our first stop is a small house above Cane Garden Bay on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. It gets up to 85 degrees pretty regularly here and at night it dips down to 83. Pretty boring, I guess.
I hear that snow is forecast for parts of our home state. Unless climate change takes a bizarre turn, we won’t see any snow here. 🙂
Canon 5DIII 1/10s f/8.0 ISO200 27mm (3 frame HDR)
Can you find Deb in this photo?
By Scott Shephard
On the last full day Deb and I were in the Palm Springs area in California, we went to Indian Canyons. There are several hiking trails of varying difficulty but we took the easy one. Deb understands my methods well enough to know that when I am taking photos, a 30 minute hike can stretch into something much longer.
The web site for Indian Canyons says “it is a place of contrasts.” That’s apt because you have nearly barren mountains, flowering cactus and shaggy palm trees all in one frame. Oh, and a brilliant blue sky. (I thought South Dakota’s skies were blue!)
Thanks, Jim and Char, for recommending this place. We would certainly go back if we get back to this part of the world again.
Canon 5DIII 1/500s f/16.0 ISO400 40mm
It’s a close encounter with a cheesehead and a heart-warming tale of being lost and then found. . .
By Scott Shephard (Photo Credit: Cheesehead.com)
Flashback
I think it was a sign from God, or Vince Lombardi (if he isn’t God), that I would have a close encounter with Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the beginning of our recent trip to southern California. As I was waiting in line at the TSA checkpoint at the Sioux Falls, SD, airport, I noticed an athletic looking college student heading out on spring break holding a big cheesehead hat (see above) under his arm.
After I had cleared the checkpoint, I noticed that he had forgotten to take his hat from the scanner conveyer. Though I am not a Packers fan, I picked the giant chunk of foam cheese up and called after the student. He turned, smiled, took his hat and headed towards our gate.
Confession
I was being selfish. As a Vikings fan, I have a hard time looking at these strange hats, let alone touching one. But I figured a fit, athletic type might pay back my favor by pulling Deb and me from the burning wreckage of the airplane if it crashed. I would hope that he would wear his cheesehead hat while doing this to add humor to the situation.
6 Days Later
Deb and I had a great trip to California and had returned to our home in Watertown, SD, when it occurred to me that I didn’t have my laptop computer, which I knew was with me when we boarded our plane in San Diego. It turns out that I had left it on the airplane in Minneapolis!
I was pessimistically filling out the ‘Lost and Found’ form on the Delta web site, when I got a call from a number in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“A robocall telling me I had won yet another ‘free’ cruise?” I thought. But I answered.
“Hi,” said a very friendly and real voice. “This is Liz and I’m a Delta ticket agent in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I’ll bet you can’t guess why I’m calling.”
I said, “I’m hoping you found my laptop.”
Liz said, “Bingo!” Or something like that – I don’t remember because I was already lost in delirium. When I came back to earth, Liz said that it had been found in the seat pocket on the the flight that had landed in Minneapolis and then continued on to Green Bay. She also said that I was lucky because when they opened up the computer, my name showed and she was able to call me by looking up my Delta information. Praise God! (Or Vince Lombardi)
A Happy Ending
This was Friday and so my laptop spent a restful weekend in Green Bay before starting its road trip home to Watertown. It visited towns with names like Oak Creek, Davenport, Des Moines, Omaha, Sioux Falls and Brookings, before arriving at my door late yesterday.
It was cold when I found it this morning, sleeping outside our garage door. I brought it in and after I let it warm up a bit, it came to life, ready to do some work
I am an even more satisfied Delta customer after this recent experience. More than that, I am a Delta-Ticket-Agent Liz fan for her friendly and efficient handling of my dumb move. I guess I’d also have to say I am a bit more of a Packers fan, too.
But I’m not buying a cheesehead hat any time soon. . .
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The birds certainly don’t mind the wind and rain. . . (read and see more)
By Scott Shephard
It was rainy, windy a deeply overcast when we parked our car at the overlook to the La Jolla caves. I thought twice about getting my camera out. Frankly, I’ve thought twice about getting my camera out at any time in 2016. Believe it or not, I’ve even thought about just quitting photography. But then what? The fact is that I’ve just gotten lazy. . .
But I did get the camera out and took a few photos. I’m glad I did. As I’ve taught my students, photography isn’t an accident; its a concious process. And it takes discipline, practice and dedication. Oh, and a good “digital darkroom” to help gray days look just a little brighter.
Canon 5DIII 1/125s f/8.0 ISO400 24mm
A few more from this beautiful area:
