Otters

I found this mother Otter and not so small baby Otter down on the docks this afternoon and was able to get a few nice pictures of them before they got shy and swam away.

A few skies

 

We had some really nice clouds almost every day we were in Alabama this trip. Of course they came with thunderstorms almost every day too.

Butterfly on Chamomile Flowers

I'm pretty sure I posted a similar picture of this kind of butterfly about this same time last year... I took this picture with my cell phone and except for re-sizing for the internet this picture is as shot. I must say I'm impressed with how good of picture one can get these days with some of the newer phones!

Another unknown flower...

An interesting flower I took a picture of several months ago. Kind of looks like fireworks! Still haven't figured out what kind of plant it is but will be watching to see if it gets berries or seeds or whatever.

Signs

 

And here I was all ready to jump over the gaping holes in the boardwalk just to go for a swim!

 

I found several of these piers that were damaged all in one spot. It seems that after the last big storm the county thought it would be cheaper just to block them off than repair them. Did I mention the barricades I had to step over to get this photo??

The non "artsy" version

 

Just because Paul was curious. This is the color version of the photo I posted yesterday before I monkeyed with it.

Taking Ron advice!

Kalalau Trail

One of the highlights on my previous trip to Kauai is taking 2 miles hike in this Kalalau trail.  This is the America's 10 most dangerous hikes.  The Hike: Pictures of the dramatic and lush Na Pali Coast stir hikers' wanderlust, but the Kalalau Trail hugging this dramatic coastline also triggers something far less romantic: terror. "People have a hard time with some of the dropoffs," says Kathy Valier, a Kauai resident who's written guidebooks on hiking the island. "The trail bed is narrow and crumbly, and I've talked with many people who have either fallen off the trail or seen it happen." The footing is twice as treacherous after the island's abundant rainfall turns the track into a greasy slip 'n slide–not amusing when you're edging along a 300-foot cliff that spills straight into a rocky surf. But despite such dangers, tons of locals and visitors continue to make the 11-mile (one way) pilgrimage to Kalalau, one of the world's most paradisical beaches.

The picture below are from other website.  This area is near the end of the trail that everyone talking about.

Remember when...

Remember when you used to keep a couple extra dimes in your pocket just in case you had to make a phone call when you were away from home? It wasn't that many years ago...

You hardly ever see pay phones any more now that pretty much every one has cell phones.

It never used to bother me talking on a pay phone but now days the thought of putting that receiver close to my mouth and ear much less having to hold the thing that who knows who touched it last really leaves me with a huge icky factor!

Being Artsy

 

This was taken on a beach right on the border between Alabama and Florida

 

I think it was the only stretch of beach that had more than just one or two palm trees on it. You see more pines down that way than palms. Most of the beaches are bare, with no trees at all unless they were intentionally planted by one of the resorts.

Father & Son Time In Kauai

I hope they will do this again someday with their kids, and appreciated how much money I spent on them when we were here!  Also, hopefully they will let me tag along for free.

Piopu Beach.

This is what the tourist will do when they see the sea turtles on the beach.  It's funny when I see a non English spoken tourist totally ignore the lifeguard screaming "stay away from the sea turtles" in the background.

Symmetry

I guess I was a little preoccupied with buildings this trip.

I think I could have just gotten on a sailboat and headed out to sea except for the fact I would have been hanging over the side all of the time!

A little more architecture

A pretty fancy condo complex on the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama

The Martians have landed

 

I ran across these buildings in Biloxi, MS. They were designed by some famous architect but I don't know who. I just thought they looked a little weird and would make a good photo.

I'm Back!

 

For awhile...  Maybe...

 

That's pretty definitive isn't it???

 

My apologies for being gone so long. Life has been throwing nothing but curve balls at me for awhile including a death on my wife's side of the family and my dad having heart surgery. Add to that an unrelenting work schedule and you have stress levels that are off the charts and zero free time.

 

Thanks to Paul and Q for keeping the blog as active as they can.

 

Because of family matters I may be absent as much as I am here for the next couple of months but I will try to post something when I can.

 

This photo was taken in Gulf Shores Alabama when I was there seeing my dad recently. I was able to get out and take a few photos and we are planning a short get away to Colorado in a couple of weeks just to catch our breath and let the world spin without us for a few days. Hopefully I will get a chance to take some more photos then but I may just sleep the whole time!

More stone faces

I think I was trying to capture the intricate ecosystem and beauty of these two tide pools but when I went to review the pictures all I could see were these big funky stone faces, ha ha!

Dog days of summer...

Took this picture last April on the main drag in Waikiki. This guy was a Dude!

Stone face

Found this stone face in the river near where I live and snapped a quick picture with my cell phone.

Morning commute...

The morning commute was a little slow this morning, some would even say it was snarled! These three cats were taking their sweet time as they made their way slowly up the road.

I took this shot from about 1300 feet away with the Sigma 120-400 and cropped it to about 20% of the original picture.

Shades of grey...

This military vessel was very difficult to see as it slipped silently into Hardy Bay right around dusk a few days back... Interesting how the fog paints everything in various shades of grey.

Something fishy...

Here's my version of "making hay while the sun shines" except in this case it's all about salmon... There was an exceptional run of Sockeye salmon this year, biggest in many years and I was able to give the old pressure caner and smoker a good work out earlier this month! 

  It has been over a week that no one posting new photos in this blog.  It must be too hot to do photography lately or everyone here too busy making money!  Well, if it too hot for you, I hope these photos will cool you down, or relaxing you after a hard working day.

Busy as a....

 Finally had a day off from work so I got a chance to get out with the camera. I initially went out to get pictures of my daughter at 9 months old and while I out doing that we happened upon some flower beds busy with bees and butterflies. Here is one that I took while out. I shot this with the D300 and the 17-55mm f2.8 lens, hand held. I didn't have a lot of zoom but this lens produces a very crisp image which allowed me to crop the image to what you see above. Below is the shot I cropped it out of. I would guess that I cropped it around 65 percent of the original.