Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Margie and I went to Richmond, VA last weekend for a very quick trip to visit her Mom.  We were able to squeeze in a quick jaunt up to the Capitol city, just in time to see some blooming cherry trees.  We didn’t have much time to spend there, but we really enjoyed the quick visit and all of the spring colors on display.  I took several pictures; here is a teaser below.  If you click on the image or this link, you can see all of them.

Cherry Blossoms in Arlington Cemetery

We made another trip to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge today; this time we were there by sunrise in order to see more wildlife.  We were disappointed at the much lower numbers of snow geese; the numbers were down to about 5,000 whereas we saw over 30,000 last year.  We still managed to see a good number of Canadian geese, cranes, eagles, and coyotes.  I was having some issues with my telephoto lens, so most of my images came out blurry…but here are a few of the better shots.

Steam fog at Sunrise: Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Three cranes in the morning fog before sunrise at Bosque del Apache

Black and white reflections

Coyote at the Bosque del Apache

Canadian goose in the Bosque del Apache

Margie and I ventured around south central and southeastern New Mexico last weekend.  We spent a couple of nights in Ruidoso, just east of Sierra Blanca peak in the northern Sacramento mountains.  We then made our way to Carlsbad Caverns National Park for a day of guided caving tours.

Scenery off of Sierra Blanca near Ruidoso, NM

Natural entrance into Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Stalagtites and "draperies" in "The King's Palace" of Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Stalagmite formations in Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Calcite formation in Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Stalagmite and column formations in "The Big Room" of Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Thick stalagmite and thin stalagtites in Carlsbad Caverns, NM.

Stalagmite and other formations in Carlsbad Caverns

Wide angle view of "soda straw" stalagtite formations in Carlsbad Caverns

I just came across a few more pics that I snapped at Cocoa Beach in Florida while waiting for the shuttle launch time. I wish I had snapped a few more wide angle shots, but most of these are all zoomed in with my telephoto lens. These “wind surfers” were very entertaining to watch. Unfortunately I didn’t capture the sails in any of these shots, but it was fun to watch how these sails utilized the sea breeze to propel the surfers at amazingly high speeds. These were a few of the high action shots.