Is Old the New ... New?

Every now and then I stumble across something on the internet that is sooo much fun to use to play with my pictures.  Last time it was that whole black, white and color thing.  This time it was that whole retro picture thing.  (Have faith, if I get interested in it again, there might be a picture to painting post!)  Now, I'm not the greatest at editing, nor am I a part of that instragram fad, my phone isn't smart enough.  But I did find something fun on the Internets.  I guess the new fad is new to old or vice versa.  I enjoy playing around with it.

A Natural Bridge!

So, it has been really snowy and cold in Minnesota this week.  It has barely been above 0 for a few days.  So I've decided to use my blog to take a little trip to the desert.  Southern Utah to be exact and the Natural Bridges National Park.  Travelling a bit back in time for this one too.  Fall of 2007 (and there might be a pic or two from Spring of 05).  Natural Bridges was a quick side stop on my desert trip that year.  The fun thing about southern Utah is that there are such awesome national parks and they are rather close together.

Random Estes Park

Wow, it has been a while.  Sorry guys, I am getting back in the saddle again.  Now, normally I would play on the getting back in the saddle angle, but I think I've used most of my horse pics...  So I am just going to an Estes Park entry.  It has been 3 weeks since I left Estes.  I didn't leave Estes on my terms, I flew out.  I'd lost the transmission in my car literally the day before I was leave.  So I did get to spend more time in Estes, that was nice.

View from My Door: Evening Clouds

I love clouds, and at this elevation, they are quick little buggers.  Tonight it was gorgeous out.  The weather was wonderful, there were clouds, and as the sun went down it just lit them up.  I grabbed a hard cider and my camera and just went out to the porch to hang out for a few.  I took a bunch of pictures.  It was just too pretty not to!  Just spectacular was the view from my door.

View from My Door: Sunset Edition

Well, yeah, here is another of the lazy photograph posts.  But hey I'm tired, I just dug in then snow for something like 4.5-5 hours.  The view from my door is amazing, almost all the time, so long as you can actually see out of it.  But I was watching some lame TV show the other night and luckily I looked out my window at the very right moment.  It was an incredibly vivid sunset.

Into the Sunset

Sunrise Sunset quickly flow the days... mumble, mumble.

I love Fiddler on the Roof.  But honestly that has nothing to do with this blog post.  Beyond the fact that sunsets and are mentioned in both.  And I love Fiddler on the Roof and I love sunsets.  I've seen some spectacular ones in my travels.  Seen some amazing ones at home too, but I usually don't have access to my camera or am too lazy to go and get it instead of just enjoying the sunset.  Or I am driving, and trust me, not the time for pictures.

I think some of my favorite have been over water.  And then some have been in the mountains.  Like flowers I just can't pick a favorite. Chalk it up to my indecisive nature.  That is also the reason that up until about a month ago, my background changed almost daily, sometimes a few times a day.  But I digress, I have been very lucky to have seen so many amazing sunsets. 

Canada Travels!

Sunset overlooking the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario

 So I have this love affair with Canada.  And I truly do not get to go there often.  You'd think living in Minnesota and having my passport would mean I'd get up there more often.  But I don't. And that is damn shame.  But hopefully that will change in the future, near or far.  Until then I will just have to keep on lovin' Canada from afar.  This love affair might be the reason I am a Canucks fan, or Markus Naslund may be the reason I'm a Canucks fan,  Or am I a Nazzy fan because of the Canucks...the chicken and the egg... but hey, it really doesn't matter, does it.  Didn't think so.

Oh Bemidji

So I got some time on my hands.  About a half an hour, anyways, class (yes, my super exciting intro to microcomputers) is going to start late... Not that that would have stopped my blogging.  I can multitask like nobody’s business!  So as I have alluded to I have returned to school.  I am now an accounting student!  This is exciting for me.  But I am still in my heart a Bemidji State Alum.  I studied poli sci there.  It was a glorious five years and the city of Bemijdi has one gorgeous lake to call its own.

I Think I Like the World Better in the Fall

Fall comes early in the Tetons

Apparently it is fall.  I think it snuck up on me.  Just last week it was ridiculously hot here in southern Minnesota and then one day it rained and it has been lovely ever since.  I am a fan of fall.  It is a great season.  The leaves are achangin' and it is jeans and long-sleeve shirt weather.  That and fall means hockey season is just around the corner and that means winter is in the coming.  Winter means skiing!  And this year, if we get the snow we should, I plan on doing lots of skiing -of both varieties.

Moose Falls YNP

I think autumn is as lovely as the spring.  It is just a different loveliness.  Spring is green and bright colors, new life.  Fall is rich, and bold colors, crisp weather.  I think I have some waiting to do before the leaves start turning, but it is always worth the wait.  If I am lucky, I might be able to head north for a few days in the fall, and catch the color up there first and then down here in my corner of the state.

North Ridge overlooking The Mississippi

Having worked seasonally for several years, until I returned home and eventually found myself back in school, I gained an appreciation for the month of October.  It is the best month to travel in.  You lose the crowds, the weather is usually pleasant.  Yeah, sometimes things are not open or the hours are shortened.  But in the grand scheme of things, you still can travel well.   No place is ever the same, it is true that you can't go back.  But if you go somewhere in the spring and then some later fall, you are going to two different places. 

Wolf Pass Colorado

 The world changes in the fall.  And I fall in love with it every year.  Big fan of blustery days, it reminds me of Winnie the Pooh.  Maybe it is the kid in me, the one that likes puddle jumping and leaf piles, and dancing in the rain.

Red Rock Canyon Kentucky

 Autumn rocks!  It is time for pumpkin flavored cheesecakes!  Icky pumpkin flavored cappuccino-not a fan!  Seriously it is gross, you do not need pumpkin flavored everything.  But heck it comes with the season!  With sunset happening earlier, you get way more time to look at the stars.  Which is probably one  of the things I miss the most from living in Yellowstone.  You can see a ridiculous amount of stars, especially in the winter! 

Sunset at the bus barn house, La Crescent

 So YAY for fall.  I am going to celebrate the heck out of you.  I got plans for you.  So let me know when the color changes.  And hell, if I remember my camera someday at school, I might use my ungodly long break between classes to walk to the park.  I look forward to your best blustery day!  After all they are my favorite!!!

Surrounded by Beauty

Home sweet Lake Lodge

Since my mom has my camera and she is on her way back from Alaska it will be a while before I can take pictures of new things and post them.  But part of what I want to do is showcase some of my older pictures.  Just so you know, I don't do a lot of editing the pictures.  Usually I just crop them, sometimes I play around a bit more.  But mostly they are as me and my camera saw them. 

 I have spent the better part of the last 6 years in Yellowstone National Park.  To be surrounded by so much beauty is indescribable.

Enjoying the isolated spring

 And the beauty of the park is so many things, from the people who live there, to the wild, free animals, and the endless array of backdrops.  Yellowstone gives you an appreciation of life that is hard to find elsewhere.  It is the beauty of simplicity.  And at the same time, it is a place of personal discovery. 

The desire to be in Yellowstone is a magnetic pull.  Even when you know you are finished, there is a part of Yellowstone that remains with you.  Maybe it is the memories, the friends, the pictures, whatever it is... It is a tie that binds people together.  

Yellowstone is a place of beauty from the tallest water falls to the tiniest flowers.  Always changing, and never quite the same.  But never that different from year to year.

It was Yellowstone where I first realized that anyone can take beautiful pictures.  When you are surrounded by beauty on all sides it is difficult to screw it up.