November 2013 – Page 2 – buettner.to blog

November 20, 2013 / 0 Comments

Laundry

This photo was taken back in June during our visit to Moab.

I had visited Upheaval Dome earlier in the day, but was not happy with the results. Yet some of my photos from the same day were pretty good. I also got some decent photos of Upheaval Dome last year. I remembered that I had used a polarizing filter on the lens that I had used the year before, but I didn’t yet have one for the wide angle lens that I was using for my shots of Upheaval Dome. I stopped into the camera shop to try to purchase one, but they had just closed.

On the way back to the truck, we noticed this Laundry. I took a photo of it, but didn’t process it until now. I shot it hand-held and the ISO ended up being up at 1600 with a lot more noise than I’d like. I used Lightroom to set the color temperature and do some noise reduction and then imported the three bracketed photos that I had taken into Photomatix. I played around with the settings a bit and then tweaked it a bit more in Lightroom.

November 20, 2013 / 2 Comments

Lincoln

This sculpture of Lincoln was created by Mark Lundeen. It was donated in 2012; see photo of plaque below for a complete donor list.

November 20, 2013 / 2 Comments

Little Granite Mountain

I took these photos while riding with Nick and Marilyn and Little Granite Mountain.

A view from the Bootlegger Trail:

The Bootlegger Trail wends its way in between some large rocks:

This large boulder is called Balanced Rock. (There’s a more famous rock formation also called Balanced Rock in Arches National Park.) Another view of Balanced Rock:

The view as we hiked back down to our bikes:

Nick enjoys the view from the Granite Mountain Loop Trail. Another view from the same location. The prominent boulder at the top of the rocky hill is called the “Pasta Pinnacle”. The “Lost Bandana Area” is behind that hill.

November 19, 2013 / 0 Comments

Nick’s Bougainvillea Bush

November 19, 2013 / 2 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Thirteen of us started from the Wagner Trailhead for Friday’s hike, but over the course of the hike, we broke up into three groups. Janet, Michelle, Nick, and Bob accompanied me through the Bluff Trail Wash to Pemberton and then down Stoneman Wash to Granite at which point we returned on Wagner and Granite. (We took Wagner and Granite on the way out too.)

Group photo; unfortunately, I could not remember the names of everyone who joined the hike this week.

Troon Mountain is lit up off in the distance.

A view of Four Peaks through vegetation along the trail.

This is where Janet, Michelle, Bob, Nick, and I turned off the Granite Trail.

We wait for a time for Robert to catch up with us. While we waited I took this photo of the Granite Trail. The rest of the group that was hiking with us went this way and perhaps those who followed later on did too.

We scramble up these boulders to hike up the wash. (I’ve posted similar photos in the past, but I processed all of this week’s photos with Adobe Lightroom 5 and wanted to see what it was like to edit this photo using LR5.)

A dead tree in the wash…

Janet and Michelle scramble over boulders on their way up the wash.

A narrow passageway through some rocks:

Flowers…

This rock pile is visible from the Pemberton Trail somewhat north of the Bluff Trail intersection with Pemberton.

I saw this small cholla as we hiked the Pemberton over to Stoneman Wash.

A large saguaro just off of the Pemberton Trail. Michelle noticed that there were three buds on one of the arms that sort of looked like eyes and a nose.

A rock formation in Stoneman Wash:

Bob, Janet, Nick, and Michelle hiking Stoneman Wash:

Views of Stoneman Wash…

November 14, 2013 / 0 Comments

Ronald Reagan

Sculptor Mark Lundeen created this likeness of Ronald Reagan. It was donated in 2013 in the memory of Fred Potenza Jr. by his family.

(Marie appears twice in this photo!)

November 13, 2013 / 1 Comment

Quackers

This sculpture, created by Mike Dwyer, is called Quackers. It was donated in 2009 by Michael and Jeannie McGonigle with their families, Hammerstone, Kreidel, and McGonigle.

November 12, 2013 / 4 Comments

Fountain Park Wall Mural

Student artists from the Fountain Hills High School assisted professional artist Hugo Medina in creating a mural on a wall in the Fountain Park. This wall is located between the playground area and the Veteran’s Memorial.

November 9, 2013 / 2 Comments

Snake Alley

Snake Alley is a street in Burlington, Iowa which connects portions of North Sixth street together.

A sign at the top of Snake Alley tells of its history:

Two views looking down Snake Alley:

Two views looking up Snake Alley, at a distance:

The Phelps House Museum is right next to Snake Alley on Columbia Street.

The First United Church of Christ is on the other side of Snake Alley.

On the other side of Columbia Street, we saw some roofers working on a very steep roof.

November 9, 2013 / 0 Comments

Great River Bridge

The Great River Bridge spans the Mississippi River, carrying traffic between Burlington, Iowa on the west and Gulport, Illinois on the east. Below are photos of this bridge and some of the surrounding area. My favorite is the last one of the bunch which was taken in late afternoon.