Some Odds and The End of Gulfapalooza 2011

 All good things must come to an end, and here's the last of our Gulfapalooza 2011 lighthouse-hunting trip.  The odds and ends and um, The End.  Above, a mushroom cloud (oh, if ONLY) rises above Houston and a southbound intermodal train.

 I don't know.  Palms and sky.  Pretty.

 Swampy grass near Lake Pontchartrain.  Sawgrass?  Sugar cane?  Whatever - it's neat!

 Tourist trap!  Tourist trap at Port Isabel!  Hide your wallet!

 This is what Texas looks like.  Okay, that's not fair.  This is what Texas looks like when it's about to rain.

The Orion nebula is the birthplace of stars and worlds.  This part of Texas gives birth to oil rigs.

 Train!  Well, a semi-restored museum piece, but still.  A nice example of an old SW1 switcher.

 ...and an even better caboose.

 Pensacola Light Station's only pelican.  He's very disciplined, though - stood still until completely painted!

We finished shooting lighthouses with a couple of days to spare, but we were nowhere near ready to go home, so we made haste to Kill Devil Hills, and our favorite beach-side balcony.  Best.  Trip.  Ever.

Thanks for visiting.  With any luck, we'll have more pictures to post soon.

Right On The St. Marks - Gulfapalooza 2011 Winding Down

 We have reached the final lighthouse of Gulfapalooza 2011.  This is the St. Marks light, on the Gulf of Mexico about 26 miles south of Tallahassee, Florida.  It lives in the wild and spectacular St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, on a warm and windy peninsula.  The shot above is what happens when one tries to photograph a tall lighthouse from too close.  If I had backed up any farther, I would have been in the Gulf.

 This shot required some trudging around the swampy edge of a potentially gator-infested pond, but it was worth it.  And [Maris] kept an eye out for wildlife.

 Ah, the US Coast Guard.  Not sure what all that gear is listening to - or for - but they sure know how to make a mess of a cupola.

 That's a little better.

 So, I'm in the swamp, shooting the lighthouse.  I turn around, and look who's been coolly watching me from about 25 yards away!  It's (I think) a great snowy egret!

 Another salty pond, another bird.  Not sure what this too-big-to-be-a-sandpiper thing is.  Anyone?

 The skyline of the downtown St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge...

 I like that there is a variety of tropical foliage, but it hasn't been planted in neat rows and groomed and carefully tended.  It's wild.

 And just ever so slightly primordial.   Or something.

 Another bird.  Judging by the various songs and calls, I was tempted to say it was a mockingbird, but I really don't know.  I do know that it and its buddies dropped a lot of those berries on the hood of my poor car, while [Maris] and I talked ourselves out of heading home, and instead made a reservation in Kill Devil Hills, NC.  We just weren't ready to end this vacation.

We still aren't.  

Hope you enjoyed this one.  I have a few odds and ends from this trip, and then . . . nothing.  I'll have to take more pictures.

Cape St. George Light, Florida

 Moving right along... The next stop on the Gulfapalooza 2011 itinerary is the Cape St. George Lighthouse, which fell into the Gulf of Mexico and couldn't be photographed.  It has, however, been beautifully rebuilt in the middle of the cute beach town on Saint George Island, Florida.  Above is [Maris]'s 35mm shot of the grounds and the tower.

 And from the gulf side.

 

 The grounds were as well-maintained as the lighthouse.

 

 CUPOLA!

 From the south side.

 Red hibiscus.

 Okay, the purple flowers may not look impressive, but it was just so hard to shoot them, flapping about as they were in the gulf breeze.  There were some fluorescent green moths, too, but they were camera shy.

It was hard to leave this one, but not as hard as the next one.  And the next one after that.

Two more to go, and then we're going to have to get out there and take some new pictures...

Port Saint Me!

 And we're back!  Where was I?  Oh yeah.  Gulfapalooza 2011.  October.  Florida panhandle.  This was a really, really good day.  I'm still a little groggy from 30 days of Camp NaNoWriMo so I'm starting off slowly.  Here's my next home - although I would imagine that its current residents might have something to say about that - St. Joseph Point Lighthouse, near Point St. Joe, Florida.  The light and lens are long-gone, but it is now a beautifully-restored lighthouse on the Gulf of Mexico.

 

 Butterflies! Ridiculously uncooperative creatures.  Pretty, though!

 Of course, the crabs were totally cooperative.

 Okay, if I can't buy the lighthouse, maybe this little build-to-suit island is on the market.

 Ibis?

 Seeing pines and palms together always intrigues me. I have no idea why.

 Lone palm, watching for hurricanes or exploding oil rigs.

No, Camaro, it's not what you were designed for.  Relax - a little sandy off-road driving won't kill you!

Thanks for enduring a picture-free June.  More coming soon!

Pensacola Light At Dusk

 October 2011.  Gulfapalooza continues.  We got to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida with about an hour left before closing time at the lighthouse grounds.  The light was perfect.  Above, the tower from the west side.

 Cupola!  Tall lighthouses can be tricky. Get too far away - your view will be obstructed, while staying too close will result in a severe upward angle.  Pensacola Lighthouse is very tall.

 

 Clear shot of the cupola, with a bit of the massive Fresnel lens visible.  So.  Tall.

 The beach is awesome, here.  You can't just shoot the lighthouse and leave without going down to the water.

 The tower in the waning light, shot from the beach.

 Tiny bird footprints in rippled sand.

 One last look at the tower.

Gulls!

Thanks for stopping by!