Thaw: Snow is pretty, but stoppit.

So, we've had worse winters here in the DC area (I'm looking at you, 2010), but few that dragged on quite as long as this one has.  This is surely true across at least two-thirds of the U.S., this year.  Today is St. Patrick's Day.  Baseball starts in two weeks.  SPRING officially begins in about three days!  And Winter had the audacity, the sheer rudeness, to dump nine or ten inches of SNOW on us, this morning.  It's not okay!

So.

Here are a few photos from warmer times and climes, a balm against the icy Thing That Wouldn't Leave...

Rehoboth Beach, DE - 1997

Rehoboth Again - 2001

Pensacola, FL - 2011

One More Rehoboth - 2001

Kill Devil Hills, NC - 2010

Lancaster, VA - 2010

Key West, FL - 1991

Islamorada, FL - 2000

Ft. Jefferson - Dry Tortugas, FL - 2000 - Photo by [Maris]

Gonna Need a Bigger Boat - Barbados - 1993

Sapphire Bay, St. Thomas, USVI - 1995

There.  All better.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to have some new material for this happy little place, like, soon...

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 San Blas Lighthouse

Minutes after that last lighthouse-turned residence, we found ourselves at the Cape San Blas lighthouse, which watches over the southernmost point of the panhandle of Florida.  The early morning light and clear sky worked perfectly with this white steel-frame tower.  They have a cute little gift shop, too!

One tree holds it down while the other one tickles it.

Here's the requisite 35mm film shot.  I don't know if this is my photo or [Maris]'s, but I like the warmth of film.

Ah, the joys of access!  I love shooting this type of lighthouse from right here.

And here.

And here!

Cupola!

All that, and a little palm tree, too.

And we'll see you next time, with [Maris]'s favorite light from Gulfapalooza 2011.  And maybe a train.

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!