Official Random Photo Thread

[TerryMiller]

With the upcoming retirement at the end of June, we've been anticipating the trip to our new "home" for our luxury fifth wheel and us. Just a few photos of what we will be able to see and one or two of our reserved site. Oh, and NONE of these photos are mine, but they are available on the internet.

Critters first:







Now for random scenes:









Lastly, our future homestead...trees not right over us, and the morning sun will help melt the snow and ice right in front of our door.



A closer view:



Soon after arrival, I hope to begin providing the OSA members with more pictures of Colorado, this time taken by me instead of taken from the internet. I've been told by an RV forum participant, who works there in the summer, that our site is right next to where the deer tend to come down into the park.

 

[TerryMiller]

Southeast of Canon City and in the Wet Mountains is a structure known as Bishop's Castle. We've been there a couple of times over the last few years. My first visit allowed me to "listen" to the builder of the structure. Based on his attitudes toward municipal, county, state and federal governments, I would venture to guess that Bishop's Castle is actually a "tribute to one man's bitterness." This first image is of the castle from ground level. I also climbed all over this structure, which visitors can do, and also took pictures from the top of the tallest part of the building.

 

[TerryMiller]

Over in General Discussion, a thread was begun by another OSA member with pictures from Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma's Black Mesa area. Since I had managed to bring up the Durango/Silverton trains in a comment, I thought I'd put a few pictures here, especially since this thread was working its way to the bottom. I also didn't want to hijack his thread.

In 2009, we rode this train from Durango to Silverton and returned on it as well. (Us photographers like to sometimes see the same views, but with different lighting from the afternoon sun instead of the morning sun.)



The Durango/Silverton trains have two different styles of "open" cars. We rode in the Rio Grande coach seen in these photos.





Note in the pictures above that the seating arrangement is benches for two, with a divide between each bench. In the open coach below, one has to look fairly closely, but their seating is such that there are two long benches on each side that forces one to have to cross in front of a number of people to get to the end or center in order to access the center aisle. That makes the trip to the bathroom take just that much longer.



Of course, I have to be "tacky" here and state that I referred to this car as the "Cattle Car" because of the close seating. When we rode in the Rio Grande in 2009, the price per person was $119 for the round trip. The Cattle Car was only $99 per person at the time. However, because so many did not want to pay the extra $20 per person, the Rio Grande car we were in was not even full, while the Cattle Car was. That allowed me to have a lot more leeway in moving around to get pictures from both sides of the car.

 

[JCW355]

These came back with me while I was back east

 

[TerryMiller]

From our recent, and still ongoing trek, from OKC to Colorado, some pictures from Palo Duro Canyon, outside of Canyon, TX.

First, some scenic shots:





The dark area in this photo is a "cave" in the canyon. This is located on an "alternate road" within the canyon. We didn't get to take the entire length of the alternate route as it was closed off because of work being done on low-water crossings. There are several low-water crossings in the park, some of which are currently under construction to build bridges over them.





Of course, since I had my "favorite weapon for hunting with me" (see signature), I went critter hunting. First, a wild Turkey that didn't like me stopping near him and almost made it into the taller grass:



A Kite that was soaring on the plentiful wind currents near the Visitor's Center at the edge of the rim of the canyon:



And, my first critter bag of the day was this guy, who was cautious, but hung around all while I was taking photos from that vantage point:



If you've never been to Palo Duro Canyon, it is considered the second largest canyon in the United States at 120 miles long, 20 miles wide and 800 feet deep. By comparison, Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6000 feet deep. The two following images are of a map at the visitor's center, the first being a part of the canyon and the second being the small area (29,182 acres) that is Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The dark line visible in the smaller map portion is the road throughout the park. Much of the original canyon was the site of the JA ranch, owned by Charles Goodnight.





Those of you that know the history of the southwest know that Palo Duro Canyon was an area where the Indians found to be a good place to live. It is thought that Coronado was the first white man to see the canyon. The Army eventually forced the Indians out of the canyon and to Oklahoma after stealing about 1800 head of the Indian's horses and causing the loss of their mobility.

Something tells me I'm just going to "hate" having to endure a lot of this retirement time to give you all something to look at from "far-away places." Oh, well. I guess I can "buck up" and get the job done for you.

 

[Biggsly]

 

[RidgeHunter]

 

[audiophile]

Took the family down to Lawton this weekend.

 

[Biggsly]

My oldest at an old mine.

More pics of the old mine.

 

[Biggsly]

My oldest driving us down the trails.

Off the trail.