It’s Groundhog Day in the US today… a day that supposedly foretells the early (or late) coming of spring depending on if a certain groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania sees his shadow or not when pulled out of his burrow. So in honor of Groundhog Day 2013, here’s one up in a tree – … Read more…
This photo shows a statue of an ancient Mayan warrior in a jungle setting in the Riviera Maya region of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. I liked the strong angled pose of this one, as well as the interesting fancy headdress. I call him a warrior here, but I suppose he could instead be a tribal chief … Read more…
Here’s a distant freighter in northern Lake Michigan approaching the Straits of Mackinac from the west (left). It was way out there, and due to atmospheric/optical (‘mirage’) effects looked like it was floating slightly above the water, not just on top of it. This shot is cropped only very slightly from the original image file, … Read more…
The statue shown here stands near the edge of one of the pools at the Hotel Riu Palace Las Americas in Cancun, Mexico. The pool and waterfront areas were quiet when I shot this, so it made for a nice simple scene with the statue, infinity pool, Caribbean Sea, and finally the island of Isla … Read more…
For one trip to Mexico we stayed at a resort in the Riviera Maya region that had a large and interesting landscaped jungle area between the hotel and the beach. It was either a Riu or an Iberostar property, as I recall. There were a number of various sized iguanas wandering around this area, and … Read more…
While exploring a bit of the downtown Cancun, Mexico area, we saw this cat sitting at the edge of a residential street near a wall, relaxing but keeping an eye on things. He (or she) was pretty friendly, and sauntered over to greet us shortly after I knelt down to take this photo. He looked … Read more…
This is a ‘high dynamic range’ (HDR) image of the Cinque Terre village of Vernazza, Italy. This view is from the trail that connects Vernazza with Monterosso al Mare, and takes about 10-15 minutes to reach from the little public square (piazza) down by the water. The piazza is a great place to hang out … Read more…
This is a shot from a small Cinque Terre market featuring a variety of carry-out items like this thick focaccia pizza with fresh tomato slices and oregano. This makes for a quick and tasty lunch on the go — especially good when you don’t want to spend much time or money on a sit-down meal.
Of the five villages along Italy’s Cinque Terre coastline, only Monterosso al Mare has a really significant beach area. It’s relatively flat and semi-sandy along the waterfront, making it a popular destination for travelers interested in sunbathing and swimming. This shot captures part of that scene. I liked the long row of rental beach umbrellas … Read more…
Since we had our lodging in Riomaggiore for the entire time we visited Italy’s Cinque Terre region, we made regular trips to the tiny harbor area below the village, at the edge of the Ligurian Sea. One day we stopped briefly to watch this painter at work along an elevated walkway near the water’s edge. … Read more…
We used the local trains a lot while in Italy’s Cinque Terre region. This shot shows one of them whizzing in for a brief stop to pick up passengers in Riomaggiore. Next stop would be Manarola, then on to Corniglia, Vernazza, and finally Monterosso al Mare. The local trains are a quick and easy way … Read more…
We were visiting a local market in the Cinque Terre when we spotted a display case full of wonderful desserts for sale. One of the items near the front of the case was this beautiful dense Italian dessert torta made with figs, walnuts, and almonds. Definitely worth the price at €2.50 per piece. The display lighting … Read more…
We stayed in Riomaggiore during our visit to the Cinque Terre region and shopped at several of the small village markets for various grocery/food/drink items while there. One of these markets – near the bottom of the village close to the little harbor area and the train pedestrian tunnel – always had a nice display … Read more…