Day 2: Galveston Island, Texas

There will be more day 2 coming, but we spent some quality time in Galveston and I want to post some of the better photos from there.

We watched sunrise on the beach and picked up a few shells along the way.

Drove by the new Pleasure Pier a few times.

We took the Bolivar Ferry back and forth, saw quite a few dolphins from the observation deck.

Stopped by the ruins of the supposed former home of pirate Jean Lafitte.

Bishops Palace, one of the many beautiful homes along the main road. Also one of the few survivors of the devastating 1900 hurricane that nearly leveled everything on the island.

Tune in tomorrow for more photos from Houston and surrounding area!

The First Day: Long and Winding Road

  The first day of the trip was an unspectacular journey from one place to another: South of Nashville, Tennessee to Galveston, Texas. And there were few stops in  between. 

   We left at 6:30am and arrived in Galveston around 7:30pm. The only stops were for gas and rest stops. We ate lunch at the Louisiana Welcome Center. The bridge in the photo above is the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge. 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Swamp Bridge, Atchafalaya Swamp, Louisiana

  We did stop at the Tiger Stop in Gross Tete where they have a live tiger in a cage(LSU Tigers, you know). But it was hot and the tiger wasn't easily visible. I felt sort of bad pulling in to see this, felt bad for the tiger laying there in the heat(though I suppose tigers are used to heat, aren't they?). 

   We cut south off of Interstate 10 to go through Baytown, across the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel as a quicker way to Galveston. 

  By the time we got our motel room and some dinner, it was dark-and they cut off the lights at the Pleasure Pier JUST as we pulled over and I got out with the tripod to get some shots! Disheartened, I took some really bad shots without the tripod of the ferris wheel, the only lights left on. 

   The first day was somewhat uneventful-but it was the only day that was. There are so many more photos to come!

Iconic Places, Iconic Faces

  Ok, ok, I couldn't wait to get to some of the places we visited by going day by day. Day one will be posted tomorrow, but honestly, there wasn't much to see on day one and I was anxious to show you some of the best places we saw along the way. 

   This is a teaser, if you will, then. A short photo essay to show off some of the iconic places and things we saw on our trip to the west. There are many, many more, but I thought these few images summed it all up pretty well. More info about each of these places will be posted when I get to the day when we saw them.

The Art of the Welcome Sign

While traveling through other states, one of our traditions is to get a photo of the "Welcome to 'Our State'" signs. No, not like many tourists, where you stop the car and have all the family pose in front of the sign-we don't have time for that sort of thing! But I get the shots nonetheless. And I love seeing how different states choose to welcome visitors who have arrived from their neighboring state.

"Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful" and an addition mentioning the current governor; Interstate 65. Short but sweet with a  nice little slogan and an extra sign that might have to be changed every few years.
Many more after the break....

Back In More Ways Than One!

    Yes, I am back. With so much to post, so much to say. Back from an illness that had me doing zilch from about April Fool's to mid-May. And then dealing with all the end-of-school-ness for the kiddo(OMG end of 8th grade, I'm the mom of a high schooler now! *faints*). And then finally back from a mega-vacation. Probably the best one we have taken, well maybe the best one of my life so far.

     It was the Wild West Trip, The Trip That Wouldn't End, The Trip to See As Much As Possible! We visited 12 states(not including our home state) in 9 days-west of the Mississippi-and 4 of those days were in Texas! I am going to post photos and comments day by day, just as soon as I get a chance to really go through all 3000 photos that I took. I hope to get a new post up every few days so keep checking back!

  Basics of the trip:

1. Tennessee to Galveston, Texas via Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
2. Galveston to San Antonio, Texas via all over Houston where I grew up
3. San Antonio to Austin, Texas 
4. Austin to Pecos, Texas via Abilene and back roads
5. Pecos to Roswell, New Mexico via El Paso, Las Cruces, Alamagordo
6. Roswell to Cheyenne, Wyoming via Colorado
7. Cheyenne to Rapid City, South Dakota via Devils Tower, Mt Rushmore
8. Rapid City to St Joseph, Missouri via Iowa
9. St Joseph to Tennessee via Illinois, Kentucky

  So yes, many of my photos(again) are taken from the front seat of the rental car(such as the shot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Wyoming seen above). And somehow I have an extreme knack for getting shots of bushes and signs in so many of the photos I attempt! And every now and then I get something somewhat decent to show(even a blind squirrel finds a nut, blah blah blah).

  Prepare for photos from Galveston, San Jacinto Monument, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Manor, Eastland, Abiline, Midland, Pecos, Toyah, Las Cruces, White Sands, Alamogordo, Lincoln, Roswell, Denver, Cheyenne, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Sioux City, and much more from the road.

  Stay tuned!

Along Kentucky Back Roads

Broadbent B&B Foods factory building near Cadiz. Reported to have been built in the 1940s by World War II Austrian prisoners of war from a nearby camp. Unique architecture. The company recently moved and the building is empty.

More from Kentucky after the jump...

Possible Computer Problems

   My computer is acting up again. I'm not really sure what the problem is, well, because I just don't know that much about computers. The hard drive keeps making noises like it's trying to find something. My external hard drive makes the same noises when I plug it in to back up files. The noises are quite random-they could happen a few minutes apart, or go 30 minutes or an hour before I hear them again. And sometimes it is just one click, and sometimes it is several clicks. The first time I noticed it, the computer locked up completely and was difficult to restart. Did the same thing the next day. It has not completely shut down since then, but every now and then when it happens(as it just did while I was typing the word 'happens'), the computer freezes up for just a few seconds.

  From what I have read on a few tech sites, it sounds like maybe the hard drive is about to crash. I have backed up every possible thing to the external, but of course I am afraid to upload anything new such as new photos taken. And I also have no clue about buying a new hard drive-which seems cheap enough to do-but a new hard drive does not come with Windows and I have no clue about how that works to get that to a new hard drive.

  So in the meantime, until I feel adventurous enough to just see how quickly I can upload new photos and move them to the external, I will be adding many more previously taken photos here.

  And if anyone has any computer advice, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

Lego in the past week

More Photos after the jump!

Need Photography Help!

 I know I don't get many viewers to this site, but I am hoping at some point that maybe someone will stumble across this post give me some help! I have two different problems(well, more than that, but I will deal with two of them right now).

Finally a day trip!

  Hooray, we finally took another day trip! I will add some photos later this morning, but right now I want to write out our basic route.

  We started out driving the new full route of Tennessee State Route 840, which recently opened a new stretch to make it a complete half loop around Nashville.

 

Gone but not Forgotten

  I am quite obsessed with abandoned buildings. I'm not sure why, or really when it started. I find them eternally sad. When I see an abandoned home I can't help but wonder why and how it got that way. And at times I wish I was really rich so I could save some of the really beautiful old homes that are torn down in the name of "progress". I hate "progress". I don't like I belong in this time period. I know, it's weird and complicated.

  Anyway, here a few of the old homes that I have photographed that have since been completely removed from existence. Sadly.


This home was in downtown Smyrna, Tennessee. It was torn down recently to make more parking for a church across the street.


The Jenkins House was used as a hospital during the Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was torn down only a few months after I got photos of it in late 2005. They were going to put up a strip mall, but as of now the land still sits empty.


The McCulloch House, built in 1838, used as the headquarters by Union Lt General William J Hardee during the Battle of Stones River. It had been altered so many times over the years that it hardly resembled the Civil War landmark. In 2006 it was demolished so condos could be built.


Old home in Blackman, Tennessee, possibly a Batey family residence as there is a cemetery nearby. All that remains is an empty lot and a few outbuildings.


Morton House, Smyrna, Tennessee. Land was once owned by Revolutionary War veteran, James B Morton, 1758-1808. I don't know any more details about the home, such as when it was built. It did have an original log portion of the home that was reportedly saved and moved to a Tennessee State Park. This home however was demolished to make way for a new school. The cemetery that was into the woods beyond the house was relocated to the edge of the school property.

Los Angeles

I've recently become re-obsessed with Los Angeles/Hollywood and the area. I spent a month reading this thread on the skycraperpage website and everything in it about Los Angeles' history fascinates me. And makes me quite sad that I never paid more attention the times I was there.

 From the roughly the summer of 1967 through 1980, I spent nearly every summer-at least a week or two-in the Los Angeles area visiting family. Of course I don't remember most of those trips, as I was quite small during many of them. We went on quick trips a few more times from 81-83. We spent a week there in February 1986, and another week in October of 1994. I'd love to go back now, with different eyes(through a history buff/photographer's eyes), but I just can't afford a trip like that. I barely get trips up to Nashville these days(20 miles away).

 Anyway, here a few of my favorite scanned photos from those last two trips. They were taken from the perspective of "hey let's get a quick shot of that to remember it by" rather than stopping to take a more artistic view of the place. And many were taken straight from the vehicle we were traveling about in.


Graumann's Chinese Theater, Hollywood


Pan Pacific Auditorium, off Fairfax, 1986, abandoned-would burn down soon after


Hollywood Forever Cemetery, backside of Paramount Studios


Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena


Tail o'the Pup hot dog stand, now gone


Original clock tower at Farmers Market on Fairfax at 3rd


Dinosaur near Palm Springs-most famously seen in PeeWee's Big Adventure

Last Week Among My Lego

Cats

I love cats. I am by far a cat person. I've never had a dog, and a dog bit a chunk of my ear off when I was 6-so I am not a huge fan of dogs. But cats, I love them all.

 Here are a few cats I've photographed, mostly mine or family.

Train Stations

Sorry, it has been awhile. I haven't been inspired. I haven't been anywhere. I suppose I will just start posting photos from my Flickr page according to subject. And some Lego shots thrown in every now and then(maybe I should start a new blag for that, hmm).

Today, we have train stations. I love them and I don't know why. I've never ridden a train outside of amusement parks-but maybe the thought of travel in the past is enough to whet my appetite. Or maybe it's from a past life where I worked the rails or something like that. Who knows why we get obsessed with one thing or another.



Historic Depot, Jamestown, TN by gravescout, on Flickr

Gettysburg Train Depot by gravescout on Flickr

Pegram, TN station by gravescout on Flickr

Bay St Louis, MS station by gravescout on Flickr

Grinders Switch Historic Depot by gravescout on Flickr

Cowan, TN Depot/Museum by gravescout on Flickr