Sunsets - just because

Sunsets need no reason - they exist to be beautiful!

A Different Perspective

Even at 41,000 feet above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, nature can give you a glimpse of something beautiful.  While flying on a trip to the UK, I witnessed the highest sunrise that I've ever seen.  Thankfully, it was nice and warm in the airplane, because it was also the coldest - with an average temp of -64 degrees Fahrenheit.  Below is the video that I took, as well as, some footage of the beginning of the plane's decent into Heathrow airport.

Bridges of Ashtabula County

No, this isn't a remake of that movie with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.  I talking about one of the things that I think are a unique part of Ashtabula county in Ohio.  We have 18 covered bridges in our county and we can boast that we have both the shortest and the longest in the country.  The family was out for a drive and we stopped to take some pictures at the State Road Covered Bridge that crosses the west branch of the Conneaut Creek.  

Check out the slideshow that we put together below.

The GPS coordinates for the bridge are 41.8864434,-80.6228219.  More information about this bridge and all the other Ashtabula County Covered Bridges can be found at https://www.coveredbridgefestival.org/

Ah..Mother Nature, You Fooled Us!

When is a hummingbird not a hummingbird?  When it's a MOTH!  We were in the backyard the other day, when we noticed something small flitting around the Candy Cane Garden Phlox that we had planted the week before.  It was moving pretty fast, swooping in and feeding from the blossoms and flying away, only to return for another round.  It didn't seem to mind us standing around and watching it, so Jenna ran inside to grab her camera.  When we looked at the pictures later, we noticed that there were a lot more legs than you usually see on a hummingbird and there were also antennas sticking up from it's little head.  A quick Google search pointed us in the right direction.  It was actually a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth - one of two species of moth native to the Ohio valley that mimic the feeding and flight patterns of hummingbirds.  Apparently, it's a case of parallel evolution - two different types of creatures that evolve similar traits to take advantage of similar resources.  Mother Nature, you are one tricky lady!

In any case, here are some of the photos.

Find Your Inner Peace

Hey, It's Friday!  Give yourself 15 minutes to relax and put the week behind you before we launch into the weekend.  And to help with that, here is a video with some beautiful nature photos.

Amazing!

My daughter constantly amazes me with the pictures that she takes and the places that she manages to take them.  We were sitting at home, watching a little TV the other evening when she dashes through the living room with her camera and runs out the front door.  10 minutes later she comes back in with these awesome sunset pics taken in our side yard.

A Quiet Sunset

Having two teenagers at home is not always the most quiet and relaxing of situations.  While we all love each other, sometimes the stress level can run a little high.  So sometimes it's necessary for Mom and Dad to slip away for a little quiet time.  Thankfully, now that we are into June, the weather has settled down into a comfortable rhythm of warm, sunny days with the occasional rain storm, we don't have to bundle up to do so.  The beach is a wonderful place to stop, breathe and enjoy a beautiful sunset over Lake Erie. While we were there enjoying the spectacular colors painting the sky (as well as the peace and quiet),we took a few photos.

A Day at the Shore

Last weekend, the family took advantage of one of the first warm, sunny days that we've had this spring.  Hopped into the car and ran down to Conneaut Township Park and hung out on the beach for a while.  Spent some time collecting rocks and hunting for beach glass.  Jenna took some nice pictures of the outing.  Check out the slideshow below.

GPS coordinates for the park are 41.965189, -80.559919
More information about Conneaut Township Park can be found at http://conneauttownshippark.com/

Missing Mountains

I've lived in Ohio for over 30 years now, and don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful state.  We have some awesome State Parks, beautiful wilderness areas and, of course, Lake Erie.  But the one thing I do miss is mountains.  Yes, I know that the southern part of the state where it borders on West Virginia gets a "little hilly", but I'm talking honest to god MOUNTAINS here.  When I was younger before we moved to Ohio, my family lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The front door of our house pointed west and when you stepped outside, right there in front of you, taking up half of the horizon were the Rocky Mountains.  Cheyenne Mountain, Pikes Peak and the rest of the eastern ramparts of the Central Rocky Mountains were there in all their majesty every day.  As a kid, I don't think I really appreciated it as much as I should have.  I kind of took for granted getting to visit places like Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the Garden of the Gods, and Eleven Mile Canyon.

Here is a video with some photos of many of the great mountains in our beautiful country.

A Lake Erie Spring

Ah, the joys of a northeast Ohio spring. 60 degrees one day, 29 degrees the next and 2 inches of snow the first week of April.  As my grandfather used to say, "If you don't like the weather in Ohio, wait 5 minutes - It'll change."  In spite of the crazy weather, my daughter, Jenna, and I went down to Conneaut Township Park and Public Dock to take some pictures with her new camera.  The wind off of the lake was enough to drop the temperature at least 15 degrees lower than it was at our house, but I think she was still able to get some excellent sunset photos.

And I've posted a slideshow of all the photos on our YouTube channel.

The GPS coordinates for Conneaut Township Park are  41.965189, -80.559919

More information about Conneaut Township Park can be found at http://conneauttownshippark.com/

Blue Spring State Park

A couple of years ago, the family took a spring break trip to Florida.  One of the places that we stopped and enjoyed was Blue Spring State Park.  This is one of the places that manatees winter due to the warm water that stays at a constant 73 degrees year round.  During the coldest part of the winter, they are packed in there nose to tail.  There weren't quite that many when we were there, but there were a few, as well as, several alligators, turtles, lots of birds and some really huge fish.  Check out the slideshow from the trip.

The GPS coordinates for the park are 28.948935,-81.340318
More information about the park can be found at https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Blue-Spring

An Island Vacation

A couple of years back, the family took a vacation trip to Put-in-Bay, Ohio located on South Bass Island on the western basin of Lake Erie.  In spite of seeing more golf carts in any one location than anywhere else on earth, it was a great getaway.  We camped at the South Bass Island State Park and lucked into a site right on the water's edge where we got some excellent pictures.  Check out the slideshow on my Youtube channel.

The GPS coordinates for the park are 41°38'39.1"N 82°50'18.8"W and more information about Put-in-Bay and South Bass Island can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put-in-Bay,_Ohio

Kinzua Dam Video Slideshow

A Trip to Kinzua Dam

The family and I hit the road for a weekend trip to Kinzua Dam, on the Allegheny River in Warren County, Pennsylvania last fall.  While we were there we found a really cool place that lets you see Kinzua Lake from a different perspective.  It took two side roads, a dirt road and a bit of hiking to reach it, but the view was well worth it.

More information about Kinzua Dam can be found at Wikipedia.

The GPS coordinates of the overlook are 41.850891, -78.982258 and the location is known as Jake's Rocks.  The rest of the photos from the trip can be found on the Kinzua Dam page.