The Dells

     Another trip we took in my in-laws' motorhome was to the Wisconsin Dells area in the fall of 1983.  We visited the Mid-Continent Railway Museum at North Freedom and took a ride on a train pulled by this steam locomotive:

     We also went on a boat ride through the Dells of the Wisconsin River.  Before going there I had wondered what dells were.  They are rock formations and here is one of them:  

Trip to Chicago

     Two of my kids and I once visited Chicago.  This photo shows the date of July 1, 1997.  We left home early in the morning and arrived there in early afternoon.  I was a little nervous about driving in a big unfamiliar city, but before we left I carefully mapped out the route to the downtown hotel where we had a reservation and we had no problem getting there.  Here's a shot taken in Grant Park, I think:

     We toured the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute, and the Museum of Science & Industry.  We rode to the top of the John Hancock Building to see what we could see.  From up there we spied Michael Jordan's Restaurant which was where the kids wanted to go for lunch.  We walked over there and had some really good hamburgers.

  

Skywatch

Here's another look at yesterday's early morning sky...

Visit Skywatch Friday

This Morning

Finally, a sunrise that prompted me to grab the camera and rush outdoors to capture it in a photo.  It was this morning before I headed to the barn for chores.

Obviously, I'm not a very early riser.  I've never liked getting up in the dark so I don't do it unless I absolutely have to.  Way in the distance are the car lights of a good early riser probably heading to work.

Another Trip

     For our 5th wedding anniversary, in the summer of 1983, my husband and I took a trip to The Apostle Islands which are located in Lake Superior on the north shore of Wisconsin.  I had read an article about them in Midwest Living magazine and told my husband about it and we decided to go there.  Advance reservations were required for an excursion boat ride so I made a phone call to find out which one was available the day we would be there.  It was the one to Raspberry Island, which has this lighthouse, built in 1862:

     I remember the boat departed from the town of Bayfield.  Here's a shot from somewhere amongst the islands:

     We had only a couple days to be gone so alot of the time was spent driving up there and back again, but all in all it was a fun trip.

Barn Charm

Late afternoon shot of an Amish barnyard taken a couple weeks ago...

Go to Bluff Area Daily for this week's Barn Charm.

Another Trip From the Past

     Easy it is to fall off the blogging wagon.  Over the weekend I went to visit one of the grandkids and had a great time.  Now this morning I'm back here at home wondering what to blog about.  I guess it will be these random photos from a trip we took in 1989---my father and mother-in-law let us use their motorhome and they also milked the cows so we could go to Montana to visit my husband's brother and his family.
     Here's a drive-by shot from somewhere along I-94 in North Dakota as we were heading home to our own cows and hay bales.  It I remember correctly, there was a billboard announcing that we were looking at "The World's Largest Holstein Cow":

     We spent a day in Glacier National Park.  This photo was taken from the cab of the motorhome:

We stopped at the Little Big Horn:

     It was a fun trip.  One of our kids was just five months old.  She wishes she could remember the trip because we never did anything like it again.  It was definitely one of those "once in a lifetime" events.

  

Reminiscing

     On these cold winter days I've been having fun looking at old photos, so I've decided to post one each week under the title of "Reminiscing".  Sometimes it will be travel photos.  I don't feel I've traveled that much, but probably more than some people and less than others.  Whenever we went somewhere I usually took pictures.  (Or my husband took them.)  They sit quietly in albums and boxes waiting to be rummaged through.  

     This one is from the 1980 trip to Colorado.  On the back of the photo I wrote, "Independence Pass, Hwy. 82, Colorado".  If you wonder what I'm holding in my hand, its the cap I'd been wearing.  

Skywatch

Its too cold here today to take a photo of the sky so here's a shot from last September...

Visit Skywatch Friday to see photos from around the world.

Planning Ahead

     Yesterday I was looking through an old photo album and found these two.  This first one has the date Aug 79 in the right upper corner.  Snow in August?  I think not!  I probably didn't finish using the roll of film until then.  Or I kept forgetting to take the film along to town to get it developed.  Ah, yes, photography back in the olden days!

     

     At that time my husband and I were living in a rented house on a farmstead not far from where we live now and that's where these shots were taken. 

     From the look of these pictures can't you just tell I was planning ahead for my future blog?!  I mean what else can you do with photos such as these?

Snowstorm Is Here

     The snowstorm arrived last night as forecasted.  When I headed out the door for chores this morning I took my trusty Canon SX100 point-and-shoot camera along hoping to get some snow shots, but it refused to work.  The lens won't open.  Its been a very reliable camera, but after 5 years of much use I think its probably worn out.  When I got in from chores, I plugged the new webcam into the laptop and took this photo so I could prove the snowstorm is here:

     From the warmth of the house, I also took a shot of these tree branches which rest against a window.  They should be trimmed, but I do enjoy looking at them so maybe there they'll stay.  I didn't use the webcam for this one, I used the Nikon D40 which I wouldn't consider taking outdoors in a snowstorm.  I'm sure going to miss the point-and-shoot and will probably buy another one similar to it soon.

     By the way, we did our first Skype call with the webcam last evening.  It will be a fun way to keep in touch with our kids and grandkids.  

Today

I've got no photos to put on the blog today.  Instead, here's a link to the eagle's nest webcam near Decorah, Iowa.  Everyone's waiting to see if the eagles will use this nest or a new one they've been working on.  Eggs are usually laid in February.

Not much going on here.  Its a gray, cloudy day.  Last night I was surprised to hear thunder and rain.  Rather strange for January.  But, not to worry, there's snowstorm in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

  

Barn Charm

A drive-by shot from a little over a week ago...

Visit Bluff Area Daily for this week's Barn Charm.

More Online Photo Edits

I'm sitting here goofing around with some more BeFunky photo editing.  Here's a photo I took last week:

Here it is sharpened:

Next I used the "color filter" on the above photo and added the "vignette" effect, which is the dark edging.  You can make that as wide as you want.

And, in this last one, I used "vintage colors #2" and then added an "instant" photo frame which makes it looks like an old Polaroid picture.

Its just some silly fun on a dreary winter day.  We had freezing rain yesterday which left the farmyard covered in a layer of ice.  I had to shuffle around very slowly and carefully this morning while doing calf chores.

  

Online Photo Edit

I had never edited a photo online before until yesterday afternoon.  Others have blogged about using the photo editing website called BeFunky, so I went there and found lots of fun effects to try.  I used this photo I had taken last fall: 

I tried all five of BeFunky's "Vintage Colors" effects and here they are:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

On BeFunky you can do all kinds of things to photos---crop (trim), brighten, sharpen, add borders, remove spots, add text, change them to black & white, etc.  

CLICK HERE to go there and try it out for yourself.

(When there is inconsistent spacing between photos on any of my blogposts, I didn't intentionally do that.  I preview my blogposts before publishing them in order to fix mistakes, but the spacing sometimes can't be corrected.  Also, concerning this post, I don't know why the number 3 is smaller than the other numbers.  I tried to fix it, but with no success.)

Clouds

I took quite a few shots of clouds on our drive last week.  After some editing in Photoshop, I liked the way this one looked.  I think I brightened it and gave it more contrast.

My husband and went to town yesterday and spent some Christmas money on a webcam so we can do Skype with our grandchildren.  Its now installed and I set up a Skype account, so we're all set to go.  The camera is cool and can be used to take photos, too.  I want to take one of us today to put on our Skype profile.  I think it might look like a picture from one of those photo booths that used to be in the shopping malls.  Maybe they're still around, but I haven't noticed for years.

Weekly Top Shot

Yesterday I snapped several drive-by shots of these old wire corn cribs and windmill, hoping to get at least one usable photo.

  

Visit The View From Right Here for Weekly Top Shot.

Hidden Windmill

Here's a drive-by shot I almost deleted, then changed my mind when I noticed the windmill.  See if you can find it.

Skywatch

Here's a photo taken late last week here in northeast Iowa...

CLICK HERE to go to Skywatch Friday.

Cedar Trees

We saw lots of cedar trees on our drive last week.

They grow like weeds here in Iowa.

On Wikipedia I read that cedars are junipers and can live to be 850 years old.  I wonder if that's really true.  It also mentioned their aromatic wood which is used to make cedar chests.  I know that's true for I have one.