Tag Archives: photo

Bear Out in the Sun

Woodland Park Zoo used to have a pair of grizzly bears. They made an appearance on this blog when we went to a fundraiser there which had a food stand cooking fish next to their enclosure which certainly got their attention. Sadly, since that visit, one of the bears has died. The remaining bear is still in the enclosure on its own. With the sun out during our visit, it was wandering around a lot of its space. We had a really good view of it as it came towards us.

At one point, the bear climbed up on a rocky outcrop. It was backlit where we were. I didn’t realize that just around the corner from us was a spot that looked up at this outcrop. Anyone standing that at the time would have had a really impressive view up at the bear. Would have been a good shot but never mind.

Since we were there on a Friday, it wasn’t terribly busy. It was strange to see how quickly people wandered away. A few minutes patience rewarded us with some really nice time watching the bear exploring the enclosure for snacks hidden by the staff.

737 Rear Fuselage Design Evolution

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The 737 has gone through many design iterations. With the introduction of the Max, the rear fuselage got quite a redesign. The original 737 tailplane was redesigned for the NG family when it was widened. This affected the rear fuselage a small amount. However, there were clearly still issues with that part of the plane given the large number of vortex generators that were fitted. These are always there to fix things that aren’t quite as they should be.

The Max has a totally reconfigured rear fuselage. Boeing clearly decided to clean up the issues that they had been living with. Any opportunity to reduce drag is needed when you are competing with the newest version of your opponent. They have thinned the fuselage a lot and this is one of the easiest ways to spot that a jet is a Max rather than a previous version (the others being the engine size and the winglet type). The APU inlet has also been relocated.

Misty Morning In Index

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During my time off, we made a trip across the Cascades. It’s not uncommon to find it misty/foggy as we drive from home towards the mountains in the morning. As you get a little higher, you come out of the mist but the clouds will still be hanging on the sides of the mountains. We stopped off in the little town of Index for a quick break. The town sits right under some large cliff faces making it a popular place to climb.

On this morning, climbing would have been a bit of a cold and damp affair but, as the day wore on, it would have been lovely I imagine. I liked the morning, though, with the clouds swirling around the hillsides. It looks at first as if the area is still with the mist hanging over everything but, if you pay attention, it is clear just how much the clouds are swirling around with ever changing areas exposed or covered. It is quite entrancing.

Crazy Single Tree – I Think

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As we walked through the grounds of Chateau Ste. Michelle after the Avants car event, we came across this tree. As we looked at it we concluded that it was a single tree that was coming out of the ground in various places. However, we are not arborists so could be completely wrong. It just looks like it springs from a single source under ground and breaks the surface in various places. If you know about trees and more specifically this tree, let me know.

Finally I Have Avanti Success

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I posted about a trip to Paine Field one evening to photograph an Avanti which was unsuccessful because the plane diverted back to Sacramento. A little while later, I got a notification that it was due in again. The arrival time was about 6:40. With sunset just after 7 at that time, it had the potential to be very nice. Of course, any delay could make it a bust. I figured it was worth a shot and Nancy was fine with waiting from me to get back before having dinner!

The evening light was looking really good. I practiced panning with some of the local traffic while watching for the progress of the Avanti. It was on its way but arrival time was slipping a little. It should still be okay. Meanwhile, I noticed the progress of the shadows of some of the trees where I was as they crept closer to the runway. It was going to be tight. We would make sunset without a problem and there was no low cloud to cause concern but it was a risk that the tree shadows would be on the plane.

Nothing I could do about any of this and, with the plane still airborne as it was due to pass me (assuming that they didn’t land near the threshold), the chances are things would be okay. I kept my eyes peeled for the sight of the Avanti lining up on approach. Eventually it came in to view and zipped down the glide slope. By now the light was low and the shadows were creeping on to the runway but it made the silver of the airframe positively glow. I clicked away as it came by and then I was done. Back home for dinner!

Hippo Excursion Out of the Water

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As goes large African animals, one of my favorites is the hippopotamus. I’m not sure exactly what it is about them that appeals to me so much but I find them fascinating. They can often be a bit disappointing at a zoo since they will spend long periods of time doing very little. However, we have had some good luck over the years. The one at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago once gave us an interesting moment and San Diego Zoo had a baby hippo swimming around during a visit there.

There are two hippos in Woodland Park Zoo and, when we arrived, they were both almost totally submerged in their pond taking it easy. This does not make for much photo action. Fortunately, a little patience paid off and one of them surfaced and proceeded (slowly) to exit the pond. It wandered around for a short while before returning to the water and taking up its previous position.

This disturbance caused the other hippo to wake up for a while. It didn’t exit the water but it did get its head above the surface and then it yawned a few times. Hippos have amazing mouths and a yawn makes them look so dramatic. I was absolutely delighted. A couple of yawns and then it was back to submerged and napping. I know they can be incredibly dangerous but they are still one of my favorite creatures.

S7 Max Both at Renton and BFI

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S7 is a Russian airline so not one that I normally get to see. Tokyo is the only place I have seen their planes in operation. They have a bunch of 737 Max jets on order. I saw one of them in a Boeing test bay on the west side of Renton one evening when passing by. The bright green colors are hard to miss. Fortunately, it was not long after this that I was at Boeing Field in the evening when the jet came in from a test flight. The light was pretty nice by that time of day but I don’t think it would have mattered with a color that vibrant!

Electric Surfboard Off Bellingham

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After our hike around Whatcom Falls Park, we headed down to Boulevard Park between Fairhaven and Bellingham to have our lunch. We sat by the water watching the activities out on the water. While we sat eating our sandwiches, someone came zipping along the shore on an electric surfboard with a hydrofoil. They were certainly pretty quick and headed off in to the distance. It was a while before they came back the other way which leads me to believe these things must have a pretty decent battery capacity. To any surfers reading this, have you given one of these things a go?

French Global 7500

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Bombardier recently completed their 100^th Global 7500. It is an impressive machine with excellent capabilities. If I was minded to buy a bizjet, it would definitely be the one I got but I just don’t feel like it at the moment. I haven’t seen too many of them yet so catching one is a nice surprise. This one was departing Seattle. I’m not sure how far it was going but, given that it is registered in France, I assume they were actually making good use of its range unlike so many of the owners of such jets. It seemed to have a nice fade in the paint scheme too. Maybe I will put something like that on mine when I get it.

Avants at Chateau Ste. Michelle

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I was chatting with one of my neighbors and he mentioned a car event coming up at Chateau Ste. Michelle, a local winery. This event was arranged by Avants and was a selection of exotic and unusual cars on display in the grounds of the winery along with wine and food to enjoy. Sounded interesting and Nancy was keen to try it out so we got ourselves tickets. On the day, the weather started out looking pretty bad but, since the event started in the afternoon, we decided to see how things turned out. As it was, the day became overcast but basically dry so it worked out fine. I’m not sure whether it actually reduced the number of people there or not but it felt busy but not crowded.

Exotics@RTC will provide a bunch of unusual cars but this had some very special vehicles and was definitely worth going to. I am going to have some specific posts on some of the vehicles but this is more of a general overview of what we saw. The cars were spread out across the lawns so were not crowded together. Also, while there were people around most of the time, the cars were often clear of visitors if you were trying to get a shot – even when it came to some of the most unusual vehicles.

There was wine from the winery to purchase as you walked around (assuming you hadn’t bought the more expensive tickets with packages of wine and food) and you could order food. However, the food options were not that impressive and didn’t seem to fit with the nature of the event. That would be my only complaint with the event as a whole. Whether you wanted race cars, hyper cars, vintage sports cars or even more unusual vehicles from Europe, there was something to see. Nancy is not a car person but she certainly enjoyed looking at the beautiful styling of some of the vehicles (and the quirky styling of others).