Tag Archives: vacation

Unusual German WWII Planes

The Steve Udvar-Hazy Center has aircraft from across the world and eras but does have some very unusual Second World War aircraft. The US acquired a variety of types at the end of the war from the German programmes which were taken home to evaluate. Some of these ended up in the hands of the Smithsonian when they were no longer needed. Two interesting examples are now on display at Dulles. These include a jet powered bomber and a puss-pull fighter.

The Arado AR234 Blitz is a conventional looking plane if you set aside the engine pods under the wings. To a modern eye, it looks very tame, but I imagine it was something special at the time. Next to it is the Dornier DO335 Pfeil – a push-pull configuration piston engined fighter. This was not a unique design idea for Germany. The US had a similar concept – an example of which I saw in Kalamazoo. So much innovative aerospace concepts were developed in the heat of war and these two are very rare examples of what was underway at that time.

Dawlish Seafront

Leave a Reply

The beginning of our holiday to Cornwall and Devon included a stop in Exeter for lunch and then, since we were so close to Dawlish, I decided to take a diversion down there. I had seen numerous pictures of Dawlish over the years with waves crashing against the wall and spray covering passing trains. Seemed a no-brainer to check it out – admittedly on a rather calmer day. We parked up along the seafront and took one of the footbridges over the tracks to the walkway along the shore. This whole area had a significant rebuild in recent years as a result of some storm damage. The tide was out and people were down walking on the beach.

I was a little surprised to find that, beyond the station, the fencing ended and there was quite a drop off the edge of the path down to the beach. I guess people just take care. I was trying to work out what some of the shapes of concrete were on the beach. At first, I thought they might be the remains of previous structures but, after looking at them further, I decided that they were sewer drainage pipes. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.

After walking for a while, we backtracked at went under the tracks at the station. Time to grab an ice cream because were were on holiday. Then we sat on a bench along the river as it comes into the shore. Apparently, Dawlish has an association with black swans and there were several down in the river. Not sure of the story on that one. It was only a brief stop, but it was nice to see this place for myself after all of these years.

L’Eixample

Leave a Reply

On one of our days in Barcelona, we took a trip to a neighbourhood called L’Eixample. Nancy had read about the geometry of the blocks in the area with the buildings in a grid but with each block shaped like an octagon. This makes each intersection more like a square (although the roads through disrupt the idea a bit). While the buildings are in the same layout, the architecture of each structure is individual so there is plenty of variety to see.

We didn’t have a huge amount of time to play with, but we did manage to walk through quite a few of the streets and I was taken with the patterns that the balconies made on the walls. If I had planned a photo trip, I would have gone with a wider-angle lens to allow me to bring more of the shapes into the image. Instead, I worked with the phone to see what I could get. It was a really interesting area, and it is nice to know that such interesting architecture can survive without redevelopment taking it down.

The Iconic Main Terminal Building at IAD

Leave a Reply

First thing is to apologise for an issue with an image in here. How about that for a compelling way to start a post. However, it was impossible to avoid reflections in some of the shots I took here and, unfortunately, the reflection removal tool in Lightroom continues to underperform in my experience. I do think they did something to make it worse because my initial experience was good. Anyway, for some of these I was shooting through two panes of glass that had a few metres between them, which meant I couldn’t avoid reflections.

Our trip to the US for a family event took us through Dulles airport. The iconic terminal at Dulles now sits at the heart of a bunch of terminal buildings which are far less interesting architecturally. However, the swooping shape is still in use and that is where we checked in. Inside the roofline is equally impressive. When at our departure gate, we had a good view back across and this is where the reflections have been unavoidable. I first saw this airport in 1993, and it still catches my eye when I see it now.

Hearst Castle/Mansion

Leave a Reply

In a recent post, I had images of Hurst Castle. A friend of mine in the US mentioned the similarly named location on the California coast near the city of Cambria. Before we moved to the US, Nancy and I had made a trip to California during which we did a tour of the place. Built by William Randolph Hearst, this place is a combination of so many influences. Much of the decoration was accrued during travels around the world. You have elements of ancient buildings, parts of monasteries, designs influenced by other places and random designs that appealed.

From what I can gather, visitors now get fleeced by having the tours broken down into smaller sections, so you have to pay for each one. When we were there, it was more of an overall tour, and we got to see a lot of the collection. This was the days of film photography which means some of the shots didn’t work and I didn’t realise until long afterwards combined with a lot less pictures being taken overall. Film was also daylight balanced so the colours when inside could be quite sketchy. A little processing now tries to improve them but there is only so much you can do and only so much effort that is really justified for a holiday photo.

These images are a brief summary of what we saw during that visit. Some grandiose elements and some looted goods. Not my assessment – our tour guide was quite clear that the methods by which Hearst got hold of these artefacts was not always ethical. I believe a visit now will cost you a bunch. However, if you are already on the coast near Cambria, I would suggest you have already gone far enough to justify making the effort to visit.

Hoodoos on a Smaller Scale

Leave a Reply

Many years ago, we visited Bryce Canyon in Utah. It is famous for its rocky pillars known as hoodoos. I was slightly surprised to see signs about hoodoos in Banff when we were staying in Alberta. We took a diversion along the road to the overlook for these hoodoos. They are down on the slopes towards the river, and the overlook is some distance from them. Clearly not the same number of them than you get in Bryce but still just as interesting a formation. It was a worthwhile diversion since it didn’t take us far out of our way. To be honest, the view of the river valley was the more impressive element of the visit.

Icefield Skywalk

Leave a Reply

Before I start, I should point out that I really enjoyed Icefield Skywalk. The reason I say that is I shall sound a little critical about it. I don’t want that criticism to lead to the conclusion that it isn’t worth visiting or that we didn’t enjoy it. It is and we did. However, before getting there, it did give the impression of being an elevated walkway over the glaciers. That it is not. Maybe I was reading what I wanted it to say, and their material never made that case but, either way, this is a cool location in the vicinity of some glaciers but definitely not over them.

With that out of the way, this was a very enjoyable experience. Because of its location above a gorge, you have to take a shuttle bus from the visitors’ center to the skywalk. It only takes a few minutes, and the bus drivers do a decent job of providing amusing commentary on the way. Once there, you are free to stay as long as you like and take whichever bus you want back (provided it is from the company you came up with).

From the drop off spot, you walk along the edge of the gorge with a variety of exhibits along the way to look at. You also are getting a great view down at the river and the falls beneath you. The skywalk itself is a semicircular structure suspended out over the gorge. It has, naturally, a glass floor so you can look down and the large drop beneath you. Part of the fun is actually people watching as people either get freaked out or start goofing with each other.

How Many Glaciers Can You Find in a Day?

Leave a Reply

We drove up the Icefield Parkway in Alberta during our trip to the Rockies. It was a lovely ride through some gorgeous scenery. The mountains around us included a lot of glaciers – the extent of which was apparently less than it used to be as they have retreated as the temperature has increased. I tried to strike a balance between stopping every five minutes to take photos and making sure we got all the way up the highway that we wanted to cover before we needed to turn for home.

The glaciers were quite distant but sufficiently large that this didn’t matter. What I found most interesting was the shapes that the ice would distort into as it came down the side of the mountains with some folding and crumpling of the ice sheets. Also, there was the dirt trapped in the ice from the rocks over which the glacier was passing. We also got to learn about the various types of glacier from some of the informational signs alongside the road. I am glad to have seen this many because who knows how long it will be before they have to rename this road??

Some Unusual Maintenance Vehicles from CPKC

Leave a Reply

While we were staying in Canmore, we got plenty of train traffic passing us by. Most of the time, it was just the regular freight train movements but there was some maintenance work underway in the vicinity and we had a train come by that was not like the others. The locomotive was a different looking beast and it was pulling some flat cars including one with a backhoe loaded on it. I assume that they were heading to or from a work site, but I don’t know where it might have been. They train did look pretty clean so maybe it was not that old?

Bow Falls

Leave a Reply

A short trip from the heart of Banff takes you to Bow Falls. The Bow River runs through the town, but it makes quite a drop shortly afterwards before continuing on its way towards Canmore. The falls are a short distance from the Chateau although you can barely see it from the river.

There is a trail that runs up the side of the falls with a long set of steps to get you up to the higher levels. It is not a tough climb, but it does get the heart rate up. That doesn’t stop plenty of people checking it out. From the bottom, the view up the falls is very nice whereas, on the climb, the views of the river can be a bit restricted in places. The noise of the water is most impressive and, as soon as you go behind an outcrop of rock, the quiet can catch you by surprise. While I took a bunch of photos, it felt like the noise and the motion of the water meant video was a better option so here is an edit I pulled together of what I saw.