12 Favorite Photos from the Summer

It is certainly a long way past summer. In fact, it is the day after Thanksgiving and with a forecast of snow and freezing rain for Sunday through Tuesday, this afternoon I'd better make sure there's enough gas in the generator and snowblower.

There's some down time now between football games, so I am reflecting on the warmth of summer by going through my summer photos and weeding out the clear losers (oh, so many).  In so doing, below I have posted what are (at least at the moment) my dozen favorites.  All were taken in Maine during our two one-week stays along the mid-coast.

I tried to have a mixture of subjects in the dozen, though there is clearly a preponderance of sunrise photos in the bunch. The several close up flower photos could have been taken just about anywhere, but they indeed were from Maine.  I suppose the lobster rolls could have been purchased just about anywhere, but they were from Sprague's, one of our favorite spots for lunch in Wiscassett.

Olympus EM-1 and 12-100 F4

The Morning Run

Schooner

The Morning View

Sunrise on Penobscot Bay

Queen Anne's Lace

Before it opens, like a hand with many fingers

Dandelion

An incredible piece of nature when it is ready to go to seed.

Morning Twilight

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Panasonic GX80/85 and 100-300 F4-5.6

Gull and Fish

Not something to print and put on a wall perhaps, but a truthful nature story.

Pink Water Lily

Schooner Ladona, Rockland Maine

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Panasonic GM-5 and 12-32mm

Lobster Rolls at Sprague's in Wiscasset

"Sea Keeper"

A Few Arboretum Flowers from July

In July I took two quick trips to a local arboretum for flower photography.  All of these are a result of focus stacking of up to 24 images.

Some of them are a bit blurry in a couple of places.  In particular the first pink flower could have used one or two images closer to the camera, as the nearest petal is out of focus.

Here are the best of the bunch.

Unfortunately closes petal is out of focus.

(Though on Instagram I suspect it is not noticeable.)

"The Loner" 

Soon to be Raspberries (?)

Colorado Road Trip | The Java Moose in Fairplay, Colorado - Last of the Trip Photos

Looking back now on the drive through Fairplay on our way to the Denver Airport, I find that these are the last photos taken during the trip.  Driving here from Beuna Vista we seemed to be driving across "high plains" all the way.  Fairplay seemed to have nothing to stop for, but when I spotted the Java Moose Coffee House at just the right time (10:30 a.m.), it just called out for us to stop.

Other than a good cup of hot black coffee (and iced coffee for Laurie), which we enjoyed outside in the sunshine, the most fun was meeting a young man and his dog on their way to meet friends Breckinridge.  Actually I hadn't studied the map long enough to realize we were only 25 miles from Breckinridge, one of Colorado's premier ski mountains.  Eric is a Physical Therapist outside of Denver, and we very much enjoyed a 30 minute or so conversation about all kinds of things.

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | Quincy's Restaurant - Buena Vista Colorado location

South of Leadville is Buena Vista, where we spent one night at the Best Western Hotel on our way to Denver (and home via Southwestern Airlines).  We chose this hotel in this town because 12 years ago when we were last in Colorado this is where we stayed on night #1, after flying into Denver.

Now twelve years later, we also wanted to dine again at Quincy's!

Twelve years ago we had dinner at Quincy's in Buena Vista.  Later in that trip we also hit Quincy's in Leadville.  We well-remember that night in Leadville eating Filet Mignon at Quincy's because it was the first week of October (2007) and it snowed that night.

The remarkable thing about Quincy's is that there are only two things on the menu.  And actually only one choice is available on any given night.  Sunday through Thursday the only available choice is Filet Mignon (but with four options for meat portion size) and Friday and Saturday the only available choice is Prime Rib (also with four options for portion size)

Here's the easy menu:

Lettuce wedge for a simple salad

We are not serious carnivores.  So we both went with the 6 oz.

Filet Mignon.  That's not fatty meat; what you see around the 

perimeter of the filet are wrappings of bacon.

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | Some Finds from the Homesteading Days

Down route 24 south of Leadville (and in and around Leadville, too) are some great old wooden structures.  The dry atmosphere has kept them in decent shape for decades.

The first photo of this old wooden corral was taken on this trip.  The second is one I like from 12 years ago.

 Olympus E-M1 with 12-100mm F4 zoom @ 17mm (34mm full frame equivalent)

Olympus E-520 with 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 zoom @ 28mm (56mm full frame equivalent)

Here's another old structure, but I don't know anything about it. Looks like an old homestead and an outhouse and/or shed.  I am surprised I missed it 12 years ago.

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | Leadville CO

Leadville is getting more touristy. At least compared with my earlier visits, albeit only twice... 10 and 45 years ago. But it is no wonder it is popular with tourists.  It is a "classic" (still quaint?) western town.

I like the town's original name better!  It was Silver City, which makes more sense because it was a silver mining town. I'm not sure why it changed its name to Leadville.

At an elevation of 10,152 feet Leadville has the highest elevation of any incorporated city in the United States, and it is surrounded by many 14,000 foot peaks. Mount Sherman (not shown in any of my photos unfortunately) is part of the Mosquito Range is known as the easiest to climb "fourteener" in Colorado.  [By the way, in three weeks in Colorado we never once encountered a mosquito... I think it is just too dry.]

The "Unsinkable" Molly Brown had mining interests in Leadville. And I read that Doc Holliday was a lawman here.

As you can see in the images below, there are many well-preserved buildings in the historic district.  The city had a 2010 population of 2,759, yet in the late 1800's it was second in population only to Denver.

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | On the Road to Leadville - Route 24

Route 24 supplies some wonderful views as you travel south from Interstate 70 to Leadville (and even further to Beuna Vista where we would spend the night in the same Best Western we stayed at 10 years prior on a road trip to the four corners area (i.e. southwest corner of Colorado))

I don't recall what the road is like south of Beuna Vista, but after the night at Best Western, our trail takes us north and east toward Denver and the airport for our flight home.

As is typical for us, this 1 1/2 hour drive took us all day.
Leadville is about half way down the blue route, where the grey route joins it.

At this point we're on the outskirts of Leadville.
We pulled off the road and had this view as we ate our lunch.
It could not have been more magnificent.

23 seconds from out lunch spot