Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia

SML is the "Jewel of the Blue Ridge Mountains" 40-mile long, with 500 miles of shoreline, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural southwestern Virginia. Smith Mountain Lake was created to generate electricity, and to help manage water flows downstream and nearby. The damming of the Blackwater and Roanoke Rivers formed Smith Mountain Lake in a filling process that began on September 24, 1963 - and ended almost 2.5 years later on March 7, 1966.
http://smith-mountain-lake.com/

This series of shots were from a fall trip September of 2010 to Smith Mountain Lake.  It was a week of  relaxation, bonding and true family fun!!

Sunset Ride










Blue Ridge Mountains, VA 

 

The Wake

Cozy Cove

Sail Boat Race
There were too many to count.








Orchids

Spider Orchid

The Baltimore Aquarium. May 2011

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is a public aquarium

located in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

http://www.aqua.org/

The shots below capture my experience at the baltimore aquarium,

they arent as easy to take as it may look:)

 

 



Atlantic Sea Nettles


 

  



 

Jelly Fish Blooms
The presence of ocean blooms is usually seasonal, responding to prey availability and increasing with temperature and sunshine

 








Cassiopea
Upside Down Jelly Fish





Redtail Catfish
Yes its as big as it looks:)





Spookfish
Mirrors for eyes

  

Sea Turtle




Pig Nose Turtle




Pink Turtle








Reflection

Turtles Playing

Black and White Sting Rays




 Two Alligators playing

    

Tropical Snake





"The Constellation"
A ship docked outside the Aquarium

 


Baltimore




Day in Baltimore,
with a view of the old Domino Sugars Plant
"its in my cupboard!"




Night



Street Art

Grand Junction, Colorado

On the western Slope of Colorado you will find intresting mountains below.  Not to mention The Grand Valley, the gorgous book cliffs and the The Colorado National Monument.

Mount Garfield (right), Book Cliffs, Western Slope Grand Junction, CO



Book Cliffs

They are so named because many of them have the triangular appearance of a book that has been opened up, then turned on its sides and set to rest on the open sides of the book, on a table.

 

In the winter



Additional Beauty ..

along the way

Flower and Nature Pictures



Make a Wish



This fascinating "dandelion" was the size of a cantaloupe, stumbling across
this field of possibilities I took only one for keepsake.
I made a wish and tried to blow only one seed escaped,
the size of this weed  made it merely indestructible.
In the end it is the thought that counts.





Wild Mountain Flower

I truly appreciate our history and how far we have come from times like these..
This flower was growing next to the remains of a miner's cabin settled closely to the Timberline, Colorado,  elevation roughly 8000 feet.  This building was a 10' x 10' log cabin with a single spring mattress, two tree stumps around a homemade wooden table, and a stove/fire place made from an oil drum which had later led to the demise of the interior. Experiencing and viewing this little piece of history truly gave me a greater appreciation for how far we as a people have come,
and how fragile life can be.

  




Colorado Mountain WildFlowers





Virginia Flowers

 


Morning Dew at Sunrise, Virginia

 




Before and After

Wild Roses





Wild Flowers
Colorado Mtns

 

Columbine
Colorado State Flower





 




Lillies
Virginia

 






























Wild Flower
Colorado Mountains





Twin Buttercups

   

 

Iris

HoneySuckle

DaddyLong Leg

Tree Pictures



Birch
Charlottesville, VA







Playing