On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Balloon Juicers who are on the road, travelling, etc. and wish to share notes, links, pictures, stories, etc. from their escapades. As the US mainland begins the end of the Earth day as we measure it, many of us rise to read about our friends and their transient locales.
So, please, speak up and share some of your adventures, observations, and sights as you explore, no matter where you are. By concentrating travel updates here, it’s easier for all to keep up-to-date on the adventures of our fellow Commentariat. And it makes finding some travel tips or ideas from 6 months ago so much easier to find…
Have at ’em, and have a safe day of travels!
Should you have any pictures (tasteful, relevant, etc….) you can email them to [email protected] or just use this nifty link to start an email: Start an Email to send a Picture to Post on Balloon Juice
You can send the picture itself, or if it’s already online, send a link and I’ll grab it from there.
Without further ado, lots of pictures!
First, since Monday was the first day of Spring, a beautiful (summer) picture from my old home in Cañon City, Colorado. Columbines – so gorgeous! We spent a lot of time (and money!) terraforming our back yard into something beginning to look like landscaping. It had been ranch land for 50 years, and before that, lots of small mines had been around. The earth was like concrete,devoid of nutrients and life, naturally sustaining only buffalo grass, tumbleweeds, pinyon, and juniper. I miss it every day, bleak though it may have been compared to the lush Virginia countryside where I now live.
Next, from expert photographer BillinGlendaleCA:
Where it was taken: Pt. Fermin, Los Angeles, CA
When: March 12, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: This lighthouse was built in the 1870’s.
Where it was taken: Banning mansion, Wilmington, CA
When: March 12, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: Phineas Banning was the chief backer of the LA harbor in San Pedro as opposed to Santa Monica. He was also a strong backer of the Union during the Civil War.
Where it was taken: Banning mansion, Wilmington, CA
When: March 12, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: The Banning Mansion in Infrared.
Where it was taken: Drum Barracks, Wilmington, CA
When: March 12, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: These barracks were the military headquarters for Southern California and Arizona during the Civil War and for a few years afterwards. It was built on land donated by Banning.
Where it was taken: Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, CA
When: March 12, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: This is a shot of Downtown Los Angeles with Mt. San Antonio in the background. Mt. San Antonio is 10,000 feet in elevation and is about 45 miles away from where the picture was taken. The houses in the foreground were built on the site of the first Olympic Village for the 10th Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932.
Where it was taken: Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, CA
When: March 12, 2017
Other notes or info about the picture: This is pretty much the same shot as above, but from a slightly different vantage point and shot in near infrared.
I just love that infrared work! I studied photography a bit in college, but it was fine art B&W, so what little IR film I played with looked much different; I was interested in foliage, leaves, flowers, close-ups mainly. Great work Bill!
Next up, from crod. Seeing these, I think I’ll dig up some pictures I’ve taken from planes for a future post.
Hi, I have some photos I took from my recent business trip to Bakersfield, CA. Not terribly interesting but I like to take pictures from the window of planes….So here we go…
Where: Denver, CO (connecting flight)
when: 03/13/17
Notes: a photo from the plane looking down on Denver.
Where: somewhere on the route from Bakersfield to Denver, CO.
When: 03/14/17
Notes: A shot of the Rockies from the plane back to Denver. Reminds me of a series on Andrew Sullivan’s old blog called “A view from your Window”
You’re not the only one! I loved that feature, bought the book, and was so happy to see so many places I’d seen travelling with my parents as a kid. Sharing the world as we see or encounter it is a wonderful gift to share with our fellow humans.
Where: Chicago, IL
When: 03/14/17
Notes: Finally back home, a view of Chicago at night. You can see Navy Pier on the left side of the photo towards the middle, the dark mass along the left is the lake and the Downtown is just to the right of Navy Pier.
Thanks Claudia! Please, send more! :)
I have no Poco nor quinerly pictures to post, and have just a few more in the mailbox, so I’m saving them for tomorrow.
Folks – please, send in pictures! Especially if you’re overseas or somewhere out-of-the-way: many folks really enjoy seeing your world through your lens, so please share it with us!
rikyrah
Morning Everyone.
Love all the pictures. Such beauty.
Thanks.
Bill, your collection must be fabulous ?
OzarkHillbilly
PICTURES!!!!!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Thanks, I’ve got a few that have turned out well.
I got something wrong, those houses are NOT the site of the 1932 Olympic Village, it was at a ridge southeast of them and is out of the frame.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I’m going to try to get some pics together from my trip last Saturday to Casa de Governor Pio Pico and the Tricky Dick Library.
JPL
Wonderful pics!
Quinerly
Great pictures! We should be back to St. Louis today. Today is also the 6 weeks mark. Staying in a very nice Quality Inn in Topeka after fleeing a Motel 6…after I shut the door in that place, I realized the safety latch was broken off and there was gang graffiti/tagging on the backside (inside of the door). Big scene at the desk to get a refund, beyond exhausted by the time I found another place. Have a great day, folks. Thanks for all your interest in the trip and sweet Poco. He’ll send you a picture from his “natural” environment (maybe with his kitties, John Lennon and Ivan) down the road.
Aleta
@Quinerly: Returning on the first day of spring; nice.
(Had to have that same fight at a Motel 6 desk once. Hard to believe the aggression.)
middlelee
This is my favorite section on Balloon Juice right now (along with Lilly posts). Look forward to drinking my coffee while reading it every work day morning. Thanks Alain.
Quinerly
@Aleta:
I have been a big advocate of Motel 6 when needing as a stop between point A and point B with a large dog. These last two experiences have done me in with them. Not worth the hassle. Did end up making the desk girl cry at the very end. Never did find out if the place was corporate owned or franchised. In my experience the corporate owned ones seem to be better. I usually look at them on line before I stop. Didn’t with these two.
TaMara (HFG)
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That mansion looks so out of place I had to read twice it was actually near LA. Now I want to tour it. Thanks
Aleta
@Quinerly: I thought about the franchise part too. For example, do franchised ones personally lose some money after someone has checked in, because the required computer system is set by the company to prevent them from altering a record. Or do the franchise terms, fee and penalties make it hard to make a living.
Reading about you, Poco and the beautiful SW has been a pleasure.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I used to have a friend who lived very close to the Banning mansion. Sadly, I’ve lost touch with her.
@TaMara (HFG):
It was kind of a rough neighborhood 15-ish years ago. No idea if it’s better now.
J R in WV
@JPL:
Bill,
In your infrared shot of LA, there’s a low dark (cool) building below and just to the right of the downtown skyscrapers… I first noticed it on that photo on flicker… it has a single horizontal row of windows and a vertical on the left end of the building. There’s a more traditional office style building even with and to the left
Any idea what the building is? It’s very different and interesting, I’m big into modern architecture, and this hits that sweet spot.
brendancalling
I didn’t realize that was what this thread was for, and I’ll be happy to contribute when I have travels!
BellyCat
Chilling at the Escapees full-time RV gathering and trying to recover some degree of organization from our 6 day repair-a-thon. Momma and Behbeh are in great spirits.
We are camped right next to a horse parade ground, and there was a competition over the weekend with lots of ponies. Kiddo was mesmerized!! Sadly I did not have my camera with me, so no pictures. :-/
grammypat
FYI, when traveling with pets … all Red Roof Inns allow them at no extra charge. Most are decent places to stay at a reasonable rate, although some range between iffy and scary. Could be the corporate vs franchise issue.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: I think that’s the West Adams Cathedral at Exposition and Crenshaw.