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
Pictures ahoy!
More from Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Dante….?:
When – August 2008
Where – Manuel Antonio Park, Quepos, Costa RicaBig assed lizards are the best. This guy was very photogenic.
Just…wow! Talking ’bout a big lizard (in my back yard)!
When-August 2008
Where – A coffee plantation about two hours outside San Jose, Costa RicaThe scenery is genuinely lovely. I got a chance to nip a raw coffee bean – VERY bitter.
When – July 2006
Where – Northpoint, Barbados
I used a couple of cameras this trip – one a digital appropriate for the year. The other was a Minolta X370 35mm, generally 100 speed. This was with the 35mm.I thought the color stunning after processing.
When – April 2010
Where – Intercontinental Hotel, ParisClassic hotel in Paris, on the Place Garnier, next to the Opera House. This was a palace commissioned by Maximilian III, built late 1860s. It served as the billet for the senior staff of the Nazi occupation of the city (they were working out of the Opera House), and the ground floor restaurant (Cafe de la Paix) was bombed by the Resistance in ’43 or ’44.
It was also the only place where I think I’ve seen a physical manifestation of a figure in a haunting. The family had streamed to the lobby to go somewhere, and I was gathering my camera gear. There were cross doors between rooms, and the one to our girls’ room was unlocked but closed. I saw a flitting man with dark attire pass from that door through the other door (which was locked).
When – May 2014
Where- Turtle Inn, Placencia, Belize
Francis Ford Coppola has a beautiful 26 unit luxury eco lodge in southern Belize. Our cottage was basically an open air thing 5 feet from the surf line. Couldn’t be more romantic, but if a lot of privacy is your thing, it’s a little airy.Anyway, this is me on a dive day.
When May 14
Where Silk Caye, Placencia, Belize
This turned out to be a private dive. Us, our divemaster, a boat captain and a helper. We were doing a surface interval between dives and brought a picnic lunch.This little spit of land was only about the size of three suburban lots.
When: May 2014
Where: Placencia, BelizeThese were done during the time before I discovered that tropical photography for still shots comes out like crap if there isn’t a magenta filter or decent lighting system. Video works better for some reason, but even then, you need the filter.
These were among my last before I transitioned to all GoPro video. They include a selfie. Blue thing is a sponge. If you look carefully at the blotches mess, there is a nice eel.
When: November 2013
Where: St LuciaWe transited from the airport to the resort via helicopter. GREAT views!
The other shot is our dive boat as we made our way to the Pitons, where we dove the base of the mountains. Really special experience!
October 2016
Forbidden City, BeijingYeah. Colors are on – it was a great day.
October 2016
Great Wall
It was a mystical, misty day on a weekend that we did this. It is really rugged in this section, and officially closed – lots of places to get hurt. Took us two hours once we left the city to get there by motorcycle sidecar, in the rain.
When: May 2016
Where: Siena, Italy
This is Il Duomo. Siena was very wealthy – a center of banking. The cathedral there was essentially the mothership for the Franciscan order. When I entered I whispered “Oh, must be the church Beetlejuice attended” (it really is beautiful). Wife shushed me.
Thank you so much! I know you’ll send us more on your upcoming travels.
Lots more Monday from many new (and some return!) commenters. Have a great weekend and enjoy the spring.
OzarkHillbilly
Around the world in 80 seconds!
Debbie(aussie)
Wow! All so beautiful. Comte you are so lucky to have seen so much of this beautiful planet.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Debbie(aussie):
And headed your way in five weeks! Sydney for a bit, followed by some time at Silky Oaks on the Mossman at Daintree and then a liveaboard scuba trip with Mike Ball on the Spoilsport (same boat where the American failed to rescue his wife on their honeymoon, leaves out of Cairns), then back to SYD.
JPL
The picture of the lizard is great. He appears to be proud that you noticed him.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: As far as using filters, Lightroom and Photoshop are your friends.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Wonder if it will fix underwater shots? I’ve got a few hundred gross green messes around.
I don’t understand the “why” on underwater photography (like that sponge), but the magenta really improves them.
rikyrah
The pictures are beautiful. We went around the globe. Some looked stunning in a picture, so I know that it was humbling in person.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JPL:
It was like he was smiling at me, and he let me get extremely close. Living things aren’t usually keen to let me get up in their grills like that.
Somewhere, I’ve got a photo of a red fox in Churchill (on the Hudson Bay, a little south of the border between Manitoba and Nunavut). There is an abandoned Brit fort in a park where the Churchill River meets the Bay. We were tromping around and a fox comes literally within 5 feet of us – never saw anything like it before.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: For different kinds of shots, you can get a color cast depending on the lighting and what’s filtering the lighting. The nice thing about Lightroom and Photoshop is you can apply the filters afterwards, especially if you forget.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Guess they know you’re an attorney.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
For some reason in physics, the deeper I go, I lose parts of the spectrum (I think it is a feature of how dark it is). My recollection is that the sponge shot is probably between 30-40 feet down. Deeper, everything gets attenuated unless I have a strong portable light source. It gets pretty damned funky at 100+, you should see a color chart at that depth – it is a whole bunch of gray-brown.
hedgehog mobile
*sighs happily* Thank you for the much needed beauty.
Waratah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: my daughter went to Lady Elliot island last September if you have any time to fit it in it is very special. Topping off she was lucky to sit in the copilot seat
On the small plane that fly you to the island
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Waratah:
I do a small plane flight to Lizard Island to actually board the Spoilsport – going right over the GBR. Pretty exciting stuff.
Quinerly
Loved the pretty pictures. Really needed them this morning!
opiejeanne
Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing with us.