Bodie is a ghost town east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California near the Nevada border.
Bodie began as a mining camp following the discovery of gold in 1859 by a group of prospectors. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 5000–7000 people and around 2000 buildings. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences in the Wild West boomtown.
Over the years, Bodie's mines produced gold valued at nearly US$34 million.
Abandoned car in Bodie, California.
The first signs of decline started in 1880 when promising mining booms in Butte,...
Read more...
Lets fast forward a bit, I still have a ton of photos of Yellowstone, but things might get a bit boring if I continue with them, so let's move on to...
Jackson, Wyoming, is a small town located in the Jackson Hole valley located south of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park. In the last couple of years, the town has gone from an actual cowboy town to an upper class ski resort, which results in a combination of great western stores and sushi bars.
For superb boots and an excellent service, visit Stone's Mercentile. They have an enormous collection of boots and hats. I bought a pair of Nocona...
Read more...
Yellowstone National Park, named after the Yellowstone River which flows through the park, is the first National Park of the United States, founded in 1872. The park is known for its wildlife and geothermal features as seen on the pictures in this post. The geothermal features of the park are caused by the Yellowstone Caldera, which is the largest volcanic system in North America. It has been termed a "supervolcano" because the caldera was formed by exceptionally large explosive eruptions.
Chinese Spring, Yellowstone N.P. | Location on map
The current caldera was created by an enormous eruption...
Read more...
Of course (since we have a photo addict among us) we are far from finished with our pictures from our trip to Canada and the US, so here are a few more.
The pictures in this post show Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada. It commemorates the birthplace of Canada's National Park system, which began here in 1885. Naturally occurring, warm mineral springs can be found inside the cave, and outside in an emerald coloured basin.
Banff Cave and Basin | Location on Map
Actually we had planned to go to Banff Upper Hot Springs, but since we didn’t had the time to sit in a hot spring and relax...
Read more...
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. The centerpiece of the Rockefeller Center is the Rockefeller plaza with the bronze statue of the Greek legendary titan Prometheus, bringing fire to mankind. During winter, the Rockefeller Plaza hosts an ice skating ring as you can see in the picture.
Rockefeller plaza | Location on map
In the picture you see the famous GE building (872 foot - 266 m) which was the setting for the famous photograph by Charles C. Ebbets in 1932 of workers having lunch on a steel beam without...
Read more...
The Flatiron Building, which when constructed was called the Fuller Building, was one of the tallest buildings in New York City upon its completion in 1902. The building is located on a triangular island block at 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue, and Broadway, on the south end of Madison Square. It received its name because it is shaped like a clothes iron.
Flatiron Building | Location on map
Read more...
St. Patrick's Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in New York, right across the street from Rockefeller Center. The land on which the cathedral stands was bought in 1813 by Dom Augustin Lestrange, abbot of a community of Trappists from the original monastery of La Trappe, which now brews the only non-Belgian Trappist beer (and the only one I haven't tasted yet...).
The cornerstone of the cathedral was laid on August 15, 1858, just south of the orphanage founded by the Trappist monks and later further maintained by the Diocese of New York. Currently, it is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman...
Read more...
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States and stretches 1825 m over the East River connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. Since its opening, it has become an iconic part of the New York skyline.
The pedestrian walkway which lies in the center of the bridge and higher than the automobile lanes, permits the passage of pedestrians across the bridge. From the Brooklyn side of the bridge, you get a fantastic overview over the skyline of New York, as you can see in the picture.
In 2006, a Cold War era bunker was found by city workers near the East River shoreline...
Read more...
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant and Market is a chain of seafood restaurants inspired by the 1994 film Forrest Gump. It was launched in 1996 by Viacom Consumer Products (which also owns Paramount Pictures) and is the first theme restaurant inspired by a film.
I've never actually went to eat there but by taking a look at their menu, I think this would be heaven for Ine as she is a shrimp freak, she orders shrimp about 75 percent of the time when we visit a restaurant.
Bubba Gump
Read more...
Let's do a small jump of about 4500 kilometers (2800 miles) form San Francisco to New York. While having to wait 12 hours for a connecting flight to Brussels, we decided to make a quick visit to the Big Apple.
I spotted this photographer while during our morning stroll in Central Park. I learned from Ron Niebrugge that the camera he is using is a 4x5 large format camera which apparently is still very popular with landscape photographers. It is not as impressive as the one he encountered during his photo shoots though, which you can see in this post on his blog.
Central Park, New York
An interesting...
Read more...