Workplace Fall Colors

Today I learned that there would be morning coastal fog clearing to sun, so I brought in the camera.  As promised, the boundary between the two was present on my walk to work on the east side, so I grabbed this wide shot.

I'm only getting used to this 20mm lens, and I still find it to be a challenge composing with it.

Olallie Lake in Autumn

This is Olallie Lake in autumn.  The Pratt Lake trail follows above the shore to the right up to a saddle to the left.

Consider that in just a month or two the view will be completely different!

Talapus Lake

Talapus Lake is easily accessible in the summer, and an excellent snowshoe trip in the winter. The valley on the far side leads up to Rainbow and Island Lakes.

Inconveniently, the trail to get there necessarily detours a fair distance along the ridge to the upper right, as there's no easy way to negotiate the steep slopes on either side.

Rio Grand County, Colorado

An endless quilt of center pivot irrigation stretches over part of Rio Grand County in Colorado.  An irrigation canal cuts through part of the foreground on an odd angle, and cloud shadows are seen in the middle, but otherwise the view is unblemished.  They need the water; annual rainfall around here is only 7 inches.

Each circle fills a section (a half-mile on each side).  All the roads and boundaries are oriented to the cardinal points, give or take the curvature of the earth.

Green River, Utah

Utah's Green River runs from the top left through some spectacular and dry terrain down to eventually reach the Colorado.  This is its confluence with Nine Mile Creek, and can be compared to the satellite view.

You can fly to the Sand Wash airstrip, visible on the table along the left edge of this picture.  A charter for two runs $280 from Moab.

Gran Café de la Parróquia

The Gran Café de la Parróquia is a 200-year old coffehouse facing the docklands of Veracruz.

This is a lechero that was brought out to me as an espresso at the bottom of the glass.  To get milk, one taps the glass to attract the attention of a different waiter (one bearing a steamed milk pitcher).  The pour of hot milk was aggressively high, and yet successful at both frothing the milk and avoiding spillage.  It was quite tasty.

Mexican Clown

This Mexican clown has spectacular make-up.

Sadly, the heat was getting to the glue keeping his nose on, so he was at imminent risk of becoming a sad clown with a sticky nose.

Zócalo Danzón, Veracruz

An elegant couple dances the danzón in the central square of Veracruz.  A live band was set up behind us, and those are the portales of the Palacio Municipal in the background.

The dance and music are complex, and come from Cuba.  It was a joy to see the square fill up with couples as the evening wore on.

Mexican Danzón Harpist

This is no mariachi.

This is one of many members of a danzón band that filtered in and out of the cafe where I had lunch in Veracruz.  This gentleman spent as much time tuning and polishing his harp as he did playing it.

Palacio Municipal, Veracruz

This city hall building forms one side of the lively zócalo of Veracruz.  It's from the 17th century, older than most buildings in both the US and Canada.

Standing Shock Wave

A standing shock wave is seen as a fine line leading outwards from the engine cowling of a 757-200.  It was only visible where the background had varying horizontal contrast, and its position moved forward as the speed decreased during our descent.  This picture is a shadowgraph.

The shock front is illustrated in the wiki diagram explaining supercritical airfoils, and may help you see the effect shown here.

Little Library: Huskies Edition

There are plenty of Little Free Libraries in our neighborhood.  This one began life as a miniature replica of the house behind it, but was poorly waterproofed and was soon holding a shelf of very soggy books.

This replacement has a University of Washington Huskies Football theme, and was cozy and dry when last inspected.

More Granite Mountain

Granite Mountain was foggy with some late blueberries out this late September.  The sun peeked out on occasion, but it was dominantly a misty day.

Late Fall I90 Corridor Hiking

This is the little lake below what is variously described as Crystal Lake (USGS and Google) as well as Evelyn Lake (Bing, with really good imagery).  There was perhaps 4000ft of vertical on this trip.

It is quickly becoming more difficult terrain to visit as winter sets in.  The last trip report I read showed 18 inches of snow before this point on the trail.

Bronze Fonz

Smiling even in terrible weather, the Bronze Fonz perpetually cheers up the Milwaukee riverfront.