A New Bridge over the Mississippi

Last week I was on assignment to photograph the new Sauk Rapids bridge over the Mississippi River. This is a view from the Saint Cloud, Minnesota, side looking towards Sauk Rapids.


Here is a view of the Mississippi River and some of the pillars of the new bridge.


There is a park below and on either side of the bridge. Thus this circular access for walkers and non-motorized vehicles was included as part of the bridge.

Here is a view of the circular access from above. My lens is an equivalent of 27 mm and was not wide enough to include the entire structure.

Just happend to catch a bycyclist riding up the ramp.

At the end of the shoot, an airplane flew over the bridge and then made a second pass to see what we were doing.

Christmas in Germany

Liz and I traveled to Passau in the southeast corner of Germany. Three rivers join there. This is the Inn River, one of the three that Liz is by.


Here am I near the same spot as Liz, except the view is down river.


Back in our apartment in the Villa Kunterbunt in Ingolstadt, Liz and I tried to get the feel of being at home during Christmas time.

The communities in Germany celebrate Christmas time by setting up booths in which food & drink, wares, and singing were available. The place where this took place is called the Christkindlesmarkt. The drink is called Gluehwein.

We liked to go window shopping, a favorite outing of the German people, especially on Sunday afternoons. Here is a view of downtown Ingolstadt.

This is a view of a shopping mall next to the main railroad station in Regensburg, Germany.

More Proof of Global Warming

Yesterday I got the oil changed in my car and then made plans to fertilize the lawn and also put the pre-emergent crab grass preventer down. When I awoke this morning and looked out the window, I saw that we were having a blizzard. Well, so much for tending to the lawn for now. But I wanted to get some photographs of the snow. Hopefully, the snow will melt in two or three days. Here's my question: When is global warming going to kick in?

Two Day Visit in Florida

Liz and I decided to visit one of our sons and his wife in Florida. The season was late May but the weather permitted us to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Here we are in a park in front of a large pool.


Traveling down the Atlantic coast, we saw a large number of birds nesting in the trees. We were told that there were a number of alligators there which protected the bird by keeping animals away from the location, that would feast upon the birds.


Here is an amazingly colored bird (I called it a parrot) that I was able to photograph using a telephoto lens.

Liz and I stopped at an alligator farm. While there we saw this stuffed alligator that we could touch. Liz lay down in front of the alligator and pretended that it was attaching her.