Vacation stories/pictures thread

Those may not be up to your standards, but around here, those colors would be spectacular. Especially the last one. WOW

I really like the red and orange blazing trees and they have been few and far between this year. I have not given up and am going to look for some over the next few days.
 
I had plenty of buzzards next door --- they were feasting on the deer that was hit Saturday night. Some were the all black with
red heads, some had white patches on their wings.
Had a blue heron that lived at the pond next door when I lived in East Texas.
 
Since we are talking birds, this is a photo of me feeding my pet (wild) Wood Stork hot dogs. Craziest thing, for what ever reason twice a year he/she comes by for 3 to 4 weeks and I am the only house she comes to. She has been doing this for several years now. She normally shows up each day between 7 am and noon and stays the rest of the day, she may miss a day or two but she always shows back up. Kinda fun. We also have Blue Herons, Green Herons, Louisianan Herons, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Whistler Ducks, flocks of Ibis, Gallanooles and King Fishers coming and going all the time.

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I had plenty of buzzards next door --- they were feasting on the deer that was hit Saturday night. Some were the all black with
red heads, some had white patches on their wings.
Had a blue heron that lived at the pond next door when I lived in East Texas.

I am fascinated with the Turkey Vulture and Black Vulture as they have an interesting social structure and are enjoyable to watch. The Turkey Vulture is bigger than the Black and has a much keener sense of smell. The TV can smell decay right away even in forested areas. The BV has better eyesight but usually follows the TV around as that is the easiest way for it to find food and the BV is more aggressive than the TV. Other differences are the BV has white on the underside of its wing tips and the TV is white across most of the whole bottom.

For years Vultures had a bad name from farmers and others as it was thought that they had killed livestock but they rarely kill anything as they love carrion.
 
Since we are talking birds, this is a photo of me feeding my pet (wild) Wood Stork hot dogs. Craziest thing, for what ever reason twice a year he/she comes by for 3 to 4 weeks and I am the only house she comes to. She has been doing this for several years now. She normally shows up each day between 7 am and noon and stays the rest of the day, she may miss a day or two but she always shows back up. Kinda fun. We also have Blue Herons, Green Herons, Louisianan Herons, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Whistler Ducks, flocks of Ibis, Gallanooles and King Fishers coming and going all the time.

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That is really cool and thanks for sharing.
 
Since we are talking birds, this is a photo of me feeding my pet (wild) Wood Stork hot dogs. Craziest thing, for what ever reason twice a year he/she comes by for 3 to 4 weeks and I am the only house she comes to. She has been doing this for several years now. She normally shows up each day between 7 am and noon and stays the rest of the day, she may miss a day or two but she always shows back up. Kinda fun. We also have Blue Herons, Green Herons, Louisianan Herons, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Whistler Ducks, flocks of Ibis, Gallanooles and King Fishers coming and going all the time.

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How neat!
 
While celebrating Thanksgiving in South West Virginia, we took a ride to Bristol. Guess what happened. We have to go back in August for the night race. Needless to say, we are excited. We had the whole place to ourselves!
 

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A Red Tail Hawk that was difficult to photograph due to the bright sun, the location of the bird plus just the general nature of these creatures is to fly away if they think danger is in the same zip code. I thought of my buddy Wynn from That's Racin' when I saw this old Charger. May he rest in peace.

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I can't remember the last time I saw a Pheasant on the ground but I hit the jackpot in the last couple of days and am out to look for more in the next half hour.

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I have a ton of interests that would bore people to tears and one of them is locating and photographing old bridges preferably no longer in service. I am starting to build up a collection of them and here is one I found recently on a dull gray day. You could not see it from the road but something caught my eye and after getting through some think underbrush I found a cool old bridge that I would estimate to be 100 years old or more. The bridge goes nowhere as there are no roads at either end any longer but after walking across it I saw a way I could get to another spot photograph it from below.

If these sort of pics and subject matter don't hold to the theme of the thread please delete.

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How far away from the Pheasant's?
Great pictures man! :booya:

Thanks a lot and I was in a local fish and wildlife area when I saw them and was able to get within about 15 feet at the closest. I went back today and looked and looked but didn't see anymore. They sure are beautiful birds and I feel really lucky that I got to see them.
 
Another one of my oddities is that I really like urban exploration and would love to go to Varosha in Cypress which has been closed since the 70's and there are new cars rotting away in dealerships. Staying a little closer to home I went back to Gary Indiana yesterday with the main purpose of photographing as many of the closed schools as possible before a grant is given and they are all torn down. Most people think I am crazy to go to Gary and usually I gets asked if I am an scared and my response is always "NO" but I am very aware of who might be behind me or just out of my field of vision. Taking pics is challenging as you can't leave your car unaccompanied and you can't afford to wander off. You have to be hyper vigilant when driving as there are many uninsured drivers and speed limits are not adhered to and on the streets with working traffic signals a red light means nothing

I have all sorts of pics from my visits to Gary but today I will post some of a few of the schools and with most of them they just closed and no one took responsibility for taking anything out of them so desks, books and science equipment was left to rot. I would love to go inside some of these structures but the reality is I am too old to do it on my own as it is a young man's game. I do hope to hook up with some youngsters that will let me tag along. These old schools are great places for mischief, assaults, taking drugs and body dumps as corpses have been found inside of them. It works well in the cooler months as the low temps slow down decomposition but in the hot months.....well never mind.

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I am absolutely fascinated by Varosha. I've always had an interest in old closed or abandoned buildings/structures, especially knowing the history of some of these places. I often find myself on some of the exploration society websites where they take pictures of old factories or whatever. I love that kind of stuff.

The whole Varosha thing is so surreal. The thought of an entire city like that in such a desirable beach location to just waste away.....crazy. If you guys don't know about it, I urge you to google it.
 
I am absolutely fascinated by Varosha. I've always had an interest in old closed or abandoned buildings/structures, especially knowing the history of some of these places. I often find myself on some of the exploration society websites where they take pictures of old factories or whatever. I love that kind of stuff.

The whole Varosha thing is so surreal. The thought of an entire city like that in such a desirable beach location to just waste away.....crazy. If you guys don't know about it, I urge you to google it.

You and I would get along well as I would pay to get inside Varosha and the airport and everything else. Pitcher OK and Centralia PA are cool too.
 
I have a ton of interests that would bore people to tears and one of them is locating and photographing old bridges preferably no longer in service. I am starting to build up a collection of them and here is one I found recently on a dull gray day. You could not see it from the road but something caught my eye and after getting through some think underbrush I found a cool old bridge that I would estimate to be 100 years old or more. The bridge goes nowhere as there are no roads at either end any longer but after walking across it I saw a way I could get to another spot photograph it from below.

If these sort of pics and subject matter don't hold to the theme of the thread please delete.

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I love your photography.
 
I've got a four day break coming up later this month and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I was looking for somewhere with warm weather, but that seems hard to find, especially with the limited time I have. I think I'll probably just embrace the cold weather and spend a few days in Colorado.
 
In my city those of us who live out west are called Westies and today I was right on the west coast about 45 mins from home...or less.
Even tho where I live it is only 8 miles between east and west coast's.

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Damn I want to go fishing but it would be hell pulling my boat down there. Absolutely beautiful @Clutch.
We actually have 2 west coast harbours easy to fish. The Manukau I pass everyday on the way to work and the Kaipara just north a little.
Your catch limit is higher on the west coast but the east coast normally has a gentler sea.
 
Then about the same distance away.... out west I was at Lake Wainamu a few days ago.
A place close to home and one I love going to.
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Out for a fish today and then a picnic / swim with a greetings from San Francisco who works with my wife. She caught that baby hammerhead.
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That baby Hammerhead actually got the last laugh just before I let him go..... He was lip hooked and I held him and as I pried the hook out I accidentally hit his teeth.
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Out for a fish today and then a picnic / swim with a greetings from San Francisco who works with my wife. She caught that baby hammerhead.
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It's WINTER here. :mad::mad::mad::mad::p

Looks like a fun day had by all bud. Also looks like you've lost a few pounds.
 
It's WINTER here. :mad::mad::mad::mad::p

Looks like a fun day had by all bud. Also looks like you've lost a few pounds.
Yeah, the day turned out really well. As for the weight I put on a lot last year... taking some back off now. :)
 
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