Thankful by Dave Hileman

“Gratitude exclaims... 'How good of God to give me this.' Adoration says, 'What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!' One's mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun.”

― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

Bruton Parrish Church, Willimasburg, Virginia completed in 1715.

Something Different by Dave Hileman

I retired this past weekend. Some photos from the evening where they celebrated those years at Waypoint. It was a very special evening.

They gave us a trip to Disney!

Son, Geof spoke, nice surprise.

Quiet by Dave Hileman

This small structure is off the main street and behind other buildings. So it is easy to walk down the street in Williamsburg and not see these structures or some of the neat gardens. That’s too bad. It is worth poking around the corners and opening gates.

Edge by Dave Hileman

This is a bit of forest with the sun going down and igniting a carpet of orange. This was along a battlefield road in Yorktown National Balttlefield.

Eastern Screech Owl by Dave Hileman

This little guy is a denizen of Jamestown Island in Virginia along the James River. He inhabits this specific tree and likes to perch on the edge of the tree, but if you get too close he drops down into the tree. Dennis Mook of The Wandering Lensman and I were shooting photos one morning and he knew about the owl and, fortunately, the owl was home that morning.

Oops by Dave Hileman

Clearly I forgot to post some of the photos from the massive celebration for the 300th park. No expenses were spared on the celebration signs.

Lots of ice cream of course

Massive beverages

And a few fans (of Cadillac)

Formidable Wall by Dave Hileman

Hiking on the Golden Canyon trail in Death Valley National Park leads to a fork in the trail where you can go to the right and continue up to a plateau and it is the way I hiked one time when I was here before, or to the left. I chose the left route because I wanted to see “the Red Cathedral’ and we were not planning to hike the whole length of the trail up the to highway. This way the hike was just a three mile out and back. The Red Cathedral wall is impressive.And with the late afternoon sun the red was vivid. Great hike, hot even in April. This shot is a panorama with five photos merged into a single wide shot.

Ursus arctos horribilis by Dave Hileman

This is the first bear we spotted in Denali National Park. He was spotted from the bus at about 40 feet. I posted a shot of him a long time ago but I like the processing on this one much more. Besides, who can get enough bear? Plus you get a little Latin lesson. The educational value of this blog is unsurpassed.

Peek by Dave Hileman

I am woking on some older photos that have been neglected or in some cases very poorly processed and I came across this Willow Ptarmigan from the Wonder Lake area of Denali. Most of the Ptamigans we saw were on the road or in the open tundra, but this guy was a bit shy. I really like the startled look the eye ring gives to this most colorful bird.