Category: Landscapes

Sequoia, Giant Forest

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

The beautiful redwood trees are HUGE, unless you see them it is hard to imagine the size them. To think that there are people who think they should be cut down. I am blown away of the majesty of the trees. General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park  it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth.

Height 83.8 m (275 ft), Diameter 7.7 m (25 ft), Volume of trunk 1,487 m3 (52,500 cu ft), Date seeded 700BC – 300BC

The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within the Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above mean sea level. The giant sequoia tree is the most massive species of tree on earth and they are impressive for sure.

We caught up with a group of people who had a guide with them and so we discovered this three that you could crawl into and you could also see though the tree to the side and the top of the trunk a hollow tree. One more thing to be amazed about.

Memories from 1990’s

Sequoia National Park

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

We arrived to Three Rivers at dusk so the only thing was to book ourselves into a motel and find a place to eat. There was nothing to take photos at this time.

Next day we are meeting old friends and heading to the Sequoia National Park to see the beautiful red woods, mountains. These are from the way up. I mean really, this is such a lovely place. I have tons of photos from out trip up, so be prepared to be overloaded with natures wonders. Art form that I so appreciate.

On the Road #2

Landscapes, Travel, Traveling US

I loved spotting the trees on the rolling hills. Considering I took these from a moving car I think they came out rather good. For some reason this kind of images appeal to me. I often take photos of a lonely tree of few trees? Do you have a favorite topic you come back to?

Tree on a hill

All the rolling hills on this part of the drive appeal to my aesthetic sensibilities 🙂

On the road

Landscapes, Travel, Traveling US

My dairy of our trip continues, as we left Las Vegas. We started our road trip first destination was Three Rivers in California. Here are some shot taken from the drive, you quest it, there might be a # 2 and even #3 for this topic too.

We sure were happy that on this Friday we were heading out of Las Vegas as the traffic towards was rather congested. Nice long lines of cars. This was to be our longest drive at one time the following stops we had planned to be shorter. So we listened to music, looked at the changing scenery and I took photos from the moving car 🙂

Sunset at Goa

Landscapes, Travel
Chapora River sunset

I have to say this is one of the most memorable sunset I’ve witnessed. Chapora River sunset in India.

Lake Mead

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Bootleg Canyon were the destinations on one of the days during our visit to Las Vegas. These all happened on on the same day, but I am going to post them one by one, because I have so many pictures to share. I have some great memories or shoud I say memorable memories from Lake Mead, Once we were caught in a sandstorm and hide in the water with just our head out of water. I nearly lost may angles – life during a water ski accident… Yeah I remember this place.

Mount Charleston

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

This place is about hour and half away from Las Vegas and it baffles me that even the locals do not visit it that often. Lovely , cooler nature sanctuary form the hotness of the town. Mount Charleston, it was on the second day of our trip that we decided to refresh our memories from this place. It was worth the drive. We drove to Mt. Chaleston lodge that is hidden at elevation 7,000 feet among the juniper and sweet ponderosa pine of Kyle Canyon.

Valley of Fire~5

Landscapes, Nature, Traveling US

my last post, for now , from Valley of fire. I thought we could do with a splash of warm orange hues, sunshine and warmth that has been in these photos. Sorry for the overload. This also works as my diary I gather my memories here. So these are smaller details, textures from this location and a bird and a lizard.

Valley of Fire~2

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

Valley of Fire consists of bright red Aztec sandstone outcrops nestled in gray and tan limestone mountains.  The sandstone is from the Jurassic period and is the remnant of the sand left behind by the wind after inland seas subsided and the land rose. Early man moved into southern Nevada as far back as 11,000 years ago. The most obvious evidence of occupation from about 2,500 years ago. Here is the first set of photos 🙂

Valley of Fire~1

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

Valley of fire in Mojave Desert in Nevada. It had been about 35 years since my previous visit to this colorful place of red Aztec sandstone outcrops nestled in gray and tan limestone mountains.

The area plant community is dominated by widely spaced creosote bush, burro bush and brittlebush. Several cactus species, including beaver tail and cholla, are also common

Cactus

Las Vegas Desert

Landscapes, Nature, Travel, Traveling US

The second day we where contemplating as what to do. As stated we do not gamble so instead of heading to the casinos we went to see sights. Our first place to visit was Valley of Fire in the Mojave Desert. It is unbelievable that in the middle of the desert you can find these beautiful red rock formations. I will post several post from there as I did take so many photos of this colorful place.

These photos are from the drive through the “normal” Las Vegas desert with the mountains surrounding it beautifully. It does not look that spectacular, but if you look closely you can see beauty here too. What do you think, have I captured beauty of the desert?

Sunset

Landscapes, Nature, Photography

Beauty, majestic nature. Just beautiful, sunset at sequoia. All unedited photos 😀.

Lake Mead and Hoover dam

Landscapes, Photography, Travel

Today we visited lake Mead and Hoover dam, it was not and warm even though it is October. I only took few photos with my mobile. Here is some pre photos as I will empty my camera when I get home

Busy

Landscapes, Nature, Photography

I have been busy. I took up sculpture and painting again. Also planning our next trip. So I have not been active taking photos. Fall is here again so one for the road. Monday we are flying to LA and Las Vegas. I’m sure I will post some pictures taken with my mobile phone.

On the road

Landscapes

It has been once again a day of rain and sunshine. Mostly rain. I drove to Lohja Hospital to have a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of my foot that has bothered me for a year and a half now. Hopefully after these new ones they will know what to do with it. Operation or just continue as it is… well this is not what my picture are about. As I said I drove there, it was through the country roads and this is what I tooks photos of. Our ever changing clouds

Sailing

Landscapes, Photography

Today is supposedly the last day of summer according to article I read in the paper. The rains are coming down on us from tomorrow. Lets see what happens…

But in the mean while here is a photo I want to share. I am starting my fall by taking on painting again and I will also start to study / do sculpture after few years of doing nothing on either of these hobbies of mine. And the photo – I thought I would use this photo as an inspiration on my first painting.

Mist

Landscapes

I am repeating myself quit a bit, but cant help myself. I love the mist in August. Obviously I have tons of photos of it. Some better than others. Here are some, surprise, surprise from our summer house.

Misty August evening

Landscapes

I love the soft and sweet August light, the mist that comes after the rain and the colors of it. One again I spent a weekend at my summer place. I have gotten to the habit of leaving my computer home so I do not end up by mistake spending hours on it. These are from Saturday evening.

Soft light
MIST

Traveling Eastern Finland #3½

Landscapes, Nature, Photography, Travel

These are photos I took of the Imatra Rapids before the flow started. The colors on the rock formation and reflection were lovely a joy to the eyes

Imatrankoski

Traveling Eastern Finland #3

Landscapes, Photography, Travel

We drove to Imatra in the afternoon our aim to see the Imatrankoski flow, (“The Imatra Rapid”) is a rapid on the Vuoksi River in Imatra. It has been a famous tourist attraction since the late 1700s. The Vuoksi River and Imatrankoski were born about 5,000 BP as the waters of the Saimaa Lake penetrated the Salpausselkä ridge due to post-glacial rebound, forming a river flowing into the Lake Ladoga.It is also one of the National landscapes of Finland. Since 1929 the rapid has been blocked by a dam . Today, the dam is opened daily between June and August at 6 PM with the music of Sibelius playing in the background. Not that you can hear it down stream where we wnnt to watch it. The raw power of the water is awesome.