Photos

Kennedy Space Center

  • Facility Panorama (Click the full-size image for a better view)

    A panorma with a view of several facilities. The location this was shot from was formerly a public viewing area for space launches, but has been deemed too dangerous since then.

  • Motor Closeup

    The business end of this rocket looks more like a tangled mess of tubes and wires, but its a very advanced and complicated machine.

  • Apollo Guidelines

    A list of mission status and abort codes from the Apollo era. View full size to read it.

  • Birds!

    That's the last of the space pictures, I took a few quick shots of birds outside my hotel a few days later on the same trip.

  • Lightning Towers

    3 lightning towers designed to direct bolts away from the launch pad that they surround.

Last November, I had the opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, while visiting relatives living in the area.

Oktoberfest 2013

  • Selfie!

    This guy was awesome.

  • Yodeling

    We met our yodeling friends from earlier, they were demonstrating how sound from their alphorns could be bounced off other mountains and heard echoing. Very neat demo!

  • Tribute

    A tribute to soldiers of a local division in WWII, a gift from Italy.

  • Whiteface Lodge

    Deck of the Whiteface Lodge, at the foot of Little Whiteface and Whiteface mountains

  • Up the cloudsplitter!

    Can't beat that view! This is why I love the Adirondacks.

Every October, the ski resort at Whiteface Mountain has a small Oktoberfest. Traditional German music, food, beer, and demonstrations are featured, and many local vendors come to show off their homemade crafts.

This is the first time I've gone in many years, and the first time I went being older than 21! It's a ton of fun and is definitely worth checking out if you're in the area during the skiing offseason.

Exploring Benson Mines

  • Office Building

    One of the few two-story buildings, with major fire damage inside.

  • Ore Silos

    Rusting silo between concrete silos for holding iron ore. It looked like there was more machinery on top of the silos that had rusted away and collapsed.

  • Burned Steps

    Even older looking stairs - the mine has history back to the 1800s, but this is probably not that old. The building on top of it appears to have burned, leaving behind electric wires and boxes.

  • Abandoned Excavator

    ...With no bucket. Likely a Massey Ferguson 450.

  • Overgrown

    Tree blocking a doorway.

Benson Mines is a long-abandoned iron mine near Watertown, NY. The mine was shut down in 1978 and the buildings and have been completely abandoned ever since. Abandoned man-made structures are my favorite to take pictures of, so I couldn't resist exploring!