Photos

Kennedy Space Center

  • Lucky Shot!

    A gull dive-bombing to catch a fish, at the moment of impact. Took quite a few trys to capture this!

  • Saturn 5 Rocket Base

    The business end of a decomissioned Saturn 5. Walking the length of this rocket takes minutes! 20 tons of fuel per minute would flow through here.

  • Another Crawler

    Another one of NASA's land crawlers, hiding inside.

  • Space Shuttle Atlantis

    The retired Space Shuttle Atlantis. 'Murica!

  • Crawler

    One of NASA's two land crawlers, currently being outfitted for SpaceX missions.

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

Oktoberfest 2013

  • Olympic Ski Jumps

    Not the best photo, but I think it came out alright considering the range was about 12 miles.

  • Almost to the top!

    Nearly there! And an amazing view of the surrounding mountains.

  • 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!

  • Yodeler Show

    Inside the Whiteface Lodge, the Yodelers teamed up with a traditional German band, DSB die Schlauberger.

  • Ticket

    My "Cannon" and my ticket.

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

  • 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.

  • Worker's Desk
  • Machine Shop

    Judging from the abundance of 440 volt hookups in the building, this likely was some sort of machine shop.

  • Entrance

    Entrance to the facility - and my car!

  • 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!