Photos

Kennedy Space Center

  • Space Shuttle Atlantis

    The retired Space Shuttle Atlantis. 'Murica!

  • 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.

  • A Pelican

    "What you lookin' at?"

  • Saturn 5, second stage
  • Seaside Bunker

    Looking out into the Atlantic, one of the main launch platforms would have been behind me. According to our guide this little bunker was used to house sensitive equipment for detecting electricity in the air, as lightning is a grave threat to launches.

Last November, I had the opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, while visiting relatives living in the area.
Fri, 01/17/2014 - 10:11
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Oktoberfest 2013

  • Locking horns
  • Horn artwork

    Very pretty!

  • Yodelers

    A group of 3 yodelers and their alphorns, these instruments were traditionally used for communicating mountaintop to mountaintop in the past.

  • Base camp

    A better view of the festivities below. The line across the picture is the arm-size cable hauling our gondola to the summit.

  • Cloudsplitter Gondola

    The quickest way to the top of Little Whiteface! 

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.

Thu, 10/17/2013 - 09:47
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Exploring Benson Mines

  • Machine Shop

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

  • 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.

  • No Entrance

    Back door to the machine shop.

  • Abandoned Excavator's Engine
  • 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!
Tue, 10/01/2013 - 09:26
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