Photos

Kennedy Space Center

  • Off topic - Stone Ball

    Instead of a boring fountain, the center had a map of the cosmos carved into a 2 ton granite sphere, suspended and slowly rotating on a water base. With enough force you could spin it a different direction!

  • A Pelican

    "What you lookin' at?"

  • Apollo Guidelines

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

  • Entry

    Right at the entrance, we were greeted by an array of rockets used over the years. The specific names of all the models escape me, but the largest one is the legendary Saturn 5 model - the most powerful machine ever built by man.

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

Oktoberfest 2013

  • Cloudsplitter Gondola

    The quickest way to the top of Little Whiteface! 

  • Yodelers

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

  • Looking down

    Halfway up the mountain, looking down.

  • 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!

  • Alphorns

    The business end of some of these horns. Looking east.

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

  • Worker's Desk
  • Abandoned Excavator

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

  • Bathroom and Sink

    Likely decimated by vandals.

  • Another office.

    Some sort of office area, completely rotted out.

  • Outside

    The office/bathroom is inside this building, and the first building in the album is visible through the trees in the background.

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!