Downtown Denver - Holiday Lights

We haven't been out much since the Salton Sea Road Trip. It is getting colder and Colorado is back on 'Safer at Home'. So, we are doing our part. A quick trip to Mike's Camera and we are now the proud parents of 2 7-14 MM F2.8 ultra wide lenses for the Olympus kits. I know what I said, one lens to rule them all for the travel camera. I have no control and neither does Erich. For their inaugural expedition we took them out to downtown Denver to catch the Holiday lights and see how well the low light capability is. Pretty awesome I must say!

We headed out to Denver late in the afternoon and started at Larimer Square. The roads were blocked off to traffic and I think they should make that permanent. There was outdoor dining areas set up and pop up bars. People were standing in line and not really social distancing, for the most part they were wearing masks though. We walked down the 16th Street Mall and over to the Pavilion. No Parade of Lights this year, but we did see a few floats scattered about.

After stopping for a coffee, we trekked over to Union Station after first discovering the Byron White Courthouse. We have been all around the area and this was the first time we had seen the courthouse - super cool! Union Station was all lit up outside and there were plenty of people to make us feel like we were entering a super spreader event. We did our best to stay clear of the would be virus carriers. Inside the station we took a break and took a few shots to try out how well suited the new lenses are for interiors. I though it did quite well considering it is really hard to shoot the inside of Union Station. They always have a bunch of stuff in the center. The was a tree all decorated and there were shuffle board tables (why?) leading to the tree. The area around the tree was blocked off creating a terrible traffic flow. I made the best of it. I just love the period furniture and the vintage lighting.

Camera: Olympus EM 1 Mark III / 7-14 mm F2.8

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Baalbek Lebanon - Virtually Via Google Earth

At lunch today I went to Baalbek, Lebanon by way of Google Earth. Super cool to explore - there are quite a few virtual tours of the ruins. Not being able to travel is bringing me down. We have a trip scheduled to Israel and Jordan in September. I am not holding my breath that we will be able to go with all of the travel restrictions due to the pandemic. So, to get my travel and exploration fix, I went virtual. The place was pretty empty of people, shelter in place I guess...haaa. I was armed with my SnagIt camera and took pictures of what I would take. Pretty fun! Baalbek is an ancient Phoenician city located in what is now modern-day Lebanon, north of Beirut, in the Beqaa Valley. Inhabited as early as 9000 BCE, Baalbek grew into an important pilgrimage site in the ancient world for the worship of the sky-god Baal and his consort Astarte, the Queen of Heaven in Phoenician religion (the name 'Baalbek' means Lord Baal of the Beqaa Valley). The center of the c

Black Canyon - Colorado Road Trip

In order to avoid people during this pandemic and get our photo geek we went on a mid-week road trip to the Gunnison area. I have been wanting to go out there for a while now but for some reason I thought it was far away, like Durango far. Gunnison is only 6 hours from Denver. We took the non-interstate highways, which is always a nicer ride. The last road trip, to Vernal, Utah, we stayed at a hotel with a kitchen so we could cook our meals. Not a lot of options in Montrose or Gunnison. We stayed at our first AirBnB. With all the travel we do you would think we would have done this before. We found a cabin on a horse farm just outside of Montrose. So cool!! Erich bought an RTIC cooler...much bigger than the Yeti and cheaper! It was filled to the brim with breakfast, lunch and dinners. No grocery shopping on this trip. The truck was full, we brought a ton of stuff. Both coolers, all our camera gear, lawn chairs (which we used at the Crystal Mill), 5 gallons of water, luggage an

On Safari at the Denver Zoo

The Denver Zoo has been struggling since the pandemic and stay at home orders. Just bringing in enough money to care for the animals has been a strain. In order to reopen the zoo needed to put some social distancing measures in place and I must say they did a fantastic job. Reservations are required with timed entry and enforcement of 50% capacity. Foot traffic was one way and the routes were clearly marked making it easy to navigate. The indoor exhibits remain closed. We chose to take a Friday off for our safari, with a 9:00 am reservation. We wanted to make sure we gained entry early to view the animals before the temperatures began to soar. We have been experiencing a heat wave in Colorado, temperatures in the upper 90s. It has been baking hot! Camera: FujiFilm XT3 - 100-400 mm

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