Photography – Page 29 – Wandering Dawgs

Sunday Stills – State and Local Parks

July 18, 2024Posted in Photography, WildlifeTagged Custer State Park, Silver Springs State Park, State and Local Parks, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Sunday Stills13 Comments

Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge of State and Local Parks reminded me of some of the wonderful state parks where we have camped on our many RV travels over the years. I had a hard time choosing which parks to feature for this post but I narrowed it down to three of my favorites. These parks are great for a day trip as well as for tent or RV camping.

Stephen C. Foster State Park in Fargo, Georgia

We love this park so much we camped here many times through the years. We enjoyed stopping here on our trips to and from Florida. The park is located in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 17 miles from the nearest highway. There is a small marina with a boat launch as well as canoe and kayak rentals and ranger guided boat trips into the swamp. It’s quiet and off the beaten track.

Silver Springs State Park, Florida

Silver Springs is another state park we visited many times on our RV trips to Florida. Tourists began visiting Silver Springs in late 1800s. The first glass bottom boat tours started taking visitors for rides over the crystal clear springs in the 1870’s. Today Silver Springs is a state park which still operates the famous glass bottom boats. The park also has several hiking and biking nature trails, a museum, a replica of a 19th century settlement called the Cracker Village, and a very nice campground.

Custer State Park, South Dakota

Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument attract many visitors to the Black Hills of South Dakota each year. Another great place to explore is nearby Custer State Park. Visitors can spend a day taking scenic drives on the Wildlife Loop Drive, Iron Mountain Road, and the Needles Highway. The park is also a popular place to camp with several campgrounds to choose from.

Thanks to Terri for her Sunday Stills monthly challenge – State and Local Parks

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #307 – Tourist Attractions Near and Far

July 14, 2024Posted in Photography, Tourist AttractionsTagged Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Tourist Attractions25 Comments

Our guest host Leanne of Leanne Cole asks us to feature tourist attractions. She says”What the normal tourist wants to see is not always what we want.” For this challenge I chose some often overlooked quirky and fun tourist attractions from around the United States and Canada. To see a larger image just click on the image.

These days, Florida’s beaches and Orlando area theme parks are the main tourist attractions that bring people to the Sunshine State. Long before Walt Disney began planning Walt Disney World there were other attractions for tourists. The header image is from the St. Augustine Alligator farm which was founded in 1893. The following gallery features the glass bottom boats in Silver Springs which have been operating since the 1870s, mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs which have been entertaining visitors since 1947, and Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park which has been around since the early 1900’s.

There are museums, factories and distilleries to explore all around the United States. The following gallery features, in clockwise order starting with the upper left image: The Brer Rabbit Museum in Eatonton, Georgia; the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Harlem, Georgia; The Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska; the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota; the UFO museum in Roswell, New Mexico; the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, Georgia; the Tabasco Factory in Avery Island, Louisiana; the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

You can find unusual attractions if you take the time to look around. Shown below are the tree that owns itself in Athens, Georgia; a double-barreled cannon in Athens, Georgia; the eiffel tower with a red cowboy hat in Paris, Texas; the giant duck boot at the L. L. Bean store in Maine; and the southern most point in the continental United States in Key West, Florida.

The following statues are: Andy and Opie in Mt. Airy, North Carolina; John Henry in Talcott, West Virginia; Buddy Holly in Lubbock, Texas; Fisherman’s Memorial in Glouchester, Massachusetts; Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in Hannibal, Missouri.

There are many fun things to see on the way to somewhere else. Here are: Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, Texas; Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota; the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota; the start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

If you enjoy road trips in the United States and are interested in finding other fun roadside attractions, take a look at Roadside America for some ideas.

Many thanks to our guest host for this challenge Lens-Artists #307 – Tourist Attractions

Sunday Stills – Red, White and Blue

July 7, 2024Posted in PhotographyTagged American Flag, Red White and Blue, Stars and Stripes, Sunday Stills20 Comments

Thanks to Terri for her Sunday Stills monthly color challenge for July – Red, White and Blue

Landscapes in the Great Outdoors

July 5, 2024Posted in National Parks, Nature, PhotographyTagged great outdoors, Landscapes, Sunday Stills13 Comments

Terri wraps up her Great Outdoors Sunday Stills photo challenges with the challenge of Landscapes.

America’s National Parks are some of our greatest treasures. Our national parks, monuments and preserves feature many different types of landscapes. The header image is from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, America’s most visited national park. I’ve included a few different landscapes from around the United States.

Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington

Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska

View from Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park, America’s first national park

Shared with Terri’s Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Landscapes of the Great Outdoors

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #306 – Habitat

July 2, 2024July 2, 2024Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Coastal Georgia, Georgia Salt Marsh, Habitat, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, salt marsh34 Comments

Tina’s challenge is to examine the habitats of both humans/and or animals.

A quote from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources tells us that “Georgia’s coastal marshlands encompass approximately 368,000 acres in a four to six mile band behind the barrier islands. Thriving in the waters of the estuaries, these marshes have been identified as one of the most extensive and productive marshland systems in the United States. There are nearly 400,000 acres of coastal marshlands in Georgia which represent a considerable portion of all remaining marshlands along the entire eastern coast of the United States.”

I chose to feature images of some of the birds that feed on the fish, shrimp, snails, and other small creatures that live in the salt marsh. Sometimes I see the birds perched in a tree or on a dock above the marsh as they search for food. It’s fun to watch them wade through the marsh or a creek as they feed.