Longwood gardens

On a cold and rainy day in early December,  Jim and I joined the Coastal Camera Club on a bus trip to Longwood Gardens.  We had tripod permits to use in taking pictures in the beautiful conservatory which is where we began our day:

Poinsettias abound!   

   
     

Entering the Conservatory....wow!

So many beautifully decorated Christmas trees!

Lillies in the winter....

Birds of paradise

There is a large area of only orchids

I shoot many windows in the Conservatory.  This day they were looking out to fog and grayness.

Our challenge was to shoot abstracts

Inside the house it was warm and interesting.

Stairways

fog

One morning this week we found ourselves out early in the fog.  We located Millsboro Pond, loved the way the fog played with reflections, and started to shoot.  I was using my iPad.

Still seeing some color.

Practicing panning

Submitted this one for competition

Trap pond park on a pontoon boat

This week the Coastal Camera Club had a field trip to Trap Pond State Park. Jim and I rode Loblolly Trail on our bikes and took a pontoon boat ride to capture Fall colors.  All in all, a good trip.  Temps in the 60s and sunny.

    

Biking along the trail we were traveling under trees that provided beautiful shaded color.

We came across Bethesda Church which was rebuilt after it had come into total disrepair.  Looking in the windows, I saw the remnants of a past wedding.

Everywhere,  I tried to capture the colors of the leaves on the trees.

The reflection of this church window is of the trees outside.

More color

On the pontoon boat we encountered more color and stunning reflections.

Beautiful day.

Furnace Town

One of our October photo shoots with the Coastal Camera Club was to Furnace Town, a restored area depicting the site devoted to the manufacture of iron ore in the late 1800s.  As usual, we carried a list of scavenger hunt photos to shoot.  Among these pictures are items from my list.  Can you identify them?  

His and Her outhouse, Wash tub, Woven basket, Blacksmith, Oil lamp, Organ, Bird house, Flower pots, Broom

    

Large furnace

red doors

inside the church

 

Love this wreath!

 

working with this spider web

punch of red

inside the building with the looms

Fun day!

Traveling on......to Colorado

Our final big jaunt this year was to Colorado for a reunion with dear friends in Monument, then onto Pagosa Springs for adventures in southern Colorado.

The ladies stayed with Donna while Mike and the guys stayed elsewhere and spent the four days hiking and sight seeing around Colorado Springs.

Jim loves the red rocks and took many pictures of them.

Our first trip with the Divas was to Pikes Peak, traveling on the cog railroad.  And yes, I did whiff the oxygen when we got to the top.

We traveled on this train up, up, up to 15,000'

We could have walked out onto the clouds!  Also, there was a gift shop on top as well as hot donuts!

Another trip was to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument where petrified tree stumps such as this one have been preserved and protected.

Our last evening was spent eating out and planning the photo book we will dedicate to Barb.

On we traveled to Durango

where we boarded a bus to Silverton and trained back to Durango. The train pulled right into the middle of Silverton!

Here we go on a thrilling three hour ride in an open car, all the better to photograph the steep cliffs we passed through.

In Mesa Verde National Park, Jim hiked to Balcony House, one of the cliff dwellings built centuries ago.

Pagosa Springs

Chimney Rock

Pagosa Peak as seen on a four hour tour through the San Juan Forest which surrounds Pagosa Springs.

On this Jeep tour we drove through a ghost town called Pagosa Junction.  Pagosa means "healing".

We also drove on reservation land.

And saw elk!  Note the alpha male.

This was our view from our back porch where each morning we watched hot air balloon launches.

And on our last day we watched a festival of many balloons being launched.