The G-Line finally opened to Arvada and Wheatridge this weekend. On a whim, I decided to try the free rides on this new line. Fortunately, this afternoon there were no long lines to check out the new line. It was windy this afternoon, with snow and rain in the forecast for the start of the week. Probably discouraged people from riding today!
I rode from Union Station to the end of the line at Wheatridge. It was amazing to see how large the metro area has grown. The first part of the journey was past the existing railroad and marshaling yards in Denver. At the end of the line, I waited for the return train and got off at Olde Town Arvada.
Track Bone Sculpture, Old Town Arvada.
Although I have passed through Arvada in years past, I had never been to Olde Town. Outside the station is the “Track Bone” sculpture, that was carved from red granite that I captured above. Wandering around, I found this lady waiting by the sculpture and included her in the composition.
Waiting By The Track Bone.
During the next half hour or so, I meandered through the streets exploring the area. One restaurant patio was enclosed with plastic sheeting, that provided some interesting distorted reflections of the street.
Plastic Sheet Window, Arvada.
Exploring farther, I found an inevitable mural that was partially lit by the evening sunlight. Clouds moved through the sky and, after a few minutes, provided softer lighting for this simple mural.
Olde Town (Arvada).
Returning back to the station, the setting sun passed through gaps in the Track Bone, that I captured in the following image.
Track Bone Light.
On the top surface of the Track Bone, the red granite has been polished to a mirror-like finish. This allows some reflections to be made.
Track Bone Granite Reflections.
After waiting some 10 minutes, another train arrived for the return trip to Union Station.
G-Line, Arriving At Arvada.
People have been waiting for a long time for the G-Line to open — two years. I overheard several folks who are now happy that the line is open.
Th weather cast for yesterday (Easter Sunday) called for clouds and rain. After a cloudless sky in the early morning, the cloud bank and cold front could be seen over the mountains. This promised to be be good weather for making some images of murals in the Rino District. Soon after I arrived, the clouds moved in, removing harsh shadows in the alleys. The twin towers of the Dry Ice Factory caught the sun, creating a great contrast against the dark clouds.
Dry Ice Factory Towers And Approaching Storm.
The streets and alleys of the Rino District is home to many murals. These can change frequently as mural artists work their magic during the year. This is one mural that I had not seen before. I like the streaks of paint that slid down the wall, partially covering the yellow undercoat.
Yellow Streaked Wall, Tree And Window.
Many of the buildings are relatively new and have many interesting architectural features. The hex panels of this building hide some the stairs behind.
Hex Panels And Stairs.
This image appears to be incomplete. I don’t know whether the artist will be doing more work on the portrait below. It is amazing how the few brush strokes in the alley, create an interesting and expressive face
Portrait Mural Outline.
I found an interesting doorway that was painted a matt black color. The steel-work of the gateway was partially painted in pink, to create a dramatic contrast against the black.
Pink And Black Gate.
A short distance away is another gate or fence that includes a 3-D element of the sculpture with the mural.
Mural And Sculpture In Alley.
In one of the alleys behind the Central Market, is one area that I have visited several times in the past. Apart from the stunning murals in this section, I like the arrangement and neat installation of the conduits in front of the murals.
Mural And Conduits In The Alley.
A gusty wind started up, with some spots or rain, so I decided to head back the car. Along the way, I found these four barrels
Four Barrels.
Farther along, I noticed a building with peeling stucco over brickwork — a local pot shop — I soon discovered.
Brick And Peeling Stucco.
Finally, I had parked across the road from a mural of an airplane against this stunning blue wall.
Blue Wall And Airplane In The Sky.
That’s all the images for now. It never did get to rain during the day, with the weather clearing later in the afternoon. However, during the night we did get some light rain.
Yesterday, I continued on my South Platte River images. I continued making images north of the I-25 bridge that was the subject of a previous visit. Elitch Gardens was busy, with many people enjoying the thrills of the rides. I made this image of the towers from some of the rides. This one works best in monochrome.
Elitch Towers.
Heading further north, I passed under the Speer Blvd bridge over the river.
Speer Bridge Over Platte River.
Commons Park is close by this location. In the park are these stairs. I never see many people making use of this feature! It seems that people prefer to make use of the trail running through the park, or climbing the adjacent lawned hill!
Steps In Commons Park.
Farther along the river I crossed to the west bank of the river. Heading back on this side of the river, I found these globes embedded in a low wall.
Riverside Globes.
Here we are back under the Speer Blvd bridge. By this time, the sun had dropped below the cloud back, to light up the underside of the bridge. I included the orange float in a composition that showed the reflections of the bridge steel work in the river.
Bridge And Float Reflections.
In this final image, the low sun lit up the various towers and rides in Elitch Gardens. The colors were reflected in the river.
Elitch Gardens Tower Reflections In Platte River.
After walking for 3 miles, I got back to the car and was glad to take a break for my feet!
Clouds, rain and storms were forecast yesterday for the Eastern Plains. So I headed out towards Bennett and was not disappointed.
Approaching Storm, CR 162.
I made several images along County Road 162, hoping to capture big skies and weather. This was what I came for!
Sky And Trees, CR-162.
Nearby, there were trees in a gully just below the ridge line. A monochrome image did justice to this image.
Trees Below The Ridge Line.
After passing through Kiowa, I headed south. There were many snow banks remaining from the winter storms in the shaded north facing slopes in this area. There is bridge over Bijou Creek where I stopped. The blue and white cloudy sky was reflected in the running water of the creek.
West Bijou Creek, CR-102.
Earlier in the day, I had seen some image with ICM (intentional camera movement). ICM generally works best with low light levels. This allows long shutter speeds to be achieved without filters. In this case, I stopped the aperture down and panned the camera horizontally for this image.
Eastern Plains Horizon Blur.
It was getting late in the day, so I turned back towards Kiowa. While driving, the sun dropped below the clouds to reveal a fabulous sunset just before I reached the water tower for Kiowa. The tower is located on high ground. From this point, one can see the Rocky Mountains on the horizon.
Kiowa, Water Tower.
I had a choice of two routes back home; west through Kiowa facing direct sun or north to Bennett. So it was north. After a few minutes driving, I was rewarded with clouds lit by the setting sun.
Setting Sun Lighting Up The Clouds, Kiowa.
After making this image, I turned around. By this time, the sun was lighting up another cloud bank on the east.
Westerly Creek is one location that has a variety of bird life at this time of the year. This last weekend, we spent a couple of hours viewing and photographing birds along the creek. After arriving there, we immediately spotted a Double-Crested Cormorant swimming in the creek.
Cormorant Swimming, Westerly Creek.
Cormorants frequently dive for food. They have to spread their wings to allow the water to flow off their wings. Typically, they do this when they get to dry land.
Cormorant, Spreading Wings, Westerly Creek, No 1.
I suspect that spreading wings is part of attracting mates during the breeding period.
In the image below, one can see the double crest on the sides of the bird’s face. This is a feature that only appears during the breeding season.
Double-Crested Cormorant, Westerly Creek.
As we walked along the creek, we heard the call of the Meadow Larks in the grassland. These birds have arrived back to the metro area for the Spring and Summer months. We were fortunate that this bird allowed us to get really close. With all the people making use of the open space around the creek, these birds are accustomed to people passing by.
Meadow Lark, Westerly Creek, No 1.
Angela also heard the call of a Say’s Phoebe, so we went looking for the bird. This bird was busy feeding on insects and returning to perch on the tree.
Say’s Phoebe, Westerly Creek, No 1.
Here is another image that I made as the bird faced towards the afternoon sunlight.
Say’s Phoebe, Westerly Creek, No 2.
In total, we saw about 20 species close to the creek. This included a flock of about 100 Red-Winged Blackbirds perched in a few closely spaced trees.
The final leg of our trip was the journey from Dunedin to Christchurch. We left in the early morning, with low cloud at Dunedin. We stopped at Moeraki Beach, where several round boulders may be found on the beach. These boulders are almost perfect spheres, 4-6 feet in diameter.
Moeraki Boulders On The Beach. The Beach.
Here is another image of the boulders.
Moeraki Boulders, No 2.
Several of the boulders had broken in smaller fragments. I included these fragments in the following image.
Moeraki Boulders, And Split Boulder.
The next stop was at Oamaru. It was Sunday when we arrived, so the town was busy. We made our way towards the sea and found some parking close to one of the piers. This pier was closed to human traffic and several hundred shags (similar to cormorants) were roosting here. I found this pair that were close enough and not sleeping!
Shags At Pier, Oamaru.
There were the occasional gulls intermixed among the shags. This one had perched on one of the posts.
Gull At Pier, Oamaru.
New Zealand has a relatively small population (about 5 million). However, there are over 70 million sheep and several millon cows. Stopping along the roadside for a driving break, we found these three cows!
Three New Zealand Cows.
We continued on to Christchurch to spend the night, before flying back to Sydney the next day.
During our New Zealand trip, we left Queenstown on our way to Dunedin. This is a really pretty drive that took a few hours to complete — we stopped at several places. At one stop, I found an abandoned farm house, with an NZ flag painted on the wall
New Zealand Garage Door.
Later we stopped in the town of Lawrence, where a discovered a red bicycled stapled to the wall of a building in the main street.
Red Bicycle, Lawrence, New Zealand.
We arrived in Dunedin later that afternoon. The following day we made a trip to the Royal Albatross Center. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, a breeding research program was conducted to study the Royal Albatross. These magnificent birds have a wing span of 8-10 feet and spend much of their lives out at sea. During the NZ birds breed at the reserve during the NZ summer. They return to breed every 2 years. While visiting, several albatrosses made flight passes over the visitor center; I managed to capture one decent image.
Royal Albatross In Flight, Dunedin.
After visiting the center, we made our way around the Otago Bay, passing through Dunedin and heading to Port Chalmers. This is one of the ports serving NZ. During the afternoon, we saw one container ship leaving port. I explored the bay, finding several boat houses along the shore. I loved the rusty patina on the roof of this house.
Boat House, Port Chalmers.
There are several boat houses along the shore, rust included.
Red Boat House Wall And Ladder.
In the following image, I created a simple composition the blue and white wall, including the obligatory rusty patches.
Blue House Boat Wall, Port Chalmers.
I zoomed in to capture the roof detail of this house, with contrasting red, white and blue colors.
Red Roof, Port Chalmers.
We continued along the bay road until we reached the breakwater (or mole) at the entrance to the bay. Here we walked out for about a mile or so until we reached the end of the breakwater. I made some images of the ocean waves crashing onto the rocks.
Last week, after Aniela’s wedding, we made a side trip to New Zealand. After landing at Christchurch, we headed down to Queenstown. We made a reservation for a trip to Milford Sound. The coach trip to Milford Sound was 4 hours. We stopped at several points along the route. I made this image soon after sunrise, with the sun shining through the remains of low cloud in the valley
Sunrise, En Route To Milford Sound.
We boarded the boat and headed out into Milford Sound. After leaving the port, we passed one of the waterfalls that empty into the Sound.
Waterfalls In Milford Sound.
Milford Sound is actually a fjord. The trip through Milford Sound is spectacular, with the boat sailing along the southern shore of the fjord.
Milford Sound.
After a couple of hours we reached the entrance to the Sound at the Tasman Sea. At this point we turned around to head back. On the return trip, we headed back along the northern shore of the fjord. Here we stopped near to a waterfall that generates a lot of spray as the water tumbles down the fjord walls.
More Waterfalls In Milford Sound.
The pilot navigate the bow of the boat as close to the waterfalls so that the passengers could experience the water spray. Here is Angela appreciating the view from the stern of the boat. That waterfall can be seen in the background with another boat nosing into the waterfall spray!
Angela, Milford Sound.
One of the other boats made the way into bay on the north side. This boat is dwarfed by the height of the steep fjord walls.
Ship In Milford Sound.
Here is an panoramic image that I made near the stern of the boat.
Returning To Port, Milford Sound, No 2.
This is the final image that I made just before docking into the the port.
