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These are among the first pictures with the new camera. There were a bunch of "return to sender" letters scattered on the sidewalk and Worth St. downtown. The yellow "return to" stickers were dated July 26th, so the letters were recently mailed. Norman Goodman is County Clerk and Commissioner of Jurors, for New York County.
The penultimate photo.
The end.
My camera started acting up the last couple of days I was in Alaska. The lens cover, which turns it on and off, kept getting stuck. I could live with the problem since I don't usually have the need to take quick pictures. Over the past week the camera started to worsen. The on/off switch was so sensitive it would turn off as I went to take a picture. In addition the camera started to get warm when left on for a few minutes. On Friday night a new phenomenon occurred. I turned the camera on and couldn't turn it off. I sat on a bench in Tompkins Square Park for a long time trying to close the lens cover. It wasn't moving and I didn't want to force it. I took a few long exposures of flowers and then got the black screen of death.
Saturday afternoon I said good-bye Canon PowerShot S45 and hello Canon PowerShot S70, the great-grandchild of the S45. I considered going with a cheaper entry-level camera like the A520, as a new camera wasn't in my budget plan. However, I didn't like the lack of manual controls and the A520 uses a different memory card. The S70 uses the same cards and batteries as the S45 so I didn't have to get any extra accessories.
So, the photography continues, with 75% more pixels!
Chugach Mountains
Worthington Glacier terminus.
Red Algae grows in the snow.
Ice worms eat the red algae.
The last 80 miles of the drive into Valdez is spectacular. The road is surrounded by mountains, a glacier terminates near the highway, you cross Thompson Pass, and pass through a narrow canyon before arriving at Valdez Arm and Prince William Sound beyond. I uploaded a big 360 degree panorama to flickr, along with many other photos.
Wrangell Mountains from the Richardson Highway.
There's almost no improved rest areas along the highways in Alaska. Instead there are many pull-outs where you can stop and admire the view. I stopped at this one to take in Mt. Wrangell, an active volcano. "Wow, what a sight." I thought.
Then I looked down:
Unrelated: I knew I should have taken photos of these driftwood sculptures while on a bike ride Sunday morning.
Quaking Aspens
More.
What to do with your old dog sled.
Clearly, Run-DMC never vacationed here.
The route along the Glenn Highway from Palmer to Glenallen is pretty scenic. The road heads east along the Matanuska Valley until you reach its beginning at the Matanuska Glacier. I wanted to hike up to the glacier but you have to cross someone's property and they charge you for the privilege. Since I'd be seeing Worthington Glacier later in the day it wasn't worth the price.
While there is plenty of scenery on the highway, there's not much else. I should have taken a picture of the village of Chickaloon and its one building. There was also the village of Nelchina, which had a big "Welcome to Nelchina" sign on the highway. About a mile after the sign there was a house with a gaudily painted espresso hut. I saw a couple of other houses but no village. It turns out that Nelchina consists of 33 homes scattered over 15 miles of highway.
The grocery store in Glennallen had Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars. They were some ridiculous price ($3.50) but made for a nutritious lunch! Then it was onto the Richardson Highway and extreme scenic beauty.
Differing opinions on the pillars of the Times Square subway station. I like the colors in the bottom photo.
As I reached Morningside Park Saturday afternoon there were two guys having an intense discussion as they stared at the sidewalk. I caught "Grasshopper? Shee-it! That ain't no grasshopper." Then they asked if I knew what the creature was they were looking at. They were impressed that I knew it was a cicada, but even more impressed when I picked it up. I proceeded to tell them all about cicadas. Or, at least everything I know, which isn't much. They left and a couple more people stopped and I repeated my spiel (the larval stage lives underground for many years, crawls up a tree, molts, chirps really loudly to find a mate, lays eggs in the soil and dies). I don't think they believed the part about living underground for years. Probably good I didn't mention that cicadas are edible!
Door wallpaper
Nice Instead of having a door on hinges, the bathroom in my room at the Valley Hotel in Palmer had a door that slid into the wall. One panel of the wall was covered in this great wallpaper. To be accurate the wall paper wasn't wallpaper. It was a fabric pasted onto the door (see it up close).
While the wallpaper was a pleasant surprise, the lace curtains were not. What were they thinking? It was around 11pm when I took the picture. It was warm enough that I didn't need the comforter and threw it over the window. Word of advice: Bring a sleeping mask if you go to Alaska in the summer.
Above Morningside Park yesterday afternoon. Skywriting was in the air this weekend.
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