Day 11 - A Return to Como Zoo

Today a post by request. After posting the photos from Como Zoo on Day 5 I was asked by Krystal where the Polar Bears were. I did not have any pictures of them ready to go then but I do now. If you have ever been to Como you know there are 2 Polar Bears in the enclosure.

The first Polar Bear seems to think he is an Olympic swimmer and does "laps" in his pool, the sad part is the pool is only a few feet long, he seems to enjoy it though.

The other Polar Bear always seems to be stuck at the bottom and walks back and forth looking rather depressed.
Near the exhibit there is also a statue of Polar Bears, some how I think they are having a lot more fun than the real life Bears.
While I was looking for a link to info about the Como Zoo Polar Bears I came across a WCCO story from 2006. Looks like the Polar Bears and the Primates will be getting $9 million worth of new enclosures . . . hopefully a bigger pool is included!

Day 10 - St Paul Skyline

Sticking with yesterday's St Paul theme, today I have posted some photos of the St Paul skyline. I have tried taking photos of Downtown St Paul from about 8,000 different spots (OK . . . more like 18 but you get the point), it is a hard spot to get a good photo. The problem as I see it is the Mississippi River, while it makes for a good photo it also means the shooting spots are either at river level (too low) or on a bluff on the other side of the river (often too tall). To top it all off I want to be able to take a picture with 3 things in it; Downtown St Paul, the State Capitol and the St Paul Cathedral, that I can tell you have after many years of trying it is not easy!

In the first 2 photos I am on the bluff on the opposite side of the Mississippi upstream about a 1/4 mile.

In this photo I am underneath the Wabasha Street bridge.

This photo was taken from Harriet Island on some steps that lead right into the river.
The next 2 photos were taken on a bluff on the same side of the Mississippi about a 1/4 mile from Downtown.

The last photo is 1 of my favorite Downtown St Paul photos, it was taken from a walkway along the Mississippi on Harriet Island. I really like the reflection of the lights on the river and the steam coming off the building near the center.

Day 9 - Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

Alright I promised photos from the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park in St Paul. The building itself is very nice but of course the plants are the main reason to visit. Flower photos are not usually my favorite but I am happy with how these turned out.

Day 8 - Lake Pepin

Since we took a trip South of the metro yesterday I thought we would continue the trend.

Here are some pictures I took at the Marina on Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minnesota. I had taken photos at Lake Pepin several years ago while on my way down to Winona to take pictures with a friend. I had some days off and wanted to go some place I had not been for a while. Thankfully my days off fell during the week and I was able to get down to Lake Pepin again. I really like how the marina looks with all of the boats still in the slips.




If you have never been down to Lake City I would recommend making the trip. It is a neat little town that is right on Hwy 61 which is a really nice drive, especially in the Fall.

Day 7 - Mankato

Quick post today since it is almost tomorrow. Here are some pictures taken on a Fall colors trip down towards Mankato in 2005.

Day 6 - A Trip South

Well, this whole pictures of living things thing is kinda bugging me. I mean come on these are not my most frequent targets with my camera. I will get back to those pictures of the Conservatory some time this month but not today.

Yesterday was the first day of kinda cold temperatures this Fall. While it was not too bad it was defiantly jacket weather. So to put us back in the warm weather mood we are going to take a trip about 1,600 miles South. These were pictures taken when I went down to Florida in September 2005.

My Mom had moved to Sarasota, Florida in May and had been staying at my Aunt and Uncle's condo. She had found an apartment and needed to get the rest of her stuff out of the storage unit and down to the new apartment. I was able to let the moving company into the storage unit and then a couple days later I flew down. The idea was I would have a couple days of vacation time and then could help get her settled into the apartment. Turned out I timed my trip just right though, the truck took a little longer to get to Florida then we thought it would and arrived the day after I left. This turned out to be ok, the movers did all of the lifting and got everything right where my Mom wanted it.

Not having to deal with moving anything gave us plenty of time to do a little site seeing. I had not been to Florida since I was about 9 years old and then we were at Disney World in Orlando. While I did not fall in love with Florida like I think my Mom would have liked (sorry Mom!) I did have a good time. I think my favorite thing about Florida though was the beaches, not because I enjoy swimming (I don't) but because it made for some really cool photos.

The first 3 photos were taken at Siesta Beach on Siesta Key.


The last 4 photos were taken on Bradenton Beach which is North of Sarasota.

While Florida is a nice place to visit I just don't think I could deal with the heat and the seasons never changing. I am sure I will go back again sometime soon, just not sure when.

Day 5 - Como Zoo

Keeping with yesterday's theme of pictures of living things, today I present some photos taken at Como Zoo in Saint Paul. Before going to take these pictures I had probably not been to Como Zoo since I was a very little kid going to watch Sparky the Sea Lion do amazing tricks. For anyone who does not know Como is kind of the lesser of the two zoos in the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Zoo (as I remember it at least) is much nicer, bigger and has more animals. The down side to the Minnesota Zoo though is the $12 admission and $5 parking fee. What can I say, I am cheap so I spent the afternoon walking around the Como Zoo and the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. The Conservatory photos will have to wait for another day though (lets face it, November is a long month I still have a lot more posts if I am going to prove Dave wrong!).