This past weekend I had the idea to take my 10mm wide angle lens and attempt to capture the Veterans' Memorial, located on the west side of the new bridge, from the lowest point possible: on my back upon the sidewalk. The skies were somewhat dramatic as the sun tried to punch through the morning clouds. Not bad, I thought...not bad.
Then came the blue skies, and I was out & about anyway, so I figured it was worth it to take another hike up the curved sidewalk and try again, this time with some bright blue skies, the brilliant sun, and the lens flares it brings. Once again...not bad.
Soon the Bismarck side of the bridge will have its memorial completed as well. Then there's going to be a surprise added to each park! I wonder how many people know what it is. I may have a sneak peek photo tomorrow.
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( 2.3 / 168 )Update: I've been told by the company which assembles these big wind turbines that they don't want people approaching the work sites, even if nobody is there working, for safety reasons. While the roads to these sites weren't marked with any warning signs when I was there, they are not for public access. If you want a look at these sites, you must stay on the public roadway and do so from there.
My two year old wanted to go see the big windmills this weekend, so off we went. I never need much urging to hop in the truck and go careening off into the wilderness. Once he saw how big these things are in person, and heard how loud they are, he decided he didn't need to get very close. But there was a surprise awaiting us, one which turned me into a little boy for a little while.
There are more wind turbines under construction out there, and it's a pretty cool process. They assemble the tower, put the turbine building atop it, and bolt the blades to their hub before lifting the whole rotor assembly up in the air. That means you can see how big those things are in person. Very.
I looked around to make sure that there were no signs forbidding a closer look, then followed a section line road to get a peek. A few of the turbines' blade assemblies were perched on the ground, weighted to keep them from being damaged in the wind. We didn't go close enough to touch anything, just taking in the sheer size of everything from a short distance. In some cases, I stood on the top of the truck to take the photos, which PJ found amusing.
How's this for a sense of perspective? I didn't whip out a tape measure or anything, but I read somewhere that 80 feet is a typical length for one of these blades. With a radius like that, imagine how fast the tips are travelling as the blades rotate!
Here is a set of blades ready to be installed. Note the wild curvature to them. They're very big and made of lightweight material. They're so long that the roads out here have to be upgraded to accomodate the wide, sweeping turns of the trucks hauling them in. They travel one to a truck.
How would you like to be the guy who has to spin on and torque the nuts onto all those bolts? There's a similar ring of them on the hub, which attach it to the turbine atop the wind generator structure. These have a very large diameter at the bottom; in fact, a short person could probably stand up inside that diameter. You know who you are.
It would be really fun to watch them lift one of these assemblies into place! It can't be done on a windy day, which means that they're going to have to be ready to go at the drop of the hat. Breaks in the wind don't come very often around here.
Little boy, big world. I love taking my boys to go see things: airplanes, trains, big construction equipment, boats, cars, you name it. I'm going to help them to see all the cool stuff I write about here on the ol' Blog, and in doing so I get to share in the joy of a little boy taking it all in. Boys, Daddy, camera, and world. What a combination.
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( 3 / 155 )
Yep, this was the weekend that rummage sale fanatics wait for. The Folkfest Parade kicked off the morning, the Pow Wow ran all weekend, and the rummage sales were going full blast through it all. I, of course, used it as a perfect opportunity to get as far away from any residential neighborhoods as possible! The rummage sale traffic is characterized by zoned-out gapers who think nothing of coming to a complete stop in the middle of a busy street. I'm not an angry driver, but these people try my patience. Therefore, my camera and I spent the weekend shooting photos in the periphery.
I did see this sign near downtown Bismarck. I thought it was kind of inventive, even if it wasn't even remotely true. While it made me smile, it wasn't nearly as outrageous as the first photo above, taken at a street corner in Mandan. Most of the signs posted thereon were unreadable because of the more recent arrivals! It summed up the weekend pretty well, that's for sure.
I had such an amazing weekend with my camera, and you can expect the results of my adventures to trickle in from day to day. Stay tuned!
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( 3 / 199 )
Tomorrow a new memorial will be dedicated at the entrance to Fraine Barracks, near River Road. It's a memorial whose progress I've watched eagerly since its announcement, and now it's finished. It's a memorial to North Dakota military personnel who perished during the Global War on Terrorism.
I was especially pleased to see the term "GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM" on this monument, because the pantywaist liberal multi-culturalist apologists, in their suicidal quest to love our enemies and hate our nation, have abhorred this term since its inception. Our current President, for example, has ordered that the term not be used in the federal government. North Dakotans, however, see it for what it is.
All gave some. Some gave all.
This monument will be officially dedicated on September 11th. Sadly, I have something else going on and can't attend. I stopped by this weekend to read the names and ponder the sacrifice of those who died fighting on our behalf, and I'm sure I'll be back again. As the monument declares, We Will Never Forget.
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( 3 / 254 )
This statue sits at the center of the Garden of Peace, a cemetery feature organized by the Medcenter One Foundation for grieving families who have lost infants or small children. It consists of a little walkway and memorial area in the cemetery on Century Avenue. You can find more information about it by clicking here, although the website was unresponsive this morning when I tried it.
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( 2.9 / 193 )
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