Category Archives: Around Bismarck-Mandan

Rusty

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I wonder how long it will be until this rusty homemade sign will be sticking out of a snowbank? It resides along the dusty gravel road that is Highway 1806 north of Mandan. That’s a fun road to wander on when you’ve got the time (and a camera). I made a trip up to Cross Ranch a while back to check out the foliage, but sadly all the leaves were already on the ground. It was a surprise because the leaves here in Bismarck-Mandan were only beginning to turn.

Lone fisherman

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What a day. I knocked off early today, grabbed my toddlers for a trip to the flower shop so they could come back to Mommy with some daisies, and then had Boys’ Day Out at the Pumpkin Patch. We followed up by bolting back home again, grabbing Mommy and her freshly-stocked picnic basket, and headed out to Harmon Lake for a picnic.

After a great dinner we went wandering around a little bit and took a dam walk. As the temperatures were dropping and the wind increasing, I noticed this guy out fishing near the boat landing. With many of the trees already leafless, it’s things like this that grab my eye. It looks like we’re not the only ones trying to avail ourselves of every warm weather opportunity before the cold sets in for the season.

Visit early, visit often – Papa’s Pumpkin Patch

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The most fun fall attraction in the area keeps getting better every year. Slides, tunnels, mazes, pyramids…and oh, yeah, pumpkins!

I can’t remember if these wooden toys were here last year, but we sure were happy to see them this year. If you look closely you can see my two-year-old peeking up from inside the “hopper” of this wooden combine. It’s accessible from the “intake” in the front. There are tractors, trains, and all kinds of fun.

Autumn moves pretty quickly in North Dakota, so you’d better head out to the Patch before the opportunity passes you by! I know how it goes; everybody is really busy these days. We didn’t get out to the Patch as soon as we would have liked, and it’s taken me even longer to post about it! We’re not done visiting it for the year, though…my little toddlers would love to go back a few more times.

More information on their hours, location, events, and even their pumpkin launcher is available at www.papaspumpkinpatch.com. Tell ’em I sent ya!

Boys’ night out

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We three dudes decided to head across the river for a sunset bike ride by the blockhouses at Fort Abraham Lincoln. My 2 and 3 year old boys had an absolute blast, and Daddy got to play with the camera a little bit. We couldn’t have asked for e better evening; great weather, no bugs, and the place to ourselves! They pedaled and pedaled, Daddy pointed out various local landmarks out across the way, and it kept us all out of trouble until dark.

Just in time

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This is the first year that I’ve been able to enjoy a State Parks vehicle pass in my truck. Don’t ask me why it’s taken this long…I can’t explain it. In any case, I’ve got one now, and plan on putting it to good use yet this year! For instance, this recent bolt up to the blockhouses at Fort Abraham Lincoln. I got there just in time to catch the fleeting sunset.

Some of the tourists there looked amused as I rolled up in the Monster Truck™, grabbed my tripod and camera bag, and ran out into the middle of the forts to get the right angle. Later, as I was wrapping up, a couple walked by and asked how the sunset turned out. Thankfully, as you can see for yourself, it turned out just fine.

A shot of the twins

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I took a ride on the Fort Lincoln Trolley this weekend with my lovely bride, and the trolley operator told us about a pair of twin fawns that have been spotted (pun intended) around the tracks from time to time. I was out at Fort Lincoln since then and saw them for myself around dusk, playing around and walking with their mom. They didn’t seem to be alarmed by my presence and gave me plenty of opportunities to photograph them before bounding off into the trees.

WorldWide PhotoWalk wrap-up, Bismarck-Mandan edition

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This weekend I was able to participate in the Bismarck-Mandan section of the third annual Worldwide PhotoWalk. I didn’t get an official count, but there were close to thirty participants from as far away as Jamestown. It was a blast, and the Bismarck walk was coordinated by Brian Matthews of BisManPhoto.com. There were a lot of really amazing photos posted, far better than mine I think. But what the heck, here are my favorite photos so far:

This old log has some new beginnings contained therein. I was shooting handheld so I didn’t get to stop my aperture down to get the depth of field that I wanted. I still like the way it turned out.

More new beginnings as this plant climbed up the rotting remains of an old stump, with the bud at the top catching a beam of sunlight from the early morning sun.

Another of the many statues which adorn the stretch from Sertoma Park to Pioneer Park (and a few points between). I like the range of colors in this one. It was in the shadow of the trees so I had to crank my fill flash and get creative in how I bounced it to eliminate those pesky shadows.

This cranky Sandhill Crane was soon mollified after I let him peck my monopod a few times and began talking to him. As a bird lover I have a way with ’em, and soon he was fluffing up his feathers and even showing off his wing for me!

I’m old enough to remember the actual Clyde. This statue in his honor towers over the inside of one of the Zoo’s buildings (I think it’s called the Discovery Center). I extended my monopod as far as I could, propped it on my shoulder to get it up to the level of the statue, and used my remote to trigger the shot. Note that he must have a wicked migraine, as the wood has developed a big crack in it.

We had two hours to walk and started outside the Dakota Zoo entrance an hour before it opened, so naturally most of us ended up at the big cat exhibits for our last few minutes! I chose to lay on my back with my widest (10mm) lens and point straight upward at this cat. Then one of the girls on the walk poked her head in to get some shots of her own, and she was just the ingredient my composition was missing.

As I said, I think the other participants blew my shots away. You can venture over to BisManPhoto.com to check them out. Sign up for an account and wait a little while until you’re approved. New members are screened manually to avoid spammers. Once you’re on, you can participate. Hopefully you’ll be intrigued enough to join us on future photo walks!

Put me in, coach! Put me in

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If one could feel a sense of pity for an inanimate object, it would likely happen during a sight like this. With an ample harvest approaching in the verdant field ahead, this poor broken down piece of equipment is reduced to spectator status. Its glory days have passed and it has been relegated to being an ornament, a placeholder on a hill. It will now be forced to watch as newer, larger machines – machines with closed, air conditioned cabs and GPS receivers – perform the duties it once enjoyed. See? Kinda sad, isn’t it?

There are 10 kinds of people…those who can read binary and those who can’t

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I spotted this “leetmobile” in a parking lot a while back and had to nab a quick cell phone shot of it. I couldn’t actually tell you if the binary code thereon means anything, since I haven’t remembered how to read binary code since the 1980s. While I’ve blurred out the license plate, I can tell you that it’s a ham radio operator plate. That means the owner of this car is likely quite tech-savvy, even beyond spraying ones and zeros across the hood of his little Ford.

Here’s a little more information about binary code. It’s basically a way of breaking down letters and numbers to the simplest form, combinations of ones and zeros. “10” means 2, which is why I made the joke in the title.

I actually spent way more of my time as an old Apple II geek using hexadecimal numbers and can still convert it to regular numbers in my head (although not quite as quickly as I could back during the Reagan era). It’s commonly used to program website colors, which is why I like the joke “Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base, are belong to you.” That’s also only funny if you get the corny 80s video game reference.

Okay, now I’ve illustrated my geekdom. No, it’s not my car. 🙂