It’ll always be the tallest manmade object in my heart

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I had the luxury of a photo walk with my beloved wife this Saturday, and of course our choice was the Lewis & Clark walking trail on the Mandan side of the river. There is a trailhead at either end, and we chose to begin from the one in the Captain Leach area.

This end of the trail goes under the historic Northern Pacific and Grant Marsh bridges as it dips toward the bank of the river. There’s a good variety of foliage to be found along each of the trail’s two forks.

Of course, there are plenty of routes along the river that will provide scenic vistas. One can head north or south on 1804 or 1806, for instance. A nice drive up River Road and back around by Papa’s Pumpkin Patch could provide some breathtaking scenery and colors. Whatever your route, you’d better take it soon! It’ll be over before you anticipate.

Oh yeah…watch out for wildlife. This little guy was really mad at me. Some creatures just really don’t want to have their photo taken, I guess! He struck at me a couple of times, but thanks to the wonder of telephoto lenses I wasn’t close enough to hurt him. Nevertheless he felt cornered, and nobody likes that.

Cold War Mancation, Part Five: Minot

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No, I didn’t find myself on the tarmac looking at the flight line on our Cold War Mancation™…this photo is from another time. We did, however, wrap up the Mancation with a stop in Minot. I wanted to make it to the vicinity of MAFB and gaze over/through the fence, but it was getting late. There is, however, one place along the highway en route to the Air Force base that was worth visiting.

This is a view from inside the Dakota Territory Air Museum just north of Minot, appropriately adjacent to the airport. On our trip we ended up arriving a little too late to get in, so I brought my toddlers up later. What you’re looking at is one of the few flying Japanese “Zero” aircraft, named “The Last Samurai.” Read more about it by clicking here. This thing is an amazing work of art and detail. It’s a carrier model, with wing tips that fold up to allow greater aircraft capacity on the carrier.

Facing off against the Zero is this brilliant restoration, a P-51 Mustang. On the day when we arrived, the engine and other tasty bits were exposed for all to see. It’s interesting how a tool of warfare can be so striking and beautiful. I’m not the kind of guy who gets all wound up about old cars and stuff, but this machine is just downright breathtaking.

Also breathtaking are the dual .50 caliber Browning wing guns! We were lucky in that the panels covering the aircraft’s armament were open as well. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of problems whose best solution is a belt-fed .50 cal!

This is where we wrapped up the Cold War Mancation™. We put our noses to the glass a little bit and pointed the truck back toward Bismarck-Mandan. These pics aren’t from that exact visit, but hopefully you get the idea. There are plenty of other really cool photos from this road trip, including some other striking landmarks, that I’ll be trickling out as time allows.

By the way, you really need to visit the Dakota Territory Air Museum. It’s not just a hangar full of planes; it’s three buildings of history and more! I’ve got lots of pics that I took with my toddlers that I’ll post down the road as well.

One other thing: I believe the Minot Air Force Base is hosting their biennial Northern Neighbors Day air show & more this summer! Stay tuned for more…

Fall colors begin to appear in the Badlands

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If you’re looking for leaves in an array of colors from summer green to autumn gold, now’s the time. I was roamin’ with the cameras this weekend and got a very brief window of sunlight in which to nab some photos of those fall colors which have started to highlight areas of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park!

The window of opportunity for North Dakotans to enjoy fall colors can be very narrow. Last year the leaves fell pretty much without changing color at all! It looks like we’re going to be more fortunate this year, but don’t let it pass you by. Sadly those leaves are going to be on the ground sooner than we think.

TGIF

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Several hundred miles, at least one seventeen hour work day, and not a whole lot of rest this week. Thank God it’s Friday. Actually it’s going to be a very busy but rewarding weekend around here. Aren’t they all?

Have a great weekend!

Makin’ fine feathered friends at the rest area

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On my way to Fargo for a couple of days working at Microsoft’s beautiful high-tech headquarters, I made a quick stop at one of our state’s handy rest areas. On my way back out to the truck I noticed this little Yellow Warbler fluttering by the window next to the door. He quickly dropped down to and perched on the sill.

He looked a little scared and disoriented so I, as a bird whisperer, decided to befriend him. I grabbed a little stick and put it by his feet so he had a better place to perch. After all, a little bird’s feet are not meant to sit on a flat metal surface; they need something around which to curl. He seemed pretty content with that, although a little out of sorts.

I talked to him a little bit and showed him to the other guys on the crew. He hung out with us for a minute or so, even hopping on a friend’s shoulder for a second, before regaining his composure and flying away. I figure he must have bonked into the window and rung his bell a little bit. In any case, it was nice to hang out with him briefly until he was ready to get back to being a bird.

You’ve got about as much chance of winning this as the Powerball!

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I love the way Adam Jones and the gang at the North Dakota Republican Party have been injecting humor into this year’s political races. Here’s a real gem, from today’s press release:

HAVE YOU SEEN REP. EARL POMEROY? Neither have we.

After voting with Nancy Pelosi 97 percent of the time and serving as the decisive vote for Obamacare, Earl thinks he can hide his record-by not showing up to talk to voters. The North Dakota Republican Party is therefore today announcing a contest to find him.

Participants who can tape a video clip of Pomeroy at a public forum or town hall will win an exclusive “Where’s Earl?” T-shirt. Eligible entries must show Pomeroy at a town hall event or public forum answering questions about healthcare or the stimulus. The video must be of an event occurring between today, September 13, 2010 and Election Day. Contestants can submit their video to contest@ndgop.org.

Pomeroy has held zero town halls over the Congressional recess for the second year in a row, and his campaign website has shown no upcoming events for over a month. Needless to say, this makes his false accusation that Rick Berg is ducking debates and hiding from voters especially rich in irony.

Pomeroy may think he can hide from voters. We’re betting he’s wrong. Help us prove it, and submit your video today!

Of course, this all stems from the fact that you haven’t been able to attend a town hall meeting or other public gathering where Earl Pomeroy is available to constituents since early in the debate over the government’s illegal takeover of the health care system. Here’s another example of the hypocrisy:

Visit Earl Pomeroy’s campaign website and you’ll see this:

There is nothing I enjoy more about campaigning than getting around North Dakota to meet with the folks that I represent.

But the fact remains that he is NOT getting around North Dakota and NOT meeting with the “folks” that he represents! I called his office asking if there would be anything coming up where a citizen could address his Congressman. The answer: Nope.

So, if you’re looking to win a free t-shirt, maybe you’d have better luck with the Powerball (not that I condone gambling). Chances of Earl Pomeroy appearing in public AND taking questions about federal spending and Obamacare are probably less than getting struck by lightning while cashing your Publisher’s Clearing House check!

Coal Creek sunset

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This gorgeous sunset is the result of me standing on top of my wife’s truck to capture a shot of one of the crown jewels of North Dakota’s energy industry. This is Coal Creek Station, which is the facility responsible for DryFining™ technology.

The people working here got an idea for making lignite coal burn better by removing moisture. By the time they got their process worked out a little bit, they were also able to remove a significant amount of impurities and pollutants from the coal as well. They’re now in the process of licensing this sort of technology all over the world!

The whole thing started with some of that North Dakota ingenuity we all hear about, where guys just grab whatever is handy and start building something. What started out as blowing air through a barrel is now a process which can improve coal-fired power plant performance by leaps and bounds.

It also makes for a nice sunset photo!

Bismarck-Mandan will never forget: Global War on Terror Memorial (service today at 2pm)

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By now you’re likely to have seen the signs declaring the location of the state’s Global War On Terrorism memorial. It’s just off Memorial Highway, adjacent to the entrance of the Fraine Barracks complex (named after late Brigadier General John H. Fraine). In fact, it’s just a stone’s throw away from the Liberty Memorial Bridge.

This beautiful memorial stands prominently to help ensure that we remember what’s at stake in this 21st century war. It’s a memorial to North Dakota military personnel who perished during the Global War on Terrorism. In fact, it was dedicated this very day last year.

I was especially pleased to see the term “GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM” on this monument because so many pusillanimous liberal multi-culturalist apologists, in their suicidal quest to love our enemies and hate our nation and its allies, 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. Some names are about to be added here…
 

At 2pm today there will be a service honoring three more fallen North Dakota soldiers. The Patriot Guard Riders will be in attendance. Sadly I cannot be among them today as I have a freelance job scheduled all day. Afterward I’ll still try to find time to stop by and ponder their sacrifice. You may wish to spend a little time this September 11th to do the same.

Cold War Mancation Part Four: Cavalier Air Station

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Heading east on highway 5, you can see this giant concrete cube (with a slanted north side) from the road long before you’re near it. Then the road drops down a hill and you can’t see this thing at all, since the Cavalier Air Station (at times named Cavalier Air Force Station) is surrounded by trees. I found out the hard way that this site is very much active and there’s a young man with a firearm at the front gate. I wasn’t getting in for pictures here. That’s okay…as you can tell by the awful light in this shot, sunlight was scarce anyway and it was time to set up the campsite.

After a beautiful stay in lovely Icelandic State Park overnight, we managed to get some really nice light in order to feature the PAR array. I’m told that this thing can spot an object the size of a basketball coming over the North Pole! Wild.

This PAR system is also part of the larger Stanley Mickelson Safeguard Complex, which included the now abandoned Nekoma facility I posted about earlier. It had its missiles removed long ago, but this giant array still watches the northern skies. I could tell you more about this site, but probably not without ripping off David Novak’s site, www.srmsc.org. He’s got all kinds of links and photos of these facilities and how they served. Please visit this site!

I haven’t exhausted the Cold War Mancation photo series yet…stay tuned.

Here’s why my truck is so muddy

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I chose to cap my last vacation day with a sunset photo, something I didn’t think I’d get today. After yesterday’s soaker I figured we were in for more of the same, and I was okay with that. I spent much of Labor Day inside the Garage Majal working on motorcycles and motorcycle related tasks, organizing, cleaning tools, and that sort of thing. Since today was a beautiful day, I spent it working in the yard, and then set off in search of a great sunset vantage point.

This is the view from a minimum-maintenance road east of Crown Butte. There’s a pond in the little valley on this road. It’s a fantastic place to chill and happens to be a perfect sunset viewing spot in the middle of summer. Well, we’re not in the middle of summer anymore. I had to venture down the road a little further since the sun sets further south nowadays. Yesterday brought a lot of rain, so the road was composed of gooey mud in spots.

The mud and swelled pond, which actually covered the road in one spot, didn’t stop me from finding my photo. I made good use of my 31 inch tires, four wheel drive, and wiper blades! It was worth it.

In order to have photos free of power lines, I did have to do some hiking to keep them out of the camera’s view. While waiting for the sunset to progress, I looked up and took some interesting angles of the power lines and towers. It’s always creepy when standing under high voltage lines and hearing them crackle overhead.

The clouds’ shadows were busy in the east, making for some interesting shadows toward Mandan. Since they cover so much sky, they appear to converge on the horizon. That makes them look almost like rays of darkness emanating from a single point on the horizon, but that’s an illusion caused by perspective.

Then it was over. I’d positioned myself so that the sun met the horizon in this crook of the butte’s silhouette. I was fortunate enough to have some dramatic clouds in just the right place, and I fine tuned the shot by positioning myself in relation to the butte. I could actually make a very big difference just by walking away from the truck in one direction or the other. The sky turned gold, the clouds turned dark, and then the show began to fade. Before it got too dark I whipped around and braved the mud and water one last time, then pointed the truck homeward once I was back on firm, dry ground.