The Catalina Mountain Range, just outside of Tucson, AZ.
Very pretty. I also love the little red-bird of paradise flowers like the one that got into the edge of this view of the mountains.
Panorama
Train Wreck
Check out this panoramic image of an actual derailment we passed near Globe, AZ, today. Workers were busily working to fix this mess. Click on the image to enlarge.
It made me wonder who is going to fix the derailed US Government? The House of Reps, Senate, and Administration in Washington are seriously off-track. It will have to be the American voters over the next several election cycles that will vote the idiocy out of office. Hopefully, ACORN and other subversive organizations will have been fully exposed for the frauds they are and sanity will prevail.
Merced River – Panorama
OK – Just one more panoramic image from our vacation. I took this the first night away from home on our way to the Gun Bloggers Rendezvous – this is the Merced River (South Fork) that ran immediately behind our hotel room at the Yosemite View Lodge, just outside the National Park boundary.
Other than a five foot high fence obstructing the view (refer to the right end of the panorama), this was what we had for ambiance that evening. We sat on the back patio and waited for the stars to come out and after that, the moonrise over the canyon wall.
Click on the panorama thumbnail to see full size.
Cockpit of the Airbus A380 – Interactive Panorama
A colleague sent me this email today:
As you move your cursor you can see the whole cockpit from top to bottom. You can even zoom on the dash [sic – instrument panel is the term]. Most panoramas are of landscapes. This 360-degree panorama is unlike any other – It’s a picture of an Airbus A380’s cockpit. Be sure to go to full screen.
CLICK HERE >> INSIDE THE COCKPIT OF THE AIRBUS A380
Panorama photographs are becoming increasingly popular on the Net. That’s because software is making it easier than ever to create them. The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger airliner in the world. It can seat more than 850 people. Only a couple of the
planes are in service. So, you’ll probably have to wait for your first ride. Until then, check out its state-of-the-art controls, top, bottom and all around.
After a quick look, I had to force myself to go back to work and defer the frustrated ex-pilot geekery until this evening.
Click in the link or the screenshot above to go to the website.
Lookout Point – A Winter Panorama
While looking at some winter vacation pictures as I was eating my lunch today, I ran across several images I took at Grand Canyon last month. I stitched them together to form this panoramic image of the canyon seen from Lookout Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Lookout Studio, with all the icicles, is on the right. Just left of center, you can see the tower atop the El Tovar Hotel. This is much different than summer conditions at the Canyon.
Click on the image and scroll to view this panorama full sized.
A Winter Desert Panorama
The first day out on our recent winter cruise, we camped in the RV Resort in Twentynine Palms, California. When we woke up on Christmas Eve, we unhooked from the camp and headed into the Joshua Tree National Park north entrance.
It was a perfect day to see the park in wintertime. There were patches of snow here and there and the mountains surrounding the drive had a nice dusting of snow. At one point, we stopped at a scenic point where I took several images to later be stitched into a composite panorama.
Image: Looking South and Southwest toward the Coachella Valley. Click 4 big.
We’re thinking about heading back to Twentynine Palms and back through the park in the springtime when the flowers will all be in bloom. The park was almost named “Wildflower,” but “Joshua Tree” won in the end.
Range Report
We had an interesting and fun time today at the range. At first, it was pretty busy, with most of the lanes occupied with shooters. Later, business seemed to taper off a bit with just us and one other booth occupied. I guess that folks were home watching wild card football playoffs or something.
I snapped three images of the sparsely occupied range and stitched them together to make this panoramic image. Because she moved between the second and third snapshots, Damsel appears to be two people. Click for full-size.
Shooting was great today. We each shot about 100 rounds of .45s using the Glock 30 and the Warthog – which had NO misfeeds today. We also shot a couple of boxes of 9mm through the Glock 26 and S&W 908s. We even shot about 35 rounds of .38 special with Damsel’s S&W 686. To top it off, we shot 25 rounds each of 20 and 12 gauge with the Remington 870s.
We both agree it was a pretty good day of shooting.
Update: Thanks to Robb Allen for his link to this article.