The Mother Road

Rock Cafe Historic Route 66 - Stroud, OK

Historic Route 66 - Stroud, OK

I recently received a google alert that some Route 66 fans were following my blog. While I had already posted some New Mexico photos from the Mother Road, I thought I'd say a big welcome with some other photos taken from Oklahoma on a summer's day ride to Tulsa.

Talk about a ride through Hades! It was 108 degrees that ride that took us to see some of the kitschiest attractions that remain on the road. This was before my big digital SLR camera came to play, so these are just some shots I made of the ride with the Harley Owners Group from Allen, Texas using my point and shoot. Just playing around with the old toy camera effect to capture the nostalgia of the road trip.

Here are a few of our highlights.

Round Barn - Arcadia, OK

Blue Whale - Catoosa, OK

©2009 Laura Smetak All rights reserved.
All photos and stories on this blog are copyrighted and use without the artists express permission is prohibited.

More Hot Air

The Kiss

Just another photo of hot air balloons. This is what they call a "kiss"-when two balloons touch in mid-air.

I figured you may need another pretty picture after reading about canned meat.

©2009 Laura Smetak All rights reserved. All photos and stories on this blog are copyrighted and use without the artists express permission is prohibited.

Slacker

Sorry, I admit I've been slacking lately. I really haven't taken any photos that I am extremely proud of lately. Been busy at work, a little under the weather and redecorating a bathroom.

I was just taking a bath, thinking about what a slacker I've been, wondering if anyone is still reading this, and thought...Oh what the hell. I have a bunch of photos that for whatever reason I like and can't explain. Photos of people,who I have no idea who they are but just happened to be a shot that I like. Random shots of the clouds, a photo that didn't quite come out they way I expected, but like it any ways.

I have taken photos on vacations and trips. Passerbys and other tourist who just happened to be a head of me and in front the lens. And for some reasons of lighting, color, composition, or other phenomenon, I like the photo.

Climbing out of Mesa Verde, Colorado 2007

These ladies were ahead of me at Mesa Verde. They were climbing the ladder out of the dwelling ahead of me and liked the lighting in the photo. This was taken just after I took the storm clouds over Mese Verde photo below. It just seemed to be some really nice photos on that trek.



Clouds over the Million Dollar Highway - Ouray, Colorado

The sun peaking through clouds directly overhead. We were riding from Silverton to Ouray somewhere near a place called Red Mountain or something like that. You can see the peak of the mountain in the lower right. I just aimed the camera overhead and clicked. This is what came out.

On Deck - Cruise ship to Cozumel

Just exploring by myself at sunset aboard the cruise ship. This was after a day of snorkling and finally setting foot in another country - even if it was Mexico. It was a cruise with my sister, Tracey. I left her in the cabin (taking a nap) and I wondered around by myself. Guess I am glad I didn't fall overboard-she would have never known what happened to me.

Swim Deck - Cruise Ship Ecstasy

More People I don't know - On Deck

Self portrait 1 - On Deck

Another Self portrait - On Deck

This was taken just after the first self portrait. For some reason I like it. It is not the best example of composition, lighting , color but something makes me like it. It was really windy up there. This is the highest, and most forward part of the ship. I had to brace myself against the railing to keep from getting blown away. Just to show you how windy it was, just look at my hair being blown at 90 degree angle from my head, and my hair is not that long.

All photos and stories on this blog are copyrighted (©2009 Laura Smetak), and use without the artists express permission is prohibited.

Father time is an SOB!

Newspaper Stand - Cleburne, Texas

How old does something have to be before it is considered an antique?

I always like to think of signs like this as really old and a remnant of a long-a-go past...way before my time. This one may be considered old, but I definitely have a childhood memory tied to it.

I took this photo on a trip back to my birthplace with my sister this summer. I jumped out of the car to take a photo of my dad's old store front in downtown Cleburne. My much OLDER sister (just so I don't feel so old) pointed out the newspaper sign painted on the edge of an abandoned building.

I remember going here with my dad on Sundays after church. Here he would buy the Sunday paper and each of us a candy bar. My favorite...Mounds (I never feel like a nut, so Almond Joy is never an option.) My mom liked Mounds too, but she hankered for Baby Ruths mostly and Banana Bites. Remember those? The big banana taffy squares - almost like Laffy Taffy, but much better. She'd have us buy the whole box. Back then, you probably got them for a penny--when penny candy was really a penny.

Another cool old sign. But I hate that what I think of as an antique also dates me as one. Dammit.

©2009 Laura Smetak All rights reserved. All photos and stories on this blog are copyrighted and use without the artists express permission is prohibited.

More than meets the eye

Grand Prismatic Spring - Yellowstone National Park

This and the photo at the very bottom of this blog were taken of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone. The different colors are produced by bacterial mats. Different types and colors of bacteria grow the different temperatures of the warm water coming from the big blue spring in the middle.

It is kind of deceiving. You get walk up to one very large geyser that is overflowing warm water in the cool river below. Everything is at eye level. You walk around this huge boardwalk and come upon this sight. The steam is rising from the hot water and it is kind of hard to see. But I lifted my camera to my eye and through the polarizing filter I could see much more of the beautiful arrays of colors. I let my friends take a look through the camera and they were amazed at what the camera could see that they could not.

The panoramic photo at the bottom was stitched together using Photoshop. It took 6 photos to make up this one panoramic. I would have loved to have been on that hill overlooking the spring. If you look just to the right of center, on top of the smaller hill are two small colored dots. Those are people who made the voyage to get a perspective that few people ever get.

©2009 Laura Smetak All rights reserved. All photos and stories on this blog are copyrighted and use without the artists express permission is prohibited.

What's 120 more miles?

Shadow Riders - Rawlins, Wyoming

When in Wyoming, here's a tip...Plan your day to leave as early as possible and stop around 3:00 in the afternoon to find a hotel if you don't have reservations.

Our 3600 mile trek this summer was based on living on a wing and a prayer for a hotel, never officially planning each nights stop. Just wherever the road led us. Five couples all needing rooms each night.

We left the north gate of Yellowstone early in the morning, crossing over the Beartooth Mountains, stopping for lunch in Cody. We drove all day to the next stop in the middle of Wyoming somewhere north of Lander. We were met by the hotel clerk who informed us that all the hotels within 120 miles were booked.

It was 5:30, getting dark and we would have to hop on the bikes and ride the 120 miles to next town of Rawlins. So what's an extra 2 hours and 120 miles? Five Harleys, full bore down one of the most desolate highways I had ever seen (talk about a rumble of loud pipes). Nothing to see but a long-ass strip of pavement stretched out in front. Not to mention having to be on guard for that one crazy antelope who may wish to spring across the road at any moment.

We were 5 miles from Rawlins when some of our riders couldn't take one more minute of the dropping temperatures that came with the setting of the sun. They needed to stop on the side of the highway to gear up.

I grabbed my point and shoot from my jacket pocket and snapped this photo. The sun was low and it stretched our shadows across the highway toward the storm off to our east. I like the photo. It seems to capture the mood of extra 120 miles at the end of a long day.

©2009 Laura Smetak All rights reserved. All photos and stories on this blog are copyrighted and use without the artists express permission is prohibited.