Second Port – St. Kitts

Our second Port was St. Kitts.  The capital of the Island is Basseterre. This is the city from the ship.

Basseterre St. Kitts

We took a tour that took us first to Romney Plantation. This is a Pendulous Crab Claw plant growing there.

Pendulous Crab Claw

This is a small ruins on the plantation.

Romney Plantation

From there we went to Brimstone Hill Fortress.  This is a UNESCO World Heritage site that was a fortress not he top of the highest hill on the island.

Brimstone Hill Overlook 1

Brimstone Hill Fortress 8

First Port – St. Martin

The first place we stopped on our cruise was St. Martin.  We took a tour that took us through both the Dutch and the French sides of the Island and these are some of the pictures. Our port was on the Dutch side of the island, and this is from the ship looking in.

St Martin Harbor

On the tour we drove along the coast and this is a view of the South Shore of the Island

South Shore of St. Martin 4

Thuis is another view of the South Shore,

South Shore of St. Martin 3

This is a view of the capital of the French side of the Island, Marigot.

Marigot St. Martin

Carnival Conquest Show – Epic Rock

Our first night at sea, we went to the show.  Normally they do not allow any photography in the show but this time they said photography was allowed as long as no flash was used.  So,  got my camera and got these pictures of the performance.

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Summer 2016 Cruise – Ft. Lauderdale

We took another cruise from Ft. Lauderdale a week ago.  This one went to St. Martin, St. Kitts, San Juan and Grand Turks. We stayed the night before in a Hyatt Regency in Ft. Lauderdale.  We went to dinner on the Marina, and I got this shot coming back from dinner that night.

Pier 66 Sunset

They had a tower that overlooked the resort and Ft. Lauderdale. In the morning, I took some pictures including this one of the two ships docked in the cruise port.

Carnival Conquest and Oasis of the Seas

Chicago

We went to visit my mother last week. While we were in Chicago, we decided to go downtown and take a hop on – hop off bus tour. Although it was cold, I got some really good pictures of Chicago.

Chicago River from Clark St.

This was one of the first ones I took.  It is looking West over the Chicago River at Clark St. You can see a great mixture of old and new architecture along the river.

Chicago Theater

One of the landmarks of Chicago is The Chicago Theater.

Picasso Statue

Another landmark is the Picasso statue at City Hall. I remember when it was first installed and people complained about it being just a bunch of rusty metal. It has really aged well.

Marina Towers and Herald Square Monument

Chicago’s skyline is dominated by the Willis (Sears) Tower and the Hancock Building, but the building(s) i remember most were the Marina Towers.

Mailbox Rose

A week ago, while mowing the lawn, I noticed a peony blooming.  I thought it would make a nice picture.  So, the next day, I took my camera out and started taking pictures. While I was doing that, the mailman came.  So, after I thought I had enough images, I took my camera up to the porch and walked out to the mailbox.  Sometimes, things just are aligned in a unique way.  Debbie has a rose bush next to the mailbox and some of the roses were blooming.  It just so happened that the sun coming through the leaves of the trees created a kind of spotlight on one of the roses.

Rose 2

I took a few more than did an HDR bracket. I had watched a video on using some additional software to create a detailed look in the petals.  So, I played around with that and came up with this one.

Rose