I roamed northwestern North Dakota yesterday, and I thought it was interesting when I saw a “No Jake Brakes” sign. I almost turned around and snapped a shot for a post like this, but I was on a mission to my next photo target. That’s okay…I encountered this one several miles later.
If your name is Jake, and you’re a scofflaw, I can direct you to the location of this sign so you can walk on the wild side. Otherwise, I suppose you’re safe to proceed.
I’ve mentioned before that I never intended to photograph or write a “tour of ol’ Mandan High”, and I have not. In fact, for a good portion of my wanderings I put my 100mm macro lens on the camera! Instead, I opted to find and capture interesting sights in my alma mater. Like this photo, for example: it makes a clever play on the Mandan slogan, “Where the west begins.” I like it.
Continue reading
One of the most prominent buildings along the Missouri River in Bismarck-Mandan is the new Gateway to Science center. With little kids and a membership, I noticed that the old building really could use some work. Thankfully, Gateway to Science was able to build a new facility, and it’s spectacular.
Continue reading
I was driving on the east end of town the other day when I spotted something very bright, very blue, and very uh-oh along the road. Naturally I had to pull in and take a closer look – not just because I’m curious, but also because I’ve never seen one of these in person. It’s only been in memes or that sort of thing until now.
BSOD means Blue Screen Of Death, and it’s a sure sign that something is amiss with your Windows computer. I don’t know why these have such an allure…maybe it’s the idea of such a public fail, maybe its schadenfreude, maybe it’s relief that it’s not me…who knows. In any case, I can check this off the Bucket List if it was ever there, because now I’ve seen a very large, very public BSOD.
Makes a guy want to come to town more often, see what other spectacular sights await…
When you’ve got kids, you’re treated to a unique perspective on a daily basis. Take, for instance, this tree near Exit 161 in northeast Bismarck. One off the pines got kinda mowed down long ago, and while it valiantly struggles to survive it has taken on a form familiar to young boys: a dinosaur.
It might be a little more apparent in this photo, even with my typical nasty and intentionally ugly watermark. It looks like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, especially during certain times of day – and if you’re a kid.
Sadly, the effect is lost on us when we are coming into town. It just doesn’t look the same from the off-ramp on the north as it does from the on-ramp on the south. It’s obvious from this side that the tree is losing its battle for survival, too.
So, like its namesake, Tree Rex is likely to soon become extinct. I’ve been meaning to snap a photo of this forever, but I’m not a fan of stopping for a photo in any place in which doing so might present a safety hazard. I was finally able to grab the shot during a time when traffic was pretty well nonexistent, even though the lighting wasn’t what I wanted. Thankfully I was able to sneak it in while Tree Rex is still there.
I spotted this sign along I-94 a few weeks ago and stopped to take a photo. It’s warning about a curve in a frontage road near an on-ramp, but it doesn’t look like either the sign nor the road itself will be seeing much use for a while.
Certainly by now anyone who’d planned on using this road (yes, there is a road under there) has found an alternate route. I was going to add that Spring is right around the corner, but now certain computer models are forecasting a “Biblical” amount of snow for our area next week! Time to hunker down and see what happens…
Something tells me that this place will be really popular if we ever find ourselves in a zombie apocalypse. Formerly a grain company, now seemingly a brain company. After all, where would they go…Washington, D.C.?
I saw this tree along a Morton County highway and immediately thought of a litany of references from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. First was the easiest: “Your arm’s off! No it isn’t!” See where I’m going here?
“It’s only a flesh wound!” and “I’ve had worse!” also come to mind. I couldn’t help but stop, snap a couple of photos, and post them to share.
As a dad, I’ve said that phrase innumerable times. In this case, I don’t think anyone wanted to go. It was below zero. I was returning from a trip to Fargo and decided to take a detour through Fort Ransom for a short – but necessary – hike. That gave me the opportunity to stop for some photos here and there, including this one. You may recognize it, as it sits atop a hill just north of Kathryn.
This was the view coming back down the hill at Red Lodge last weekend. Some buddies and I rented a nice house with a hot tub and a view of the mountain and headed out for a quick ski/snowboard trip.
Continue readingFavicon Plugin made by Alesis