"I drink to your health," Boulder, Colorado, May 2006

"I drink to your health," Boulder, Colorado, May 2006
I drink to your health when I'm with you,
I drink to your health when I'm alone,
I drik to your health so often,
I'm starting to worry about my own!
-- A traditional Irish toast

Or, at least one I got from a greeting card. Taken with a camera phone at the Catacombs bar in Boulder. No idea anymore what the heck I was drinking that night, but it was good.

"Lost in the Mist," Yellowstone National Park, May 2006

I couldn't decide between the two. I like the vertical one for the scale and the bits of detail in the foreground and the stripped trees up on the hill. But I like the horizontal one for the simple solitude of a man alone with an umbrella in the mist. The combination of a cold rain on this gray May afternoon and the warm steam coming up from the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park made this a thoroughly wet experience. It was like being in a sauna with the shower on -- while dressed. And I didn't have a raincoat, only a fleece.

"Plumpy parrot," New Jersey, January 2006

"Plumpy parrot," New Jersey, January 2006
I've previously posted a shot of these guys and intended to go back for more, but I haven't made it up the street with my camera lately. I should, because when the light is right, they come out so beautifully. I have a handful of other shots from this day, and even though it's a good shot of the bird, they tend to be in shadow and not as brilliantly colored as a result. 

"I-90 rainbow, Montana," May 2006

"I-90 rainbow, Montana," May 2006
Speeding along I-90 in southern Montana a few weeks ago, we passed through a late-day storm and witnessed the beautiful spectacle of the dark clouds to the east and the setting sun in a clear sky to the west. It created the rainbow and illuminated the rangelands and windmills (those three white specks to the left of center, receding toward the hills in the distance), not to mention cast a shadow of our car on the side of the road. Taken from a moving -- 80 mph -- Seabring convertible, eastbound in Interstate 90, heading for Billings. I figured with the shadow of the car and because it was taken from the car, it fit nicely the automotive theme.

"New tackles old," San Diego, April 2006

"New tackles old," San Diego, April 2006
It's not just that they're building new ballparks to look like old ones, but they're doing it in old, run-down sections of town and often incorporating elements of the past into the new design. In Baltimore, it's the old B&O warehouse that forms the backdrop to Camden Yards. In Seattle, it's the railroad tracks that run just beyond the outfield wall, beneath Safeco Field's retractable roof, when it's open. In San Diego, it's the Western Supply Co. building that serves as a ticket office and restaurant, among other things, in the city's new Petco Park. When you walk into these parks, the exterior and various details are sharp, shiny and new, but the overall design and feel of the place is decidedly retro. It's all the rage.

"Route 71, Nebraska," May 2006

"Route 71, Nebraska," May 2006

The road challenge was sent out just five days before I stepped on a plane bound for Denver and a week-long road trip with my college roommate. So although my photo archives are stocked with road trip pictures and, like this one, literal images of the road, I wanted to wait until I was back from the trip to submit to this challenge, even if it was a few weeks late.

This may be a common, even pedestrian shot to represent the road, but it's the one I decided to go with because of that in some ways, and because this is an image that brings up questions: Where is this? Where does it lead? Why am I here? Such an open and empty stretch of road -- in such an open and sparsely populated section of America -- is no doubt well-known to those who live on or near it, relying on it to get from their homes to any number of places. A map of the region shows that there are only so many options when traveling by car in southwest Nebraska.

"American bison, Yellowstone," May 2006

"American bison, Yellowstone," May 2006

It may have been May, but in the high elevations of northwestern Wyoming -- in Yellowstone National Park -- you can get winter weather late into the year. The day began cool and overcast, and it wouldn't have been a bad one to tour the park, but when we found ourselves getting out of the car in the rain to see a thermal spring, or when I had to tuck my camera under my coat to keep the snow off it when looking at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the river's Lower Falls, it got to be a little much.

At this point, we were on our way out of the park, completing the loop we had started and about to hit the road south that would take us back to Jackson Hole. We noticed ahead a car coming in the opposite direction that had stopped; the vehicle in front of us braked and I noticed, through the falling snow, a bison crossing the road. As we approached the spot, we saw that the one that had crossed was following another; back on the right side of the pavement, where the first two had come from, three others remained.

Conveniently, the two bison had crossed at a turnout, so I turned into it and we waited. The second one to cross stopped barely 50 feet from the road -- where a half-dozen cars were now scattered, watching. As the huge animal turned and walked back to the edge of where the macadam met the grass, one woman got out of her car to get a photo, and Bryan and I laughed at the idiocy of this arrogant tourist. She returned to her car without incident, and we watched as the three lagging bison made their way, one by one, across to join the first two. This shot is of two of those final three, plus the one who crossed and waited, setting off into the valley.

"Early morning, Lincoln Tunnel," May 2006

"Early morning, Lincoln Tunnel," May 2006
Considering that I'm nearly a month behind on my weekly indulgence of posting photos for challenges, I'll use this one to kill two birds with one stone: it serves as both a passageway and transportation, two recent Thursday challenges I've missed.

Now that I pass through the Lincoln Tunnel 10 times a week for work, I feel like I know it. I used to be fascinated by it -- awed by the feat of engineering it represented, intrigued by the observation booths inside it, surprised by the exit signs and the doors in the walls. I've always imagined a picture inside it, a flash-less exposure with a shutter speed long enough to blur it a little but not so much as to accentuate the inevitable camera shake as the car bumps along the roadway. I took this one in the wee small hours, returning home from a Mets game.