January, 2012 Archives

Adventure Lovers’ Paradise: Arches National Park [47 PICS]

January 28th, 2012 Permalink

Arches National Park is a gorgeous 76,679 acre landscape which preserves over 2,000 natural sandstone arches. The park is located in eastern Utah, right outside Moab which is an outdoor adventure lovers’ paradise. The park is in the high desert where the forces of nature like erosion have exposed millions of years of geologic history, diverse colors and textures of arches and very unusual rock formations. 43 arches have collapsed since 1970, yet still the beauty of nature here will leave you in awe. Arches National Park is an outdoor adventure lovers’ paradise with many activities such as backpacking, biking, camping, canyoneering, commercial tours, hiking, rock climbing and plenty to keep a photographer busy. According to the National Park Service, “To many, the most outstanding natural features of Arches are the park’s geologic formations. Over 2,000 catalogued arches range in size from a three-foot opening (the minimum considered to be an arch), to Landscape Arch which measures 306 feet from base to base. Towering spires, fins and balanced rocks complement the arches, creating a remarkable assortment of landforms in a relatively small area.” [47 Photos]

Arches National Park, Utah, Delicate Arch -- The iconography of time

Delicate Arch at Arches National Park ‘The iconography of time’ is the title given to this amazing long exposure capture. The photographer said, “Billions of years ago some of those stars sent their light on a journey to delicate arch long before its grains of sand had even settled to the bottom of a vast ocean. This complex intermingling of time and space and light fills me with much awe, wonder and inspiration. I live for these moments.” Photo #1 by Jason Corneveaux

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Welcome Year of the Dragon: 2012 Chinese Lunar New Year [36 PICS]

January 23rd, 2012 Permalink

A dragon — the most powerful and revered of the Chinese zodiac signs — is just what the world needs while Mayan predictions for 2012 are all gloom and doom. 2012 is the Year of the Dragon and the Chinese New Year, also called the Lunar New Year, kicks off with parades filled with dancing lions and dragons. The parades start on Lunar New Year’s Day and continue for the next fifteen days until the festivities end with the Lantern Festival. Some dragons are as long as 100 meters and require 50 people dancing in sync. The Dragon is regarded as a sacred creature, symbolising power, courage, righteousness and dignity. The Dragon Dance originated in China during the Han Dynasty (180-230AD) and every Chinese New Year parade ends with a mighty and colorful Dragon Dance. The Dragon is the only animal of the Chinese zodiac year that is not real; it is all powerful, breathes fire, can travel on land, fly in the sky, or dive and swim in the water. Dragons bring good luck. Welcome Year of the Dragon! [36 Photos]

Dragon dance, Chinese Lunar New Year -- 2012 Year of the Dragon

The Chinese Lunar New Year kicks off and 2012 Year of the Dragon is celebrated with a Dragon dance. Dragons are believed to bring good luck to people, and people born in the Year of the Dragon are supposed to have qualities that include great power, dignity, fertility, wisdom and auspiciousness. Photo #1 by Anonymous via Open Walls

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Theodore Roosevelt National Park: Where Wildlife & Buffalo Still Roam

January 15th, 2012 Permalink

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President, fell in love with the North Dakota badlands during his first visit there in 1883 while he was hunting bison. Roosevelt believed the ‘Wild West’ had a rugged lifestyle and ‘perfect freedom.’ The establishment of Theodore Roosevelt National Park was to memorialize Roosevelt’s life, and the influence the landscape had on him and his conservation ethics. The 110 square miles park is divided into three sections packed with wildlife including bison, feral horses, elk, bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer and mule deer, prairie dogs, and 186 species of birds such as golden eagles, sharp-tailed grouse, and wild turkeys. The largest, South Unit, and the North Unit have about 100 miles of foot and horse trails, wildlife viewing, and opportunities for back country hiking and camping. The Elkhorn Ranch Unit which has Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch is located in-between the two larger units. Besides wonderful wildlife, the National Park Service calls the bizarre geologic rock formations the “grim fairyland” of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Roosevelt said the badlands were “so fantastically broken in form and so bizarre in color as to seem hardly properly to belong to this earth.” Here’s a look at the wildlife at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, one of the few places where the buffalo still roam. [35 Photos]

Feral Horses in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Feral Horses in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. To give you an idea of the time period that Roosevelt fell in the love with the area, he told two favorite stories from the Dakota Territory: The Bar Fight and the adventure of Pursuing Boat Thieves. Photo #1 by Sarah Nystrom / NPS

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A Snowman’s Worst Nightmare: Calvin & Hobbes in Real Life [PICS]

January 12th, 2012 Permalink

For 10 winters from 1985 to 1995, snowmen met with murder and mayhem at the hands of 6-year-old Calvin in the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson. The hilariously horrific snowmen scenarios depicted by Calvin still continue to inspire fans who create snowman scenes straight out of a snowman’s worst nightmare. Got snow? Why not brave the cold and craft your own Calvin and Hobbes-esque snowmen creations to keep your neighbors wondering and a bit worried about you? Think dark humor such as stabbing, melting, maiming, murdering, or other mayhem. Think snowman + nightmare = snowmare. Your twisted snowy tribute is on the right track so long as your snowman will definitely not live happily ever after. Calvin specialized in wicked plots to bring about snowman suicide, a snowman cannibalizing another snowman, and a Snowman House of Horror. Snow sharks around the world have been seen attacking horrified snowmen. Here’s some really good snow art tributes, by people deeply inspired by Watterson, but it speaks loudly of the world in which we live . . . where a photo depicting a famous comic strip and turned into snowmen nightmares and Calvin and Hobbes in real life must be qualified as a ‘reproduction.’ Perhaps SOPA will move beyond trying to destroy the Internet and making websites disappear, to making houses and yards go poof? As sad as this fact is, we’re claiming ‘fair use’ for Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comics in this tribute and ‘fair use’ for the the imaginative people who reproduced Calvin & Hobbes in real life snowman scenes. [63 photos, 1 video, and snippets of Calvin & Hobbes comics]

The snowmen rebel -- Calvin & Hobbes

Calvin had a talent for causing mayhem whenever he created a snowman. If the scene ends badly for a snowman, then you are fully embracing Calvin & Hobbes flavored art. ‘The snowmen rebel.’ Photo #1 by mpburrows

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Highest Points: 20 U.S. National Parks by Elevation [40 PICS]

January 4th, 2012 Permalink

The United States has 58 national parks that are operated by the National Park Service. It takes an act of U.S. Congress to establish a national park and we frequently see these parks listed in some type of ordered list such as number of yearly visitors. This list of 20 parks is by elevation and includes the 20 highest points found among all of the gorgeous U.S. national parks. [40 Photos]

Down the valley towards Denali on this beautiful day, with the one park road winding its way

Denali National Park, Alaska, ranks as the #1 highest point of any U.S. national park. In this valley towards Denali, only the first 15 miles are paved even though the winding road is 92 miles long. Photo #1 by Nic McPhee

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