Peony at Sunrise - Close Up

I don't often take photos of flowers. Most likely, this one caught my attention due to the angle of the light. It was a couple of hours after sunrise and the Sun was still relatively low in the sky.

-GS-

Wicked Comes to the Orpheum Theatre

Just happened to notice the truck parked in front of the theater. The driver must have just pulled into town. Normally, they park in the back. -gs-

Government Flowers

There has been a small park with a nice walking trail near my home for over twenty-five years. This was a long, narrow area in the electric transmission right-of-way. The area was always well kept, mowed and often used as a practice field for soccer teams and the like.

Recently the nearby street was widened to accommodate increased traffic. As the park was improved (made narrower) it was discovered that it drained into a wetland area. Several new regulations governed the improvements. For instance, it can no longer be mowed.

So rather than let it go to weeds, it was sown with wildflower seeds. I have to admit, it looks very nice, though it can no longer be used for anything else. During the construction the walking trail was widened and improved. It's now very nice.

Click here to see a few more photos taken while on a walk around the area.

-GS-

Omaha Railroad Days 2008

Omaha's two day celebration of it's railroad heritage was expanded this year.

Lauritzen Gardens and the Durham Museum were joined by three museums across the bridge in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Union Pacific Museum, the General Dodge House and the Rails West museum joined the Omaha attractions to repeat last year's very popular family event.

Click here to see more photos.

-gs

Spring 2008

What better way to welcome Spring than to pay mother nature a visit. In this case I visited the drive through version. No reason to leave the climate controlled comfort of the car just to commune with nature.

The Wildlife Safari is a great family attraction located a few highway minutes south of Omaha, Nebraska. It's run by the same people that handle the world class Henry Doorly zoo.

The standards are just as high at the safari park, but the atmosphere is quite different. Where the zoo is obviously a man-made construction designed to look natural, the safari park is a natural area modified to accommodate the slow moving autos.

Here are a few photos from my visit on the park's opening weekend. Not pictured are the aviary or the valley that is home to bears and wolves.

You can can see other photos of the Henry Doorly Zoo and older photos of the Safari park here.

-gs-