Every year, Harrisburg shoots fireworks off from City Island. If you are willing to do a bit of walking, it’s not hard to get close to the action because the there is a lot of space along the river to sit. These are photos taken along the riverfront just south of the Harvey Taylor Bridge from the July 3rd, 2011 firework show. I liked this location because it’s in plain view of the launch point, and the sound really echoes off the bridge — it’s a pretty neat effect.

The last photo is of the finale, and although you can’t really see the fireworks, the photo gave me an eerie feeling of what the explosions may have been like during the fight for independence.

Here are a few pics from Niagara Falls on Memorial Day weekend, leading up to the fireworks. We camped out a spot on the American side of the falls for about an hour, but the weather was good and what better place to just sit and watch the sun set with the falls roaring right next to you?

While doing yard work this week, I found this orange tulip growing in one of our flower gardens — er, lambs ear garden. Maybe it appeared more attractive because it’s the only flower in bloom on that side of the house, or maybe because it was unexpected. But since this is the most attractive tulip I’ve ever seen, I had to get a few images of it.

Nestled between miles and miles of farmland is an oasis known as Shakamak State Park. We “roughed” in one of the plush bunk houses at the group camp last fall, and really enjoyed our stay. Although the park may seem like it is out in the middle of the boonies, Terre Haute is only about 30 minutes away, and has just about every store or restaurant you could want.

The park features 400 acres of man-made lakes surrounded by forest, walking trails, a swimming pool, and all the activities you would expect to be offered at a group camp (there are single campsites too). Just about every day, I’d drive or bike to one of the land bridges separating the lakes and try to capture the sunset. Here are a few of the photos from around the camp.

Shakamak State Park on the Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Here are a few HDR shots of the chimney stacks of Three Mile Island (circa 2009), taken from the west side of  the Susquehanna river. Although it’s not clear from the photos, there are 4 chimney stacks, originally servicing 2 reactors. After the famous partial meltdown on the 2nd reactor in 1979, two of the chimney stacks were decommissioned, so steam only rises out of the two stacks still in use. On some days, the steam can be seen for miles.

An airline passenger at Harrisburg International Airport watches steam rise from the chimneys in the distance:

The sign near the entrance of the Nuclear Power Plant reads:

On March 28, 1979, and for several days thereafter — as a result of tehcnical malfunctions and human error — Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 Nuclear Generating Station was the scene of the nations worst commercial nuclear accident. Radiation was released, a part of the nuclear core was damaged, and thousands of residents evacuated the area. Events here would cause basic changes throughout the world’s nuclear power industry.

By the way, Three Mile Island was used as the site for the climax of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Three Mile Island on Wikipedia

This is a photo of a train going over the  Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge in Harrisburg, PA. I remember the cloud cover being great all week long. In the distance you can see rain falling.

Here is an evening shot of the bridge in the foreground, with the Market Street bridge in the background.

High atop Mount Penn, the Reading Pagoda overlooks Reading from the East. Originally built in 1908 to be a luxury hotel, the Pagoda was never granted a liquor license it needed to attract customers, and ended up being sold to the City of Reading. Now it serves as a tourist attraction (even has a gift shop) — oh, and as a backdrop for scenes in The Last Airbender.

Driving up from Reading, The road up to the Pagoda is steep, through neighborhoods where houses are stacked side-by-side. At the top, Skyline Drive runs next to the Pagoda and along the ridge for several miles, providing great views of the Lehigh Valley.

And just for the heck of it, here is a poster from The Last Airbender that features the Pagoda (click to enlarge):

I had the pleasure of visiting San Francisco several times over a couple years while I was on a project at work. I never got tired of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, even if I didn’t have the time to take public transportation over, and just viewed from a distance.  The bridge is very photogenic, so it’s not hard to find a good angle to get shots, but here are 5 of my favorite locations to take pictures of perhaps the most well-known bridge in the world.

1 – Pacific Heights area/other high points around San Francisco

This photo was taken during a bike ride down to the wharf from Golden Gate Park. I was probably taking a break at the top of the one of the many hills that are characteristic of San Francisco streets. This photo includes the palace of fine arts. Using google maps, I was able to figure out the location was near the intersection of Vallejo and Fillmore streets.

2 – Along the shore, east side of the bridge.

If you are coming from downtown San Francisco, once you get to the Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf area, you can get a decent view of the bridge all along the shore until you get to the bridge. There are even walking/bike trails most the way.

3 – Fort Point Area/Southeast side of the bridge.

There is a bus stop on this side of bridge, and gardens, gift shop, and cafe. There are trails that take you down to the shore for photos right next to the water. If you plan to walk across the bridge, this is the best place to start.

4 – North side of the bridge.

If you venture over to the north side of the bridge, you can get great views of the Golden Gate Bridge with the San Francisco skyline as a backdrop. The first photo below shows the hill you can climb (via a road accessible by car or bike) to get up to an overlook that gives you an on-top-of-the-world feel, the ocean on one side, and the bridge and San Francisco  on the other.

5 – Southwest side of the bridge

There are walking trails that continue along the bluff on the other side of the bridge. You will no longer be able to see the San Francisco skyline, but if you are willing to walk down to the beach below, you can get some fantastic photos of the bridge accented by boulders jutting out of the water.

For additional information about the Golden Gate Bridge, I recommend checking out Wikipedia’s Golden Gate Bridge article.

For information about the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, including maps of the trails, visit the national park service website here:

http://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/maps.htm