A Good Place To Live

 Our recent travels took us to Bristol TN/VA.  Bristol is split by the Tennessee / Virginia line, which actually runs right down Main Street. It was even featured in a GEICO commercial! with their gecko standing on one of the state line markers between the double yellow street lines:

I had never actually been in Bristol, except to pass by on I-81.  But my parents lived there (on the Tennessee side) back in the 50's.  We had a really super meal at the Burger Bar, which claims "A Bristol Classic Since 1942".  It was fun to imagine my parents maybe having a burger there, as youngsters starting out so many years ago....

Overlook

Diving I-24 across Tennessee has some nice scenery.  Especially the stretch from south of Nashville to Chattanooga.   The high point (literally) is Monteagle, where the highway crosses a mountain, which might not technically be a mountain, but certainly acts like a mountain!

Anyway, there's a rest area at the west side of the "mountain", and ont the back edge of the westbound stop, there's this very nice view.  This is a simple iPhone shot, but significantly tweaked on my computer.  So similar to last week, I thought I's post the original with the final, and try to remember the process.  Everything is in Photoshop Elements unless noted.

Original:

1. Adjust levels
2. crop to 4x6 aspect ratio
3. Adjust hue/saturation.  I think I boosted red and yellow, and decreased magenta (there was a bit of "purple fringing" in the trees.
4. resize to 1024 px on long side
5. Apply Unsharp mask.  My default is amount 48%, radius 0.6px, threshold 0
6. Create a new layer for effects
7. Apply Topaz - Impression filter. I actually tried several of the presets, adding a unique layer for each.  Then I could compare, by switching layers on and off.  I settled on "Oil Glaze"
8. Add texture filter.

Springtime On Campus

Way behind on posting.  Life is being "like that"...

This is from last month, our visit to the campus of Vanderbilt University.  Obviously, there's a lot of OTSOOI (post processing) going on....  But I like how it turned out.

Parthenon, Nashville Style

From Nashville Parks & Rec. web page:

"The Parthenon stands proudly as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, Nashville's premier urban park. The re-creation of the 42-foot statue Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals."

We were in Nashville last week, on a College visit (Vanderbilt), and stayed at the Holiday Inn just off campus.  Our 12th floor balcony overlooked Centennial Park, as seen in the top photo.  The lower shot is from the sidewalk along West End Ave.  Taken just before 11pm, as we walked around after a bit of drama with a fire alarm (hint:  if you burn microwave popcorn in your hotel room, don't put the smoking bag in the hall...  try the balcony).

One of these days I'd like to visit the Parthenon properly, not just from a distance.  Both the replica, and the original, for that matter...

Oh yeah:....  the visit to Vanderbilt was cool, very nice campus.  More data for my son to crunch.

High Water

Sometimes you can find interesting photos in the most mundane places.  During our recent travels, we spent a night in Nashville, TN.  And it rained and rained and rained.  The next morning, while grabbing something from the car, I noticed that the area just off the hotel parking lot had quite a bit of water...  This appears to be overflow from a pond behind the hotel...  Thus the duckweed...

Anyway, I thought it was a rather dramatic scene...
Just a little happenstance.

To The Point

Been a little light on posting the post couple of days.  I was in Flagstaff, AZ, for my younger daughter's graduation (Masters!).  Expect a couple of images from that trip soon.  This is from the previous weekend's trip to Eastern Tennessee.  This is from a rest-stop along I-40 (about mile 267).  A very nice rest stop, I recommend it!  This sculpture appears to be a sundial, with "tent cards" mentioning counties in the state.  With a little googling, I found an image of a descriptive plaque.  which wasn't there during this visit ...

This was taken with my iPhone, and then tweaked during yesterday's flight home from AZ (using snapseed). Posted to Instagram from the St.Louis airport while waiting for my luggage.

Eastern Tennessee Pano - 360 degrees

Panorama taken during last weekend's trip to Maryville, TN area.  360 Degree version at Sphere 
Fun little app, though I'm still figuring the best ways to use it...

Little Purple Wildflower

Taken last weekend during our visit to Eastern TN for a niece's wedding.  I was playing a quick round of disc golf with my son, and snuck this in.  These little flowers were abundant, I though it was pretty cool with the tiny dewdrops...

My son pointed out a spider web in the grass, catching the sun.  So I snapped it also:

Phelp's Place, Eastern TN

A pano image of the Phelp's place, a little way out from Maryville, TN.  Click here for the spherical version.  Wonderful little spot, it is...