Casco Bay near Portland Maine

Back to posting Maine pictures now. We went out on a boat today. Before going on the boat, I saved this starfish.





I watched it float gently into the ocean until it vanished beneath the dock waters. I hope it's doing okay.

Here are pictures which may very well look quite a lot alike. But I like them anyway, so here you go.

Niagara Falls Part II

Here is the last post from my road trip around the country so I'll be back to my regularly scheduled Maine photography soon hehe.

I went back to Niagara to see it in the day and also from the Canadian side this time.

Here's a picture while still in the US, as well as one crossing over the Rainbow Bridge.





It took us at least an hour to get through customs, and they thought I was a criminal. I was called up 3 times until finally they asked for my social security number (???) and then realized they were looking at someone else with my name. They even asked if I worked for a roofing company, AND asked where I was on April 22nd, 2009, or something like this. I gave them my passport and drivers license..you think they'd have SOME clue who I was. So yeah, I was a little upset with the border crossing this time. Those employees should be ashamed of themselves for wasting vacationers precious time. Took an hour to get in and I had a dinner date with my aunt, so I had only an hour (rushed one too) to spend while actually there. We rushed around and took pictures. It was nice, but nothing really grabbed me.





Nothing grabbed me until THIS, that is.





This put me in a better mood. The rainbow only lasted a few moments so I had to rush to even get this shot. Feeling lucky, we continued towards the Horseshoe Falls section, where I was astounded once again. The water falling into a void, or so it seemed, created a vortex that drew me in.





Pictures of course do not do it justice, so I'll attempt to see if I have good enough video footage of it to post soon.

And then my senses were awakened yet again when one of the friends I was with let me try on his Eagle Eyes. These sunglasses..seriously...I felt like I was in another dimension.





And then we headed back to "the other side".





I must say that it does suck to have such a horrible border crossing adventure. Not only does it bring you down and steal your time, but it also almost leaves a negative feeling about the country you've visited. I was happy to return to the United States where I could be myself and feel safe. Way to make me feel at home Canada. On another note, I'm sure that Canadians coming into the United States get it just as bad. Why can't we be friends again? hehe

Niagara Falls New York

This will be an easy post since I only went to photograph one thing, Niagara Falls.

I had planned on going tomorrow, but my cousin and I were talking about it, and she said it was lit up at night and was better seen that way. I thought, what the heck, and drove from just outside of Rochester back to the Buffalo area to get some pictures of the lights. I was not disappointed and would highly recommend going at night to anyone and everyone.

Toronto Canada to Buffalo New York

Woke up relatively early in the Chicago area today. The clouds looked very interesting to me, though I guess I must have a thing for clouds so it's not unusual.





I don't remember if I took this in Detroit or Port Huron.





I finally made it to Toronto, and then I couldn't find where the downtown was. It's not right off the highway, and I couldn't see any signs. I drove past the entire city before realizing I had missed it. I turned around and luckily found some signs pointing to the downtown. The same thing happened to me trying to find my way out of the city. I got lost for at least an hour until I asked the third person how to get to QEW. I had been asking people where Queen Elizabeth Highway was. I guess nobody calls it by the proper name, woops!





After finding my way out, I headed to Buffalo and had a night tour with a friend. Here's a picture I took while we were driving around town.

Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Chicago

My goal for the day was to drive to Milwaukee to see the Milwaukee Art Museum, and then make it to Chicago. Though I did accomplish these goals, I had to nap on the way to the museum so there wasn't much time before closing to explore.

First, here are some pictures of strange buildings at what seemed a "theme" town in Wisconsin. I stopped here just to get lunch, and had no idea what I was in for. There was more strangeness that this but I couldn't get photo's of everything. Also, I noticed how wonderful people drove in Wisconsin! And I heard a few interesting accents which made me smile.





Milwaukee Art Museum actually allowed photographs to be taken. Yay! Start with a picture of the outside. This building was designed by Santiago Calatrava Valls (Calatrava).





As well as a video of the museum changing shape. This is the best video I've found of it. There are videos in real time, but they move quite slowly.



Here are some shots of the interior.





And some of the exhibits inside, in order:

1. Ruin by Nam June Paik
2. MMPI (Self-Portrait in Yellow) by Tony Oursler
3. Red, Yellow, Blue II by Ellsworth Kelly
4. Lake George, Autumn, 1927 by Georgia O'Keefe
5. Janitor by Duane Hanson






This was one of my favorite exhibits however.

Modernity circa 1952, Mirrored and Reflected Infinitely by Josiah McElheny. This just seems so sci-fi and futuristic to me.





There were also things I couldn't take pictures of that were pretty cool. One of them was a matrix room..the lighting wasn't good enough for my camera without a tripod.

It looks brighter than this, but here's a video of the installation. You can pretty much walk any direction in the matrix as long as you don't accidentally hit the LED lights.

Artist: Erwin Redl - Piece: Matrix XV, 2007



There was another room similar to this one where I was asked to take off my shoes, put on some booties, and not to bring anything that could damage the glass inside (including my camera). Strangely, I did find this video, this person must have snuck it in.

Artist: Stanley Landsman - Piece: Walk-In Infinity Chamber (1968)




When the museum closed, I started towards Chicago. To avoid tolls, I took some back roads so it seemed to take forever.

I wasn't able to find cheap or free parking anywhere that seemed "safe", and not many people seemed to know how to drive, so I decided to actually leave the city.





I don't know what it was, but I didn't feel that safe leaving my car and exploring in Chicago. I'll have to visit with someone if I ever want to see the city. I hear of course that it's nice. I guess I'm becoming less and less of a city person the more I get older. Go figure.