Soldiers And Sailors Cemetery

This cemetery is in Hastings along the bluffs. I've passed it several times, but the day I took the photo, the tree was very inviting. Was not very pleased with the brightness and contrast of my capture, so I will return here in the future. Plus, I haven't researched this cemetery and this will give me an excuse to do so.

Lava

Is it me, or does the frozen water over the waterfall look like it could be melting or dripping candle wax?

Aim For The Water Tower

One of the water towers in Hastings right next to the high schools baseball field. Curious how many times the water tower has been hit with a home run ball?

Downtown Hastings Developes

Signage of downtown Hastings which can be found on the waterfront of the Mississippi River in Hastings. It shows a couple of historical photos of the original downtown and the spiral bridge before it was torn down with the new bridge in place. In a few years, the current bridge, which is a two land bridge will be replaced. A much needed improvement for the city.

Dual Bridges

Jumping back south into Hastings for today's photo. It features two of the bridges that cross the Mississippi River, The Milwaukee Road [rail road] bridge, and the Hastings Bridge. The Hastings Bridge is slated to be replaced starting the the fall of 2010. The project will take 3-4 years to complete. I have posted about construction of this bridge in May of 2008. There was some major bridge maintenance work being done to it that essentially prolonged the life of the bridge until State funding was available. Before last years maintenance work, it had one of the lowest bridge ratings scores in the state.

Three Things

I've seen a couple other websites where they post a photo with three objects in the frame. This counts as one of those photos right?

Warm Weather Returns

Been a bit pre-occupied the past few days with my Final Four web site, but now that the bulk of what I need to do to get it up and running is over, I can concentrate here once again.

I can't say it's as warm out and as green as it is in the photo contribution by swc, but it's getting closer as each day passes. The water falls in the photo can be found in Hastings off of Highway 61 as you cross the Vermillion River.

Spot The Differences - #2

If you scroll down to yesterday's daily photo and compare today's daily photo, there is a major contrast between the two downtown photos. Today's photo is of the historic downtown Hastings. The two downtown cities [Minneapolis and Hastings] are not very far from each other, about a 30 to 35 minute drive. Yet, they are night and day to each other in all shapes, sizes and anything architectural. Also, which downtown you would prefer to live by or visit says a lot about one's personality. Can you visit both? Sure, I'm sure we all do at times, but I'd be willing to bet, you prefer one over the other.

Which Photo Do You Prefer?

It's amazing what a difference it can be taking photos and changing the height of the camera when shooting. The photo I posted on Friday and today were taken exactly in the same spot, one shot has the camera inches off of the ground, while the other has the camera about shoulder high. The difference in perspective is incredible. Which brings me to my question, which photo do you prefer? I like today's photo because of the tree blocking the sun. Though I also like last Friday's photo because of the glare of the sun off of the snow, which is what I was trying to capture in the first place.

How To Speak Minnesotian #1

Today's Minnesotian Word: snice

snice (noun) misting rain falling on snow resulting in a glaze like surface with a surface layer of ice

After rain falls during the winter in Minnesota, you must watch your step, but you get this awesome shine on top of the snow that I attempted to capture as best as I could.

Spot The Differences

I received a contribution photo from swc over the weekend. On January 16, I posted a black and white photo of the Vermillion River while standing on a walking path bridge facing west. The contribution photo is from the exact same location, facing west, but taking during the peak of summer. One can hardly tell these are indeed the same location. The river bank on the left is fairly easy to make out in both photos. Also on the left bank, there is a crop of birch trees, those are, in my account, the easiest to make out between both season photos.

Arctic Blast

The current temperature at the time of this posting is -19F degrees. They are predicting -22F by morning. The Twin Cities has been below 0F degrees since Tuesday around midnight. The good news is, we should go above 0F sometime in the after noon on Friday. That will be three and a half days of sub-zero temperatures.

This kind of cold temperatures does have a big effect on the state of Minnesota. Many schools close or delay their start times by a couple of hours [I believe to let the air temps warm up a bit before sending the kids outdoors]. Travel is slower due to the exhaust fumes from the vehicles freezing on the roads creating "black ice".

Iced Over Water Fall

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made my first winter time visit to the Vermillion Falls in Hastings. Today I am posting the lower portion of the falls where there is an observation platform to view the falls from a couple of different vantage points. Here is the same view from the fall of 2006 with out any ice. The difference between the two seasons is massive. If you look closely at the frozen waters, you can clearly see open waters in the bottom right corner. Water is currently flowing over the falls, though you really need a semi clear patch of ice to see the movement of the falling water.

The Land Of Ice And Snow

This is the top portion of the Vermillion Falls in Hastings, which lies next to the Hastings Flour Mill. I've been here many times during the warmer months of the year, but have never made a winter stop here. I had my chance this past week and it was quite a site to see. I'll post more photos during this coming week from this location. It surely is quite a difference with the top layer frozen over. There is water flowing underneath the ice. In some areas, the ice was thin enough to see the water flowing behind it. It was quite a site to see.

Snow Plowed Walking Paths

Those who like to walk outdoors to keep fit have plenty of walking paths to choose from in the Twin Cities. There are miles and miles of them woven around the neighborhoods. The winter months however can play a bit of a challenge to the body with the colder temps, the snow, the cold temps, the ice, the frigid cold temperatures....did I mention how cold it can get here? It should be of some comfort to you winter walkers that the walking paths are cleared of snow, keeping it somewhat safe to walk on. Granted, the ice is still a bit of an issue, so keep a keen eye out while you walk down the wintry path.

Icy Mississippi River

I've posted a couple other views of the Hastings Bridge from this vantage point in the past: October 26, 2006 and December 7, 2006 Both photos had been taken in the fall season. I made a return visit this week to the Hasting Bridge and the frozen Mississippi River. It was really a quiet place to be in the dead sound that winter can cause. The top layer of water was frozen, not a sound of water flowing. It may look like sturdy layer of ice, but with the moving waters underneath, you would be a fool to venture out onto the ice.

Walking Path In Hastings

This walking path at this point runs along side the Vermillion River in Hastings. The road that you see crossing the river is highway 61, which runs through the heart of Hastings. Just beyond the bridge is the Vermillion Falls. And the industrial building you see sits on the falls and is called the Hastings Flour Mill.

How To Derail A Train

Hummm, it's either the Hayes Model EB device attached to the train track or it's the bird seed sprinkled on the side. Take your pick.

Hastings Bridge Construction

Starting Monday, drivers crossing the Hastings River Bridge will find the two lane bridge a temporary one lane bridge during some bridge maintenance. Expect traffic delays and alternate routes are encouraged. The bridge deck resurfacing and bridge painting project will last until mid July. There are plans for a much needed replacement bridge project to begin in 2010.

Theme Day: Graffiti or Street Mural

Yeah! I finally have internet connection!

I couldn't resist this train graffiti I found in Hastings, Minnesota while on a walk back in the spring of 2007. This one is quite funny to me. The enormous eyes, the detail that went into just the ears alone. great shadowing technique with spray paint. It's very well done to whomever the artist was.

Please be sure to visit the other participating Theme Day bloggers listed below the photo.


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Where Did It Come From

Kind of strange eh, an icicle growing out of a rock? I spotted this in Hastings along the Vermillion Falls. It must have been gravity and some dripping water down the side of the cliff that formed this strange piece of ice.

Pipes, Tubes and Water

The lock and damn in hastings. Just showing a little bit of the mechanics of the damn.

More Streaking Fun

In yesterday's photo, I mentioned the stop light had just turned green as I took the photo, a few seconds later, I took another one as the cars passed by. It's quite a different take on the same view. The streaks of head lights, some odd streaks from reflections perhaps, the lit up street, the shadow from the rock on the sidewalk. A lot of small differences on a calm night on Highway 61

As You Enter Hastings

While I was standing on the bridge in Hastings that overlooks the downtown area, I mentioned I was standing about two feet of sidewalk and behind me was Highway 61. I snapped a quick shot of the road using the railing as my tripod. The camera is looking south for this one at the incoming traffic, the stoplight had just turned green in the distance.

Curb Side View

The city hall in Hastings, I've been here before and have shown you the rear of the building. I promised to return and show you other views. This is one of the side entrances to the building. The trees really hide a lot of the beauty of the building unfortunately.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Constanta, Romania
Baziege, France
Szentes, Hungary

I Want A Redo

I had hoped this photo would have turned out a tad better, or I'm being to critical today. I was waiting for a car to drive past me so I could get the lights in the photo. Back up on the river bridge, I waited, and waited, and waited. If you've been following along the past few days, the streets looked and were very deserted. Finally a car passed, I wasn't fully prepared. I set the camera down on my camera case, pressed the button and the two second delay had to elapse before the photo took. The photo is a bit crooked, if I straighten it, the tail lights go out of the picture. The photo is out of focus a bit because of the cars on the bridge shaking the camera, the tail lights are almost out of frame, the lighting is to bright in areas.

Straight Out Of A Hollywood Movie Set

From the same night I took the September Theme Day photo in Hastings, I walked a bit down the road and took this one using a garbage can as a tripod! Many of the comments mentioned the street looked deserted, [take another look at the September 1 photo and you'll see blurs of people on the sidewalks]. When I took this today's photo, there were no people in the shot and it looks even more deserted with very little cars in the photo.

Theme Day: Street Lights And Street Signs

Septembers theme day in the City Daily Photo community are street lights and street signs. My photo is from Hastings overlooking downtown hastings. The rows of lights has always caught my eye when I've driven past it and today you get to see my view of the street lights.

To view other 'street lights and street sign' photos from other Daily Photo participants, select the cities listed below this photo:


Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Moscow, Russia - Paris, France - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Lyon, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Hyde, UK - Hong Kong, China - Joplin (MO), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Chandler (AZ), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - San Diego (CA), USA - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Nelson, New Zealand - Quincy (MA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Bend (OR), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - New Orleans (LA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Detroit (MI), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Selma (AL), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Arradon, France - Sheki, Azerbaijan - New York City (NY), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Tenerife, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Forks (WA), USA - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Chateaubriant, France - Madison (WI), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ajaccio, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Budapest, Hungary - Lyon, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Le Guilvinec, France - River Falls (WI), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Naples (FL), USA - London, UK - La Antigua, Guatemala - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Trujillo, Peru - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Oslo, Norway - Grenoble, France - Shanghai, China - Toronto (ON), Canada - Durban, South Africa - Zurich, Switzerland - Cape Town, South Africa - Singapore, Singapore - Torino, Italy - Flagstaff (AZ), USA

Engineering Hydropower

Quite A Couple

Close up of a train coupler in Hastings.

Would You, Could You, On A Bluff?

Yesterday's photo featured high rise living space with a great view. Some of you, from what it sound like, were a bit unsure about living way up in the sky. Today's photo is similar in nature, but on a bluff over looking the Mississippi River below. These homes can be found in Hastings with a spectacular view of the river, lock and dam #2, plus sun rises and sun sets. The homes are technically on ground level, yet have a vertical plunge that isn't desired by many. Could you live in a home at this location?

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Cypress, Texas
Ystad, Sweden
New York, New York

The Train To Nowhere

These train tracks lie in Hastings near the Hastings Flour Mill. I took this photo in late spring. The train was not moving, but I like the low perspective of this shot.

My 5 Daily Photo Favorites:
Villigen, Switzerland
San Diego, California
Port Angeles, Washington
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Brussels, Belgium

View To The East

A view of the Hastings River Bridge with the Milwaukee Rail Road Bridge in the distance looking east. The bridge crosses the Mississippi River, into and out of downtown Hastings.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites
Naples, Florida
Mumbai, India
Las Vegas, Nevada

Train Did Not Keep A Rolling

Back in early spring, [you can see a few buds on the trees to the right] we took a family walk down by the Hastings Flour Mill. They have a great trail system in place. This train car was just down from the mill and across the Vermillion River. That car is right on the edge of the cliff. The cliff is falling apart below, huge chucks have fallen out. Yet there it sits, all comfy ad could be.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites
Kansas City, Missouri
Saigon, Vietnam
Budapest, Hungary

Now This Is Actually One Building

Despite all of the sections you see in the photo, they all connect in some shape or manner. What a crazy engineered hodge podge of buildings that do not match what so ever. This is the Hastings Flour Mill that I have posted on back in January with a broader view. One thing I never noticed before was the faded red water tower. When did that get up there and why had I never noticed it before. I've visited the site many times, but there it was, something new to my eyes. I've always enjoyed seeing unique water towers and this was a delight to photograph.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Boston, Massachusetts
Bangalore, India
Cairo/Giza, Egypt

Who Are You

Last photo from the Carpenter Nature Center. This great horned owl was impressive to me. Mainly because I heard them a lot when I lived in St Paul, but never ever saw one. Living out in Cottage Grove, that is one thing I do not hear that often. So to finally see one, wow, larger than I expected.

From The Biggest To The Smallest

Yesterday I had a photo of the largest bird in the raptor family, with a wing span of about 6 feet long. Today we have the smallest of the North American Hawks, the American Kestrel. This is quite a colorful bird up close. Not what I would expect to see from a bird of prey. Although, for the birds that make Minnesota their home, it's one of the most colorful birds that I have personally seen around here.

I didn't get the information from the volunteer holding the hawk if this bird would be released back into the wild.

My Top 3 Daily Photo Favorites
San Diego, California
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Phoenix, Arizona

Bald Is Beautiful

Another photo from yesterday's Carpenter Nature Center. One thing I never realized about the bald eagle....I was very surprised to see feathers covering it's legs. It actually looked strange seeing all of the feathers. Most birds legs are exposed to the elements, but the bald eagles legs were covered with feathers. Perhaps being such large birds with large feathers, one can actually notice their legs. My guess is the extra covering helps the eagles who do not migrate. Not all of them do, which I was also not aware of. When I was awaiting the raptor release, I observed nine bald eagles flying in the sky. I had never seen so many eagles flying at once in the sky. It was quite a sight to see. I know a lot of the bald eagles success comes from the Carpenter Nature Center. I wonder just how many of these beautiful birds call this area home.

- Donate to the Carpenter Nature Center
- Carpenter's current Wish List

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Silver Spring, Maryland
Brookville, Ohio
Sydney, Australia

The Home Of The Brave

Made a visit to Carpenter Nature Center for their annual raptor release event. It certainly was amazing to see if you've never been to an event like this before. They released four birds on this day. One bald eagle, two red tail hawks and I cannot recall the fourth bird they released. This was the first time I had been to this type of event and had no idea that a place like this existed. The short story, they help injured birds of prey back into the wild. They come in to the center for various reasons, broken wing, the bird was caught in a live trap and had a broken leg, etc. To see these birds up close like this was awe inspiring. Today's photo is of a bald eagle that had been injured in some way, but could never be released back into the wild for fear of it not surviving if it was released. Some of the birds just are not able to be healthy enough to make it. The center is run by donations from public and private charities. All of the workers are volunteers, which again is quite amazing in this day and age.

My Top 3 Daily Photo Favorites
Nelson, New Zealand
Torino, Italy
Singapore

Ramsey Mill On Vermillion River

Hats off to Tara of Baton Rouge Daily Photo for correctly guessing the ancient ruins discovered in the Twim Cities were of a mill of some kind. Indeed, these are the remains of one of Hastings first flour mills. This is the Ramsey Mill, built in 1857 by Governor Alexander Ramsey [construction was started in 1855].It burned down in a fire on December 22, 1894. The mill was rather small and produced about 100 barrels of flour a day. Gardner Mill, located on the Vermillion Falls produced about 1000 barrels of flour per day. I've featured the Gardner Mill, now called the Hastings Flour Mill, as a past Daily Photo.

I found this photo of the Ramsey Mill taken in 1930. Photographer is unknown.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina
Maple Ridge, (BC) Canada
Delta, Colorado - another WOW!

Ancient Ruins Series Continues

I wanted to continue on with the ruins of a building I found while on a walk with my wife and kids. Standing back to give you a bigger perspective on the area the building is sitting in. I mentioned a river it was built along, this river is in Hastings and empties into the Mississippi River not too far from here. I recall a comment a couple posts ago about how could they let the building stand in fear it will fall on someone. I can honestly say, that thought had crossed my mind when I was standing inside of the building remains.

I would like to return to this site when the sun is nearly setting and the river waters have warmed up a bit more. Looking back on the first two photos of this site, the sun setting with a reddish tint in the sky, standing in the water on the other side of the river bank near the beaver! Did you see that beaver over there on the east side of the bank? Throw in a bit of river water reflection. I can picture the shot in my mind, but I need to be there at the right time and I do need a replacement camera. I brought my broken camera along to the Breakfast Club gathering and described what I did to break the LCD screen.

Tomorrow I will give all of the details on this site that I can find.

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Calcutta, India - WOW!
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Brownsville, Texas

Ancient Ruins Located

Happy Mothers Day

Another angle of the ancient ruins. From walking around the old building, the horizontal lines in the stone is where the floors were located. The open areas were windows at one time. The vertical lines of wood, I believe it was wood, I'm guessing it was to help support the roof when it was there. The building location is located along side a not so well known river.

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Phoneix, Arizona
Sydney, Australia
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Ancient Ruins In The Twin Cities?

Ancient Ruins? 1885 this building was built. Does over 100 years count as ancient? That's debatable for sure. So what and where is this place in the Twin Cities....Especially you locals who are familiar with the area. I can assure you, it is in the Twin Cities metro area. I discovered in using one of the photo areal sites, local.live.com. I was looking at a particular place from the satellite view when I discovered this odd shaped remains of a building. If you think this photo looks mysterious in this photo, try looking from a satellite image and try to figure that out. As I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking at....There it was, I had a mission, I had a quest, I had to discover it for myself....I will let you discover it with me.

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Little Rock, Arkansas
San Diego, California
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Far And Wide

I want to expand a bit off of yesterday's photo about the Lock and Damn number 2. It's a very interesting place to visit, I'm a short distance from the dam for this shot. The bad news, if you read the sign on the closed entrance gate in yesterdays photo, the dam is closed for visitors. So, that is about as close as one can get to the dam and the observation platform. It does have to do with the terrorist attacks on September 11.

Read the expanded warning message about why the dams are closed for the moment.

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Dam It Is Closed

Payed a visit to Lock and Dam Number 2 which is located near the Hastings border on the Mississippi River. This is the entrance to the observation area which obviously leads to the area where you can watch the boats rise and fall, depending on which way they are headed.

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Newcastle, UK
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Rita Hayworth Gave Good Face

Rita Hayworth - Please Don't Kiss Me

Chris over at the Minneapolis Daily Photo has posted not one photo with a face, but two photos with a face. I felt compelled to keep up with the Jones, so to speak. I had taken this photo about three weeks ago in Hastings while on a walk with my family. We happened to pass by this somewhat abandon train cars with lots of graffiti. After being challenged to a face off, I figured that this graffiti face was my answer to the surprise attack.

As Ugly As This Looks

You'll be hard pressed to find any vulgarity spray painted on this overpass in Hastings. There are a couple if you look long enough. We took a hike along the Vermillion Falls over the weekend. One of the trails led us under a bridge with all of this graffiti and about seven rusty bikes. It's obviously where you dump a stolen bike when your finished riding it.

NOTE: I'm still having issues uploading to my hosting server that I've been troubleshooting all weekend long. It is currently taking me hours to upload one simple photo plus a daily text update. Hopefully I'll get this straightened out soon.