Pic of the Day: Skagway Morning

Early summer morning before the cruise ships arrive in the charming gold rush-era town of Skagway, Alaska. The town, which boasts a year-round population of around 300, readies itself for the onslaught of four massive cruise ships which are docking down at the waterfront. The lifeblood of the Skagway economy, tourism nonetheless produces a solid wave of humanity as the tourists disembark for a day of fun and (hopefully) spending money.

Pic of the Day: Dawn in Santa Barbara

Today's picture comes from just up the coast in Santa Barbara, a very Mediterranean and beautiful city about an hour and a half northwest of Los Angeles.

It's an escape into a completely different world. 

Pic of the Day: The World at Its Best

I love the wine countries of the world. One of my favorite places on this green Earth is the Napa Valley in northern California.

This is a vineyard along the Silverado Trail, a more rural and rustic setting than are found on the vastly more trafficked Highway 29 which runs through towns along the western side of the valley. 

It's where the world is at its best.

Pic of the Day: The Lion's Embrace

From 1999 to 2011, the MGM Grand resort in Las Vegas featured a large lion exhibit as part of the casino hotel's attractions. Constructed for $9M, it was a detailed habitat which allowed the lions a chance to wander and play, while humans could observe them from a surrounding glass wall as well as a glass tunnel running through the display.

It was a spectacular and beautiful exhibit, and dearly lamented when it closed.

If you would like to read more about the reasons for the closure, you will find this interesting.

The lions were relocated and can now be found at the appropriately-named Cathouse (aka The Lion Habitat Ranch).

The below shot -- taken by my wife, not me -- captures two of the lionesses in a sweet moment as they sleep, and the reflection of an admiring onlooker.

Pic of the Day: Hung, Drawn and Quartered

A pub in London just a block from The Tower, a legendary building in which enemies of the crown (and sometimes "allies") were brutally tortured or worse. Some were hung, drawn and quartered.

 (from Wikipedia) "Convicts were fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where they were hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded and quartered (chopped into four pieces). Their remains were often displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge. For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burned at the stake."

Rather nasty business. I'd strongly recommend you not be late with your bar tab at this establishment.