Forgotten Places 2

I love to travel around and take photos of ghost towns, abandoned buildings, and other forgotten places.

Here are a few shots of places I've found.

Three Rivers, Texas

Orla, Texas

Orla, Texas

Orla, Texas

Orla, Texas

Downtown McAllen, Texas

San Juan, Texas

Granjeno, Texas

Premont, Texas

A Quick Photo

I've had my Casey dog since she was 4 weeks old.

She, like my other dogs, is a rescue...

but I sometimes think she is the one who rescued me.

We've been through a lot together.

She's 12 now and still as feisty and adorable as she always was.

More photos of her later...this is one of my favorites.

 

Yup.

That's my girl!

Silhouettes

Some of my absolute favorite things to shoot are

SILHOUETTES

1: a likeness cut from dark material and mounted on a light ground or one sketched in outline and solidly colored in

2: the outline of a body viewed as circumscribing a mass <the silhouette of a bird>

Michigan

Michigan

Southwestern University chapel

 

Shorthills Provincial Park, Canada

Lake Ontario, Port Dalhousie, Canada

Texas-New Mexico border

White Oaks, New Mexico

Gateway Arch, St. Louis

Mackinac Island (Michigan)

 I mentioned in my previous post that I jumped at the chance to visit the beautiful Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

The Grand Hotel is so popular among tourists that they charge $10 for non-guests to look around.

I asked one of the employees where to pay the fee and was graciously told to help myself and look around.

That made me happy.

I didn't get near as many shots as I wanted, but that's okay.

Just gives me another reason to go back.

If you are a fan of Somewhere in Time, you MUST visit this place.

Pure magic.

The Grand Hotel - view from the ferry

The touristy shot

Side view from the porch

View from the end of the porch

View from the hotel drive

This is the coin shop Christopher Reeve visited in the movie

One of many bike rental places

Found this couple enjoying the view

Riley J. found a ball near the tennis courts. We still have it.

Casey wants the stick...not too sure of the lake, though.

I will be a hotel guest on my next visit.
I will make sure I get to see the entire island.
I will take more photos!

Michigan's Upper Peninsula

I was fortunate to be able to take a driving trip to the glorious U.P. a couple of summers ago. 

I have always wanted to visit the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island so I jumped at the chance.

(Somewhere In Time is one of my favorite movies) 

This trip also allowed me to reach my goal of seeing all five Great Lakes.

Here are a few of my favorite shots (out of the hundreds I took)...

Motorized vehicles are not allowed on Mackinac Island

Grand Hotel carriage

The marvelous Grand Hotel

Beautiful Mackinac home

A friend and her son fishing

Lake Superior

A lighthouse on Lake Superior (northern U.P.)

Yeah, I love this place.

Ships That Sailed

I live about 70 miles west of Port Isabel, Texas.
I'm not a sailor but have always found the nautical world fascinating and mysterious.
I took a different road on this trip and found what looked to be a graveyard for shrimp boats.
The rest is history.

Forgotten Places - Valley Fruit & Vegetable Company

Some of my favorite shots happen when I find abandoned buildings. 

There is a strange beauty in the forgotten, forlorn places of the world.

The old sign has held up surprisingly well

The Valley Fruit & Vegetable Company building was built in 1947. The company was the major packer and shipper of grapefruit for many years. The building has stood abandoned for many years, and for a few days in 2009 I was able to sneak go in and take some shots of this amazing building. 

Notice from 1961 still on an office door

Sadly, vandals have gone through and broken most of the glass in the building

There are several wings in this huge building, used for storage

More crates in storage

Loading dock door

Back of the building - collapsed roof

Front of building

Loading docks. I can remember driving by there with my grandparents when I was younger and seeing it full of people loading and unloading trucks full of fruit.

This caboose used to be out back.

Caboose and the moon

Caboose by the loading docks

I was always fascinated by those big blue windows

This building stood abandoned for a long time, but the Food Bank of the RGV is now in the process of renovating it and moving in. I understand they're also trying to have the building designated an historic site. I'm glad it's going to be used and not demolished, but sad it's no longer available for trespassing stealth photographers.