The Bavarian Inn

I apologize in advance as I wasn't shooting under ideal conditions.  There may be some fog on the lens.  I also bumped up the ISO's as I didn't have my tripod with me.  So these are probably closer to snapshots than anything.  But I don't remember covering the Bavarian Inn on this blog, so here goes.

 The Bavarian Inn began it's life as the Union Hotel in 1888.  It was renamed "Fischer's Hotel" by Theodore Fischer.  It was Theodore's son that started the all you can eat chicken dinners that Frankenmuth is now known for.  In 1950, the hotel was bought by the Zehnder's (owners of the restaurant across the street).  The above glockenspiel was added later.  Every hour (or half hour), little figures come out, it is pretty cool.

 The restaurant started to fall on hard times in the mid 1950's and there was even talk of closing it.  It was at this point that they decided to remodel the restaurant and give it the look of a German building.  It was the Zehnders that encouraged other businesses to give Frankenmuth it's current look.

 Another angle of the clock tower.  I wish it weren't so cold.

 I believe this is a tourist information center.

An attempt at an overall view of the restaurant.  I'm gonna have to come back here in the daylight for some better pics.

Zehnder's Snowfest

After my uncle's birthday party, my mom and I decided to head over to Frankenmuth to hopefully catch some of the snow sculptures there.  This is the 21st Snow Festival.  It is kind of nice to see towns put on things like this instead of the typical things many towns do.

 I would have taken more pictures but it was getting close to single digit temperatures.  What I did see was pretty cool though.  This was one of the high school displays.  I think it is supposed to be a dragon.

 A castle.

 This was one of my favorites.

 This one was pretty cool too.  It was done by Bay City Central.

 A closeup of his face.  Although there's not a terrible amount of detail.

 Then I moved over to what I presumed was the adult section.  These were even cooler.  A pair of seals.

 Given that this is a train, it attracted me. 

 I really liked this one.  It is amazing what kind of detail they can do with this.

 A bear and a tree.

 A hummingbird.

A snow replica of the glockenspiel.  I'll have to admit this one is pretty cool too.

First Up...The Eagles

So I was up at my mom's this weekend.  A stop at my mom's means a stop by the eagles.  With the weather being fairly iffy, there were quite a few of them hanging out.  It was a pretty busy weekend for me.  Friday night was my company's 60th Anniversary.  Saturday night was my uncle's 50th birthday.  I don't have pictures from either of those events, but I do have other pictures.

 A juvenile eagle.  Up until they are around 4 or 5, they pretty much remain this mottled brown color.  As they get older, they get the white head that you are used to seeing with a bald eagle.

 This is an older eagle.  I wouldn't be surpristed if I've been following this guy for a while.

 I'm not sure if this is the same as the first one or not.

 So I went back a little later in the day.  Caught the eagle with the "golden light".  Makes for a pretty cool picture, I think.

 There were a bunch of eagles hanging around.  Sadly, this was the best I could do.

 A pair of eagles.  This picture needs a caption.

 Another group of them.

Before I headed home, I needed one more shot.  This may very well be the nesting pair that has lived here for a while.

Winter Strikes Back

So Old Man Winter decided to head back to Ann Arbor today.  It's been cold the past couple of days but it hasn't been too snowy.   Well that changed.  I'm not sure how much snow was dumped on us today but it was a pretty significant amount.  Made getting home interesting, that's for sure.

 We have some pretty neat plant life around the building I work at.  For the most part it is an attempt to be natural.  It at least looks natural.  I'm not sure what kind of grasses these are but they are pretty cool come late summer and early fall.

 I really love the birch trees we have in front of our building.

 They make some pretty interesting patterns.  Although on this picture I'm not sure if it works better oriented this way or the other way.  I'd post the other way but I don't feel like it tonight.

 Another one of the trees.

 A more pulled out picture of the grasses.  Could almost be on the prairie somewhere.

 We have some pines in the back of our building.

 I think I really like this shot.

 But the thistles are pretty neat too.

 Especially all covered in snow.

 Another one.

 One last shot of that.

 I really liked the way the snow piled on a pile of branches we have in the back.  There is a nice little trail back there.

 It makes for a nice peaceful view for the most part.

And one last shot.  The building in the background is the Ann Arbor News printing press.  Supposedly they use recycled paper and soy inks in an effort to reduce their environmental footprint.

Messing Around With Stuff

I don't do much messing around with post-processing type stuff and for some reason, I think that I should more often.  Tonight I decided to mess around with one of my pictures of the Arthur M. Anderson.

What do you think?  It may be a little too dark but I do like the sepia.  I may mess around with this some more.

Pictures of the Cat - Zappa

It was pretty cold here in Michigan.  When I got in my car and saw the thermometer, it read -2 Fahrenheit, that translates to pretty cold.  I kind of wish I would have taken my camera to work because the pictures from the lunch room would have looked pretty nice.  Oh well.  I'll have a chance for some winter pictures later this week, I think.  So I'll settle with pictures of my cat.

 He's been on here before and here he is doing his cat thing.  For this picture I put a piece of kleenex over the flash to subdue it.

 And here I didn't.  I think I like the first better.  It looks a little more natural, the light of the flash isn't quite so harsh.

 A little closer to his face.

And one more.  If you notice the goatee, you can see why he's named Zappa.

And the Ugly Cars

I'm not a huge fan of most of the sub-compacts that are being offered.  To me, they are too small and mostly too underpowered.  If you live in a city and that's the only type of driving you do, they are probably fine but if you do any other type of driving, you're better off with a larger car.  At any rate, I set out to seek out what I thought what the ugliest of the show.

 The Fiat 500 is a contender but I do kind of like it's looks.  I wouldn't find myself in one of them but still.

 Another version of the Fiat.

 This is the Scion iQ and I'll have to say that this one is probably my winnner.  It is small, the dashboard and creature comforts look like afterthoughts.  The stereo looked almost like you could rip it off the dashboard.

 Another view of the iQ.

 And the alleged engine.  I believe this gets 38 on the highway and mid 30's in the city.  Honestly, that's not much better than my Focus but I guess it's more important to look green.

 And then we get to the Smart Car.  I've dogpiled on this before.  Again, it's fuel economy is in the mid 30's and is not much better than my Focus. 

 Their concept car.  I believe this is a plug in.

 I actually sat in the Smart Car and I'll have to say that I was not impressed.  I could swear I heard a rattle as I closed the door.  Again, this would probably be good if I just did city driving...but I don't.

 And a shot of the front.

 The Kia Sol.  For the most part, I'm not a fan of crossovers but this one isn't too bad I guess.

 And then we get to the Nissan.  I do not like the extra headlights on the hood.  Reminds me of a frog or something.

 Just so you don't think that I only hate imports...here's a Chevy Spark.  This is a car that embodies everything that is wrong with modern sub-compacts to me.

Well at least the folks at Smart admit that it's not a car.

So if I had to pick a winner of the bunch, I'd have to go with the iQ.  Scion is a division of Toyota and Toyota is normally pretty good at making smaller cars.  I don't understand why they would go the route of the Smart Car and make an ugly econo-box.