It's one of those things -- on a Web site or in a photography contest online or just a rotating photograph, you come across an amazing picture of a place that now you'd really like to go see.
That happened here, with Sunwapta Falls in Jasper National Park, Canada. I'm not sure how I happened to find it, and it was a place I'd never heard of before (which given its stunning beauty I'm a bit surprised by), but just plain WOW.
I've got to get out of this house and start seeing the world again.
This is a continuation of the theme postings (and I haven't revealed the theme yet). I'll do one more lighthouse after this and then give the "Big Reveal".
This one is pretty special, too. It's the Point Arena lighthouse in Mendocino County, California (click the link there to see where).
Tower is 115 feet tall, tallest on the Pacific Coast with Pigeon Point (both of them had the same tower design when first built).
First tower, built in 1870, damaged in 1906 by earthquake (the famous San Francisco one), replaced with current
tower in 1908.
Fresnel lens retired in 1977.
"The United States Lighthouse Service contracted with a San Francisco based company to build a new Lighthouse that could withstand any future earthquakes. The company built factory smokestacks, which accounts for the final design for the current Point Arena Lighthouse. The new design featured steel reinforcement rods encased in concrete, and was the first lighthouse to be built in this manner."
"In 1984, a nonprofit organization called the Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers acquired the light station as part of a 25 year land lease from the Coast Guard and the Department of Transportation. In November 2000, the nonprofit group became the official owners of the property due to their diligent historic preservation and educational efforts. Daily visitation, gift store sales, memberships and the rental of the historic Keeper's homes on the property as vacation houses, all provide income to the group for ongoing preservation, facility upgrades, and educational endeavors. The Point Arena Light is California Historical Landmark No. 1035."
Below, first the video, then the pictures. That cape the lighthouse is on seems to go on Forever, doesn't it?
For these next two, I was on the Web site while composing this post, and happened to see the lighthouse right at sunset, so I downloaded these two images.
"The Trump team’s core argument is that every Republican who voted for the tax cuts three years ago knowingly voted to destroy the 2010 law in its entirely, not just to get rid of the mandate that individuals buy health insurance. And, because the Supreme Court previously upheld the constitutionality of the law on the grounds that the individual mandate is a tax, Trump’s lawyers say that the whole system became invalid once Congress got rid of the penalty for not carrying health insurance."
On the other hand ...
"The House joined the opposition to the lawsuit when Democrats took control of the chamber last year. “Trump and the Republicans’ campaign to rip away the protections and benefits of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of the coronavirus crisis is an act of unfathomable cruelty,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement responding to the new brief. “If President Trump gets his way, 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose the ACA’s lifesaving protections and 23 million Americans will lose their health coverage entirely.” (The 23 million figure comes from a recent analysis by the liberal Center for American Progress think tank.)"
So, in summary:
"From a political perspective, the timing of the Trump administration’s maneuver to get rid of the law, root and branch, is suboptimal for GOP candidates on the ballot this year. The justices are unlikely to make a final decision until after the November election on the legal challenge by Republican state attorneys general, ensuring that this looms as an issue in the fall campaign."
I have no problem with that, because it's NOT a good issue for Republicans.
Scummy President Trump has screwed up the country royally, numerous ways, and we need to boot his fat ass out of the White House this November. But meanwhile, he's holding rallies. And apparently, according to the Daily Mail, there will be laws on display at these rallies.
Now, I won't shed a tear for any monuments to the Confederacy that went up during the Jim Crow era, but I really thing we need a little perspective before taking down Washington and Jefferson. There wouldn't be a country named the USA with statues to take down if it hadn't been for Washington and Jefferson.
It has been a long time since there's been a naked-eye comet. And right now, there is one. For about two more days, it's going to be visible before sunrise, and then it will be visible right after sunset. I'm providing help (there's lots of it) to see it, and I'm going to try to see it. Conditions might not be optimum around the Chesapeake Bay (and there's a tropical storm nearby right now), but I'm hoping for a little luck.
It's been awhile, but after visiting a great place just up ahead (which will be featured in the next Highway 41 blog post), I plan to make a northward push toward the next big city, and if you look at a map you can figure out where that is. Meanwhile:
There are a lot of tractors at the Parke County Highway Garage.
Mario Brothers. Not the arcade / video game, this is the Mexican restaurant. I have a need for enchiladas.
Entrance to the Parke County Fairgrounds. Rockville has it all !
Highway 41 and Indiana 236. As can be seen, the trek is back in the fields of Indiana, but there's an interesting
place up ahead. Trust me.
Unfortunately, the Julianne Hough - Brooks Laich linkage has come undone. Apparently when Julianne noted to Brooks that she wasn't entirely straight and was not referring to her slapshot, this caused a few warning flags to get posted.
And now, after Brooks has been quarantining mostly alone (except for a dog) up north while Julianne has been Kinrgzing (or something) from her home in Los Angeles, they realized that being apart together was just about the same as being apart by themselves, and they decided that would work.
Too bad though for Hough -- Brooks is pretty hunky with that northwoods beard. But this was a case of two worlds colliding, and not sticking.
Actually, I have it on good authority (my own) that Brooks ultimately gave up on the marriage because he could never get used to the way that Julianne did the laundry.
