Ann Arbor, MI, 2010

In August 2010, I spent two weeks in the Pacific Northwest, both for work and vacation. Here are some photo highlights from my time off.

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K). Click on the "huge" link to get the full size pictures (around 3M). Around 30 pictures included.

Part I: Seattle and WA vicinity
Part II: Downtown Portland, OR
Part III: Japanse Garden and Rose Garden
Part IV: Oregon Coast
Part V: Mt. Hood
Part VI: Spruce Goose
Part VII: Ann Arbor, MI

Bug—or what's interesting at 6 in the morning

I took the red-eye flight from Portland to Detroit, getting in a 6am. Because of the time difference, it's more like 3am. And owing to recent advances in ergonomic design, the airlines have managed to make the seats even less comfortable. So even though the flight was under 4 hours, the seat was starting to hurt after a couple hours. Rolling up the blanket (they didn't charge me for that, amazing!) and wedging it down as lumbar support helped. Nonetheless, I got to Detroit early in the morning and a bit in a zombie state and proceeded to get my rental car.

As the guy was doing the walk-around to note any damage the car had, he looked up and said, "woah!" as he noticed a big-ass preying mantis just hanging out on the roof the car, just above the passenger door. I thought it looked cool and took a few pictures. Unfortunately, it was a warn, humid morning and the camera had been in my suitcase and was cold, so the lens was fogged.

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I tried to take a few shots of the mantis. The flash in the first one bleaches out too much. The fog on the lens makes it hard to see the second. In the third, at least there's a nice profile of it.

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More mantis shots. None are really that good. It was weird, he was watching me. As I moved around, his head would follow me. I had it set on macro mode so the lens was very close to him, like a few inches away. I wasn't sure if he was going to do anythign violent to the camera or not. He didn't. I don't know when he left, but he wasn't there when I arrived in Ann Arbor a half hour later.

The Michigan Cube

Just behind the student union is The Cube. It's been there since I went to school there. It's actually quite similar to one at Union Station in New York City which was weird to discover. It is spin-able. And thus I did.

INLCUDE YouTube VIDEO!!!!

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A shot of the cube. One of me next to the cube, and a longer shot.

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A picture of me spinning the cube. And a plaque that says who made it and who donated it, etc. You can see my friend Lisa's shadow in the second picture, and both Lisa's and my shadow in the third one.

Huron River

That afternoon, Lisa and I walked around some of the parks by the Huron River, which goes through the city, and separates the central and north campus areas.

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We went to Island Park. I took a few shots of the Huron River.

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There is a fun little building, it's mostly a hollow shell that can be used as a picnic shelter. There's a plaque saying it's a historic site. The first picture shows that, the second and third show the shelter, which looks either mini-white-house-ish or mini-Lincoln-Memorial-ish.

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Another picture I like. There was a guy wading in the water, pulling a raft or something floatable with kids on it. I like the focus of the leaves in the foreground and the soft blur of the figure in the background in the water. The other two pictures are of a dragonfly sitting on a branch. See if you can spot it.

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Lisa pointed out a cool, red leaf that was behind me, getting illuminated by the sunlight. I took a few shots of it, using the macro setting, so you can see some of the veins in the leaf.

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One more shot of the leaf, with some specular reflection from the sun. A close-up of the top of the column on the shleter, and a side shot of the columns on the shelter.

UM Friends

One of the reasons for the 3 day layover in Detroit (besides visiting Lisa and John) was to get together with a bunch of my friends who all attended the University of Michigan, who were gathering that weekend. Thus we got together and wandered around campus a bit.

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I met up with the group in a store on South University. Keith had his new-ish iPhone and recorded the event of our meeting. Later, by the "Diag" Jim, Kendy, and Michelle sit and watch. What or who do they watch? Mostly their kids, but also Keith.

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Keith stood in the center of the M at the heart of the Diag. And thus the group watched Keith. He approached Kendy, iPhone in hand, recording the event. Unfortnately, I was a bit lazy and didn't take any other pictures of the others who joined us later for the gathering.

Part I: Seattle and WA vicinity
Part II: Downtown Portland, OR
Part III: Japanse Garden and Rose Garden
Part IV: Oregon Coast
Part V: Mt. Hood
Part VI: Spruce Goose
Part VII: Ann Arbor, MI

Back to Frank's photos.

This page last modified Sep 03, 2012.
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