Nepean Dam

Big Dam Reservoir, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

On my first weekend back in Sydney for 2009, Cheryl took me down to a region called the Southern Highlands. This is about a 90 minute drive south of Sydney where the terrain gets pretty rugged as the mountain ridge that rises up along the east coast of Australia gets closer to the coast. On our way to visit a waterfall that Cheryl remembered from a previous trip, we found this dam called the Nepean Dam. It was very peaceful, although a bit overcast early in the day.




The dam was completed in April of 1935 and supplies water to the Sydney metro. It can hold back 18 million gallons of water at a maximum depth of 225 feet. The dam itself is 247.5 feet tall and 710 feet long. When fully supplied, the water is 1,051 feet above sea level. The lake has an area of 882 acres.

We even saw a wild kangaroo on our way leaving the dam!!

CN Tower View

CN Tower View, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

I took this photo in February from the top of the CN Tower. I was there with Isabelle on vacation. I know it sounds like a crazy idea for a holiday, Canada in the winter... but we LOVED it!! We'd have been in Chicago anyway, the climate is the same. The weather was... COLD. The view from the tower was excellent. We showed up about an hour before sunset and watched it go down. Isabelle was afraid to go anywhere near the floor windows.

Return to Sydney

After months on this rock (North America) I am finally taking flight abroad, going west... so far west I'll be east. So far south that the sun will be in the north. To the sunburnt country, the land down under... Australia! I am flying to Sydney from Chicago on November 3rd. I arrive on the 5th (that's a flight, huh?) and will be there until November 30th, if all goes according to plan.

Expect loads of photos, some blog posts, and a very happy Andy. I first traveled to Sydney in 2007 for work and stayed for 3 weeks. I fell in love with the city hard and fast. To me, Sydney is the perfect mix of Chicago and San Francisco. A mild weathered capital of a culture, what Chicago is to the midwest, Sydney is to a dusty dry continent obscure to Europeans until the late 1700s.

Well that's all for now, wish me luck on my voyage. Between now and then I have plenty of work to do and things to keep me occupied, but sunny Sydney will be this year's big news!

Jazz Age Chicago--Home Page

I just discovered this blog!! It's great, Scott Newman, the author, writes about a lot of the stuff I am interested in.

Jazz Age Chicago--Home Page

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Cloud Gate at Night

Chicago September 4th-5th 102, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

A night photo from Millennium Park, this time of Cloud Gate by artist Anish Kapoor. I like the way the Aon Center and surrounding skyscrapers reflect in the sculpture. For this photo I used my tripod and set the ISO to 64 and the aperture to the max (3.2 in this instance)

The people in the middle of the frame were playing music and having a good time until a well dressed but obnoxious college-age preacher came over and started talking to everybody about God. At first I thought he was a part of the group, but soon everyone was wandering away and the fun times were at an end. I wish someone had stood up and told God boy to save it for people who need saving.

Chicago Loop at Night

Chicago Loop at Night, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Took this shot using my mini-tripod at night after the Jazz Festival.

I set the ISO-setting on the digital camera to 64 and have the largest aperture possible (2.8) to get this crisp photo of the elevated train tracks in the Loop. I was waiting for a Brown Line train to take me up to Fullerton where I'd switch to a Red Line train to get me uptown.

Lots of people think that Chicago's "loop" neighborhood is named for this "loop" of elevated track that circles the central business district. In fact, it is named for all the streetcars, horse drawn cars, and cable (grip) cars that had to "loop back" to their origin once they reached the city's center.

The Chicago Loop has a population density of just over 10,000 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated zip codes in America. The high density in the loop gives Chicago part of its signature skyline.

Siesta Beach

Siesta Beach, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

The day after Kevin's wedding in Sarasota, I went to visit Joel and Cesily for lunch and then stopped at the Historic Spanish Point on my way back to Sarasota. Also on my way back, I stopped at Siesta Key to see the world famous Siesta Beach.

This beach is known for its 99% pure quartz sand that is so fine and white that it is cool to the touch, even in the blazing heat of the summer. The beach has earned “the whitest and finest sand in the world” (The Great International Beach Challenge, 1987) and “The Best Sand Beach in America” (The Travel Channel, 2004) awards. I can personally attest to the incredible feeling of this sand beneath my feet... it's like walking on baby powder!