Earlier this year I found out about the Open House weekend done by the Chicago Architecture Center, where you get to poke around in buildings and parts of buildings where the public isn't normally allowed. I made plans to go several months ago with an architect friend of mine, but …

What, there was another interesting thing in the sky right after the aurora? Darker skies probably would have been better, but I was still recovering from the drive to Omaha the previous weekend, and was heading to Chicago in a few days for Open House weekend. My compromise was heading …

The day after photographing the aurora I decided hit up the Omaha zoo before heading home. I'd been there only once before in the middle of February, and hoped to have a nicer visit.

The highlight of the visit was randomly sitting down to see a seal and walrus show …

Despite still recovering from the last disappointing South Dakota trip, and a trip to Chicago looming, the forecast for aurora on Thursday was too good to pass up. I was initially considering going back to northern Missouri, but for an extra hour or so of dive time, I could get …

I thought I could see aurora again last weekend, and decided to drive back to Mitchell on Saturday.

On the way there, I stopped by the Great Plains Zoo again. Still didn't see the Pallas Cat, though saw the snow leopard this time. So that's a plus. After leaving the …

Last for the day of my list of KC places to photograph, after the KCTV Tower was a stop at the Scout statue overlooking downtown. By this point I was getting sick of the drizzle that hadn't let up the whole time I was out. I grabbed a few shots …

Going through my list of KC places to photograph, after leaving Swope Park, I decided to head towards downtown, the Scout statue specifically, since I knew that gave some nice views of downtown, including the kind of worthless ferris wheel. And navigation just happened to take me past the KCTV …

Also on my list of KC places to photograph was some nice railroad bridges going through Swope Park, one over Gregory south of the Zoo, the other over 63rd, north of it. I see these just about every time I go to the zoo, which is a lot, and have …

On Sunday I got restless and decided to go out and about and photograph things around Kansas City I've been wanting to, but never have. It was raining when I decided, but it was forecasted to stop soon after I left (ominous foreshadowing).

First stop was looking over the Kansas …

After leaving the Great Plains Zoo and heading back towards home, in Iowa I saw a sign on the highway for the Loess Hills State Forest. Following the signs off the highway, I got closer to the bluffs from the Missouri River and a spot that had recently been burned …