Sweeping through Broome

Baobab at Town Beach, Broome.

On those bitterly cold, winter school holidays Down Under, when temperatures in Aussie cities can plummet to a frigid 10˚c, the Lucky Country's population migrates en masse to warmer climes. In Western Australia, Bali is a popular destination, but the domestic option is Broome, on the Kimberley coast.

A three bedroom deluxe family bungalow at Cocos Beach Bungalows was our home base in Broome for one week in June, 2010. At that time we paid about AUD$390/night for a six night stay at what's considered a moderately priced resort. Our pleasant accommodation featured 3 bedrooms (1 queen bed with an en suite and three single beds) and second bathroom with separate toilet. I can't vouch for the television, which remained untested throughout the week. The location is superb, about a 300 meter (5 minute) walk from Cable Beach.

A Superior Sunrise

For once a red sky in the morning didn't portend troubled weather. Instead the last weekend in October, 2014 holds promise of warm weather and clear skies, capping a mild autumn in the Minnesota North Country. My wife Stacey Hewitt Orobona snapped this image while dropping our eldest son off at school. Seconds later the deep pinks transitioned to orange. Late sunrises during the months surrounding winter make it more likely to witness such spectacular sunrises in high-latitude parts of the world.

Lake Superior stretches in the distance, in the lower right corner of the image.

Raptor Enrapture

Duluth, Minnesota is a destination for a lot more than human tourists. The city was recently featured in the September, 2014 issue of Outside Magazine, following a nationwide contest to name the "best towns ever," receiving the highest total from more than 1.5 million votes cast between 64 cities. Perhaps the crown jewel of Duluth's urban wilderness experience is the Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve. During September and through October, Hawk Ridge is the pre-eminent location in North America for spotting birds of prey.

Picture of the Moment - Grand Portage National Monument, Minnesota

Lake Superior from a view point at the  Grand Portage National Monument, Minnesota. This is the scenic culmination of the Northshore Highway 61, just shy of the border with Ontario. Grand Portage is the US gateway to Isle Royale. The Grand Portage itself is an historic 8.5-mile (13.7 km) trail, still well maintained, along which the near-legendary French-Canadian voyageurs portaged their fur-laden canoes to circumvent waterfalls and rapids of the steep, final 20 miles (32 km) of the Pigeon River before it flows into Lake Superior

I experimented here with the panoramic capabilities of the iPhone on the way to Thunder Bay, Ontario, October 9th, 2014. You get a sense of the landscape, but the technique minimizes the vastness of Lake Superior, the world's largest body of fresh water by surface area.