The Most Incredible Thing

Some clocky urban art at a Salt Lake City Trax station. I took the wrong train and ended up here one night. The trolley's electric lines are visible above the art installation.

Title for this post came from the Hans Christian Andersen tale of a contest to win the hand of a fair princess. Spoiler alert: the clockmaker cleans up.

Someone's Knocking On the Door

Ornate doorknob from the east door of the Salt Lake Temple.

Another beehive, Utah's symbol of productivity and industry.

North Temple

The Salt Lake Temple just as the lights came on and the evening was turning blue.

At far left you can see the old Hotel Utah, now the Joseph Smith Building. That is one giant beehive up on top.

Skybox

Salt Lake Temple from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Building/Hotel Utah. I put one of these shots on Facebook with my iPhone, but here's a much nicer version.

Outside the Mothership

The LDS Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Want a tour? Enter at Door 15.

This is one of my favorite kinds of photos where the cool and the warm get mixed up in the same frame.

Mothership

I finally got to see the LDS Conference Center on the inside, and it's completely impressive. The tour guides tell you all these reasons there's no space like it anyplace in the world. The entire stage comes apart and slides around, and right now they're setting it up for a Christmas program.

There are 21,000 seats and they look plush, nothing like the cramped original pioneer benches that used to be jammed into the Tabernacle. So I tried out one of the new cushy seats — yep, I'd be snoozing through General Conference after only a few minutes.

I brought my friend from work Lauren to come see it. As we walked in her exact words were: "Shut. Up."

Moroni Swims

Reflecting pool at Temple Square, Salt Lake City.

My brother was busy using my tripod, so I shot a bunch of these handheld, and it didn't matter if they were blurry. In fact, it probably helped.

Provo Sunset

Heading to the BYU game last weekend with my brother at the wheel, here's the sight over my shoulder as we turned off I-15 heading into Provo.

Idaho 7, BYU 42

My brother Matt got us tickets to the second to last BYU home game of the 2011 football season at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Because it was predicted to be a blowout, ESPN pushed start time back to 7:00 p.m., and by then it was 40°F. Despite the cold, it was an incredibly fun night.

A gallery of photos and tour of the stadium awaits you on my Facebook page.

¿Qué Es?

Today's post is a visual challenge. Got any idea what this one is?

Our Pillar By Night

What Abraham Lincoln looks at full-time from his perch in the Lincoln Memorial.

Asterisk

Found on the ground in Beantown, on the way to Paul Revere's house.

Profiles in Courage

Me and giant underpants. What more is there to say?

Upstairs at Albany Airport's art gallery. I'm not saying it's high art, it's just upstairs.

Finger Puppets

That Claire is a crafty girl. Somehow we figured you could make a finger puppet out of a Post-it note and scissors. You still need a piece of tape to hold the finger loop securely, and if you put the sticky side inside the finger loop it helps keep it on your finger better.

As you can see we have an entire troupe! That top puppet is Carter holding a controller with his eyes spinning from playing too much Xbox. Otherwise I draw what Claire conjures up, then she adds the belly buttons.

The other night Mom came home late from someplace and was about to have dinner by herself. We sat her on one side of the dining room table, and Claire and I lay on the floor opposite and put on a puppet show for her dining entertainment. We're holding our breath for the next Tony nominations.

Pass the Tanning Butter, Gandalf

Yale's Harkness Tower, done up as Saruman's beach house.

Bonus points if you can identify the source of the first four words of this post's title.

Above Abe

One of my favorite parts of the Lincoln Memorial is the ceiling, but you never see it in photos. I'm here to make things right.

Unreflecting

In DC the other day I was walking up the Lincoln Memorial steps and saw a very strange sight — the Reflecting Pool was not reflecting. Everything's drained and torn up.

This is how it normally looks, especially when Forrest Gump is there.

Abe Night Light

The Lincoln Memorial just as the lights came on at dusk.

After we looked at this picture I showed my son Carter how the Lincoln Memorial is on the back of an older penny.

Have you seen the travesty that is the new penny flipside?

Four Heads Is Better Than Two

We carved jack 'o lanterns Sunday night and lit them up on the porch just to get things started. With my big metal Ikea serving spoon I can eviscerate a pumpkin in no time flat.

Can you spot the hidden ghosts in this picture?

Farmington Flow

Autumn leaves reflected in a long handheld exposure of the Farmington River, near Otis, Massachusetts.