Aerial Photograph - Lake Maharloo, Iran

In the month of June 2015, while on our flight from Dubai to Chicago, I saw various vibrant landscapes.
One of them was a striking pink colored water body. I was so surprised to see a pink lake and I took some photographs of that unique scenery.
At that time, I also saw the location on the live map of our touch screen monitor. We were flying near a city called Shiraz in Iran. 

After reaching home in US, I searched more about this pink lake stuff on internet.
I got to know that there are very few of these pink lakes on earth. They are situated in different countries.
The name of this pink lake is Maharloo lake. There were a couple of other smaller pink water bodies near this lake, but this one was the largest.
Maharloo lake is located around 30 kilometers southeast of Shiraz, Iran.
This is the first Pink lake in Iran and it is a salt water lake.
It's primary water source is a seasonal river named Soltanabad.
This lake is a winter habitat for many migratory bird species.
The water of Maharloo is used for extraction of normal salt and various other minerals. These typical minerals and the chemical components produced by some rare algae give the pink color to it's water.
On the Fire festival the Maharloo lake shore is a place for gathering and celebration of people from Shiraz to spend a happy night out.

Long drive along Snake River - UT, ID, WY

Scenic Drive along Snake River - Our interstate travel through Utah, Idaho & Wyoming

In a beautiful summer, me and hubby had a real great time on this long drive along the Snake river.

This river, named so perfectly, takes a snake like wobbly shape and it flows from the US states of Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Our journey was from Salt Lake city via Idaho Falls to the Grand Teton National Park. We traveled on different US highways including 26, 89 & 191.

We were traveling in a big coach bus, and the best of our luck was we were sitting on the very first seat, right next to the driver. And in front of us was the huge open view through the front glass and of course our big side window. 

That way, we got to see the ultimate scenery, because, we were able to view things from a way lot upper level as compared to a car drive.

There was no traffic on the road, just a couple cars and vans were driving along with us. We also saw some cars having kayak boats loaded on them.

Sometimes on both sides of the road, we could see farmlands and ranches.

Ranch is a large farm, where cattle or other animals are bred and raised.

At some places in farms, there were many windmills installed for unconventional wind energy generation. 

We could also see some cattle outside the farmhouses, basking in the sun and lawn, busy eating their 'meal'.

Farm workers were cultivating the fields with farm equipments, tractors and other machinery. First time in my life, I saw those large automatic water sprinklers, which were spread all the way from one side of the fields to another. 

The highway was adorned with majestic snow-clad Rocky mountains on one side and the scenic banks of Snake river on the other.

Occasionally, we saw some whitewater rafters enjoying their adventures in the river.

 The weather was calm, sunny with a faint blue sky and some clouds here and there. 

Sometimes we could see complete green mountains covered with coniferous trees; sometimes with grass and tiny wild flowers and sometimes just huge bare rocks.

We also saw various types of bridges on the river, some small, some huge and some were just made for walking. We took a few stops midway to experience the picturesque natural beauty.

On a couple of points, we even got out for some refreshing short walks on the nearby trails, not too far away from the road.

The road was perfectly smooth and was lined with proper instructions and sign boards at place to place. 

To take a few hours break, we reached the town of Jackson, situated in the Jackson hole valley of the great Teton mountains.

We saw the smallest Jackson airport, when our bus pulled out of the town of Jackson and drove further towards the Grand Teton National Park.

This long drive packed with beautiful surprises, was a great and unique experience in my life. We really enjoyed almost a full day of this exciting interstate journey.
~~ Seema's Photo Palette ~~

Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City, UT

A couple years ago in the month of May around Memorial day, we went to Salt Lake City, Utah. Out of the many places we visited in that picturesque city, the first and the most significant was of course the Utah State Capitol. This is the house of government for the US state of Utah. 

Here is the fascinating view we saw while standing on the front side giant steps of the capitol building. It reminded me of the Swiss Alpine vistas I have seen in many photographs till now. But here to my surprise, I was actually witnessing the exact similar scenery of the charming American Rocky mountain ranges and this beautiful city.

The capitol is the main building of the Utah State Capitol Complex, which is located on Capitol Hill. We could see scenic views of the azure sky, snow capped mountains, greenery and the downtown Salt Lake City.

The building construction started in 1912 and this sumptuous structure was inaugurated in 1916. Later it was renovated in 2004/08. The architecture style of the capitol building is Neoclassical and can be majorly related to Roman and Greek domain of arts.

We entered the capitol from the eastern side, and the first unique statue we saw, was that of Chief Massasoit. This sculpture is made by a renowned Utah artist Cyrus Dallin. Massasoit was a native Indian leader and a pioneer, who welcomed the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. The sculpture greets visitors as they enter the Capitol Hill Complex from the east side.

The Utah State capitol building exterior is constructed of Utah granite and the building's interior has five floors - four main floors and a basement. 

After entering the capitol building we were amazed by the lavish internal architecture and the elegant decor. The capitol interior is decorated with many paintings and sculptures depicting Utah's history and heritage.

The building's main floor, is also the first level of the three-story rotunda. Rotunda means any building with a circular ground plan covered by a dome. The rotunda of capitol occupies the center of the building, under the magnificent dome. 
The original chandelier suspended from the dome's ceiling weighs 1,400 kg and the chain supporting it weighs an additional 450 kg. This is the most eye catching object when we turn our heads up.
The interior ceiling of the dome, is embellished with a magnificent painting having seagulls flying in the sky among clouds. We got to know that this theme was chosen because it represents Utah's history, also because seagull is Utah's official state bird. I feel, this theme is exuberant and very apt for the capitol dome.

On the east and west sides of the rotunda are atria (open-roofed entrance halls). These atria contain large glass skylights, covering the entire ceiling, allowing sunlight to enter inside.

Following is the photograph of the House Chamber of the capitol. The Utah House of Representatives work inside the House Chamber.

Finally, we came out from the front side of the capitol building. While we were already amazed by the entire experience, we were welcomed by one more memorial structure, the Mormon Battalion Monument. This commemorates the sacrifices made by 500 Mormon volunteers who joined the U.S.Army during the Mexican War. These sculptures carved in a 100-foot rose pink granite, present different periods of the Battalion’s history - the Enlistment, the military March and the Discovery of gold in California. 

Winter decorations by nature, WI

Winter Decorations by Nature - Wisconsin winters
Look at these alluring decorations nature has created on the stairs and the fence. These beautiful pictures definitely please my eyes anytime and why not, I always adore the snowfall scenes in winter.
I have clicked the above picture in Madison, on a beautiful white morning in 2011. It was my first snowy winter in Wisconsin. That winter, it had snowed before but this morning and this snowfall was something else, I had never seen something like this. It had snowed the whole night before, and the snowfall was very smooth because of calm weather. When at night I looked out of my window, it appeared as if the sky is showering light and soft feathers on the entire land. The morning scene was like a dream. I went out for a walk around the neighborhood, of course with my camera. On a turn around a street, I saw this view on a staircase of an apartment building. Being an Indian, I relate this creation to the skillful 'rangoli' designs people in India create in front of their homes. See the picture of a similar decoration I had created back home in India.

The following attractive site is from my university campus in Milwaukee. That photograph is taken in February 2012, when I was going for my classes. It was a soft and snowy morning, similar to the one I had seen in Madison. That day every inch of the trees and the land was covered in white goodness. And adorned with snow the fence surely looks like as if it's ready for some festival.