Semaphores at Barnetby and a Plandampf

I went to England in May to visit my 90 year old mother. She lives in the Manchester area, so I fly to Manchester direct rather than going via London Heathrow. There was a thunderstorm at Chicago, so we weren't allowed to depart until 30 minutes after the last lightening. Anyway, I eventually got to mother's, who's garden was in full flower.

I had a couple of days with my friend Roy in Lincolnshire. On the way, I stopped off a the National Railway Museum in York. When I was a kid trainspotting, this was a steam shed, and we'd sneak round collecting engine numbers.

Since I was in York, and the railway station was a short walk over a footbridge, I spent a couple of hours on the station and took some photographs. It seems like a very long time since I used to watch steam here.

From York I drove down to Lincolnshire to see Roy & Chantall, and the new Ferrari 458!

While in England, I met my friend Graham and we went off to Barnetby to photograph the famed sets of semaphore signals. The two signal boxes at Barnetby are due to be closed by the end of 2015, so I assume that the semaphores will be replaced by color light signals. We stayed at what used to be the Station Hotel, but is now called, I think, the Whistle and Flute. The food was good, the rooms were decent and the prices OK. It's certainly convenient for Barnetby station!

A few days later I met Graham at Frankfurt airport, we picked up a rental BMW and went off to spend a few days chasing German steam on a Dampfspektackal.

Las Vegas

We got a text out of the blue from our kids babysitter (our oldest is now 38) who would be in Las Vegas with her husband and was it too far to for us to drive. Well, it wasn't, (7 hours or so, would have been quicker but for operator malfunction with the SatNav!) so off we went and met Michelle for the first time in 20+ years, and her husband John. Vegas isn't my thing, I don't care to gamble, but we had a delightful time with Michelle and John, we wandered around, ate, drank, swam, and my wife won $50 on the slots! 

Below is my take on Las Vegas.

Valparaiso, Chile, wall art

At the end of our trip to Chile, we had a few days in Santiago, which we didn't particularly care for, even though our hotel was exceptionally nice. So for my wife's birthday, we went off to Valparaiso, on the coast, by train and bus. Part of the town had some interesting wall art.

Florida

In February my wife and I flew off to Tampa to see grand niece and nephew babies.

Whilst in Florida I took the opportunity to visit "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, where these pictures were taken.