Today, we were supposed to be taking our Cassidy daughter, Juneau, to the vet to be palpated for puppies. As we were leaving the house this morning, I had a premonition and asked Linda to double-check with the vet to make sure she'd be there. Sure enough, she had taken the day off. Fortunately, we hadn't driven the hour to get Juneau and the additional hour to the vets. So, with nothing to do and no work planned for the morning, Linda, RoseAnn and I looked at each other and in synch said "how about a beach day?"

On the way from Orlando to New Smyrna Beach on the East Coast, we drove up Rt 417 and where it crosses Lake Jessup, I had seen a field of flowers a few weeks ago but wasn't in a position to stop. I wondered if they had gone past their peak but got ready to stop just in case. As we passed the lake and drove by a large wetlands area, there was this incredible site. For miles and miles -- acres and acres -- stretching all the way back to the lake were millions of Black-eyed Susans in full bloom.

I stopped the van along the highway and grabbed my camera. With only the 70-200 F4L with me I knew that it was going to be difficult to capture the pure scope of that scene but I climbed over the mounds, down a drainage canal (watching for snakes) and up the other side until I was close enough to take some decent pictures.

This first one is my attempt without a wideangle lens to capture the scope. Here is a panorama composed of 8 horizontal images, hand-held, and then merged down to a 7 inch by 50 inch pano. I've attached a larger version for your enjoyment.



Here's one of the images in the pano to give you some additional detail.



And here's a closeup of the flowers.



I wish we had been going through this area later in the day but the color was still fantastic and while I was there, one other guy stopped and took out his camera and was capturing the scene as well.

Enjoy,

Jim

That's really nice. Man, you guys are making want to dig out my nature gear for a day or two . . .

Jim,

Beautiful.

I guess it's true what they say... location, location, location. You're still having summer while all the flowers are gone up here on Donner Summit and we have snow in the forcast again for next week. Of course I love it up here, but it's great that your images can keep summer in my mind.

Geo

Very nice Jim. While it looks beautiful, it also looks really sneezy to me.

Geo,
from the field of flowers, we drove east to New Smyrna Beach where we spent 2 hours walking the beach and enjoying temps in the 90's. For us, it's still Summer. There were some very nice birds on the beach -- and some were even feathered . We seldom get to enjoy a few hours on the beach doing absolutely nothing. It was great!

Enjoy your snow. I've seen it; I've shoveled it; I don't miss it!

Jim

Hey Jim,

Very nice work. Thanks for sharing.

James

Nice job, Jim. My eyes go crazy looking at the large size pano. Sooo much yellow! Makes it quite interesting.

Thanks Jim. In retrospect, I should have tried to climb on top of the van to get some height but with cars whizzing buy on the highway, I decided that wasn't either bright or brave.

The true scope of the scene was overwhelming. For as far as I could see forward and the same for almost 180 degrees. Next year I'm going back late in the day for some additional shots with a wide angle and a step ladder.

Jim

I can see why you pulled the van over Jim, a lovely scene is hard to pass up. The beach sure sounds nice to me, haven't been there in 20 years.
wl