Photo from Wednesday of the Higgins Building in Los Angeles after using Topaz Adjust 4 sketch charcoal preset.

Members of the Yoki Daiko Taiko Drum group perform Sunday at the Tropical Daze Summer Music Festival in Thousand Oaks.

Sunday was spent mentally in Hawaii. I attended the Tropical Daze Summer Music Festival in Thousand Oaks. Great music, food and crafts all made me think of those islands. Well, this is as close as I will get this year. Damm. Enjoy the photos.

Tropical Daze flickr set (click on slideshow icon if not on an iPhone or iPad)

Photo taken last week with my new Lomo SuperSampler 35mm film camera. I rotated the camera during its series of exposures.

OK, time to let my secret out. Did you think I just found all the off-the-wall locations during my recent 15 day jaunt around the West? Na - I cheated.

Check out RoadsideAmerica.com. Their slogan gives away my secret: "your Online Guild to Offbeat Tourist Attractions."

I simply went to the site, pulled up state maps and researched all the offbeat spots along my planned route. Outside of two planned stops: a three day family reunion in Nebraska, and two days with family in Oregon, I had ten days to cruise and make images. And thanks to RoadsideAmerica.com, I hit the road with a list of offbeat places to check out.

And oh yeah - I also hit the road with the entire Roadside America web site on my iPhone.

Roadside America for the iPhone costs $2.99. The base price gives you full access to one of six regions around the United States. An additional $5.99 in-app purchase gives full one year access to the whole USA, some 6,000 plus attractions.

Immediately I did the full $8.98. My trip included California, Southwest and Northwest, three of the six regions.

Now the real fun begins. Start by pressing the "near me" feature. The Roadside America app finds your location and bam — up would pop a list of nearby attractions with distance, directions, tips, photos, cost, theme and "worth a stop" ratings. And to keep yourself from staying too long — use the "Tourist Interruptus" feature. The Roadside America app will call your iPhone with a reminder "YOU ARE SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME at this stop!"

Oh - also there is the special photographers feature: Sunset Alert. Nothing like arriving at that perfect location in the dark!



Roadside America has many staff generated reviews of attractions, but really depends upon its users for updated information.

While in southeastern Oregon - admittedly an area of few Roadside America attractions - I tried to locate The Shoe Tree near Juntura. It's gone. A couple of 2008 tips lamented that the tree died and the shoes were removed. A couple of photos from 2005-06 showed a tree covered with hanging shoes. But my search found nada — gone — zip. Oh well.

But I do have a museum Roadside America needs to add: The Collier Memorial State Park Logging Museum. Its located on Highway 97 about 30 miles north of Klamath Falls. I stopped and spent a good ninety minutes walking around taking pics. The place is packed with hundreds of pieces of logging equipment on display from the 1880s to present. Lots of train stuff! In addition, there is a relocated pioneer village, campground, horse camp, trailhead and more.

The Roadside America web site and iPhone app has many more features. Check them out before hitting the road!

Image from Carhenge near Alliance, Nebraska, shot with a Lomo Supersampler 35 mm film camera.

Today I finally got some 430 images posted on Flickr from my recent vacation. I went from Los Angeles to Hay Springs, Nebraska, for a large three-day family reunion. Then I drove to Bend, Oregon, to visit other family members. Finally I was back in Los Angeles 15 days after leaving. I drove some 3400 miles, with many stops to take photos.

In addition to my digital cameras, I took two 35 mm cameras: a new Lomo Supersaver and the old Lomo Oktomat. And yes, I also used my iPhone camera. But to keep life simple, I only used the Hipstamatic photo application.

My planning was based around using http://www.roadsideamerica.com/ and its companion iPhone app. Roadside America advertises itself as "Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions." I skipped many "A" list attractions like the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore to free up time for my "offbeat" agenda.

After uploading all 400 plus images, I broke out smaller duplicate sets to make viewing easier.

Enjoy,

Scott

Well, here is a list of my flickr sets:

2010 West Tour - the full 400 plus images

Hipstamatic images

Carhenge Alliance Nebraska

Sunset Chadron Nebraska

Lomo Cameras

Route 66 Arizona, New Mexico

Nuclear Museum Albuquerque, New Mexico

Eccles Dinosaur Park Odgen, Utah

Petersen Rock Garden, Redmond, Oregon

Collier Logging Museum, Highway 97, Oregon

The Leftovers - Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon

Once you go to each link, click on the Slideshow icon to start a flash slideshow gallery. This is the easiest way to view images on flickr.

Sculpture at Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska. Original photo shot with Hipstamatic iPhone app, then post-processed with the PaintMee iPhone app. Original image shot on June 24, 2010.

Jack in Kingman, Arizona on June 21, 2010.

My two week tour of the West is over. I drove 3400 miles to visit family in Nebraska and Oregon. Along the way, I skipped the "A" list stops — Grand Canyon level — and spent my time shooting my kind of stops. A few of the images were posted during the last couple of weeks. More to come.