Sunrise 131: Ault Park (Guest Sunrise #4, Gloomy Winter Solstice)
The lawn below the pavilion @ Ault Park
After a solid week of drizzly, wet, gray, and cloudy skies, I finally tried to get back out before the weekend in the hopes that there might be a lucky break in the clouds. Yesterday was Winter Solstice and I had really hoped to get a decent chance at a sunrise, but unfortunately mother weather had different plans. I didn’t end up making it out yesterday, during the true solstice which was gray and wet. This morning, one day later than the true solstice, a friend of mine ended up coming out with me. Griff and his wife were in town for the holidays from Texas and he joined me as we climbed up the hill to Ault Park.
Griff made an interesting observation that a gray overcast sky is quite rare in Houston Texas since the weather is constantly moving clouds through the area. That’s an interesting observation because a bright gray sky really does add a different dimension to the daily routine.
Thanks again for coming out, Griff! And thanks for both days of sunrise pictures, Scott! Interestingly enough, this is the third out of four sunrise entries have all coincidentally fallen on days when I had a guest come with me to Ault Park. (Here’s the final link to the other guest sunrise that didn’t include an in-person guest, unless you count prankster snowmen)
Gray skies & drizzly cold rain @ Ault Park this morning.
Griff & Heekin Overlook!
Scott actually sent me two sets of sunrise pictures. He tried to get the sunrise yesterday but he had a camera malfunction at the worst possible time. He ended up getting a couple of neat dramatic pictures of the twilight sky. He got much more lucky than we did this morning, however, because he was able to catch the sunrise through a break in the cloud bank. The second set of pictures are from Griff on his cell phone this morning at Ault Park.
Guest Sunrise #1 & #2: Scott from Charleston, South Carolina
First and foremost, the best picture of this entire post was taken this morning for Scott’s second attempt at the sunrise. Scott got lucky with a break in the clouds! A sunrise on the first day after Winter Solstice in Charleston, South Carolina.
Taken yesterday, a pre-sunrise shot of the intercoastal waterways that are a famous marker of South Carolina’s coastline
A beautiful high contrast picture just before the sun peaks over the low lying cloud bank on Winter Solstice in Charleston, SC.
Guest Sunrise #3: Griff in Cincinnati, OH
Coffee and Rain
The Fuji S-10S and Peugeot Mixte P18
Sneak Shot! Griff taking a picture of me taking a picture of the valley.
Sunrise 97: Ault Park (Misty Mountain, Compass Flowers, Beetles, Oak Stump)
The center of a compass flower.
A new view. We now see up through the park; before this would have been obstructed by the large oak tree.
Bike and Dew.
A busy bumblebee pollinates a compass flower.
Dew and Deep Green Leafs
A yellow beetle surveys the territory from the top of a compass flower.
I’ve skipped the last several wet overcast mornings but today at 7:00am I ventured out into the humid streets to Ault Park. The sunrise this morning was at 7:22am, the latest so far. Looking back, Sunrise 1 was at 7:14am. I’ve broken through the calendar symmetry and am now proceeding into new territory! I never regret going out in a misty morning, especially on such a temperate day as today. The temperature was in the mid sixties, and other than some light fog here and there I didn’t get too wet.
It’s amazing how heavy my legs felt after taking a few days off. The climb up to the park was a good workout, and by the time I got up there I was ready for my coffee and a break. I discovered several new happenings at the Overlook, including a new replacement bench for the one that was destroyed by vandals, and it looks like the park service cut down the dead oak tree.
I came up with a great idea for what to do with the dead oak tree, but unfortunately it looks like my idea came about a week too late. I realized that this dead oak would have been an excellent opportunity to create one of those stump carvings that I’ve seen in the neighborhood. The stump is probably too low now to do anything with. It would have been a beautiful piece of art. Here’s an example that I found on the way home:
A dead stump turned into artwork. If only I had thought of this sooner for the oak tree at Heekin Overlook! 😦
I ended up making up for lost time and took about 40 pictures this morning through the gardens and around the overlook. I’ll just go ahead and put up the front page disclaimer now!
If you’re on the front page, please click to continue reading. I do this so that the front page doesn’t become too slow for older computers with lower amounts of memory. Click over here to check out the other 30 pictures: —>
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Sunrise 88: Ault Park (Summer Rain)
Rainy Overlook!
This morning’s ride up to Ault Park was cool and wet. At first I couldn’t tell if the sky was overcast or just hazy, but once the atmospheric light started to open the sky up, it became apparent that I wasn’t going to see a sunrise. There were small spurts of rain and a quiet wind. There was only a single other patron of the park who chose to venture out into the potential elements this morning.
A misty rainy “sunrise”. Looks like we’re approaching choppy August weather. That’s OK though because I absolutely love summer storms.
Looking west towards Lunken Airport. Check out the contrast between the dark atmosphere and lighter clouds just above the horizon. I’m about to get wet.
Another view of the upper atmosphere clouds moving through the area.
As I finished my cup of coffee, I felt the wind start to pick up and then quickly die off. I looked out toards Lunken and saw a wall of rain moving towards me. I decided that if I was going to make it to work, now would be as good of a time as any to pack it up and go! I ended up getting into work slightly wet but the downpour that was threatened never seemed to kick into full gear. As I write this, the skies are breaking up and I can even see some patches of blue.
Sunrise 50: Ault Park (Hot & Rainy)
This morning was just all around a hard time for me! I forgot to make my coffee last night, so that was the first thing that went wrong. I was up a bit late – which wasn’t that big of a deal – but paired with the group ride in the heat last night (we did a 20 milers out through Indian Hill) I was beat.
Pink Hazy Sunrise at Ault Park
There really wasn’t too much to report about Sunrise 50 which is a bit disappointing I suppose. I fell asleep twice at the overlook (haha). The sky was misty and gray, and there was small spits of rain and distant rumblings of thunder. A young couple sat down at the bench next to me and probably wondered what was up with the cyclist that couldn’t stay awake.
There wasn’t much fog down in the valley, and overall it was warm and wet.
The park crew was busy setting up for the big event this weekend, the Concours d’Elegance Car Show. There were tents all over the park in preparation for the several hundred (thousand?) attendants coming from all over to see the fancy old cars. I probably won’t be making it, personally, but if you’re into classic rare cars definitely check it out. You can get tickets online until 10:00pm Saturday night.
Also check out this new local website, venture pax. I haven’t used it much yet but it looks like a great resource for finding local bike routes, places for hiking, fishing, etc.
Sunrise 20: Downtown Cincinnati (Flying Pig Marathon!)
My pattern so far has been to wake up every morning, rise or shine, for a sunrise during the week. On the weekends I typically take a single day off and go on a bike exploration adventure on the other day. This weekend I knew that we’d be getting up at 5:15am today to head downtown to the Flying Pig Marathon (and half pig and relay!). Amanda ran the half pig this morning, her second ever half marathon. She did awesome :). You start off flat and then head up to Mt. Adams to get punished by the hills. The full marathoners continue out to Hyde Park and Merrimont and finally come back along the river.
I realized that this morning would be Sunrise 20, a highly appropriate halfway point on the way to 40 sunrises! I had grandeur visions of seeing the sun rise 15 minutes after the race started (did I mention I’m only a spectator?) over the river. There would have been some great orange skies to be seen through the sky scrapers. This didn’t pan out, however, because the sky stayed a flat gray for the entire race. I still got some great pictures of some flying pig runners and old downtown buildings. (Click to continue if you’re on the front page –>) (more…)
Ault Park Sunrise 