Hurricane Sandy

Boathouse and dock, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, before Hurricane Isabel

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In 2003, Hurricane Isabel flooded my parent's house on the Chesapeake Bay in Southern Virginia and washed away the dock and boathouse pictured above.  Consequently, whenever hurricanes threaten the East Coast, I obsessively track the weather and tide websites to try to assess if they are going to have to go through that again.  It looks like they dodged the bullet on this one, though there is one more high tide this morning before the surge from Sandy stops contributing.  

Ellen's sister and her family live in Rumson, New Jersey, which is a little north of Sandy's predicted landfall.  They are threatened by massive storm surge and higher winds than my parents will experience.  Their house is high off the water (30-40') and a little inland, so they should be safe from the surge, but I'm sure the area will suffer, power will be lost, and trees will come down.

Here's wishing everyone well in the path of this storm.

Keanesburg, NJ

Monmouth, NJ

Manhattan looks like a watery place when viewed from NJ.

Bei and her cousins enjoying a gentler summer breeze in 2010 on the Jersey shore.

Carnivals

The Himalaya, Coney Island.

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It's summer carnival season.  Here in Laramie, the Jubilee Days carnival is set up downtown along the railroad tracks in seedy glory.  The Union Pacific train engineers lay on their horns as they pass, but the kids at the carnival hardly notice.  A country band plays in a parking lot, and a few people dance, but the music is mostly drowned out by all the generators that power the rides.  This year, inflatable swords were a coveted prize, and friendly sword fights broke out under the neon lights among all the tattoos.  

In other places carnivals are more permanent, and even seedier.  Coney Island is one of the most famous, along with the Bruce Springsteen celebrated New Jersey shore carnivals.  

A few images from Laramie and the East Coast:   

Putt-putt golf.  Keansburg, NJ.  2008.

Keansburg entrance at dawn.  NJ.  2008.

Primitive visitor.  Keansburg, NJ. 2008.

Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.  Coney Island.  2008.

Coney Island.  2008.

Coney Island.  2008.

It's an exciting world.  Bei with Immy Smith, Laramie Jubilee Days.  2008.

Bei, Jubilee Days, 2008.

Laramie Jubilee Days.  2010

Laramie Jubilee Days.  2010.

Bei, Laramie Jubilee Days.  2010.

Bei,  Laramie Jubilee Days.  2010.

Candy apples, Laramie Jubilee Days.  2012.

Jalapeno eating contest.  Laramie Jubilee Days.  2012.

The Zipper.  Laramie Jubilee Days.  2012.