Colonia is a bit of tourist city. Other than tourism, there’s not a lot of reason to be there. It was founded originally to help protect and take over-flow traffic from Buenos Aires. It’s nearly directly across the river from BA. It is also the primary port for the ferry services that cross between Argentina and Uruguay.

Many more pictures from my two visits (as of posting) to Colonia in my Colonia Flickr Set.

Another part of the Prado is a large, outdoor rose garden. Once again, we were a little before prime time but there was no shortage of bloomed roses.

More photos of roses and the gardens in my Montevideo Prado Rose Gardens Flickr Set.

In the far northern part of Montevideo, about a 20 minute drive, is the Prado. Among the many things in the Prado area is the National Botanical Gardens. We were a little before the season for everything to be fully in bloom, but there were a variety of flowers still. There was also a Hawk prowling the grounds.

More photos in my Montevideo Prado Botanical Gardens Flickr Set.

Arriving in Montevideo for it’s spring meant a lot of opportunities to take pictures of flowers in bloom, including quite a variety in my back yard.

More flowers, and a lot of other pictures from Montevideo in my Montevideo Flickr Set.

Not long after arriving in Montevideo, I had the opportunity to take a quick tour of Montevideo. We didn’t stay anywhere long, but we got a layout of town, where the historical areas were and a bit of the history related to them. Pictured here (in order): Cannons at the Cerro, Flowers at the Japanese Gardens, Plaza Zabala, and the Antel Building across the River Plate.

A variety of other pictures from the tour are in my Montevideo Tour Flickr Set.

Another “must visit” in my opinion. We spent several hours here and it’s central to other locations. Very pretty and nice to visit.

More photos from the garden in my San Francisco Japanese Tea Gardens Flickr Set.

The San Francisco Arboretum was exceptional. A variety of beautiful plants that were well maintained and easy to photograph. Come prepared to sweat though, a couple of the rooms have extremely high humidity and very warm temperatures. It took several minutes on transitions for the camera to fully adjust. I’m very happy with the number of good shots I got from this shoot. As usual, I’ve only selected a few for here. If you don’t usually visit the flickr sets, I encourage you to do so this time (link at the end of the post).

Many more photos in my San Francisco Arboretum Flickr Set.

While moving, I took a weeks vacation to San Francisco. One of the first stops was to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. The gardens are located in Golden Gate Park and free to enter during their operating hours. They’re very open and a nice relaxing place to be.

Many more photos in my San Francisco Botanical Gardens Flickr Set.

Of particular note in Plovdiv are its gardens. The parks are huge and are covered in shade trees and gardens. Quite beautiful and a very nice place to just wander or rest.

More photos available in my Plovdiv, Bulgaria Flickr Set.

While back in the states visiting my parents, we went up to Mena, Arkansas for a walk and some photo taking. The day could not have been better and we got some really good pictures. We went up into the national park there, as well as around town. There’s an old train station museum in town that was interesting (at least from the outside, we were too late to go inside).

More photos at my Mena, Arkansas Flickr Set.