Nature Trip

Cool. Who woulda thought? But I bet you have to be facing the right way to get that back-to-nature view. &ltg&gt

Loving the space-picture too. Ah, technology. It’s a good age to be an SF writer.

Well, if you face north you see Marine Park proper in the foreground. It’s not wild, certainly, but it is green and planted with a lovely ring of old trees. The trees and greenery of the park obscure the rest of Brooklyn and Manhattan, almost seven miles to the north. There are also places in the Rockaways where all you can see is ocean, sky and dunes. I go there as often as I can.

Yeah, I dig the hell out of the Visible Earth series of NASA photographs. The Internet didn’t come along until my thirties, and the six-year-old that still lives in my head is constantly saying “You mean I can get all this neat stuff for free?!“

Actually I think you could probably take 360-degree views like that from plenty of spots down there, though I’m not sure about that location; due west you might see houses. But if you look at the map, that area is larger than Prospect Park, which is big enough to have thoroughly hidden areas away from the traffic and buildings.

If you take the path all the way around the inlet there are lots of spots where you see nothing but birds and water and phragmites, and maybe a plane taking off from JFK.

You can even see Sandy Hook…

Okay, Visible Earth? *Way* too cool. &ltg&gt

You know that I deliberately cropped that photo to leave out Sandy Hook, right? And Chat ‘n Chew.

you could probably take 360-degree views like that from plenty of spots down there, though I’m not sure about that location; due west you might see houses.

Well, you can see apartment buildings on the west (right) side of the panorama. Unless you’re on one of the trails, surrounded by reeds, you can probably see some aspect of the built environment from almost anyplace on the salt marsh nature trail. The view below is looking south from the trail: out of the frame to the left are some golf course buildings; out of the frame to the right are elevated portions of the Belt Parkway where it passes over the mouth of Gerritsen Inlet.

The view south across Gerritsen Inlet in winter.

I’m all behind on this LJ, but your photos are a really great addition to your space! I had not seen the photos all together like this, and it looks terrific!

Hey, thanks for the kind words.

I like that panormama, though I’m going to redo it. The day was kind of overcast, and between one shot and the next the light would change dramatically. Next time I’m going to do it in early morning, when the shadows are long.