Back Road Beauty: Shine Down...

After the blizzard, the wind blew and soon, away went the clouds, and out came the sun.

I had accomplished quite a bit during the day, so I rewarded myself with a twilight ride in the back roads around here.

A lot of the roads were fairly decent, but a lot of them weren't, too and that wasn't a problem.  My trusty old Suburban enjoyed the challenge immensely and cut through the drifts on the road like a hot knife in butter.

I could shoot photos until I was content and the sun was down.

Well, the sun was putting on quite a show for us, and I was happy to be watching.

I wish I knew what sort of explanation there might be for this vertical beam of light coming off the sunset.

But it really doesn't matter, it's just plain beautiful, and I captured it and took my prize home,

So that I could share the images with you.

There were plenty of opportunities to show this sunset in its best possible light....

I have more, this is just the beginning!

Blizzards can make everything, no matter what, seem infinitely more beautiful.

 Even an old crane.


*Edited to add this comment from Eileen at My Evergreen Place.  Thanks so much Eileen for letting me know what this is that I was admiring!


"Beautiful! What you were seeing was called a sun pillar.

A sun pillar is a vertical shaft of light extending upward or downward from the sun. Typically seen during sunrise or sunset, sun pillars form when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds."