This August I marveled at the bright colors around the grounds at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino some 25 miles down the Thruway from Syracuse.
Here’s the post with my pictures from that lovely day.
On the way back to our car with my dear wife Karen from the dinner with the kids to celebrate my Beddian birthday a week ago, I was again struck by the beauty of this setting.
Out came my iPhone 6. Such a contrast with nightfall and the holiday lights.
The hotel behind the horse at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino Complex.
With a cool mist that didn’t know if it wanted to turn to snow, the glow almost came off as eerie. The horse to the right may have wanted to fly away.
The parking garage is decked out.
A large wreath peeks through pines pinning the side of the mult-level parking garage.
High limits.
The Tower Hotel has room for the stars.
Meanwhile, some people are playing tennis and golf.
In the other direction completely, minds are turned toward tennis in one dome and golf in the other.
Have you noticed how a cold and misty night can change the feel of the lighting of a situation?
Mark Bialczak 
Beautiful pictures!
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Thanks, Cat.
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Merry Christmas to you and your family, Cat. 🙂
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Thank you! You as well
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Pretty.
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I love the light, Kim. Thanks.
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I like your photos, Chum. Foggy nights are cool and lend a good hand towards mysterious.
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It is kind of sly, isn’t it, Aud. Merry Christmas Eve, my friend.
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fabulous photos! I’m thinking about getting the iPhone 6. I take a lot of pictures and have been really happy with the iphone 5. How do you think the 6 compares?? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance!
michele at Angels Bark
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Hey Michele, thanks for dropping in at Christmas photo time and giving me the chance to wish you a great holiday! I went from the 4 to the 6 and the difference has been phenomenal. I think the upgrade in camera from the 5 is substantantial, too. I am so very happy with my photos from my new 6. Thanks for your kind words.
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Mist and fog create heavenly atmosphere, Mark! I love the ethereal effects of your photos with snow, light and mist in the air. I also am so glad you enjoyed your meal, birthday and family time. Wonderful! I love gambling and am very lucky. I just go from one machine to another, giving it only 3 chances for me to win. I can play all night with $40, Mark! Fun times and memories with my old ex-boyfriend, ‘the fisherman.’
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I’m glad to hear you are a lucky one, Robin. Interesting method, too, to make the money last. 🙂 The Fisherman! I won’t go for an easy jokes about that one, Robin, but oh how I could. 🙂
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Very haunting. These pics make me want to get in the Subaru and head up there. They have crap tables, right? I could run a workshop.
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Yeah, Mark, they have all gaming tables. If you going on craps table you might fall under the stare of my stepson. He’s a croupier who knows how to make his table feel like they’re the boss no matter.
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(SIGH. I don’t see the horse! 😦 ) I remember this post from the summer, and I was hoping to get to see it when the leaves changed. But this is just gorgeous, so I’m glad you were there now for these photos! Are people really playing golf in that dome? Or is it more of a driving range ball puttery type of thing?
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The horse is white and lighted and in the top photo. You can find it, Rachel.
The people are driving golf balls on a range and putting them on two greens in the dome to the right. 🙂
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Great festuve shots–I can’t get enough Christmas pictures. Thanks for posting them.
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You’re welcome, Chuck. I’ve been liking your march to Christmas, my friend.
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yes, you are so right, it can change everything – and this looks magical –
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Caught me eye immediately, Beth, so I had to say stop, wait, I’ve got to take these … 🙂
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Beautiful pictures Mark! The first one looks like a B&W photo, with just the lights coloured in – very cool!
Diana xo
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Thanks, Diana. I agree, and with no filters or anthing. Yay, iPhone 6 camera. 🙂
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Nice, but doesn’t seem as big or gaudy as our CT casinos. Also, I think it’s so funny to see that depending on where you live in the country you call it the Thruway, Freeway, Highway, Turnpike or Interstate. Why do we not have just one word for our most traveled roads?
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The Turning Stone has expanded in stages over 25 years, so I think maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem like one big YIKES. It’s more like a spread-out college campus in some ways. Interesting observation. Thanks, Cheney.
And this particular road is named officially the New York State Thruway. Some roads have the tag put on them by the state, like the New Jersey and Massachusetts Turnpike(s). But some just become the freeway or highway by peoplespeak. I wonder why it’s not just one thing? Good question, Cheney. You’re on today. 🙂
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Haha i’ve been pretty sharp lately. Feeling good!
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Oh yes, absolutely, brings back the whole anticipation of snow, when the sky is kind of foggy and you can feel the humidity. Love the photos!
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There was that great feel walking to the car that night, Marissa. Thanks for the kind words about the photos!
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Beautiful photos!
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Thanks, PJ!
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What beautiful photos. I’m so glad I have time to catch up on blog reading, or I might have missed those.
I love holiday lights, but not when they’re too overdone and gaudy. I know some people love them, no matter how overdone they are! But I love these – simple, and elegant, and beautiful against the night sky. It’s so important to take a moment and savor beauty, isn’t it?
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I’m glad to hear that you’ve got a few minutes to yourself, Samara.
The lights can be too much when overdone. These are tasteful, I agree. Yes, I savored the whole darn trip.
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Looks very holiday-ish. But the big question is, aside from taking those terrific pictures, did you win any money at the casino?
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No sir, I did not. I ate a great big meal!
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Yummy!
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Awesome pictures Mark. Your iphone takes great outside pictures in the dark. yes the mist and fog does change the light frequencies we see. I find at night that it changes my depth perception as well. That was always something that had to be kept in mind when night driving.
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In your big rig, it must have added yet another challenge, Paul. Your mind had to be like a high-speed computer.
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After a while Mark it seems you build up a set of rules for each type of road conditions and switch to the new rules as the conditions change. Within these rules there is always some play and you test the limits to be sure you’re not too close to driving outside the situation. That can be done by applying just trailer brakes to see how much traction you have, wiggling the steering wheel to test steering ability, flicking high beams up and down to see if there is anything in the air, like mist or light snow, checking the digital temp guage on the dash to watch for icing conditions, watching the mirrors to see if spray is coming off the wheels (at night back up lights show this clearly), etc.
Let me put it to you this way: I’m sure that as a professional writer and jounalist when you get an assignment, you have an automatic set of parameters that you use based on the topic, tone, length, place of publication, requesting person, schedule, etc. It sort of comes with an intimate knowledge of your profession. You are amazing to me Mark in your abiity to write well about anything, anytime, anywhere.
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Great comparison between driving your rig in all conditions and writing my stories for all sorts of media, Paul. You are right. You have to be prepared going in, not going out!
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The snow always looks so peaceful to me.
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Those of you down south love it!
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Beautiful, Mark. I appreciate your light, as usual.
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Shining comment, as usual, Ann.
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