Strange Quark's photostream

December views of Trunk Bay, on the island of St. John, US Virgin Islands.

St. John, the smallest and most idyllic of the three United States Virgin Islands, is best known for its dozens of post card perfect white sand beaches, turquoise bays abounding in colorful corals and rainbows of tropical fish, and endless vistas of green velvet hills. Only nine miles long and three miles wide, two thirds of the island is covered with the Virgin Islands National Park.

Historic trolley, car 1059, originally from the Boston Elevated Railway, riding full down the Embarcadero in front of Pier 33. The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront roadway of San Francisco, running alongside the San Francisco Bay.

Springtime view of El Capitan from the bank of Merced River, in California's Yosemite National Park.

El Capitan is a 3,000-foot (910 m) vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers. Along with most of the other rock formations of Yosemite Valley, El Capitan was carved by glacial action.

A young northern elephant seal bull is resting alone on a beach adjacent to Año Nuevo State Reserve, after many a loosing battle for dominance and a chance to mate.

California's Año Nuevo State Park is the site of one of the largest mainland breeding colonies for the northern elephant seal. Elephant seals, sea lions, sea otters, and other marine mammals come ashore here to rest, mate, and give birth in the sand dunes or on the beaches and offshore islands.

View of Yosemite Falls from the valley floor. Yosemite Falls is the highest measured waterfall in North America. Located in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California, it is a major attraction in the park, especially in late spring when the water flow is at its peak.

The total 2,425 feet (739 m) from the top of the upper falls to the base of the lower falls qualifies Yosemite Falls as the sixth highest waterfall in the world.