See my latest panorama projects over at 360around.com

• University of Cincinnati Housing
• Thomas Aquinas College
• Ron Jon Surf Shop
• Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy
• etc…

The Warren Dunes State Park along the shores of Lake Michigan provide 1952 acres of recreational opportunities. The Tower Hill dunes rise up 260 above the shore and is notable for hang gliding. We happened by there on a cold day in November and were surprised to find even on a day of marginal weather that there was someone trying to get some flying time in.

This virtual tour has 3 pano views showing different stages of the 2012 St. Leon Pole Raising. Other than the weather being a bit more gloomy, the St. Leon Pole Raising was about the same as I described it in the pano tour I did of the 2008 Pole Raising:

“Every 4 years, on the 2nd Saturday before the presidential election, the community of St. Leon, Indiana continues the tradition of the Pole Raising to commemorate the presidency of Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson. Once a common occurrence, St. Leon is believed to be the only place where you can see the pole raising today. The locals head to the woods in the morning to cut down a tall hickory tree. Then drag it back to town for a short parade featuring a steam powered tractor hauling the tree behind. Next some political speeches and rallying followed by the raising.”

I especially enjoyed the parade this year, which included some old tractors, old cars and trucks, the East Central High School band, the old steam engine tractor that pulls the pole through town, and a surprise visit from President Obama!!!

The whole event is rather quaint and a unique slice of “Americana.” Be sure to click on all the detail shot “hot-spots” in the panos to see a few pics from the parade. The organizers used a picture that I had posted on my entry from the 2008 pole-raising for their poster for the 2012 event:

This bookstore in Stillwater, Minnesota specializes in “providing discerning readers with hard-to-find scholarly and classic Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and related books…” The panotour you see here will be serving as a memorial of sorts to the bookstore housed in an old church. The owners are moving the business to a new location in the late fall of 2012. The church building is located in the quaint town of Stillwater in the St. Croix River Valley just east of St. Paul, Minnesota. I feel very fortunate to have come across this bookstore before they moved. Quite a unique place. Hopefully, some day I will make it to their new location also.

This very beautiful church in the “FrogTown” area of Saint Paul, Minnesota is the home of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale. It is one of only a handful of Churches dedicated to maintaining the Catholic Church’s tradition of musical excellence in the context of the Sacred Liturgy. The Chorale presents a full season of choral Masses with orchestra by such composers as Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Herzogenberg. This church was founded by Austrian and Bavarian immigrants and is modeled on Kloster Schlaegel, a monastery church in Austria.

Here are some panoramas from the tennis action on Tuesday, August 14. This match featured Serena Williams defeating Eleni Daniilidou.  Take the tour to see the world-class facilities of the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

The Stone Arch Bridge is the only bridge of it’s kind along the Mississippi River. Having 23 arches, it is 2100 feet long and contains 100,000 tons of limestone and granite. It was built by railroad baron James J. Hill and completed in 1883. It was originally used as a railroad bridge and carried as many as 48 passenger trains into Minneapolis everyday. Now it is part of the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail and used as a walking and bike path. It is significant historical landmark that forms an integral part of  the redeveloped Minneapolis Riverfront. The bridge is just below St. Anthony Falls which is the birthplace of Minneapolis and was the only true waterfall on the Mississippi River.

As the 2012 version of this event is rapidly approaching, I thought I would post a mini-tour of the Lindner Family Tennis Center during the 2011 version of the Western and Southern Open. This  prestigious event is one of only 9 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments held annually throughout the world. This tournament first started in 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in it’s original city. It is also the biggest summer tennis event in the USA.

The historic Chapel of the National Shrine of St. Anthony in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio was consecrated on Thanksgiving Day 1889, a little more than a year after the cornerstone was laid. This tour has several high resolution panoramas with numerous feature detail photos. There are also some historic photos showing the chapel with the paint decorating as applied by the artist Johann Schmitt. He was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis for over 35 years. Having an obvious devotion to St. Francis, Schmitt left a legacy of interesting paintings of St. Francis in several American churches. All the murals were painted over or removed in 1978.

Originally serving as a monastery and a house for novitiates, today the Shrine serves as the candidate house for those considering entering the Franciscan Order.

A special thanks to the staff of the Franciscan archives for allowing me to select some old photos to include in this tour.

The International Schoenstatt Retreat Center in Waukesha is also home to a Schoenstatt Shrine and The Province House of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. This tour features the facility in a lovely mantel of winter weather. I have several detail views included so be sure to explore all the “hot spots.” Give the panoramas time to load as this tour is optimized for fast connections and big monitors. Click here or the picture above to start your visit.