#Raton Canyon

[gtaphotography]

[damez1979]

GTA V: Predator | O'Neil Brothers' Final Hunt with Trevor, Michael & Franklin!

[adventurealldays]

[ericgunther]

These Are the Best Schools in Palm Beach County! 

Top rated schools are a common search criteria when buying a home in Palm Beach County.  The Florida Department of Education rates each of our schools annually with a grade system from “A” being the best to “F” being the lower scoring.

At Greenfield Waters Florida Realty we find that several areas have a concentration of “A” rated schools.  This quick guide will highlight areas and schools that consistently have years of “A” rating and reliable streaks of quality in their history.

Schools zones in Florida can be very different.  They often fit together like puzzle pieces and unlike other states the zones are not just related to the specific town where the school is located as they may border other towns that attend as well.  There are often Magnet Programs and Charter Schools as well that are very valuable.

Note that this list is a quick view of commonly desired schools.  They have good streaks of “A” ratings and there are certainly great schools that have “B” ratings from time to time.  There are many great schools that we just could not fit into this short list.  A full list of all schools can be found at these following links:

Florida School Accountability Reports

Clicking “School Grades” in Excel format will download the full list of schools for your review.

“Find My School” 

This is a link where you can enter an exact address and know for certain what schools would apply to the home you are thinking of buying.

These Are the Best Schools in Palm Beach County!

Boca Raton

Addison Mizner School (Elementary) 

Del Prado Elementary School

Somerset Academy Boca (Elementary and Middle School)

Sunrise Park Elementary School

Verde K-8 (Elementary and Middle School)

Waters Edge Elementary School

Whispering Pines Elementary School

Boca Raton Community Middle School

Don Estridge High Tech Middle School

Eagles Landing Middle School

Loggers’ Run Community Middle School 

Omni Middle School 

Boca Raton Community High School

Olympic Heights Community High – (Also serves part of West Boynton Beach)

Spanish River High School

West Boca Raton High School

Boynton Beach

Sunset Palms Elementary School

Christina McAuliffe Middle School 

Woodlands Middle School – (Lake Worth - also serves part of West Boynton Beach)

Somerset Academy Canyons (Middle and High School)

Olympic Heights Community High – (Boca Raton - also serves part of West Boynton Beach)

Park Vista Community High School – (Lake Worth - also serves part of West Boynton Beach)

Jupiter

Beacon Cove Intermediate School

Jupiter Farms Elementary School

Limestone Creek Elementary School

Independence Middle School

Jupiter Middle School

Jupiter High School

Lake Worth

Coral Reef Elementary School

Discovery Key Elementary School

Manatee Elementary School

Panther Run Elementary School – (Also serves part of Wellington)

Woodlands Middle School – (Also serves part of West Boynton Beach)

Park Vista Community High School – (Also serves part of West Boynton Beach)

Loxahatchee 

Frontier Elementary School

Osceola Creek Middle School

Seminole Ridge Community High School

Palm Beach Gardens

Marsh Pointe Elementary School

Pierce Hammock Elementary School

Timber Trace Elementary School

Wellington

Binks Forest Elementary School

Elbridge Gale Elementary School

Equestrian Trails Elementary

Panther Run Elementary School – (Lake Worth - also serves part of Wellington)

Emerald Cove Middle School

New Horizons Elementary School

Western Academy Charter School (Elementary and Middle School)

Polo Park Middle School

Wellington Landings Middle

Palm Beach Central High School

Wellington High School

West Palm Beach

Everglades Elementary

Golden Grove Elementary School

Renaissance Charter School at West Palm Beach (Elementary)

Royal Palm Beach Elementary School

Bak Middle School of the Arts

Western Pines Community Middle

Notable Mentions

Alexander W Dreyfoos Junior School of The Arts (Middle School) – (Located in West Palm Beach)

American Heritage

One of the best private schools in the country (K-12) with a solid waiting list - (Located in Delray Beach)

G-Star School of the Arts (High School - Located in Palm Springs)

Morikami Park Elementary School – Magnet School - (Located in Delray Beach)

Palm Beach Virtual Franchise – (Online and some classes in Palm Beach Gardens)

Colleges and Universities

Florida Atlantic University - FAU – (Located in Boca Raton)

Lynn University – (Located in Boca Raton)

Palm Beach State College – (Several Locations in Palm Beach County)

Greenfield Waters Florida Realty is here to help serious sellers of property and buyers of homes navigate the local areas here in Florida.  Real estate is more than just the home but also the communities and the local education quality.  It’s important to know the quality of your school districts even if you do not have any children.  Resale value can be much higher when attached to desired schools so always keep that in mind! Sometimes one side of a road can have a better school than the other and it’s ideal to work with sophisticated and professional Realtors that you would find here at Greenfield Waters.

This school list is not a complete or total list of all of our great schools in Palm Beach County.  For more information make sure to check the links above in the introduction paragraphs to review more schools and ratings.  Always feel free to contact Greenfield Waters for more advice on Palm Beach County and any Florida schools in general.  Our Broker and Owner of Greenfield Waters is Eric Gunther who is married to a career Palm Beach County educator and administrator at the public and private College / University level.  Any questions you have we can always be here for advice you may be looking for.

Make sure to check out our home page www.greeenfieldwaters.com to view current Active Listings and Market Reports free of charge and with zero obligation.  We are simply here to help!

Happy to advise as always,

Eric Gunther

Realtor and Broker of Greenfield Waters Florida Realty

eric.gunther@greenfieldwaters.com

561-400-8474

www.greenfieldwaters.com

[parttimereporter]

Updated list of the Big Lots stores that are closing down by state

Alabama:

1327 S Brundidge St., Troy

Arizona:

1416 E Route 66, Flagstaff17510 N 75th Ave, Glendale

3630 W. Baseline Rd., Laveen

2840 E Main St., Ste 109, Mesa

6839 E Main St., Mesa

24760 N Lake Pleasant Pkwy, Peoria

2020 N 75th Ave, Ste 40, Phoenix

230 E. Bell Rd., Phoenix

4727 East Bell Rd., Phoenix

2330 W Bethany Home Rd., Phoenix

4835 E Ray Rd., Phoenix

1260 Gail Gardner Way, Prescott

10220 N 90th St., Scottsdale

940 E Baseline Rd., Tempe

7025 E Tanque Verde Rd., Tucson

4525 N Oracle Rd., Tucson

3900 W Ina Rd., Tucson

2520 S Harrison Rd., Tucson

Arkansas:

2999 N College Ave, Fayetteville

California:

1670 W Katella Ave., Anaheim

6336 E Santa Ana Canyon Rd., Anaheim

2240 El Camino Real, Atascadero

1085 Bellevue Rd., Atwater

1211 Olive Dr., Bakersfield

2621 Fashion Pl., Bakersfield

1482 E 2nd St., Beaumont

353 Carmen Dr., Camarillo

19331 Soledad Canyon Rd., Canyon Country

1611 E Hatch Rd., Ste A Ceres

1927 E 20th St., Chico

12550 Central Ave., Chino

2060 Monument Blvd, Concord

740 N Main St., Corona

5587 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City

912 County Line Rd., Delano

1085 E Main St., El Cajon

8539 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove

1500 Oliver Rd., Fairfield

9500 Greenback Ln., Ste 22, Folsom

17575 Foothill Blvd., Fontana

1986 Freedom Blvd., Freedom

3520 W. Shaw Ave, Fresno

4895 E Kings Canyon Rd., Fresno

7370 N Blackstone Ave., Fresno

2900 W Rosecrans Ave., Gardena

360 E 10th St., Gilroy

1551 Sycamore Ave., Hercules

42225 Jackson St., Ste B, Indio

3003 W Manchester Blvd., Inglewood

1020 W Imperial Hwy, La Habra

6145 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa

4484 Las Positas Road, Livermore

380 S Cherokee Ln., Lodi

1009 N H St, Ste M, Lompoc

2238 N Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach

951 W Pacheco Blvd., Los Banos

1321 West Yosemite Ave., Manteca

665 Fairfield Dr., Merced

111 Ranch Dr., Milpitas

27142 La Paz Rd., Mission Viejo

3900 Sisk Road, Modesto

3615 Elkhorn Blvd., North Highlands

1702 Oceanside Blvd., Oceanside

4430 Ontario Mills Pkwy, Ontario

1875 Oro Dam Blvd E., Oroville

6646 Clark Rd., Paradise

47 Fair Ln., Placerville

30501 Avenida De Las Flores, Rancho Santa Margarita

810 Tri City Ctr., Redlands

2620 Canyon Springs Parkway, Riverside

565 Rohnert Park Expressway, Rohnert Park

6630 Valley Hi Dr., Sacramento

8700 La Riviera Dr., Sacramento

370 Northridge Mall, Salinas

499 W Orange Show Rd., San Bernardino

3735 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

1417 S Broadway, Santa Maria

568 W Main St., Ste B, Santa Paula

2055 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa

1189 Simi Town Center Way, Simi Valley

633 Sweetwater Rd., Spring Valley

2720 Country Club Blvd, Stockton

27411 Ynez Rd., Temecula

955 Sepulveda Blvd, Torrance

2681 N Tracy Blvd, Tracy

1840 Countryside Dr., Turlock

225 Orchard Plz, Ukiah

818 Alamo Dr., Vacaville

14790 La Paz Dr., Victorville

2525 S Mooney Blvd., Visalia

13241 Whittier Blvd., Whittier

52 W Court St., Woodland

1320 Franklin Road, Yuba City

56865 29 Palms Hwy, Yucca Valley

Colorado:

6626 South Parker Road, Aurora

1990 S Academy Blvd, Colorado Springs

2975 New Center Point, Colorado Springs

5085 N Academy Blvd, Colorado Springs

2401 N Ave, Ste 19b, Grand Junction

2628 11th Ave, Greeley

8100 W Crestline Ave., Unit B5, Littleton

2151 Main St., Longmont

Connecticut:

1470 Pleasant Valley Road, Manchester

56 Turnpike Square., Milford

3105 Berlin Tpke., Newington

42 Town St., Ste 1200, Norwich

1931 E Main St., Torrington

650 Wolcott St., Waterbury

40 Boston Post Rd., Waterford

560 Windsor Ave., Windsor

Florida:

21697 State Rd., 7, Boca Raton

25191 Chamber Of Commerce Dr., Bonita Springs

901 N Congress Ave., Boynton Beach

7381 52nd Pl E, Bradenton

328 E Sugarland Hwy, Clewiston

4847 Coconut Creek Pkwy, Coconut Creek

2400 W International Speedway, Daytona Beach

34940 Emerald Coast Pkwy, Destin

15271 Mcgregor Blvd., Fort Myers

1761 E Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hallandale

3921 Oakwood Blvd., Hollywood

8265 W Flagler St., Miami

5580 Nw 167th St., Miami Lakes

2882 Tamiami Trl E, Naples

700 Blanding Blvd, Ste 1, Orange Park

11230 S Orange Blossom Trl, Orlando

11672 E Colonial Dr., Orlando

1801 S Semoran Blvd., Orlando

7067 W Broward Blvd., Ste B, Plantation

1440 Ne 23rd St., Pompano Beach

11854 Us Highway 19, Port Richey

511 N State Rd. 7, Royal Palm Beach

3750 Bee Ridge Rd., Sarasota

2236 Se Federal Hwy, Stuart

12601 Citrus Plaza Dr., Tampa

41306 Us Hwy 19 N, Tarpon Springs

Georgia:

2738 Candler Rd., Decatur

375 Pavilion Pkwy, Fayetteville

610 Holcomb Bridge Rd., Ste 300, Roswell

13051 Abercorn St., Savannah

31 Hwy 138 W, Ste 150, Stockbridge

5370 Stone Mountain Hwy, Ste 300, Stone Mountain

687 Main St., Thomson

263 S Liberty St., Waynesboro

Illinois:

8148 S Cicero Ave., Burbank

1699 River Oaks Dr., Calumet City

1139 W Broadway, Centralia

1608 N Larkin Ave., Crest Hill

204 S. Randall Rd., Elgin

10850 Lincoln Trl, Fairview Heights

340 Summit Dr., Lockport

7233 W Dempster St., Niles

17w714 W 22nd St., Oakbrook Terrace

Indiana:

138 W Hively Ave., Elkhart

3958 Illinois Rd., Fort Wayne

8401 Michigan Rd., Indianapolis

2136 E Markland Ave., Kokomo

2806 Frontage Rd., Warsaw

Kansas:

7533 State Ave., Kansas City

2450 South 9th St., Salina

Kentucky:

1321 2nd St., Henderson

1980 Pavilion Way, Lexington

4025 Poplar Level Rd., Unit 102, Louisville

Louisiana:

3161 E Texas St., Bossier City

2354 S Range Ave., Denham Springs

3557 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy, Lafayette

339 South Dr., Ste D, Natchitoches

Maine:

1100 Brighton Ave., Portland

Maryland:

4420 Mitchelville Rd., Bowie

6623 Governor Ritchie Hwy, Glen Burnie

3331 Corridor Marketplace, Laurel

21800 N Shangri La Dr., Unit 20, Lexington Park

11989 Reisterstown Rd #a, Ste A, Reisterstown

Massachusetts:

41 Pond St., Ashland

400 Main St., Dennis Port

178 N King St., Northampton

179 Highland Ave., Seekonk

1150a Union Street Ext., West Springfield

Michigan:

750 Perry Ave., Big Rapids

373 N Willowbrook Rd., Coldwater

2353 N Park Dr., Holland

3669 E. Grand River Ave., Howell

4254 28th St. Se, Kentwood

5625 W Saginaw Hwy, Unit 1, Lansing

32399 John R Rd., Madison Heights

2020 Grand River Ave., Okemos

1401 Spring St., Petoskey

6207 S Westnedge Ave., Portage

2850 Washtenaw Ave., Ypsilanti

Minnesota:

2614 Bridge Ave., Albert Lea

Missouri:

4201 S Noland Rd., Independence

3225 Missouri Blvd., Jefferson City

13637 Washington St., Kansas City

1417 N Belt Hwy, Saint Joseph

4433 Lemay Ferry Rd., Saint Louis

4930 Christy Blvd., Ste 2, Saint Louis

Montana:

1200 10th Avenue South, Great Falls

2930 Prospect Ave., Helena

New Hampshire:

216 Washington St., Claremont

Nevada:

1601 W Craig Rd., N Las Vegas

New Jersey:

471 Green St., Woodbridge

New York:

2276 Delaware Ave., Buffalo

698 S Ogden St., Buffalo

4406 State Route 5 & 20, Ste 129, Canandaigua

260 Voice Rd., Carle Place

231 Centereach Mall, Centereach

2309 N Triphammer Rd., Ithaca

4645 Commercial Dr., New Hartford

316 Cornelia St., Plattsburgh

43 Burnett Blvd., Poughkeepsie

751 Upper Glen St., Ste 2, Queensbury

North Carolina:

8215 University City Blvd., Ste E, Charlotte

9535 S Blvd., Ste C, Charlotte

2000 Avondale Dr., Ste E, Durham

3420 Southwest Durham Dr., Durham

822 E Main St., Jefferson

1515 Garner Station Blvd., Raleigh

6540 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh

Ohio:

11372 Princeton Pike, Cincinnati

9690 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati

359 Miamisburg Centerville Rd., Dayton

1520 N Clinton St., Defiance

1170 Indiana Ave., Saint Marys

410 E Perkins Ave., Sandusky

4925 Jackman Rd., Ste 15, Toledo

7779 Tylersville Rd., West Chester

Oregon:

2000 14th Ave. Se, Albany

18565 Sw Tualatin Valley Hwy, Beaverton

1960 Echo Hollow Rd., Eugene

304 Ne Agness Ave., Grants Pass

2083 Ne Burnside Rd., Gresham

2121 Newmark St., North Bend

16074 Se Mcloughlin Blvd., Ste 8, Portland

2025 Lancaster Dr. Ne, Salem

Pennsylvania:

713 E Baltimore Ave., Clifton Heights

2820 Gracy Center Way, Coraopolis

201 West Lincoln Hwy, Exton

345 Scarlet Rd., Ste 22, Kennett Square

199 Franklin Mills Blvd., Philadelphia

2980 Whiteford Rd., York

South Carolina:

1016 Pine Log Rd., Aiken

1841 J A Cochran Byp., Ste A, Chester

1937 Wilson Rd., Newberry

South Dakota:

1617 Eglin St., Rapid City

Tennessee:

209 S Royal Oaks Blvd., Ste 206, Franklin

2301 Gallatin Pike N, Madison

1410 S 1st St., Union City

Utah:

702 E State Rd., American Fork

1030 North Main Street, Layton

1617 North Main Street, Logan

5516 South 900 East, Murray

Vermont:

1400 Us Route 302, Berlin

303 Us Route 4 E., Rutland

Virginia:

590 Branchlands Blvd., Charlottesville

736 Warrenton Rd, Unit 102, Fredericksburg

2110 Wards Rd., Lynchburg

7743 Sudley Rd., Manassas,

5900 E. Virginia Beach Blvd, Norfolk

8533 Midlothian Tpke., North Chesterfield

1650 General Booth Blvd, Ste 200, Virginia Beach

14603 Telegraph Rd., Woodbridge

Washington:

1650 Birchwood Ave., Bellingham

14907 4th Ave Sw., Burien

17307 Se 272nd St., Covington

6727 Evergreen Way, Everett

1301 W Meeker St., Kent

1515 Marvin Rd Ne., Lacey

5401 100th St Sw, Ste 102, Lakewood

5710 196th St Sw, Lynnwood

2815 Capital Mall Drive Sw, Olympia

1940 E. 1st St., Port Angeles

3399 Bethel Rd. Se, Port Orchard

120 31st Ave Se, Puyallup

14215 Se Petrovitsky Rd., Renton

1743 George Washington Way, Richland

9612 N Newport Highway, Spokane

1414 72nd St., Tacoma

2100b Se 164th Ave., Ste E, Vancouver

151 Easy Way, Wenatchee

Wisconsin:

616 W Johnson St., Fond Du Lac

3960 Mormon Coulee Rd., La Crosse

N78w14511 Appleton Ave., Menomonee Falls

5415 Washington Ave., Mount Pleasant

699 S Green Bay Rd., Neenah

3426 Kohler Memorial Dr., Sheboygan

1690 S Main St., West Bend

Wyoming:

3501 E Lincolnway, Cheyenne

[into-the-center-of-things]

Part 2/2 of Day 2:

I refilled my water bottle with the same stupid method. . .

Maybe I'll just buy bottled water next time idk.

Anyways I took a nap until we arrived in Raton NM around 4:30pm, which would be our last stop before we entered Colorado.

This is the stop where the Boy Scout backpackers got off to begin their excursion...and got replaced by a new swarm finishing their own. I think Raton is close-ish to the Grand Canyon? Hence to it being a backpacker stop. Not much else to say here.

***

About an hour later, we arrived in Trinidad CO, where a lot of the Amish got off (and more got on). This is also where I parted with the Amish couple who got on with me at Union Station in Los Angeles—the husband came up to me and wished me safe travels, explaining that their daughter was having seizures due to pregnancy and since she lived in Colorado they were going to get off here (this explained the usage of the flip phone—it was out of necessity as well as worry about their daughter's wellbeing). I wished them best of luck.

From that point, Z approached me again and asked me what my favorite poetic forms were, and I shared with her the villanelle and it launched into a discussion about form and Z reciting the different poems she knew off the top her head. She had some really poignant remarks to make about word stresses being different from Greek to English, and was wondering about the musicality of older languages like Egyptian but I was so out of my expertise I didn't have much to say. I know form on a practical usage level but as a historical artifact of language and translation—there really is a lot an MFA cannot teach you!

***

We had a brief stop in La Junta to stretch our legs. I tried to wave and get the attention of the blue haired girl from yesterday but she didnt seem to notice me. Instead Z and I met with the girl who sat across the row from us, who I shall call A.

When we got back to our seats I asked if A ws hungry and shared a yam with her among some other things. A and I talked through the rest of Colorado and into Kansas—she grew up on the outskirts of in a little town outside of Albuquerque and was visiting her e-boyfriend she met through mutual friends for the very first time in Chicago IL. This conversation made me realize the vast differences in American experiences. She recalls dirt roads, her high school (she went to a classical high school or something, I want to look into this later) mostly being a handful of trailers parked along the highway until they could afford a school building. Her home is a large trailer (she used a specific phrase—destination trailer perhaps?) and she pays rent to her parents and works at a Chinese restaurant for 14 dollars an hour between school semesters with her media classes. She wants to learn more Chinese phrases because of this, since the restaurant she works at is a small family restaurant and she wants to work with the employees better. She has never really been to a large natural body of water and I told her about California beaches. She has never lived in a place with public transit and I told her about LA transit in the most detail I could. She said that 900 was too expensive for a studio and that 3.70 a gallon was too expensive for gas and I shared with her the avergae studio price im LA (1.5-2k) and gas price (4.50-5.20 per gallon). We discussed our love for thrifting and browsing antique stores. We kept pointing out the farmhouses we were passing and wondering about the lives of their inhabitants. I don't know if this is making sense but I am realizing how just two states differentiate in life experience. She really had the small town middle America experience. It's making me feel weirdly emotional. God I love humanity. I love female solidarity.

Anyways quiet hours started early because we jumped to Central time...A and I watched a crazy storm of lightning we spotted across the Kansas plains. I caught a video of it.

**[video to come]**

It's late and we are rolling through Kansas. A eagerly pointed out to me the meager gas prices at Dodge City—a feeble 2.90 a gallon! I want to stay awake until Kansas City but I don't know if I can stay awake throughout the night. I know they are going to sit someone next to me and I hope its someone my age again but I doubt I'll get lucky twice. We'll see.

[alicegrady98]

The Sporting Heritage of Raton New Mexico: Historical Moments and Local Legends.

Raton, New Mexico, with its picturesque setting and rich cultural heritage, also boasts a vibrant sporting history. From rodeo and baseball to hunting and fishing, the town has been a hub for various athletic activities that have shaped its community identity. Here’s a look at some of the historical moments and local legends that highlight Raton’s sporting heritage: Read More

** Historical Moments

1. **Rodeo Traditions**: Rodeo has long been a significant part of Raton’s sporting culture. The town hosts annual rodeo events that attract participants and spectators from across the region. The Raton Rodeo Association has been instrumental in promoting this sport, organizing events that showcase bull riding, barrel racing, and roping competitions.

2. **Colfax County Fair**: The Colfax County Fair is an annual event that features a range of sporting activities, including rodeo events, livestock shows, and horse racing. The fair has been a cornerstone of the community, celebrating the agricultural and sporting traditions of the region.

3. **Baseball**: Baseball has a storied history in Raton, with local teams competing in regional leagues and contributing to the town's athletic pride. Historical records show that baseball games were a popular pastime in the early 20th century, with teams like the Raton Coal Camp teams playing a significant role in local sports.

4. **NRA Whittington Center**: Established in 1973, the NRA Whittington Center is one of the largest and most comprehensive shooting complexes in the world. Located just outside Raton, it offers facilities for a wide range of shooting sports, including rifle, pistol, and shotgun. The center hosts national and international competitions, drawing sports enthusiasts from around the globe.

** Local Legends

1. **Rodeo Stars**: Raton has produced several notable rodeo athletes who have made significant contributions to the sport. These local legends have excelled in various rodeo events, earning accolades and representing Raton on national stages.

2. **Gus Grissom**: While better known as an astronaut, Gus Grissom’s connection to Raton through his participation in local hunting activities has made him a part of the town’s sporting lore. His visits to the area for hunting expeditions are well-remembered by the local community.

3. **Bob Sweeney**: A celebrated figure in Raton’s sporting community, Bob Sweeney was known for his contributions to youth sports, particularly baseball. His dedication to coaching and mentoring young athletes left a lasting legacy in Raton’s sports history.

** Outdoor Sports and Recreation

1. **Hunting and Fishing**: Raton’s location in the heart of the Rockies makes it a prime destination for hunting and fishing. The area is renowned for its abundant wildlife, including elk, deer, and trout. Local hunting and fishing clubs have played a crucial role in promoting sustainable practices and preserving these traditions.

2. **Hiking and Biking**: The scenic landscapes around Raton provide excellent opportunities for outdoor sports such as hiking and mountain biking. Trails like the Climax Canyon Park Trail offer residents and visitors a chance to engage in physical activity while enjoying the natural beauty of the area.

3. **Winter Sports**: While not as prominent as other sporting activities, winter sports such as snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are enjoyed by many in Raton. The town’s proximity to mountainous terrain makes it an ideal spot for winter recreation.

** Community and Youth Sports

1. **Raton High School Athletics**: High school sports are a vital part of Raton’s community spirit. Raton High School teams, known as the Tigers, compete in various sports including football, basketball, and track and field. These programs foster local talent and community involvement.

2. **Youth Leagues**: Youth sports leagues in Raton offer programs in soccer, baseball, basketball, and other sports, providing children with opportunities to develop their skills and learn the values of teamwork and sportsmanship.

** Conclusion

Raton, New Mexico, has a rich sporting heritage that encompasses a wide range of activities from rodeo and baseball to hunting and fishing. The town's historical moments and local legends reflect its deep connection to sports and the outdoors. This heritage continues to thrive through community events, youth programs, and the ongoing efforts of local organizations dedicated to preserving Raton's athletic traditions.

[sirfrogsworth]

Part 2: The Grand Peaks of Boca Raton

Next up we have these two very serious youngins who are now less young.

I loved the tone of this photo. Not quite sepia, not quite black and white. This is a really well done photo, even for modern times. The lighting is wonderful and I love the posing and environment. I would be proud to have taken this photo even today. The eyes are so beautiful and haunting.

This mostly needed clean up work. I had to fix some physical damage and I spent a long time with the remove tool getting rid of specks. You would not believe how much of restoration is just zapping specks. I had to convert it to black and white and then manually add that cool tone back but I'm pretty sure I got it to where it was without all of that... speckitude.

This is Katrina's grandpa sporting a mustache he didn't know would be regrettable later in life. For his sake, we'll call it "The Chaplin."

I wanted to preserve the look of this being a physical photograph with edges, so I didn't crop. I kept the sepia-like tonality as well. But when I fixed the contrast and exposure, there was a very rough and uneven texture.

None of my normal techniques could eliminate this texture without sacrificing a lot of detail and blurring the image. Since the image was already soft, I was having trouble figuring out what to do.

Then I thought about Imagenomic Portraiture, which is a high end skin retouching filter. While it can be used to obliterate pores and create unrealistically smooth skin, its actual intended use is to reduce detail caused by modern optics and high megapixel sensors.

While skin isn't supposed to be featureless porcelain, we typically don't notice one another's vellus hairs and pores. But the immense detail caused by modern cameras can make pores look like canyons and vellus hairs look like beards. So you use skin smoothing techniques (sometimes called frequency separation) to turn down the volume on that detail just in the spots where the camera picked up on detail that our eyes typically wouldn't see. And selectively removing detail was exactly what I needed.

So... what if I used that skin smoothing filter on the entire photograph instead of just the skin? Perhaps that would keep the desired detail and get rid of that nasty texture.

Much better, but now the photo looks a bit too... smooth.

Let's add some grain to give it proper looking texture. It will look much more uniform than that ugliness from before.

I think that looks about is good as it can. Let's see the finished product.

Also, Katrina isn't wild about her grandpa's mustache. I guess she isn't a fan of Charlie Chaplin or something. So I decided to fix that as well.

That is one handsome grandpa.

I'd also like to thank Imagenomic for helping me with this photo and several others with this same issue. Their filter is quite expensive and I couldn't afford it. The deadline to finish these photos was coming quick and so I emailed them and asked if I could get the Black Friday discount despite missing the sale by a few days. I explained I was a disabled photographer and that I was working on a gift for my best friend's parents who I was meeting for the first time. Ani, in customer service, asked if I could verify my disability. I thought maybe she was going to use that to convince her manager to give me the 30% discount.

I got a reply the very next day and it included a discount...

For 100% off.

It was like a proper Christmas miracle.

I legit cried.

I made sure to send her the finished before/after photos and thanked her for helping me with my gift.

Manfrotto could learn a thing or two from Imagenomic.

I don't know how to thank Ani and Imagenomic, so I will give my honest review of their product to show my gratitude.

I truly believe Portraiture does nearly as good of a job at skin retouching in just a few seconds as manual retouching/frequency separation—which can take over an hour per photo. This isn't some dinky Facetune app. You get professional results in just a few clicks. It is basically an accessibility tool for me due to how much energy it saves. It's subtle but effective and as long as it is not abused, it creates beautiful natural realistically textured skin minus harsh detail. If you take high resolution photographs of people's faces, I highly recommend it.

And it is also pretty great at removing gnarly texture from old photos too.

Thank you for being cool as heck, Imagenomic.

Next we have a photo of Katrina's dad in a costume from a school play.

Apparently, Greek schools were fine handing out giant daggers to young children in those days.

This photo is actually in decent shape. All of the detail in the sky was lost though. It has a color cast and looks a bit underexposed.

This also looked like it might be a good candidate for colorization. Not every photo is and it can take some trial and error to figure out which photos are suitable for this process.

I'm afraid this is not a one click solution yet. Photoshop's new neural filters are still a bit of a hot mess and colorize is no different. But if you can get past the quirky interface, it can do a lot of the heavy lifting.

And with a little cleanup, I am pretty happy with the results.

Funny story... I prepared a layered PSD of this color version. I thought it would be cool to correct the costume to the proper colors when I showed it to Katrina's dad. I isolated the hat and the sleeves and could instantly turn them any color. It was going to be like a cool Photoshop magic trick right before his eyes.

When the time came, after being blown away by the restoration, I asked him what colors everything should be.

He sat and thought for a second.

"Hell, I don't remember! Looks great how it is!"

So we stuck with blue. He was plenty impressed without my cool magic trick though.

I can't remember who this was, so I've just been calling her "old lady with a stick."

This photo was not just faded, it also had a very severe color cast. And once I removed all of the fading, it still felt like there was a layer of yellow on top of all the colors.

So, the opposite color of yellow is blue. Let's open up the color balance tool and see if shifting yellow to blue helps.

Looks like there is something to that "color science" stuff after all.

Repeat that with the shadows and highlights and then do the typical adjustments as with any photo and you end up with this.

That's a really good stick. I know several doggos who would be so jealous right now.

So, what do you do if the photo isn't really in need of much but you still want to impress with the before and after?

A good rule of thumb is to remove any distractions and make sure the subjects are the star of the photo. In this case, that road is bugging me. And I don't care for all of those people in the background.

That is some rad 80s fashion. Though I'm pretty sure this is the 90s. Sometimes fashion takes a bit to saturate into a new decade I guess.

This photo was probably the most faded of the bunch.

But we know that is a simple fix with a levels adjustment of each color channel. However, this might be a good opportunity to show a super fast way to almost instantly remove this kind of fading. If you have an old photo that has turned red and you don't feel like dialing it in manually, you can open up the curves tool and hit the options button.

Hit the "Enhance Per Channel Contrast" and it will automatically fix most of the fading. Not adjusting each channel manually can cause you to lose some detail in the brightest and darkest areas, but if you have a bunch of old photos to get through and "good enough" is good enough, you can create this as an action and fix fading at hyperspeed. With one click I was able to do this.

This is an acceptable result.

But if you take the time and care and do it the old fashioned way, you can get something more like this.

Requires more than one click, but I think it is worth it if you aren't in a huge hurry.

This next photo confused me at first. I thought there was a lake behind them. And when I started to restore the photo something was bothering me about that damned lake.

It finally dawned on me they were actually in front of a giant waterfall. Niagara, to be exact. There was one spot in the waterfall that wasn't completely blown out and I was able to bring back detail in that section of the waterfall.

And based on that tiny section, I was able to use that as a reference to rebuild the entire waterfall using various techniques. I did generative fill and cloning and dodging and burning and anything else I could think of.

And eventually, Niagara revealed itself.

This one might be my favorite of the bunch. When I really get to flex my artistic muscles and I get a decent result, you can't beat that sense of accomplishment.

Katrina's grandmother came for a visit.

Nothing too special with this one. Fixed the colors and added back in a sky. It seemed like it was near sunset, so I chose an orangy sunset sky.

What I didn't realize is the sky I added included mountains in the distance. And when Katrina saw this she asked why Boca Raton suddenly had a mountain range.

I was embarrassed for missing that detail, but she actually thought it was funny and insisted the mountains stay. Her parents both laughed and concurred.

I couldn't help but be reminded of this tweet...

And I couldn't help myself...

I am become God, creator of Floridian mountains.

That is all the photos Tumblr will allow me to add to this post. But there are still a handful of cool restorations left.

So...

To Be Concluded in Part 3!

Photo Restoration Project - Part 1

A long time ago, Katrina sent me some old photos of her family I could restore. Her parents have been helping me from afar for years and I really wanted to do something nice for them. Unfortunately my dad got much worse and I pretty much forgot about this project for quite some time.

But then I decided to visit Katrina in Orlando and we discussed having dinner with her parents and I remembered these photos. So I thought I would fix them up so I could present them as a gift in person.

The first and most important photo was from her parents wedding.

Old photo prints can fade over time due to UV light exposure. From what I understand, different colors fade at different rates and red/orange tones tend to be the least susceptible to this fading. Thankfully all of the color information is still there, it's just that the darks are not as dark and the lights are not as light. The dynamic range got squeezed like an accordion. However, if you do a levels adjustment on the red, blue, and green channels individually, you can unsqueeze the accordion and balance everything back to the way it was.

But you can't always save everything and there may be other damage that needs fixing. If something becomes pure white, there is no way to restore that detail. Thankfully I was able to use the new generative fill feature to bring back detail in the dress, the flowers, and the tuxedo shirt.

And because I hate front facing flash and how it makes colors look ugly and sterile, I may have also added a marble floor and pillars.

Next up was a photo of Anastasia, Katrina's mom, protesting Henry Kissinger on behalf of her home country of Greece. This suffered from the same color fading issues.

What made this one a little more tricky was an uneven fading. The left side had to be adjusted independently and the top was even more faded. I had to isolate the trees to bring back their color. And the protest signs were difficult to read, so I enhanced those as well.

Next we have this lovely photo of Anastasia tending to some house plants.

This photo was actually in decent shape. It lost a little contrast, had a little bit of fading, and her top retained almost no detail I could recover. Recovering accurate skin tones is probably one of the most important skills I learned when restoring these photos. I wanted to keep that filmic look of the era while avoiding making people look jaundiced or pale. Lightroom's new masking feature that let's you isolate every aspect of the people it detects in a photo. This made fixing skin tones much easier. I could isolate just her face or her lips or her hair or her eyes and make precise individual adjustments. This process could have taken a great deal longer without this feature. But, I brought back proper contrast and color, added a little bit of detail to her top with gen fill, and hopefully got fairly accurate skin tones as well.

Next up, forward facing flash strikes again in a photo of Mike and Anastasia during Christmas.

Film did not do well in low light. If it was indoors and nighttime, you pretty much had no choice but to use flash. But a flash is a very small, bright light source and this causes a very unflattering result on humans. Today we have much more powerful flashes with rotating heads. We can bounce the light into the ceiling or off a wall and increase the size of the light source to get a more flattering result.

In this photo I wasn't able to do much, so I just balanced the skin tones and brought out some hidden detail and called it a day. It's still a lovely memory and thankfully film has such character that it negates a lot of the unflattering aspects of direct flash.

Next up is some cuteness...

A big priority when editing photos is to make sure the subjects are the star of the photo. And in this one their faces were a bit obscured in shadow. There was also a lot of haze in the background hiding the beautiful vista. Not to mention when I cleared that haze, there was this super faint hint of something in the sky. I can't tell if it was a rainbow, but I decided to believe it was a rainbow. The only thing that I am still struggling with, and this seems to be common with a lot of old photos, is green. Getting a good, saturated, natural green to look right has been very difficult. Everything I try ends up looking toxic or fake. The only thing that ends up looking right with the rest of the photo is more of a yellow-y brown. It's something I'll have to work on as I learn, but as long as the overall photo looks balanced and natural, I'm okay with not perfectly nailing the greens.

Up next we have a lovely scene on a Greek dock...

As far as editing goes, this was pretty basic. I just undid the fading, adjusted the skin tones, replaced the blown-out sky, and made the colors pop. But I think this is actually one of my favorite before and after shots. I just love how such a simple fix brought this scene to life.

A new car is a big deal and Anastasia looks so proud here...

This image has another common issue in addition to the typical fading of colors. It has a yellowish orange color cast. This could have been an issue with the film used or the development process or a chemical reaction on the print. A color cast is a lot like looking through colored glasses. It's like a translucent color material was put on top of the image. This can be a little trickier to deal with, but if you know your color theory, you might already know the solution. Blue is the opposite of yellow/orange on the color wheel, so if you introduce blue to the image it should balance out. Also, add a sky if it was missing.

Next up we have a landscaping project...

This one wasn't too tricky, but there was one interesting issue I had to address. All light has a color temperature. Daylight has a temperature of around 5500K. But the inside of the garage was being lit by reflected light and so that light took on the color temperature of the things it was bouncing off of. So I had to mask out the people and the car and address the color temperature inside the garage to make everything look balanced. Also, the green fought me hard on this one. And with the theme of this picture being plants, I felt I really needed to find a tone that worked. I think I finally got there, but I spent way too much time in the color picker doing trial and error of green tones. Also, new sky.

With this next one I actually did a pretty thorough explanation of how I edited it. But this was probably my favorite puzzle to solve from this collection of photos.

I'll do the abridged explanation...

The physical photograph was printed on a paper with a very heavy texture. And when it was scanned, the light from the scanner bounced off that texture and created a pattern of unwanted highlights.

I was worried this was impossible to fix and I almost gave up on this photo. But after one final Google search I discovered something called "Fast Fourier Transform." It's a mathematical formula that can be used to detect patterns. And the image editing software Affinity Photo, just so happens to have a filter called FFT denoise that helps you remove unwanted patterns from scanned photos.

And thanks to that filter, I was able to remove a substantial amount of that pattern...

Then I did my standard clean up techniques...

Oh, and I decided to try learning how to colorize.

Photoshop has a new set of experimental filters and a colorization tool is one of them. It is not great yet, but it is a great starting place. Instead of having to hand paint every single thing in the photo, Photoshop gave me a base to work with and I could take it from there with traditional techniques.

That's all I have the energy for today, but there are a bunch of cool restorations to talk about. Hopefully you all find this interesting. It was such a great gift to give to Katrina's parents. And spending that time with them and making them happy felt like I was with my own parents again. So we all got a gift in that wonderful evening.

Part 2 coming as soon as I have the energy!

[itinerance750]

[ophierian-vp]

Raton Canyon bridge

[igoehomegroup]

Boynton Beach Inlets a great place to fish & watch the boats. Florida Real Estate is for the birds.

Boynton Beach Inlets a great place to fish & watch the boats. Florida Real Estate is for the birds.

This video showcases some really cool boats cruising through the Boynton Beach Inlet and a guy on a Waverunner that barely makes it. Enjoy the beautiful mid-morning view of oceanfront Boynton Beach as I talk to Pelican Pete and soak in the sun.

This is South Florida Winter and it's a Great Day in South Florida.

Win the day no matter what.

[gtaphotography]

[aryburn-trains]

Santa Fe Grand Canyon Limited with 9 F Units and 23 cars on Raton Pass on September 17th, 1960 by seneferu

[adventurealldays]

[escapades-planetaires]

Raton laveur dans le Hualapai Mountain Park (Arizona)

Premier voyage et deuxième nuit, mouvementée, au Etats-Unis dans le Hualapai* Mountain Park Campground, en Arizona.

* Hualapai désigne la tribu amérindienne qui avait nommé ainsi ces montagnes et signifie dans leur langue, “ peuple des grands pins “.

Photos Nathalie Donadille, juillet 1990

Après avoir atterri à Los Angeles et r��cupéré notre voiture de location, nous avons dormi dans un motel avant de prendre, le lendemain, la direction de l’Arizona pour rejoindre le Grand Canyon.

Nous nous sommes donc arrêtés près de Kingman pour notre première nuit de camping.

En pleine nuit, nous avons été réveillé en sursaut par un boucan pas possible !

En sortant de la tente, nous nous sommes retrouvés nez à nez avec ce charmant raton laveur qui après avoir essayer de fouiller les poubelles s’est mis à explorer notre campement !

Les montagnes Hualapai se trouvent dans la partie arizonienne du désert de Mojave.

Précédemment : Death Valley, California 1990

A suivre...  Grand Canyon National Park : South Rim

[railwayhistorical]

Abo Canyon Action

We see here an eastbound train climbing up through the canyon. The rail line, of course, is the Belen Cutoff, built by the ATSF, which opened in 1908. This newer, modern line, avoided the steep grades of Raton and Glorieta on the original main line built across northern New Mexico in the 1880s.

And there are two lines here: the train is climbing up on the original cutoff, while the second track (on the left side of the image) was carved out and opened in 2011. The canyon had been a major bottle neck prior to this.

Image by Richard Koenig; taken October 27th 2018.