After an unprecedented year of roadblocks and severe travel restrictions, vaccinated (mostly) minnows will gradually return to the road and air by 2021. However, we focused a lot on places that maintained a social distance: national parks, mountain panoramas, and weird ones. The scenery and the blue there.

The annual roundup of our readers’ best travel photography views is proof of that. The best fan photos submitted by Star Tribune readers this year include ghost towns, futuristic cities, and often visions of a faint atmosphere. These 10 amazing and brilliant images provide food and encouragement for the best expeditions of 2022 ever.

Sandra Lee from Chaska. Near the town of Grindelwald in Switzerland, two cattle approached in the background of the Alps. Dairy cows have a high cultural status in Switzerland. “You can hear their bells from miles away,” Lee said. “Sometimes they chase pedestrians a little. Then it’s time to milk, and they find their way home. “

Mick Richards de Burnsville. Zion National Park in Utah was declared an International Dark Sky Park in June, and Richards shows us why the Milky Way is pictured on top of a red sandstone cliff in a secret location. “There is no light pollution as there are no cities around Zion,” the photographer confirmed. “It was filmed around 11pm and the stars were very bright. “

Dave Marsh de Mahtomedi. The ghost town of Owanka was first discovered in the Marsh SD in 2014 when reader John Peepcon appeared in a viewfinder photo. So Marsh made his own trip to Ovanka, which included “an old house, an old truck, a grain elevator, and two occupants.” His double exposure image captured three of those five elements.

Mark Weber de Eden Prairie. The sun began to break through the fog on a September morning in the Grand Prismatic Spring area of ​​Yellowstone, and visitors explored it from across the boardwalk. “It looks like a black and white photo, but it’s the color of my iPhone,” Weber said.

Peter Molenda of Minneapolis. Who needs a photo frame when they see the Grand Teton at 13,771 feet and the Snake River rising through the frame of a split rail? Molenda’s family wanted to see the Tetons from another angle, so they followed the rural roads outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming, before discovering the view. I used an iPhone 11.

Eric Schoen de Stillwater. During a three-week trip to northern Italy for his 30th and 70th birthdays in September, Schണcon and his wife settled in the beautiful Villa Tiboldi in the Piedmont wine region. He took this photo from his balcony at sunrise with his iPhone 12. “I thought the layers of light and colors in different landscapes were magical,” he said. OK.

Laura Durban de Buffalo, Minnesota: Durban and family were on their way out of Kilmain, Mayo County, Ireland, when they stopped to check a tire. “Looking up at the wall, I was amazed to see these sheep grazing. They surprised me too, and we all looked at each other for a moment, ”Durban recalls. “This photo is one of my favorites because it was totally unexpected. “

Patrick Platts de Egan. Western Wisconsin is a land of fire and snow in this spontaneous sunset view on the way back from the cabin. “I was going back to the twin cities, across the Iowa Clare River near the small town of Willard,” Platz wrote in an email. “He took my breath away! “

Diane Karkoff Cisco de Woodbury: During a camping trip in Badlands National Park, Cisco and her partner were arrested on their track. “When we got back to our camp, the sun was setting and it was especially big and red from the wildfires in the west,” Cisco said. The floating orb appears to reflect the striped rock spiers characteristic of the park.

Loney Lawnes from Marine to Saint-Croix: This is not a sci-fi movie, but an evening scene on the outskirts of the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, one of the “12 Treasures of Spain”. In the background of the hemisphere, which includes the Imax and the Planetarium, just before the outbreak, the children walked through the reflecting pool inside the floating balls of the sorb. “It made me want to be 8 again,” Lovenes wrote.

Edit:
Previous editions of this article showed a false photo of Peter Molenda.