Around the world in 10 days!

November 14-25, 2009
I would love to say I just got back from a trip around the world, but I have been slow to add this post so I have to just say I did it and here's the story.

I was asked to go to Hong Kong for some meetings with a potential customer and put in my travel request. My boss came back to me with a request... "can you stop in Beirut on your way back?" Yikes! I'm not sure Beirut is actually on the way back from Hong Kong, but sure, I'll go there. I was in Beirut for a week back in 2001 and had a blast so it wasn't a tough decision. So, off I went... Hong Kong for 6 days and Beirut for 4 days. I flew from Seattle to Vancouver, Vancouver to Hong Kong (13 Hrs), Hong Kong to Dubai (9 Hrs), Dubai to Beirut (4 Hrs), Beirut to London (5 Hrs) and London to Seattle (9 Hrs). All in all, approximately 52 hours of flying and layovers.

Hong Kong was interesting in that we were pretty wrapped up in trying to land a new account so every night was out with the team. We had some great food... Italian one night, German the next and Turkish one night. At the Turkish restaurant there were two Chinese belly dancers who had taken all the classes and knew how to dance, but needed to eat a little more to get the right type of belly for a proper belly dancer. They just didn't have the look. On the last day we went to Victoria Peak, the highest spot on Hong Kong Island. It's quite a view from up there, but unfortunately Hong Kong has a problem with haze and the view wasn't as photogenic as I had hoped.

I arrived in Beirut at 10:00 AM and a couple of the guys from our office took me on a long drive over the mountains to the Beqaa Valley. The first stop was a national park famous for the Cedar Trees that are the center of the Lebanese flag. If you click on the picture above you'll see one of these beautiful Cedars. The drive was quite interesting. The road was rough and pretty narrow. There is a highway, but the guy driving didn't want to take that since the other road is more interesting. After we reached the top of the mountains (maybe 4000 feet) we could look across the valley at Mt Herman (the picture above). This is one of the reasons going to this part of the world is so cool. Mount Hermon is a possible site of Jesus' Transfiguration. We ended up in Zahle, the largest town in the valley and had a very good dinner (way too much food) and a nice cigar. On the way back to Beirut I was nodding off in the car pretty bad so I had them drop me back at the hotel around 7PM and was out like a light by 8:00. I slept straight through to 8AM!

It was Sunday and I was about to have the biggest adventure of my whole trip. There's a Starbucks at a 5 way intersection just down the street from the hotel so I walked down there to get a coffee and was sitting outside enjoying it and taking in the sights when a bunch of army trucks drove up to the intersection. Each of them had about 10 soldiers in the back. Several of them got out and started looking around the area, clearly scoping it out for some reason. Well, I had my camera with me and picked it up, snapped one shot and put it back down on the table. Apparently, that was a mistake. A couple of minutes later three of the soldiers were walking towards me and they did not look happy. Some questions were asked in the local Arabic dialect which I did not understand at all so I was "asked" to accompany them to see the commander. He asked me if I had taken a picture, I showed him, he asked me to delete it, I did and he then told me no more pictures. I agreed. Turns out it was one of Lebanon's many Independence Days and some dignitary or another was coming through that intersection later in the morning and you don't take pictures of the military.

I would not recommend flying all the way around the world in such a short timespan. I was pretty wiped out when I got back to Seattle. More than normal I think. But it is pretty cool to be able to say I've done it.

The next trip will be to Boston for the birth of our first grandchild. That looks to be the best trip yet.

Vacation in Vero Beach, FL

October 21-25, 2009
What a great time we had in Vero Beach, FL with Jenna, Tim, and Jenna's college roommates; Amy, Elesa and Tara as well as Amy's husband Dan and Elesa's husband Mark. Tara's husband Matt (see Tara and Matt's Wedding below) couldn't make it and was missed. The weekend was in celebration of Jenna's 30th birthday and was a blast. It seems terribly cold here in Washington after 5 days of 85 degree weather. The toughest decision we had to make each day was whether to go to the pool or the beach first. The picture above is sunrise from the deck of the cottage where we stayed... click it to see the rest of the pictures from the trip.

Jenna, Tim, Teresa and I arrived on Wednesday and had one of the worst rental car experiences I have ever been through. Long lines, no cars. After going through the registration process we were told we had to wait 20 minutes for a car. Quite the ploy to keep you in their line. By that time you aren't as interested in trying one of the other agencies. I wonder if it's due to Disney World that the lines are so long.

Thursday morning we woke up to a downpour. It had been raining all night and we were a little nervous for the days ahead, but it cleared up by about noon and was beautiful the rest of the time we were there. Even in the rain the temperature was very nice and we were still walking around in shorts and t-shirts.

After the rest of the group showed up on Thursday we settled into the routine of beach, pool, eat, drink, sleep, repeat. The "season" is pretty much over for the year so there weren't a lot of people (compared to what it probably is in the height of summer) so we didn't have to worry about not getting a spot on the beach or chairs at the pool.

Tim cooked dinner a couple of nights and Teresa made Migas for Jenna and the girls on Friday morning. We went through a lot of food, but no doubt saved quite a bit of money by eating in. It made it easier to just sit around talking after dinner too with nobody trying to rush us out. The Migas were delicious as was the Captain Crunch Chicken.

The wildlife was pretty cool... there were little lizards all over and Teresa and I saw a snake one morning when we were out walking. We saw two chocolate brown bunnies (or the same one twice) and lots of Pelicans. They are very strange looking birds. There were two kinds of small birds named Sanderlings and Willets running up and down the beach. In the pictures I took the smaller shore birds are the Sanderlings and the larger ones are the Willets.

The last bit of wildlife was the alligator I saw near the airport as Jenna and Tim were taking us to the hotel in Orlando on Sunday night. He was sunbathing right there on the mowed grass by a small pond about a quarter mile from the airport! Tim offered to stop, but my camera was buried in the trunk and I didn't see a convenient place to turn so I wasn't able to get a picture, but that's kind of crazy.

A few months ago when Jenna asked us to go I was a little worried since everyone was in their early 30's and well... we're not. But we had a great time and would do it again in a minute. Thanks for inviting us!

This week...

Wow! I spent the week in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York and didn't take a single picture. Sometimes it happens that way. I had all my camera gear with me and I saw a lot of beautiful trees (Fall is in full bloom in the Northeast), but I just wasn't in the right place to stop due to a busy work schedule. Jenna, Tim and I took a very nice drive on some back-roads near where they live and it caused me to learn something about my ability to stop and jump out of the car to get that incredible shot. I need to be driving. Apparently, my brain-to-foot communication (to hit the brakes) works faster than my brain-to-mouth communication (to tell Jenna to stop). I saw a few nice spots, but couldn't pull the trigger on stopping so we just had a nice drive.

After I left Massachusetts I was in various cars with various salesmen from my company so I couldn't really suggest taking time to stop and take pictures between sales calls. We drove all through Massachusetts, Connecticut and the southern part of New Hampshire and the trees were tremendous. Apparently not as good this year as years past, but when you live in the land of Evergreens any color looks pretty cool. We have to plan an actual vacation back there soon. It's great to get back there for free, but it also limits the free time you have to do anything fun.

I did have a very good pizza in new haven Connecticut though. Andy took me to a place called Frank Pepe that has been around since 1941! Huge brick oven and great pizza. I would recommend you try it out if you are ever in New Haven for an evening.

Next... it's off to Florida and hopefully a few more pictures this time.

Franklin Falls (or a lesson in researching a destination)

September, 2009
This is not Franklin Falls, nor are any of the pictures I took on my hike up the Franklin Falls trail on Saturday. You see, I did not do my research very well and did not actually know what I was looking for and therefore never made it to Franklin Falls. It's a 1 mile hike on the Franklin Falls trail to Franklin Falls... I think I walked 0.9 miles, saw a small waterfall, thought "what a lame little waterfall" and turned around. Apparently, I needed to go the extra 50 yards to see the impressive, 70 foot waterfall in the picture on the Washington Trails page.

So, do your research when you go for a hike or go anywhere to see something so you are sure you are looking at the right thing when you get there. A couple of years ago, my sons and I went for a drive up Mt. Baker Hwy to what we assumed was going to be Mt. Baker. When we arrived at the end of the highway and saw a very beautiful mountain scene we were pretty impressed and I took what I think is a pretty nice picture. Unfortunately, it wasn't Mt Baker. It was Mt Shuksan and while it is a very beautiful mountain, it wasn't the mountain we thought it was.

I'm going to go back to the Franklin Falls trail in the next few weeks and make the entire 1 mile trek to see what appears to be a pretty nice waterfall. I'll let you know how that goes.

Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk

July 18, 2009
Last night I participated in a worldwide event called Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk. There were over 30,000 photographers of all skill levels that met in groups of 50 in over 900 cities around the world. Many cities like Seattle had multiple gatherings, each meeting in a different location around the city.

Our location was Fremont, which includes such notable characters as the Fremont Troll (above) and a statue of Lenin, previously displayed in Poprad, Czechoslovakia. We strolled down to the canal that leads to the Ballard locks, shot the rocket that commemorates Fremont being discovered to be the center of the universe. We shot the Fremont Library building and wandered past the statue of JP Patches and his sidekick Gertrude along with several other quirky Fremont locations.

The one thing I did not like about the event was my own fault. I am generally a pretty quiet guy (my kids might not always agree with that assessment), but it's true and I have a tough time being gregarious in group settings. So, true to form I did not really talk to anyone and therefore did not enjoy the event as much as I had hoped. I am going to have to continue to work on that.

All in all though it was interesting and maybe I'll try it again next year.

Birthday Balloon Ride

May 31, 2009
Teresa bought us a hot air balloon ride for my birthday this year and it was spectacular. I have been wanting to go up in a balloon for some time and thought it was a very cool birthday present.

We arrived at the Airial Hot Air Balloon Company building at 6:00AM (30 minutes early) due to our previous experience at The Great Prosser Balloon Rally. I wanted to get pictures of them setting up... I didn't know they were going to wait until we all arrived before they got started. So, we went and got a coffee and enjoyed the morning. 6:30 (our appointed departure time) came and went. Not all of the people who had signed up for the mornings ride had showed. We waited until almost 7:00 when a lady and her son drove up with Starbucks in their hands! I don't know about the rest of you, but when I'm running late I am not going to drive through a Starbucks (regardless of how much I love coffee). At any rate, we took off for the launch point a couple of miles away around 7:00.

Our pilot gave us a full rundown on the history of hot air ballooning on the way and it was pretty fascinating.

After experimenting with unmanned balloons and flights with animals, the first tethered balloon flight with humans on board took place on October 19, 1783 with the scientist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, the manufacture manager, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon and Giroud de Villette, at the Folie Titon in Paris. The first free flight with human passengers was on November 21, 1783. King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along with Marquis Francois d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned for the honor. [Wikipedia]

There were 5 of us in each of two balloons (including the pilot) and each balloon got a different ride. The other balloon pilot decided to stay rather low and follow a breeze back toward the Snohomish Airport. Ours decided to go up high and see if there was an airstream there. The other balloon meandered along and did make it to the airport, but never really got higher than a couple of hundred feet. Ours, on the other hand reached 4200 feet before the pilot determined there wasn't any moving air up there and it was too late to try and find a stream of air lower to the ground. We landed back in the same field we took off from.

The view from 4200 feet is tremendous. It was quiet, peaceful and breathtaking to be at that altitude without the roar of an airplane engine to distract you. Which reminds me, a small plane flew under us at one point and would have made an interesting picture, but I missed it. I would imagine that the unpredictable nature of hot air ballooning means that if we do it again we will have an entirely different experience. I think we might have to test that theory someday.

The Great Prosser Balloon Rally

September, 2007
Prosser, Washington is in the southeast corner of the state on the dry side of the state. We had read about The Great Prosser Balloon Rally in the AAA magazine and thought it might be a fun weekend. Of course, one of the caveats of a balloon rally, regardless of where it happens, is the takeoff time. Dawn is the normal balloon takeoff so you have to get to the launch field before dawn to see all of it. Another fact to contend with is the weather, especially here in Washington. They often don't know if they are going to launch until just before time to set up. Rain is fairly predictable, but wind plays a big part in the event and too much wind is not a good thing.

There are typically launches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings with a Night Glow at the high school football field on Saturday evening, but since we had to work Friday we drove over Friday night and got a hotel. One thing... get your hotel reserved early. We waited too long and had to stay in a less than optimum location some miles from Prosser. The Saturday morning launch was scheduled for 6:30, so we were out the door by 5:30. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful morning and it was.

There was a lot of activity with over 30 balloonists settings up, testing equipment and explaining to those of us with no clue what they were doing. Lots of people around and lots of things to photograph (more pictures here). One of the interesting things they do at this rally was to dip their balloons in a spot in the Yakima River. I'm not sure why they do this except that it looks cool and makes for an interesting picture. We then followed (chased?) several of the balloons over the southeastern Washington countryside. One of them landed in the middle of the road and deflated across a barb wire fence, but the chase team was able to gather it up without ripping it. Seems they don't always land where you want them to.

Saturday night we went to Night Glow where they line up several balloons in the football stadium, light them up with the burners and turn off the stadium lights for a very pretty sight.

We woke up Sunday morning to a big rain storm so there was no launch. We went back to bed and after the rain had a leisurely day wandering around Prosser. They had a street fair going on. All-in-all, it was a pretty fun weekend and made me wonder at the spectacle of some of the larger balloon rallies (Albuquerque has hundreds of balloonists). I would certainly recommend it. It happens in late September every year.

Bald Eagle on the Skagit River

January, 2008
On a lovely Saturday in January, 2008 we drove up to Mt Vernon, got a hotel, and then got up early Sunday morning (5:00AM) and drove east on Hwy 20 along the Skagit River to the area between Rockport and Marblemount (map) to see if we could get a few pictures of the eagles that congregate on the river there in the winter. We hadn't been very lucky doing this over the years, though to be honest, we had only gone up there twice before in the last 20 years. Some weekends people see hundreds and the next only a few... usually due to weather.

The first time was back in the early 90's before I had rekindled my interest in photography. We went on a river float trip to see the eagles and in 2 hours only saw one and that one was almost too far away to be sure it was actually a bald eagle. And it was the second coldest weekend on record (no wonder the eagles slept in). The second time was a couple of years ago and we saw a few more, but no pictures.

This time I was prepared. I rented a 600mm lens for the weekend to make sure I could get close. Unfortunately, the weather failed to cooperate once again. It was a very cold, very foggy day on Sunday (after being beautiful on Saturday) so the conditions were not the best for wildlife photography. However, I did manage to pull off this shot and a sequence of the eagle landing on a tree branch (you can see the rest of the series at Flickr). We did see a lot of eagles this trip and hope to get back up there again next year. December through February is the best time to go, but we are going to try December this year.

Colorado

October, 2008
I had to go to a conference in Colorado last year and Teresa was able to go with me so we flew into Denver a couple of days early and spent the weekend driving all through the mountains. We had a blast. Teresa is great about just going for drives to take pictures so we took three long drives starting right after we landed on Friday.

The first thing we did was drive back out to the airport to see the Prairie Dogs we had spotted on the drive into town. After that we headed up into the mountains. It was October, so the Aspen trees were in full color. Wow! Yellow everywhere. I had been wanting to get picture of an Aspen tree stand for some time. They're typically so straight and tall and you will often find them in neat rows. They make a very cool picture. We headed south and drove the 22-mile paved and gravel road that climbs from Georgetown over scenic 11,669-foot Guanella Pass to Grant around the back of Mt Evans, Sawtooth and Mt Bierstadt.

Day 2 we got up early, grabbed some Starbucks and headed back up into the mountains. We headed north this time up towards the Rocky Mountain State Park near Boulder after a quick stop at the Buffalo Bill Cody grave site and small museum. I asked for discount since I'm a Cody, but they told me the $3 was already pretty cheap. I was just kidding anyway. The museum was actually pretty interesting and we learned a couple of things. There was some amazing scenery along this route and also lots of cars at all the pullouts.

Day 3 was the drive up Mt Evans to Summit Lake. You can actually drive almost to the top of the 14,264 ft mountain, but the last part of the road was closed so we had to stop at the parking lot by the lake. This was still 12,000 ft up which is way above the tree line. We saw a mountain goat, but not very close unfortunately. I would definitely recommend everyone spend a few days in Denver and use it as a jumping off point for some really beautiful drives through the Rocky Mountains.

New York City

April, 2008
I am going to jump back a year to April, 2008 when I had the opportunity to travel to New York for a customer meeting and a few days of sales calls. I needed to be there on a Monday so I flew in on Friday evening and had all weekend to look around. I had been to New York a couple of times before, but never had any free time in the city. I got up early both days and walked and walked and walked all over the city. I still missed a few important things (quite a few actually), but I managed to get out to the Statue of Liberty, to the top of the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Central Park, and had dinner at Birdland, a Jazz club started 1949 where many of the great jazz players have performed over the years. New York is definitely a good walking town and I was staying at a hotel a block from Times Square which was right in the middle of the action.

It was a great weekend... the only problem was Teresa couldn't go so we'll have to get back there together soon.

Hungry Bee

Taken in our backyard last weekend. Bees are pretty hard to capture. I applaud anyone who gets a decent picture of one. This one was intent on getting everything it could from the Sage flower. In fact, when it came out it's face was covered in pollen. I am fascinated by closeup photography lately and have been trying to get close to all sorts of bugs and plants.

Mt St Helens

May 24, 2009
A couple of days after getting home from the Asia trip we took a ride down to Mt St Helens. As we left that morning it was fairly overcast, but with a promise of blue skies later in the day. I was hoping to get the clouds in the sky over the mountain, but the sky cleared sooner than I had hoped. It turned into an absolutely a beautiful day. Mt St Helens is pretty amazing even without the dramatic clouds, just not as dramatic as I was hoping for. Next time...

We also saw this truck on the way home from the mountain and I had to stop. I walked up to the house and nobody was home. I thought about just going out into the field without permission, but we were a little ways off the beaten path. Then I heard laughter and saw that it looked like the owners might be sitting over at the neighbor's house. They were and said it was OK to take a few pictures.

Hong Kong

The view of Hong Kong across Victoria Harbor

May 21, 2009
For the last part of the trip I spent a couple of days in Hong Kong. I arrived mid-afternoon on a Wednesday and since I had been there recently I had a better plan of attack for the day. The last time I was there (back in February) I wanted to take the standard nighttime picture of the city across Victoria Harbor with all the neon lights on the buildings. It rained that night, so I knew that I was going to attempt it again and I knew where to go to get the right shot. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my tripod with me on this trip, but I managed to get a couple of good shots anyway. However, since I was there in the afternoon I wandered around and saw a little of the city. It's an interesting place with way too many people crammed into a very small area, but there's lots to see. I was able to plan out the evening's route during the day and went back later and got a few interesting cityscape pictures.

I don't know when the next trip is or where, but one of the things I am determined to do in the future is take a little more time to see some things less touristy and do a little research to see the touristy things that are lore interesting.

Penang, Malaysia

Sunrise in Penang

May 17, 2009
The next stop on the trip was Penang. I really blew it here and have to make changes in the way I approach my time off in the future. I specifically made flight arrangements that allowed me to arrive on Sunday morning so I would have a whole day to look around. I headed downtown to see what it was like and spent 4 or 5 hours wandering around an old area called Georgetown. Penang is an island and a city and the oldest part of the city is Georgetown. There is lots to see, but you kind of have to know what you are looking for. I didn't. So, while I saw some very interesting things, I missed a lot of even better stuff like the Street of Harmony which has a Catholic and Anglican Church, a Mosque, a Buddhist Temple, a Hindu Temple and about 8 or 9 more. I walked down this street, but didn't really get the dynamics of it until I read the pamphlet back at the hotel. Dang! When I got back to the hotel later that afternoon I browsed though the tourist guide in the hotel room and saw all that I had missed. It only took me 5 minutes to realize I could have been better prepared and enjoyed the day even more than I did. Bummer... maybe I'll get to go back some day.

Singapore

The Singapore Flyer

May 17, 2009
It's difficult sometimes to write about a trip since it they are always so centered around work. I would love to be able to travel more for pleasure or have more time to look around and enjoy the places I get to visit. However, on the bright side, I do get to visit places many people don't so I guess I just have to do a better job of getting myself out into the cities and countryside when I have the chance.

The most recent trip was to Singapore, Penang (Malaysia) and Hong Kong. I managed to get out and spend some time wandering around in all three cities this time. In Singapore I was treated to breakfast in the Arab District where we (two friends from work, Ali and Wang Ping, took me sight-seeing for the day) ate Prata which is a kind of pancake like food filled with various things. We had ours filled with chicken and egg as well as one filled with fish and egg. It came with curry sauce to dip or pour on top. It was pretty tasty. From there we went to the Singapore Flyer. It's the tallest "ferris wheel" in the world (at least until Dubai gets theirs built). The ride takes 30 minutes and you get a great view of the city from the top (550 feet up).

Eating Prata with Ali and Wang Ping

Did I mention we also got some fish therapy? It's apparently illegal here in the U.S., but it was pretty harmless. Tickles like crazy when you first put you feet in the water, but in the end it was pretty relaxing.

The Great Wall of China

February 22, 2009
What an experience. I have been to some places in the world though my travels with Expeditors, but The Great Wall was by far one of the best. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world. I visited the wall with Susan DeGozzaldi, a friend and co-worker who is living in Singapore today. It looks cold doesn’t it? It was a beautiful day and with all the climbing (that’s the start of the path to the wall on the right) and hiking it was pretty warm.

There are three locations where you can access the wall and where they have kept the wall repaired for people to see. There’s a lot of the wall that has fallen into disrepair over the years. The section we visited was Mutianyu (a section located in Huairou County 70 km northeast of Beijing).

So... we were up on the wall for about 2 1/2 hours walking, resting, taking pictures and wondering about how it was made so many years ago (it was started in about 220 BC and they didn’t stop adding to it until the 1400s.

On the way down we had to walk through a gauntlet of souvenir shops so I figured I had to get a t-shirt. The lady I started bargaining with started at 285 RMB (approximately $35 USD). I got her down to 60 RMB and thought I had done pretty well. I got a nice t-shirt for $7 after all. Several shops later I was offered the same t-shirt for 1 RMB! I guess location is everything.

Where to begin...

I get the chance to travel a little with my job and Teresa and I travel a little for fun. I hope to share with friends and family the adventures I have through my work travels and those we have together with words and pictures.

I’ll post some of my photography when I get a good picture here and there. There are more pictures on my Flickr site (the link is over on the right).

Some of the early posts will be random as I work back through some of the places I/we have visited previously. Sometimes it'll just be a picture in the backyard. I hope you enjoy.