Busy day in DC
last update: 03/28 @ 14:13

In addition to the No Kings march, it was also the kite festival by the Washington Monument.

And the Cherry Blossoms are in peak bloom. While we didn’t swing by the tidal pool, we did check out the kites after crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge en-mass.

It was perfect (though cool) day to be out and about.

While the mood of marchers was good, the reason for the protest really is depressing.

We’ll keep pushing for better times ahead.

And maybe our country will soar again, like these kites…

…or is that too much of a stretch?

(Small plug for new functionality of the blog, click the “Protests” topic tag below to see more posts like this one.)

Not Kansas
last update: 01/11 @ 11:07

We just came back from a Celebration of Life for David’s Aunt Betty in Phoenix. While there, we did a bit of hiking around in the desert. It was a beautiful, memory filled time and there are more photos in the trips section.

Christmas photos
last update: 01/10 @ 14:08

We had a trip right after Christmas (more on that later) and so I’m a bit late in posting Christmas photos. It was a very nice, mellow, family-focused holiday in Alexandria. More photos in the trips section.

Back from a lovely wedding
last update: 11/19 @ 18:30

We really enjoyed the fantastic wedding of Elise and Martin last weekend.

And we enjoyed the flexibility to tour around a few extra days in (not so) sunny Southern California.

The time to catch up with Sarah’s family, and meet Martin’s family was really special.

But not as special as the rainbow that popped up right after the wedding!

More photos in the trips section.

Compound Fracture…
last update: 09/26 @ 15:44

…of a tent pole in three places :(

We’re back from a couple weeks checking out the Northeast.

It was a chance to get out of the DC area where the temperatures are still pretty hot, see some new to us places, enjoy some pretty scenery and revel in some cooler weather.

And based on our shakeout cruise last summer, we expected to camp some of the time.

Also, based on that shakeout, we expected no issues with our tent.

Sadly, that was not the case. One of the poles broke in three places as we set up for the first time in Lamoine State Park, outside of Acadia.

Fortunately, there was a well-sized stick in the campsite that seemed like it might fit the bill.

I was pleasantly surprised it worked pretty well and we had no issues for the two nights we stayed there.

We were short on duct tape (I’m not confident that would have served by itself anyway) but had plenty of cord. That seemed to give enough support and flex to work pretty well.

There were many signs about not transporting firewood (to avoid transporting firewood-living-in critters), so we left the stick where we found it and stopped in a hardware store on our way further north to pick up some options for the next fix — without having to rely on a suitable stick.

I was hoping to get a tube sized like the patch that came with the tent so we could slip it over the pole (the patch only helped with one of the three breaks). But the tube was just too small. That may have been for the better as that allowed for that little bit of flex which I think was helpful.

Again, it held up fine for two nights — one of which was very windy.

I’ll comment later after conferring with REI about those broken poles and their commitment to standing behind their products.

And I’ll be working on posting many more photos soon.

Happy Birthday Loren!!!
last update: 08/04 @ 16:41

We had a great, but much too short trip to Atlanta to Celebrate Loren’s 70th B-Day! It was great fun (less the traffic on the road there and back).

Extra bonus prize: a morning visit with Kate, Sean, Margo and Adeline!

More photos of the celebration in the travel section.

Fun Musical
last update: 07/27 @ 14:47

We drove back up to New York yesterday to visit Little Island and see The Gospel of Colonus, their final show.

It was a great show; I’m really glad David Z. pointed it out and that Sarah was able to get tickets. I went in to it almost clueless — Sarah gave me a very brief overview. It was fantastic; I never would have thought I’d enjoy Greek Tragedy that much :)

I can only imagine the original show, with The Blind Boys of Alabama and Morgan Freeman playing Oedipus. This version was great!

And we really enjoyed being out of Alexandria’s swampy weather (we’ve been spoiled by a week in Seattle); the outdoor amphitheater was a very nice venue (except for the occasional, overly loud party boat going up the Hudson during quieter moments).

The drive up was a little slow, but we gave ourselves plenty of time and arrived with time to walk around for a bit and enjoy the breeze. It’s too bad Amtrak hasn’t figured out how to price tickets from DC to NYC that are reasonable. We’d much rather take the train than drive.

The drive back was more exciting than we wanted. Major thunderstorms for about 45 minutes that had the little traffic on 95 at 2:00am going about 40mph.

We plan to stay out of NYC for a few weeks now, at least.

Happy Twenty First Robert!
last update: 07/25 @ 18:30

More photos in the travel section.

Ms. Zoe!
last update: 07/14 @ 12:54

We’re back from a quick up and down trip to meet the latest addition to the family!

Ms. Zoe is just about 4 months old now and doing well; as you can see.

Sarah got to help with two meals while we visited.

And we both joined Zoe in enjoying a favorite book, Corduroy.

Of course, we also enjoyed catching up with Ian and Sopie, but Zoe was the star of the visit.

She’s clearly off to a great start and Ian and Sophie are excellent parents (no surprise there).

We’re looking forward to many more returns (and maybe a visit closer to home in the next few months).

Diving in Curaçao!!!
last update: 06/23 @ 19:39

We had a great time hanging with Kelly, her family and Brian, Sharon and Mira in Curaçao. Most of the time we were underwater, seeing cool critters. The surface time was filled with very nice dining options.

Many more photos in the vacations section.

Birthday week
last update: 05/25 @ 20:40

Galapagos Photos
last update: 01/28 @ 10:06

Not surprising; I really enjoyed taking pictures of all the cool things we saw in the Galapagos.

This was the first big vacation for Sarah and I without Robert — he was in class (and doing well). That was a bit of change and he would have enjoyed it as much as we did. But we did have a great crew to spend the time with.

Notes and many more photos in the vacation section.

Galapagos!
last update: 01/22 @ 12:23

Excellent trip!

With some travel challenges.

Great crew to spend the week with.

I completely recommend making the time to go; it was fantastic.

More pictures (obviously) later — I have a lot to go through.

Seems like we saw it all: sea lions, penguins, boobies, land and marine iguanas, land and marine turtles, sharks (not hammerheads, though), pelicans, frigate birds, night gulls, etc.

And I likely need to catch up more on sleep; the trip back on a red-eye was a long one.

Christmas notes
last update: 01/04 @ 13:55

More photos and a few more details of our Christmas are in the Vacations Section (even though we stayed in Alexandria).

National Aquarium
last update: 12/30 @ 11:24

Robert had the great idea to check out the National Aquarium while he’s here.

We went up for the afternoon yesterday (carefully ensuring we’d be home in time to watch the Commanders host the Falcons on Sunday Night Football).

Of course, we needed a photo in front of the Domino Sugars sign across the harbor (trust me, that’s the sign). That’s in honor of Lee and her Texas sheet cake recipe which calls for a box of powdered sugar for the frosting.

After giving it some thought, we concluded Baltimore still has a better aquarium than Seattle (though Seattle’s is much improved based on our trip this past Thanksgiving).

Seattle’s new wing does have a fantastic viewing window. And it’s much lighter. And it has that cool bowmouth guitarfish we’ve never seen anywhere else.

But Baltimore seems to have more tanks and more variety. So maybe just a little bit better… maybe.

Robert asked a docent why Baltimore has a rain forest area as part of the aquarium. I think I overheard correctly that they are making the point about the connectedness of water. The rain falls in the rain forest, flows downstream and ends up in the ocean.

But that still doesn’t make this sloth an ocean-dweller :)

Thanksgiving in Seattle
last update: 12/03 @ 20:48

We had a great time; thank you again David Z. and Lynn for hosting. I can’t imagine how it could have been any better! Lots more photos in the vacations section.

Jamestown history lesson
last update: 11/12 @ 12:47

We took a quick trip back in time to learn more about Jamestown and the earliest days of the English arrival and history of the US. It was a very nice way to spend a couple days and surprising to learn how relatively recently Jamestown has been rediscovered.

There are more photos in the vacations section.

Another busy weekend
last update: 09/30 @ 13:56

We’re back home after a brief trip north (and keeping on eye on family recovering from Hurricane Helene south of here).

With the recent (perhaps questionable) shift of the UW Huskies from the Pac12 league to the Big10, the planets aligned and they played Rutgers, where Sarah grew up.

Sarah picked up tickets and talked her brother into joining us (he and their mom were the football fans back in the day — Robert has gotten Sarah and I much more interested in college football than we were).

It was a good game and closer than many expected, but the Huskies lost by 3.

And Rutgers put on a great show: the marching band had LEDs they could use to draw out words and maps during halftime (with the stadium lights out). And they had a brief drone show!

The next day, Sarah, David Z. and I walked around Highland Park including going by their old house. It was great fun to hear the stories of them growing up.

That evening was Sarah’s high school reunion — more fun stories of growing up.

The next day (Sunday), we drove into Brooklyn to have a great brunch with Ian, Sophie and David.

And after brunch, we headed to Manhattan for an engagement party of one of Sarah’s classmates’ daughters.

As I said, it was a fun, busy, three day weekend.

Family
last update: 09/25 @ 13:50

More photos in the vacations section.

Shakedown Cruise
last update: 09/07 @ 15:06

We took advantage of the weather to check out our camping equipment (expecting to get more use of it these days). This was just a quick trip to Western Maryland that proved we have the basics covered.

A few more photos in the vacations section.

Another blast from the past
last update: 08/07 @ 13:53

From the Legacy Box scans Sarah gave me for Christmas this year: Steve and Helen on the Reventazón River in December 1991! A few more photos in the vacations section.

With the free time I have now, I’ve got one more substantial project to post from those scans.

Back from Seattle
last update: 03/29 @ 22:24

We had an excellent spring break trip.

It was great to catch up with Robert in person (and see him in his professional space).

We were able to spend some time with Lynn and David.

The weather was unexpectedly fantastic.

We got to see hockey, ultimate, Vancouver and lots of mountains.

We did a little bit of hiking.

And saw some eastern Washington vineyards (and sampled some of their wine).

More photos in the vacations section; and special note — these are late breaking hockey photos from Sarah and not in the longer form page.

don’t be shy about checking out Sarah’s Facebook page for more of her photos.

Wedding!!!
last update: 03/09 @ 11:30

Reese and Danni’s wedding celebration was fantastic!

Michelle and Sarah met in college and have remained very close since then. Reese is one of Michelle’s sons. And now she has a new daughter.

So we were happy to help celebrate.

And celebrate we did!

The fog on the dance floor was a nice touch.

Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Reese and Danni clearly enjoyed being surrounded by family and friends.

And, as you can see, Sarah and Michelle loved the time together for the happy occasion.

We drove up on Saturday (stopping to visit with Ian and Sophie) and came back Monday. That led to very nice and relaxed day to cheer on the happy couple.

And to enjoy some of Long Island’s classics: a huge breakfast at Hauppauge Palace Diner and a lovely lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant (queue Billy Joel): Mannino’s.

Before that lunch on Monday, Sarah took us to Sunken Meadows State Park.

Even on a gray day, it was lovely and a great way to stretch our legs before getting the car.

Best of luck to the happy couple and all thier friends and family!

Quick trip to NY
last update: 03/09 @ 11:04

We took a quick trip up to Long Island for a wedding last weekend.

(I’ve been fighting with network routing at home this week, more on that later.)

And I have to say, what qualifies as “low price” there is not what I would say was a low price.

Clearly, NYC has lots of good reasons to reduce cars; the price of gas is one of them.

We took advantage of the wedding being on Long Island to stop off and say “hi,” to Sophie and Ian in their new place.

We were too busy catching up and touring the very nice brownstone to take any pictures (next time).

That was a very fun, though too short, break on the drive and I hope we’ll be back soon.

This was the first time I’ve seen the built-in navigation in Corey (the Mazada) while in a tunnel. It’s very futuristic :)

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