Up, up and away

I've always found travel exciting. It mixes well with my photo hobby. This shot was taken in the old days when the pilot would leave the door open. I leaned into the isle with my fastest lens and snapped this off.

Thankfully flying has never bothered me. On my first flight I remember looking at the wonderful aerial view so I didn't think about being several miles in the sky above the clouds. I've also been on a seaplane in San Francisco, a few air balloons, and helicopters in lots of places, including my own home town on a life flight, but the view sucked on a body board.

My early college summer trips to Virgina Beach were road trips with my brother and a few close friends. Then came my business trips by air. Working for a University, I had 4 weeks vacation. So I took the 50/50 business trip, 1 week business, 1 week vacation. As my tradition I worked hard and played hard. During the business trip, I might collect info for fun after the week, but when I was on the business trip it was all business. I crisscrossed the nation and got to know the major cities very well. Almost like second homes. It's kind of funny returning to some of them, that I have spent so much time at that I know my way around instinctively.

I've had trips that were pure pleasure too. Not as many as the 50/50, but some none the less. A group trip with my ex where I was the party tour guide to Chicago (a second home city). My proposal to my ex on a Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Bryce and Zion vacation. Honeymoon in Cancun. A few trips to Niagara Falls. The trip to the USVI, to witness my brother's wedding. Our tense trip to Orlando, the last "family" vacation where I was constantly taunted about the divorce. My ex can be a cruel bitch.

And of course my two month long trips to Europe, the first was a bus tour with my brother. The second was free form with my ex to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. I wish I had taken the opportunity while in college to go, its hard as a working adult to get the time off to take a leisurely trip. There is so much to see. We can forget that in the US where a century home is a big deal compared to a normal occurrence in Europe where its possible to see things a thousand years old. I do find the 8-9 hour flight a bit disconcerting, you become paralyzed from the waist down and have severe cabin fever.

But this bird's wings are clipped. My ex has got me listed on the state dept watch list and my grievance hearing is not even scheduled. My latest review of child support shows I am one month ahead plus a partial overpayment, just as I have been for over 2 years. I think its going to be time to escalate to the state agency again to get the enforcement actions revoked that never had any other merit besides false accusations being made and the assumption of guilt against the divorce looser (me).

So I look forward to the day when I can fly free again. My birthday is coming up, six months after the final decree. With a lot of effort (surprisingly so) that will be my goal, to have resolved all the divorce bullshit in the 91 page orders, and all the enforcement actions and penalties taken against me. I've been grounded far too long, it's time to fly free again. I can hardly wait. What a wonderful birthday gift that would be, just to be free, I would be so thankful.

Marshlands

Here's a boardwalk that cuts through a 1000 acre marshland on the way to protected sand dunes bordering the Northcoast. The Marsh grass is easily over 10 feet high and there is an abundance of wildlife in the area.





You can see the creek leading into pond, breaking through the tall grass, in the upper middle. Surrounding the pond is a bog that that has some firmness but mushes in like foam if you step on it. You can push a stick several feet into the bog because it remains damp throughout. Here is a tree stump in the bog, which contains very black soil.




Its been dry, so this creek feeding the marsh has dried out. It normally runs about a foot deep between the boardwalk (not visible) and the tall grass. Here a bird made his nest in a tree on the edge of the marsh.

Surf's up on the North Coast

Oh we've all heard about the East and West Coasts, but we have a North Coast too. And this weekend the surf was up. So the surfers flocked to the Great Lakes largest beach to ply their trade. All wearing partial wetsuits for the cold water. It's one of our nicest beaches, fine sand, going out for some distance to help bringing your equipment ashore.



Wind surfing is popular to get some more speed going and because the waves on this gentle sloping beach are not very high. Great place to learn though. Now a board is one thing to drag in, but with a sail on it, its even more work.






Here's a fully decked out wind surfer dude taking a stroll in the water. Maybe he's trying to test the water temp to see if he's going back out. The windsufers wearing extra gear, backbraces, gloves, water shoes, etc.







Now for the purist's with board only, they have to wait a little to catch a good wave. But then surfer dude's always draw a crowd of girls when they come in.

Travels

Traveling and photography are two things I enjoy. The two go together. I haven't done as much traveling recently; post 9/11 certainly put a damper on things. Here are some of the places I've been.

My two biggest trips were to Europe for one month each time. The first trip was with my brother on a bus tour that included Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands. The second trip was with my wife on our fifth wedding anniversary that included Ireland, England, France, Italy. For the second trip it was on our own, rented cars in England and Ireland, Eurrail pass France and Italy. We stayed in B&Bs a lot of the time.

My brother and I went to the Bahamas several times, including for my bachelor party (he was my best man). It was tame by some standards, no strippers, instead we spent time at the casinos, beaches.

My brother is such a fan of the Caribbean that he got married in the US Virgin Islands (USVI). I went down for the wedding with my wife to act as his best man, although I joked that he was taking a vacation with his girlfriend and going to come back pretending to be married. Some joke, his marriage is solid, mine's over. He honeymooned on St. John and my wife and I were on St. Thomas. We went out to dinner and had a few activities together. I came back and put a nice wedding album together and met him at the airport with it.

My wife and I honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico. The resort is beautiful, but the surrounding area is so very poverty stricken.

Travel in the US was often times by myself, sometimes with my brother or sometimes with my wife to the following cities Boston, NYC, Baltimore, Washington DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, Virgina Beach, Phoenix, LA, San Francisco. I've been to these cities multiple times, sometimes for more than 2 weeks at a time.

This post is just a summary of places I've been, I'll be posting more details with photos in the future.