You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Travel' category.
We don’t get to visit many places since our family is spread all over the U.S., but we try to make the most of it. Over Labor Day weekend we made the trek to Benton, LA to see my parents and got to see my brother for a quick minute when he stopped by for a night before heading back to Texas to set up his deer camp.
Usually so cautious, Lucas has a serious need for speed.
My handsome Daddy checking out a moment between his grandson and son.
On Sunday we made a trip with all six of us to Gator & Friends to check out all the gators and feed the animals (there are so few petting zoos anymore). Over the summer it had just been Lucas and his grandparents so we were glad to get an opportunity to take Evan there. We loved the place. The food portions are generous, the animals are fun and it’s mostly shaded.
After Matt got over the “gross” factor of feeding this camel, he seemed to quite enjoy it.
I imagine that this guy’s the one that scared the troll guarding the bridge in The Billy Goat’s Gruff. I loved that story as a kid (pardon the pun, it really was an accident!) and I just did a quick search for it since it popped up in my brain and I found a great website that has audio stories for kids. Check it out here.
We had to sneak this little kid food as the older goats got a little pushy.
The sign that said “Feed from cup” was definitely misplaced here. My mother learned the hard way.
I didn’t do much feeding because I didn’t want to get animal slobber on the camera, but I couldn’t resist this little wallaby. I think she liked me too. Check out how she held my hand. 
BAMBI!
Oh how I want a zoom lens! I use a Nikkor 18-135 because I know that in my day to day life with two young boys that I can’t be changing lenses often and I knew that this lens would be more versatile and I wouldn’t risk damaging my camera changing out lenses. I know I made the right decision (instead of getting two lenses, one of which would have had a 200 mm), but I still dream about greater zoom.
The medium sized gators are fed four times a day. The guy with the bucket of food stands in his position, props the bucket on the fence and bangs on it intermittently for about five minutes, until nearly all the gators move near. The bucket isn’t dumped all at once, but split into thirds. Bet it’s a little creepy when your feet are right there!
Lucas did not hesitate to get in line to hold a baby gator again, but Evan was none too interested. They continue to surprise us with how they refuse to be categorized.
After all the kids got a chance to hold the little fella, I decided I wanted to try too. It felt cool, almost like soft plastic. It was quite neat. I’m glad I did it. My Mom jumped up there after I did it. My Dad opted out. He’s had his share of alligator handling with Ryan and his alligator hunting adventures. After we washed our hands, we had a nice lunch out. Simple, good fun.
In the end, Evan decided he could at least pet the gator. Grandpa got him a pressed penny before we left since Lucas had already had the “Gift Shop” experience.
We made it over to Shelby Forest Saturday for our first camping excursion of the season. This time we elected to go alone, which we have never done before. The boys are old enough to entertain one another and it was so nice to just be a foursome in the woods and completely “unplug” for 24 hours. I needed the rest.
Our humble campsite.
Look how delightfully filthy Evan got!
We had to cut out on Sunday morning quite a bit sooner than we intended. The natives drove us out (mosquitoes & chiggers) so we were unable to go for a nature hike. Because of this, this delicate little wildflower was the only splash of natural color besides green or brown we saw.
We’re all looking forward to going again as soon as possible. It is one activity that we all equally enjoy.
DO. NOT. CUT. CORNERS. WHEN. BACKING. UP. YOUR. PHOTOS.
I was getting happy while trying to free of some gigs on my nearly four year old Mac and I let a tech savvy spirit inhabit my body and mind. I now only have 32 -64 KB images of every. single. picture. i. have. taken. since.i. got. my. new. camera. in. december.
I know, I know…there are many tragic things that happen in life and in the grand scheme of things…IT’S NO BIG DEAL.
But, I am still experiencing a bit of a mourning process and it’s taking me a little time to assess the situation and salvage what I can of our year in pictures so updating is clearly going to take a bit longer than usual. Couple this with a reorganization of my office space and the impending school year (year 10 for me, year 1 for Lucas! Big!) and there are sure to be delays.
To answer the obvious questions:
1. No. I had not yet burned to CD/DVD.
2. No. I had not uploaded to my photo processing/online back up site.
3. No. I had not properly copied them to my external drive.
4. Yes. The being that took over my body still knew how to empty the trash on the desktop.
5. No. Copies of the files are not somewhere else on the hard drive.
6. No. I do not use Blogger so I do not have a back up on Picasssa.
7. Yes. I resize all my blog photos in Photoshop before uploading them to WordPress.
8. Yes, I have splurped my blog to Booksmart and I can print a coffee table book with thumbnail sized photos from Shoot. Post. Repeat Daily. I imagine the same results with Notes for Tomorrow. I welcome other suggestions.
Lesson learned.
Once more, with feeling:
DO. NOT. CUT. CORNERS. WHEN. BACKING. UP. YOUR. PHOTOS.
about San Diego, if I may. The photos that I have here are of things that happened over the entire course of the trip but did not warrant their own post. If I didn’t have the sheer number of photos to deal with, followed by a family vacation, I might have handled them differently. But that’s not the case, so we’ll fill in the gaps.
Tin Fish was packed this particular day so we went to Kansas City Barbeque, made most famous by the Great Balls of Fire scene in Top Gun where the audience gets to know Goose and his wife (Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan).
Friends Night with NEA at Petco Park. Padres v Dodgers. First game back for Manny Ramirez.
Clint and Dan, two of the four folks I hung out with a bit during the Assembly. Fun people!
Loved this during the seventh inning stretch! So funny that this guy’s just jammin’ out and his “peers” are working!
It was Friday so there were fireworks after the game. They were quite impressive…wonder if they amped them up just a bit due to the holiday weekend?
On Saturday we got to experience a special Independence Day program featuring our prestigious choir as well as a special video broadcast from our President. After having Arne Duncan talk with us on the first day, this was another great treat and instilled hope in us that perhaps, finally, in my own words, we will begin with the end in mind in this country. We cannot continue as a world leader without thinking about education first. Period.
Our TEA president, Earl Wyman, speaking to the Assembly in support of a controversial human rights issue that made me proud to live in Tennessee for just about the first time ever. There is hope. There is hope.
Dinner as a large group followed at Harbor House in Seaport Village. I snuck out to do my sunset picture-taking, but had a table side view in-between!
I will return to you, San Diego. Don’t worry. And I’ll bring my tripod and some better lenses.
As you can imagine, with nearly 15,000 educators descending upon San Diego at the same time, hotel accommodations were likely very challenging for the coordinators as well as the hotel staffs. I mean, I know those in the hospitality industry are trained in this area, but even still, that’s a large number of folks to manage during a short amount of time. Clearly, we couldn’t all stay at the same hotel. I am so pleased with where Tennessee was. We were with Illinois and Nebraska at Town and Country. While some states got to stay at Hilton’s and the like, I was quite pleased to be somewhere so unique. I felt a little like Ricky Ricardo or Lucille Ball might show up for holiday at any time. It was a blast from the past to be sure, but beyond that, the landscaping was just pristine. There were rose plants that were easily six feet tall. One morning when I had a few extra minutes between the state caucus and the Representative Assembly I walked the grounds to get a sense of how lush it actually was. I start this tour with the view from my room and weave my way through the resort to the interesting front entry and back again:
Just as I did with my Zoo tour, I am going to take you along with me on my trolley tour of big spots to see in the beautiful city of San Diego. Because you were not able to be there with me, I will present what I saw in the order that I saw it so you can play along at home. I spent about six hours doing this tour, just as I spent at the Zoo. I came up with roughly 36 favorite photos of 189. Made me think of an idea: 6 hours/36 pictures, the coffee table book.
Coincidentally, the admission fee for the Zoo was $35 and the Trolley Tour was $32. Seeing any connections here? Have I ever mentioned that my favorite number is three and that I’m about to enter another great multiple of threes year?
I digress.
On Thursday we had to take care of some meeting and voting and then we had the afternoon to explore or attend workshops. Since it was my first year, I opted for exploring. I took the shuttle to the hotel, jumped on a trolley shuttle to Old Town and shortly therafter begun my whirlwind San Diego destination adventure. The concept is great! One can see everything from the trolley in about two and half hours or can get off and reboard in thirty minute increments any stop along the way until the last pick ups at each location which are from 5:15- 6, depending on the stop. Had I started first thing in the morning I could have stopped at every stop and had plenty of time. I did not. I started at 1 and so I had to make a plan. It mostly worked. I was happy for the free day. It was the only time I can ever remember that I have been almost completely alone in a large city EVER.
Here’s how I spent it:
Below you see an early jail followed by the first school in the county. Hmmm…not a tough choice. Perhaps we’ve made more improvements on our jailing than on our schools. I’d even wear the dunce cap.
Below you see four sculptures commissioned by the Port Authority to liven up the place. I don’t know how current they are, but someone thought to mention them.
My companion for a sit down lunch near San Diego Harbor. Couldn’t believe the best seats in the house weren’t taken. Neither could the lady I met there from Phoenix. She and her husband drove into town for a convention. For people who volunteer to help elderly with beginning stage dementia. Seriously. Her husband joined her after we all got settled in. They were chatty and he is a Razerbacks fan. Bumped into them again at the U.S.S. Maritime. We all thought to sneak up using the free Bay Access. We didn’t have the 2 and a half hours for the tour. And at $17 a ticket, you want to see the whole thing.
Saw them by the classic statue too. Fun, happy people. Hello you two! Hope your drive home was safe.
Stayed much longer than I thought in San Diego Harbor, but loved every second of it. The pedicabs are everywhere and almost annoying, but interesting all the same. Hang on tight if you choose one. They’re extremely dangerous, depending on your driver. I have a horror story. Finally got to Coronado Island. Last pick ups are fast approaching, though, quite frankly I hadn’t even considered until I felt it in the air. I lead this section with the house Matt and I are set to bid on next week. It’s just across from Orange Beach.
And since I needed validation that Elvis is everywhere. Here he is in front of a dinner. The souvenir I brought back for Lucas is a Day of the Dead Elvis that I found at Old Town Market on my way out of town. People could stop & start their tour from any location. This just happened to be mine.
The next four are from on the trolley. I simply ran out of time. I knew I could see GasLamp Quarter since it is across from the Convention Center and Sea Port Village because it’s just behind it, so the only place I didn’t get to explore was Balboa Park and I’d have wanted to visit every individual gallery so it’s just as well.
This is El Campo Santo Cemetary. I first heard of it here. And then saw it heading “home” from the trolley (there was an entire area on the other side of Old Town (and The Presido…) and I tracked it down. Sure couldn’t spot the GeoCache….In my defense, I stopped searching the cracks pretty quickly. That’s one of those times when you need a witness. I wrapped up my trip by the oldest Catholic Church in San Diego, which just happens to have a similar name to the one I was married in nearly eleven years ago.
After my early morning flight on Wednesday, I grabbed my luggage, elbowed my way to the door and managed to catch a shuttle directly to my hotel without a reservation within ten minutes of landing. I was serious about taking in anything I could while in this gorgeous city. The National Education Association annual Representative Assembly promised to take up a very large portion of the time I had there (go figure, the Tennessee Education Association paid for the trip!) and I didn’t really know how much time I would have for personal excursions. What I did know was that check in was at 3 and it was currently 12:30. I checked my bags with the concierge desk and got to The San Diego Zoo for the entire afternoon. Summer hours had it open until 9 and I thought I could last that long. I probably could have, but I didn’t want to overdo it so early in the trip. I promised myself a steak dinner and the Zoo couldn’t deliver.
They did deliver in the area of absolutely breathtaking settings, trails and exhibits. I manged to hoof it though the entire thing almost twice in my brief trip. I didn’t mean to do that, but I had plotted a path that included some walking escalators (Asian passage) into different areas that ended up being closed, forcing me to backtrack on more than one occasion.
I did skip the reptiles and kiddie zoo though (lower left of the map) in favor of spending more time with my beautiful friend the Bengal Tiger. Below I have selected my absolute favorites from over 457 shots taken. I overheard a woman say to her friend, “I guess that’s what we’d be doing if we didn’t see it all the time.” You don’t have to take a picture of it to appreciate it, but in my situation, it’ll help. My plan was to take the Skyfari Aerial Tram from near the entrance over to Polar Rim, giving me an overview of a good bit of the zoo while putting me in a prime position to see the polar bears, then the pandas before taking the Asian Passage over to the newly constructed Elephant Odyssey (since they’ve always been my favorite). I thought I’d take in Africa Rocks afterwards and make my way to Urban Jungle and Outback by way of Park Way or Canyon Street and then wind around to catch all the shaded trails. By then I’d be good and hot, I thought. I didn’t break a sweat all day. And I’ve heard people say it “gets boring.” Take a vacation to enjoy the seasons, cause I assure you, they don’t last as long as they used to anywhere, even in the midwest.
I digress.
My best laid plan was thwarted, but I just suffered through. My sequential journey in as few pictures as I could manage:
It’s nice to have visited the Elephant Odyssey in its inaugural summer. Mammoth fossils have been found in Southern California (as well as others, see later picture), so one of the signs joked that the elephant is finally back after some 12, 000 years.
These next three shots made an impression because the little bronze fella at the top is a pack rat. Just look at the kinds of things he’s been hoarding these days. I’ve spent years trying to reduce, reuse, recycle and this makes me want to do even more to preserve our world.
This orangutan’s name is Karen. I was fortunate to be present when one of her civilian friends came by for a visit. When her friend tapped on the glass and opened a book for her, she turned around completely and, well see for yourself…she loves books!
This guy is a beauty! And a ham too! The batteries died on the external flash so I had to make a second trip to get anything good. I was so worried I had already seen one performance and wouldn’t get another. Boy was I wrong. He posed in the center for a while before heading over to the window to allow those down below a closer view. I ran around so I could get the last two shots which ended up being two of my overall favorites. Both because he’s so pretty, but because of the challenge of getting them through two or three inch glass while in a bit of a cave.
The line for the pandas was really long when I first walked by them and I decided that since I get to see our pandas every time I go to the Memphis Zoo with no waiting, that I could skip them. Of course later, I felt like I needed to see them in both places to say that I have and all that nonsense. My strategy paid off. No line the second time, but a half hour of very challenging lighting in San Diego around twilight.
There you have it. Thanks for hanging with me through all 37! It was originally 23 (whittled from 457, mind you) but I was afraid of hurting some of the animal’s feelings for leaving them out of the post.
One more quick thing…I wonder if this guy got any better shots?!
As I mentioned in a Shoot. Post. Repeat Daily, blog entry, Lucas is a fan of The Exterminators and we recenty met them while in Louisiana visiting Granna and Grandpa (my parents). Lucas got a really cool medallion at the flea market and wowed me with his coolness when selecting the ying-yang symbol as his second bottlecap. It’s so cool watching them grow up into their own little people. Of course we stalked their building on the way back to my parent’s house and snapped a quick photo. That log cabin protected by gargoyles belongs to the Vex Con guys. My newly turned professionally employed brother was there for the weekend too and we had ourselves a pretty good time. Mom and Dad’s backyard was in full bloom and awaiting its photoshoot, of course. It’s nice to just throw everything into the car and bust out of town sometimes.
more about “Are you Ready for the Country?“, posted with vodpod
We were also in one of the local papers! It’s always exciting when someone notices something cool that you’ve done! I’m very excited about what this does for the credibility of my program and the work that I’m doing there. A really cool thing about this is that the reporter was just scouring the web and ran across something that was out there and called the school board to see if we could do a last minute interview. The principal and I had asked the media representative to look into some press coverage, but that wasn’t how it all shook down.
more about "Ah, some recognition!", posted with vodpod
As I mentioned already, I spent my Spring Break with 15 teenagers. I missed my family when I had a chance to, but I stayed so very busy, as you might imagine. I can honestly say that I feel a little bit like I actually had a vacation too! I worked incredibly long and strenuous hours. I was usually up until about 2 a.m. and had to wake by 6:30 most mornings. I have had a lot of trouble adjusting to six hours of sleep, isn’t that crazy?!
My students were so amazing. I wish every trip could be this great! Seriously, I cannot rave enough. I am still recovering as I mentioned, so posting will continue to be light for a little while as I decompress and explore some of the resources I learned about while in Orlando. After all, I was in breakout sessions with the likes of Al Tompkins and Les Rose, industry pros! In addition, I got to network with TV teachers from across the US and I have come back to work completely recharged. I know that teaching TV/FILM is where I want to be and now I have even more tools with which to do it. I am pumped.
Oh, and we won some contests too!
I’ll update this post Monday with the pictures that are on my school laptop. Of course we’re in The Bartlett Express (cover!) this week and should be in The Commercial Appeal tomorrow!
