Summer Vacation

[Schmeelkie]

About three more hours of work, then home to pack for the big Alaska cruise! Keeping my fingers crossed that thunderstorms in Chicago don't hold us up, but at least we fly tomorrow and the cruise leaves on Friday, so a delay will only mean keeping the kids occupied and out of trouble... Will do my best to not wait months before posting pics!
Enjoy the end of July - talk to y'all in August!

[Trumpetmaster]

About three more hours of work, then home to pack for the big Alaska cruise! Keeping my fingers crossed that thunderstorms in Chicago don't hold us up, but at least we fly tomorrow and the cruise leaves on Friday, so a delay will only mean keeping the kids occupied and out of trouble... Will do my best to not wait months before posting pics!
Enjoy the end of July - talk to y'all in August!

Alaska is BEAUTIFUL!
Went on an Alaskan cruise for my 50th B-Day.
Absolutely FANTASTIC part of our country.

ENJOY your trip!!! (pictures please?)

[analog]

About three more hours of work, then home to pack for the big Alaska cruise! Keeping my fingers crossed that thunderstorms in Chicago don't hold us up, but at least we fly tomorrow and the cruise leaves on Friday, so a delay will only mean keeping the kids occupied and out of trouble... Will do my best to not wait months before posting pics!
Enjoy the end of July - talk to y'all in August!

Alaska is BEAUTIFUL!
Went on an Alaskan cruise for my 50th B-Day.
Absolutely FANTASTIC part of our country.

ENJOY your trip!!! (pictures please?)

I second that....

last September fair Anne and I delivered a secondhand pickup truck to daughter Danielle. She's working as a chef at the Alyeska resort near Anchorage.
Took the Alaska Marine Highway ferry from north of Seattle to Haines, about 1500 miles (3 days). Passed several criuse ships, they look plush!
Then drove two more days across Yukon and stayed with daughter a month.

Indescribable scenery. Just seeing that part of the world changes one.
If you fly out of Anchorage get the morning flight - sun comes up across MILES of white mountain ranges and its like being in a National Geographic photo shoot.

Have Fun!

a.

[piqaboo]

Oh, its sounds like a wonderful vacation! Please do post pix.
analog, what an image!

I think we'll probably make it a 2 day trip to LA and see the Brea Tarpits and Chinatown.
Budget and time issues this year.

[BigJon]

The Big family is going to be in southern California the first week in October. We would love to meet up with the b.com crew from there. Fat Ivors?

[piqaboo]

The Big family is going to be in southern California the first week in October. We would love to meet up with the b.com crew from there. Fat Ivors?

Absolutely. We would love to!
Or SeaWorld or the Zoo / Wild Animal Park if you prefer. (WAP and Fat Ivor's makes a reasonable double header for a full day)

[Shapley]

We are home, at last. Three weeks traveling: Rome, Venice, Dubrovnik, Athens, Izmir, Nafplion, Venice (again, for the Festa del Redentore), Split, Corfu, Koper, Venice (again), Rome (again), and then home again, home again, jiggety-jig!

It was a fun trip, interesting to see. Very hot. The fireworks at the Festa del Redentore were impressive. The Italians were threatening transportation stikes, the Greeks had them (of sorts), but they only walked out in the morning, the tourism sites opened at noon for our viewing pleasure.

I'll post photos when I get them sorted and uploaded.

[piqaboo]

That sounds like a wonderful amazing trip, Shap. Cant wait to see the pix!

[Shapley]

It was truly the trip of a lifetime. I need now only make it to see Ankor Wat and I can truly die a contented man. (Not that I'm in any hurry, or anything!)

[Trumpetmaster]

Welcome Back!
Can hardly wait to see some awesome photos!

[piqaboo]

Altoid had been asking to go grunion hunting since January.
Fortunately, they dont start running til the warmer months.
Sunday evening, she saw the full moon and reminded me we'd promised to go one day.
So the deal was made: IF she took a nap and slept after lunch, we'd go on Monday night.
She did, so we did.
We left the house at 9:30 and headed for the closest "end of a beach" I could think of.
OT wandered the streets til we found good darkness and access combined.
We watched for 30 min, then little silver fishes began showing in 1s and 2s.
About 90 min into the run, they showed in 10s for ~ 15 min, and then, most abruptly, it was over.
It was well worth the excursion.
Altoid got great pleasure out of catching a fish, watching it in her bucket,then letting them go again.
OT got a kick out of it too, and out of Altoid's excitement. It was his first grunion run.
It was only moderately terrifying to have Altoid so close to the surf in the dark. The nail marks in my palms should heal by the weekend.

[Shapley]

Here are links to some of my photos, posted on Facebook. I'll try to post a few on photobucket so I can display them here, but that's a slower process.

Rome Photos

Venice Photos

Cruise Photos, Part I

Cruise Photos, Part II

Facebook says you do not need a facebook account to view them. (I haven't had time to caption them all.)

[Schmeelkie]

Alaska was beautiful!! don't think we got any identifiable whale shots (saw humpbacks at breakfast one am, and on another afternoon - no jumping; whale watch out of Victoria, BC - saw pod of Orcas - camera too slow to catch them...), but tons of scenery (and some silly kids too...). It was cloudy the day we saw Mendenhall Glacier - told this was the best conditions - the dark blue on some parts was really striking! That was at Juneau - also saw salmon hatchery there - full of salmon ready to be sorted and trying to jump out... Next day was Skagway - saw a gold dredge and did some panning - I got $12.16 worth of gold! Gorgeous mountains everywhere, waterfalls... They took the boat up Tracy Arm Fjord - Sawyer Glacier at the end - beautiful sunny day - no civilization there...saw a few seals on chunks of ice - heard there were bears to be seen at 5:30am, but we weren't up yet. Kids enjoyed themselves and no seasickness! Much pressure to get pics - so I'll see what I can do... We took about 300 - will make a selection to post...

[Shapley]

A few photos:

My family and me, at the Basilica di Santa Maria Degli Angeli e Dei Martiri (The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs), in Rome.


The Trevi Fountain


The Opera Theatre, Rome.


The Spanish Steps, Rome.


Trajan's Column, Rome. The story of the Dacian War is told in the engravings spiraling up the column.


Piazza San Marco, Venice


Venice.


Festa del Redentore fireworks, Vencice.


The Parthenon, Athens.

[piqaboo]

Your wife is still as lovely as ever.
I thought we were creative, getting a stroller down into the dungeon of a british castle, but you guys take the cake.
Rome, Italy in general, isnt all that well built for wheeled tourists. How did your stepson like the trip?
Your son is no longer the 12-yr old who used the scooter to ride down the ramp to your yard, I see. Quite the strapping young man!

Beautiful pix.
Were you photographing Venice from a helicopter, or from the monastery (St G something) or ?
What did your wife think of all the haute couture designer's shops? Venice was kind of mind-boggling for that, for me.

[Shapley]

Seeing Rome with a wheelchair is an adventure, that is for sure. Museums are usually accessible, churches less so. Fortunately, Jason is relatively light (about 50 lbs.) so two people can carry the wheelchair relatively easily, if need be.

Stairs are always a challenge, but I can back him up shallow stairs, and we usually carried him up the steeper ones. If you tilt the wheelchair onto the back two wheels, it provides a smoother ride over the Pavum Romanum. Jason did not mind the bumps, but the heat was a bit much for him at times.

Not all of the subway stops were accessible, so we had a bit of a challenge there. We took him down an escalator at one stop, which was a first for us. We parked the back wheels on the step and kept the front casters lifted, and it worked like a charm. Our guides stood in front to keep the chair from getting away from us and rolling down. It was a long escalator. The subway cars themselves were no problem, except that the crowd was not always accomodating, but we're accustomed to that. It is not a problem exclusive to Italy...

The 'aerial' photos of Venice were taken from the upper deck of the Cruise ship. We sailed out of Venice on Saturday, then back in again the next Saturday. We remained in port for the Festa del Redentore, then sailed out again on Monday, returning the following Saturday. This left us with ample opportunity to take photos coming and going. I have so many photos of the Redentore Church, with the bridge being built, with the bridge complete, with the bridge being taken down, without the bridge...

Judy was more interested in sight-seeing than shopping. We looked at a few shops, mostly masks and costumes, tapestries and linens, but mostly we just walked the winding streets and alleys, and took the obligatory gondola ride.

Yes, my son has grown. He's now 17 going on 30, apparently. He has grown the chin hair for the Summer, but has to cut it off for school. He has one more year of high school, and then it's off to college, I suppose. I guess next years 'cruise money' will be cruising off to college without us...

[Shapley]

Here are a few more photos:

The Grand Canal, Venice.


Diocletian's Basement - Split, Croatia.


Corfu, looking from the new citadel towards the old citadel.


Judy and I aboard the Norwegian Gem, cruising the Adriatic Sea.


Koper's Museum of Modern History. Judy couldn't resist trying out the teacher's desk in the classroom exhibit.


We visited many churches. This one, the Cathedral of St. Mary's Assumption, is in Koper, Slovenia.


La Castella - Near Koper, Slovenia. The Church has interesting frescos inside - the Creation, the Crucifixion, the Danse Macabre...

[Trumpetmaster]

Beautiful!!!

[jamiebk]

Nice vacation Shap. Interesting places. I spent mine backpacking in the Sequoia National forest between Yosemite and Kings Canyon. That was two weeks ago. A great week the ended with a trip across the Tioga Pass road and some hiking in Tuolomme Meadows area. This week I am off to the southern Channel Islands for 4 days of scuba diving aboard "The Vision"...one of "Truth Aquatic's" fleet of 3 live-aboard dive boats. I'll post some pictures when I get some time.

[Shapley]

This week I am off to the southern Channel Islands for 4 days of scuba diving aboard "The Vision"...one of "Truth Aquatic's" fleet of 3 live-aboard dive boats. I'll post some pictures when I get some time.

Have a great trip!