BIGPHOTODAN

Discovery Cove

2012-02-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

After arriving in Orlando we decided to go to discovery cove although it was a bit expensive almost $200 per person. It was well worth the money . The basic fee is $129 and that includes your meals and access to all beaches and pools everywhere in the park as well as towels,mask and snorkel. For an extra $50 dollars we added the sea venture package consisting of an underwater experience with a special helmet that weighs 70 pounds and that allows you to walk in the bottom of the water among the fishes. I'm glad we did it was an amazing experience, the closest to scuba diving you can do without taking a course. One of the things to experience was something called the lazy river. It consists of an artificial river that has a slight current that lets you drift effortlessly while relaxing the water is warm and clear. As you meanders down the river with the trees on the sides after crossing a water fall you get to pass through an aviary full of tropical birds complete with a rosate spoonbill which is a bird that I've been trying to photograph quite a while. As I said you can drift on top of the river are you can snorkel at your way up on the River with your heads in the water and looking at all of the interesting sites like replicas of cannons or Mayan ruins.

Crystal clear water

The entrance to the lazy river

We were lucky and the weather was very nice the sun came out and we really enjoyed the day. Another interesting part of the park is a large saltwater pool that is filled with tropical fishes and there's a lot of manta rays in there and all kinds of other fishes. It is complete with artificial reefs and the water is crystal clear allowing for perfect photography I had brought with me my Canon D10 which is good for 30 feet underwater and since we were snorkeling it was good enough, you don't go below 5 feet so the pictures I took came out very nice. The stingrays swims around you they will even push you over if you're in the way, you might look under you when one is just passing by. You can actually touch them that is an incredible experience of being so close with nature.

The salt water bassin

What a sight!

At 1:30 we had our sea venture experience, it starts with the briefing in which to explain the dangers, some of them are similar to scuba such as not no flying for 24 hours and the need for pressure equalization to protect your ears and the importance of not coming up too fast to prevent an expansion accident. The communicating signs are explained and finally also like in scuba the make you sign a release. We were a small group doing that experience, actually we were six customers and there was three divers with us one that was acting as a guide and two of them for security purposes. The helmet weighs 70 pounds therefore it's easy to be in a perfect neutrally buoyant state and to walk on the bottom. However it's a bit like walking on the moon your gravity is affected even a small leap will carry you a long way and the smallest jump will make you go very high.

Hope not :)

Hey.. Look behind you !!

So the walk with the guide was quite interesting, a lot of interaction with the sealife is possible also photo ops are numerous and the time is given to look around and take pictures. The guide will even take some with your camera, they also give a camera to anybody that does not have one and you can take all the pictures you want. By the time you exit the water there are some monitors setup and you can view your pictures, if you like them you can purchase them all on a cd for 30$.

Here's the Rosate Spoonbill

The star of the show :)

So we spent the whole day there, arriving at eight in the morning and leaving at five in the afternoon. We had breakfast, we had lunch, with drinks and snacks we enjoyed ourselves in the lazy river and the saltwater reef. The sea venture experience was amazing, it was well worth the money and I would recommend it to everybody. On a final note you absolutely need a reservation and they only take a limited amount of guess each day, also included in the price yo get n Orlando Seaworld ticket o a Tampa Bush Garden ticket.

Once again a good deal.

The Keys (late post: Happened on the 18 and 19 January 2012)

2012-02-05T15:26:00.000-05:00

I'm posting later after the fact but I was to busy living it and had little time writing about it, so after some deliberation I decided that it was better late then never so I decided to get up to date with my posts.

Cannon Beach, Key Largo

On the morning of the 18 we drove down to Key Largo's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park with our snorkeling gear. We got there around 9h00 and went snorkeling at Canon Beach this beach is setup for snorkeling the beginning of the bottom part is shallow for about the first 15 or 20 feet and then it drops to about 25 feet deep like a clift wall, not a good spoot for toddler to go wadding :) The area is cordoned so a dive flag is not required and about 100 feet from the shore they made a replica of an 18th century spanish gallion wreck at about 6 to 8 feet deep, complete with cannons and anchor.

The Anchor

The water is a bit murky in the shallow part with a visibility of about 10 to 15 feet but in the deep part we can see the bottom. The sunlight is entering at an angle and with the matter in suspension in the water it give a nice effect. So we spent a good 2 hours in the water swimming around and then got out.

The Cannons

We went to enquire about a boat trip to go snorkeling on the reef outshore and reserved for the trip at 15h00 the next day, we have to register at 13h30. So with all that time in front of us we decided to drive to Key West, spend the night and come back for our boat trip the next day. On the way we had lunch at a local eatery called the Huricane Grill that I know of in Marathon, they have a most wonderfull fish sandwich.

Seven Miles Bridge

At the Boondocks on Ramrod Key

So we arrived in Key West and got a room at the Blue Marlin Motel near the Southernmost Point and went on to walk Duval street from one end to the other, It was Sebastien's first visit so he enjoyed it quite a bit. We ate seafood at the marina and of course had a Key Lime Pie taste test. The next morning we had breakfast on the beach and drove back to Key Largo.

Classic Tourist Shoot

The Breakfast Restaurant on the Beach

We got there at 13h30 in time for our registration, we then had time to visit the park before our boat we had an hour to kill. We got on the boat and it got us to the reef that was 5 miles off shore, the sea was calm enought so I did not dropped my lunch on deck. The Reef is shallow the top at about 3 feet deep and the sand is about at 25 feet deep, it's a long north south reef and we are dropped almost at the tip of the north end so we swam east from the boat about 50 feet to the reef and then for and hour and a half swam along the edge of it.

Comming In !

It is Sebastien's first ocean dive so I keep an eye on him, by now we have good buddy communication and practices we stay close and in visual contact at all time. The spot is full of Barracudas, big ones but we were warned before hand and we discussed it before entering the water so there is no stress about it by either one of us.

Barracudas

There are also some big rays lying in the sand at the bottom. I found an eel but it was chalenging to photograph, we also saw a nurse shark. So we got back on the boat and got to port at sunset. It was lots of fun, for sure an experience to repeat again next year.

Nurse Shark

We got back to West Palm Beach late that evening all relaxed and happy.

End of a perfect day

Snorkeling Peanut Island

2012-01-24T22:59:00.001-05:00

South of the Blue Heron bridge in Riviera Beach, there is an island called Peanut Island it used to be a Coast Guard station during the cold war. At that time the tensions were high with Cuba and JFK used to go to the Kennedy's property in Palm Beach. So the secret service had a bunker built on Peanut Island so that the President could be transported fast by helicopter to a protected environment. Today the Island host a Museum about the Island and the bunker. The island is surrounded by a shallow beach very popular on the week end by the local boaters. It also has a protected area for snorkeling complete with an artificial reef. The water is clear and frequented by many fishes. To get to the Island it is possible to take a water taxi from the 13th street marina.

So we checked the tide table an got to the island an hour before the high tide, got into our wetsuits and got in the crystal clear water. The first look under water reveals an environment rich in fishes and an irreproachable visibility. There was some current so we burnt some calories while taking around 200 pictures.

Crystal River

2012-01-21T00:54:00.001-05:00

For the longest time I had in mind to go to Crystal River on the West Coast of Florida near Homasassa to go and snorkel with the manatees. It's one of the rare places where you are permitted to do so the river is feed by an underground spring that flows in the river at 72f and the manatees congregates in coves to escape the colder waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The site is a protected habitat under federal and state laws. The tour operators brings the snorkelers to the different areas to get a close encounter with the manatees. Some others come by Kayak.

My son Sebastien landed on saturday an was very tired, but the next day I had arranged for us to drive the 200 miles to Crystal River and hock up with my friend Mark and his family. We had a trip scheduled at 13h00 and an Hotel reservation for that night. So the drive there was nice enough it was a beautiful day after all. We arrived and we had all our gear since Mark's mom was nice enough to lend Sebastien a nice 5mm wetsuit. So we suited up and got on the boat, the ride take us trough Kings Bay and up Crystal River we stopped at the spot named three sisters after about a 20 minutes ride.

When we got there the there was a lot of people but there was also a lot of manatees, the water is shallow in in some places very clear. The manatees are friendly and some even flip over to have their belly rubbed. The com face to face with you, it's truly an extraordinary experience. For my son Sebastien it's his first snorkeling experience. Let's say that he enjoys the experienced. So we swim around while I take 200 pictures or so for about 2 hours. We are the last on the boat. That night in the hotel room we compare pictures with my friend Mark and can't wait for our next trip the next morning.

The next morning after some deliberations an breakfast with Mark and Sebastien it end up that's it's only me and Sebastien that goes for a second time. Mark and hi family decided to get back to Palm Beach. So we get on the boat and proceed to go to the same place. The good news is that there is way less people, but the water is not as clear. Also more kayak even one with a dog on it. So we had another great time, took 200 more pictures and drove back the 200 miles to West Palm Beach with a smile on our faces.

Advanced Open Water Certification

2012-01-16T22:15:00.000-05:00

Well it seems that I haven't posted in a while, I have been down here in Florida since the beginning of the year. This year I decided to do my Advanced Open Water Certification for SCUBA, the advantages of such a certification to name a few are more control, more knowledge so in consequence you gain confidence and comfort. Also it allows you to dive deeper and since I'm already planning my trip for next November to Florida I know that I'm going to the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico where the main diving interests are ship wrecks that are to deep to dive without an advanced certification.

With our camera gear at Phil Foster Park

So I hocked up with Force E in Palm Beach a dive shop I had used last year and liked and was given my friend Mark as an instructor and once again I was lucky enough to get a private class. So the first part was to study the book and do the theory exercises, you have to study 5 subjects but I was told to do 6 or 7 in case that the ocean conditions do not permit a particular dive.

The Fish Market :)

So the Advance class requires that you learn 5 skills some are compulsory such as Deep Diving and Navigation others are chosen so I ended up doing Deep Diving, Underwater Photography, Advanced Buoyancy Control, Wreck Diving and Navigation. I also added NITROX so I can dive with enriched air.My instructor Mark is an accomplished Underwater Photographer an he evens lends me his mom's camera.

Fish Stick in it's Natural State

So I get there for my first dive and I find out that I need a paper from my doctor. So after 2 days of pacing in the Condo I finally got the fax and was able to resume my diving. The first place we went was a beach dive where we had went he previous year to take pictures, it's under a bridge so that is why you see the shopping carts in the picture above. We did some of the navigation and worked mostly on buoyancy. At the end of the dive it was very windy and the surf was choppy so I started to get seasick. Again the dreaded nausea, make me anxious about the next day boat dive.

Another Diver in the Water

So the next day after a good night sleep, motion sickness pills, ginger in all known forms, lavender essential oil behind the ears and having eaten a breakfast that would have made my doctor proud of me, I'm ready to head for the boat and face the demon of sea sickness. Lucky enough the ocean is as calm as a lake and my concerns disappeared with the gentle breeze.
So I can concentrate to the task at hand. The first dive is mostly about buoyancy control and a bit of navigation. The second dive is mostly about photography and we finish all the navigation exercises, the photography part is both a familiar concept but in a different world with it's own constraints.

Governors River Walk Reef (The St-Jacques)

The next day are the two final dives and lucky enough the surf conditions favors my resistance to the dreaded sea sickness. Today the dive are deep but my confidence level is high with my increased control on my buoyancy. The first dive is a wreck at 90 feet and on the way up we do a half stop at 45 feet and a safety stop at 15 feet for 3 minutes. At he safety stop I'm very low on air about half of what I'm supposed o have on the boat. I'm not worried both of the divers I'm diving with are informed of my situation and we also discussed properly the alternate air sources in the briefing, so it's kind of a good learning experience to ha to deal with more then my staying at 15 feet. The dive went great and I took lots of pictures including some barracudas at the wreck.

Barracudas

The last dive is also very good allowing us to tweak my weights even more precisely in the course of the certification I went from 22lbs to 11 lbs quite an improvement. So I am now a PADI Certified Advanced Open Water Diver and I only have a theory class on tuesday to finish in order to get my Nitrox Certification.

Destin, Florida and surroundings

2011-12-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

So this is our final stop before driving home, we leave tomorow and it should take 3 days with overnight stops in Savanah, Enfield N.C. and somewere in New Jersey. The weather here is cold and wet but we rented bikes for 3 days I can use them to ride to the beach and to a lake in the park. I took some pictures of the sunset on the gulf, the beach is made of sand as white as snow so it does get quite beautiful.

Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico

The Park is nice and one of the rare State Park in Florida with full hookup that means Sours, water and electricity and in this case internet and Cable. It's a good place to relax, I know we will come back again another year.

The end of another beautiful day

We also did a bit of shopping, the other half of our road trip team was in need of it ;)

So tonight I have to get things in order, so we can leave early tomorow. This sould be my last posting until our return on Friday.

Louisiana Bayou

2011-12-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

One of the thing I wanted to photograph was the Bayou, not much the Aligators since I have quite a few of those but more the Cypress trees that grows in the Bayou in the water. The main place that I had projected to do those pictures was an area around Lafayette. I had planned a trail in the Bayou overthere and to visit the Tabasco Factory on Avery Island, as it turned out it was more then one hundred miles away from our camp and a treck that my wife would not do or let me go and do without grief. So instead we will keep this for another year and that time we will stay in Lafayette for a few days before heading out to New Orleans.

Cypress Trees in the Bayou

So instead I took off in the rain on a morning early and went to a spot that was sugested by a local as a good spot to find the environement that I was looking for. The place was perfect and halfway trough my session it stopped raining, so by 9h00 I was done and I had told my wife that I would be back for lunch, so I took off to the visitor center of the Grand Bayou region in Grey that is 10 miles or so past Thibodeaux. Once there I was given the location of a trailhead 15 miles further so I pushed on and was on the trail by 10h30. In the middle of the week on a cold cludy day of winter it is nice because you are the only human on the trail. So it was a fun trail and I took some pictures then drove back and made it back to camp at 12h30, total driving that day 100 miles or so.

The trail in the Bayou

We left Louisiana on friday, crossed Missisipi and Alabama along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico passing trough the cities of Biloxi and Mobile. We are now in Florida on the Coast near the city of Destin.

New Orleans : The Food

2011-12-10T16:17:00.000-05:00

The first night when we arrived in Louisiana we were tired and looking for a place to go and eat supper, the owner of the plantation where we were staying sugested a place called Hymel's about 6 miles up the road, to put you in context we are in a rural area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans along the Missisipi, actually on road 44 that follows the levee. All along on top of the levee the locals are building tall bonfires to be light up on Christmas Eve a local tradition. Anyway on road 44 it's pretty beat up it's hard to beleive that people actualy live in some of these houses, so we are driving along and there is an abandoned gaz station and an old beated up building but there is light inside and cars parked all around and even at the foot of the levee across the street, there is half of a sign with Hymel's written on it. So while my wife waits in the car I decide to go inside and inquire if it is the restaurant, I poke my head inside and it's a bar with a Cajun musician and a big dining room on the right side, so I get my wife from the car and we pick a table in the corner of the restaurant, this way I can observe the place. It's hard to believe that there is all that restaurant, they even have a second dining room in the back, could fit in what seemed to be a small abandoned gas station from the outside. I order a crawfish etouffe and my wife a fried catfish platter. The food arive in melamine plates and it tastes great, the place is filling up with locals, they know one another some move from table to table. On our first night we had the chance to experience the real Louisiana.

Hymel's on road 44

Now of course I had researched a few restaurants that I wanted to go in New Orleans but on the first night tjat we went in the city I found out that the wait without a reservation was longer that we could wait, So that night we ate at Napoleon House on the corner of Chartres and St-Louis. We both had Jambalaya and it was excellent.

Napoleon's House

We went back to town the next day and had lunch at Antoines the oldest restaurant in New Orleans and the creators of oysters rockefeler. The staff is in full penguin suit, it feels like you are entering a museum, so we get seated in the "Grande Annexe" one of the most popular room of the restaurant, they have about 8 or 10. We order from the lunch table d'hote. We both have the buttersquash soup for starters, I follow up with a feuillete of oysters and my wife an escalope de veau farcie aux aubergines. I took a bread poudding for desert and my wife took a cheese cake. On the way out of the washroom I could see in the kitchen so I peeked in and asked if I could take a look around, the Chef was sitting at a desk at the end of the kitchen with a laptop monitoring the service, it was quiet so we got the chance to chat, it was very interesting.

Antoine's on St-Louis street

Antoine's Main Dining Room

Feuilleté d'huitres

On the next day we went for lunch at the courtyard of two sister another New Orleans staple restaurant it has an enclosed courtyard similar to Jardin Nelson but on that day it was to cold and they closed it. We ate inside the brunch buffet and it was good with some cajun dishes but it was not to the level that I expected for tha class of restaurant. The staff was nice and helpfull with my wife's alergies, the jazz band was good. The decor nice but the food taste ok at best, the presentation of the buffet especialy on the cold side needs an upgrade.

Inside at Courtyard of two sisters perfect room for lunch

The Cold Buffet at Courtyard of Two Sisters

On our last night in New Orleans we ate at the River's Edge restaurant across the French Market, my wife had the etouffe and I had Catfish and Shrimps both were very good, my wife completly finished her plate, a rare occurance. We then crossed the street to the famous Cafe du Monde for Beignets an Coffee. A must go on any visit to New Orleans.

Famous Café du Monde

New Orleans : The Plantations

2011-12-08T10:10:00.000-05:00

We are camped in Convent Louisiana on the shore of the Missisipi it's right across the street, We are camped on the grounds of the Poché Plantation one of the plantations surrounding us, we are in the heart of what is called Plantation Row.

So since we are both interested in the history and the experience we intend to visit as man as possible. As I mentionned we are camped at one and the tour of it is included, there are three other across the Missisipi in Vacherie Louisiana, the bridge to cross is only 10 miles from our campsite and about the same distance on the other side. They are Laura's House, St-Joseph Plantation and Oak Alley.

The first one Laura's House a Cajun Plantation of bright colors has a fantastic guide, very interesting. The site is restored to period and well maintained. There are slaves quarters to visit and gardens complete with banana trees. The life of the slaves is a big part of the history that is told.

Laura's House

Slaves Quarters for 2 Families at Laura's Plantation

The Second Plantation we visit is St-Joseph, it is still a sugar cane plantation today. This plantation is not restored and maintained as well it was one of the last to be opened to the public on the tourist circuit but it has some interesting tidbits of history as well as many artifacts.

St-Joseph Plantation

Old School House

The third one we visit has retainded most of it's live oaks in the front of the house, a lot of old oaks had to be destroyed when the levee along the Missisipi was built at the begining of the 20th century by the corps of enginers. The oaks in front of the house are more then 500 years old and a magnificent sight that dwarfs you. This Mansion if very well restored and full of priceless antiques. It also has a restaurant, we were hungry and decided to eat there, the food was good and the price reasonable. For the visit of the house the staff is dressed in period costumes, personaly I find that it ads to the overall experience.

Oak Alley Plantation the oaks were at least 300 years old before the house was built

The next day we visited the Poché Plantation, the tour that was included with our campsite, the visit was sceduled for 11h00 and the tour was given by the owner a very friendly guy. He just aquired the place a few years ago and he's in the process of bulding the grounds the mansion is restored and filled with antiques, he rents the rooms upstairs as a kind of Bed and Breakfast.

Poché Plantation

After that visit we drove about 11 miles on the same side of the river to Houma's House the Plantation that is the most highly acclaimed. They even have a five star restaurant, once again we ate there. The grounds are like a botanical garden complete with ponds and fountains. The tour is given by a guide in full attire velvet dress and all, the owner lives in the house and is an avid antique collector the amount of silver in this house is unbelivable he even has a Silver Roastbeef serving charriot and other very fine pieces includin a silver sculpture of Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum the man who sculpted Mount Rushmore.

Houmas House Gardens

Inside Houmas House

It was enough for that day so we kept the last one 10 miles from our camp on the same side of the Missisipi but in the opposite direction from Houma's House for the next day. That plantation called San Francisco was purchased by Marathon a big oil company in the south for the land they needed to build their refinery, it' so big the first time I passed beside it at night I tought it was a city. Their plan was to demolish the house, already this one doesn't have any land in the front the levee and road passes 50 feet from the house. Fortunatly someone in the board of directors decided to save the house so now it stands on a lot of 400 feet by 400 feet in the corner of a giant refinery. It is the least restored of the houses as far as furnitures but the did a lot of work to restore the original faux finis and embelishment on the inside walls and cellings.

San Francisco Plantation

San Antonio

2011-12-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

After being in the desert for awhile it felt good to get to San Antonio, the city is beautiful and our camp location was perfect we were less then 15 minutes from everything I wanted to see. The first thing to see of course was the Alamo, the famous mission where the most important battle for the independance of Texas from Mexico. We also saw the movie in Imax and visited another museum on the subject.

The Alamo

One important feature of San-Antonio is the Riverwalk, here is a description of it from their website :
The San Antonio River Walk is a public park, open 365 days a year. It is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath approximately 5 miles of downtown San Antonio. Lined by bars, shops and restaurants, the River Walk is an important part of the city's urban fabric and a tourist attraction in its own right. We went to eat at Casa Rio the first restaurant to open on the riverwalk in 1947. The food was excellent and it was fun to sit by the river on the terrasse, the dog didn't appreciate the ducks but that's another story. Later we took the boat tour on the river and that was fun as well.

San Antonio Riverwalk

The Alamo is one of a serie of five missions that were built by the spanish between 1690 and 1730, some are more in ruins then other, some still have mass celebrated there on sundays, all are interesting to visit.

Mission San Jose at Sunset

San Antonio also has a nice Botanical Garden so yesterday we went there to take our morning walk. I took my 60mm. macro lens along and had fun with the bees and the flowers.

The Bee's at work

We left there at 6h00 this morning and we are now in New Orleans so there will be more stories to follow.

Carlsbad Caverns

2011-11-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

As I mentionned before we did a detour from El Passo trough the high desert to get to Carlsbad, the reason was to visit the Caverns there.

Well worth the detour

In the past we have explored many caverns such as Lurray in Virginia, Mamouth Caves in Kentuky, Howes Caverns NY, Karshner Caverns in Arizona. The Carlsbad Caverns National Park are the top rated of all caverns in the US and the only ones I visited that are self guided with the use of a tripod permited.

I can see for miles...

But first to get there you need to drive up a 7 miles twisted mountain road with cliftside drops my wife's favorites :) but on the way down she got to see about 50 antelopes going trough the valley beside her. I didn't since I had to keep the eyes on the road and there was no place to stop.

Totem Pole or Rock of Ages

Once you got up the road you get to the welcome center from the height you are you can see for miles. In the visitor center we were sent back to change shoes since the ones we were wearng had been in other caves on the east coast and that so far their bats are not infected with the white nose fungus that is killing the bats on the east coast. That being done there is 2 ways that you can get 750 feet below the earth you can hike down a 2 miles steep trail trough the natural entrance or take an elevator that takes you 75 stories down and right into the caves. We took the elevator because we had time constraint we had to drive another 3 or 4 hours to get to our next stop after the visit..

A Cathedral Celling

There are many tours availables but we choose the Big Room Trail, it take one and a half hour to go around, the size of it is very impressive, like entering a cathedral, the lighting is extremly well done and perfect for photography. Except for the loud Japanese tourists with flashlights everything is serene, the cavern is big enough to leave them behind while they take picture with flashes. After that it was a suprise at every turn and the best cavern pictures I ever took :)

Early Explorations

We left there and drove to Fort Stockton in Texas at the end of our drive ther was a duststorm, it made it interesting.

We are now in San Antonio, but that will be another story.

From Yuma to Carlsbad via Las Cruces

2011-11-27T22:43:00.001-05:00

So leaving Indio in California we have some serious driving to do the first day's plan was to get to Yuma, visit the prison and sleep there, we decided to push on and try for Gila Bend at the door of the Sonoran National Forest, this way we could stop and sleep in Tuscon to spend some time with a friend that lives there. It didn't work out because they had previous plans for thanksgiving so on the second day we made it to Las Cruses in New Mexico, a good spot to go refill our groceries and since it was Black Friday we also did a bit of shopping, then we hit the road for a third day passing trough El Passo Texas and then driving to Carlsbad New Mexico the site of the famous Carlsbad Caverns National Park, I'll get more into it on my next posting.

Saquaro in the Campsite

As we were arriving at our fisrt stop at Gilla Bend we were passing trough a forest of Saquaro cactus and the sun was setting I was very much in the need to stop and take pictures of them in the sunset, but unfortunatly by the time we were parked the only one available was in the campground and didn't offer much possibilities. Not the shot I had in my head but I did the best I could with it.

Saquaro in Nature

The next day as we crossed the National Forest I pulled over and took some pictures. Then back in the car for the long drive to Las Cruces.

Rock Formations in the National Forest.

So we got to Las Cruces as the night was setting in, we parked on top of a high mesa overlooking the city and we were so tired that we went to bed right away. The next morning when I went outside to walk to the showers it was very cold and we had heavy rain all night. There was a storm front closing in and it was causing the clouds to roll in over the mountains and on the city in the valley down below.

Zoom in on the clouds passing over the mountain

A wide shot with the city of Las Cruces at the foot of the mountains

We then hit the road again with Carlsbad as a destination for today. In order to do so we first have to drive to El Passo and then use secondary road trough the high desert and a mountain range with a low cloud cover. Quite a ride we got ther at sunset once again.

A dry lake in the high desert of New Mexico

El Capitan in Guadeloupe Mountains National Park as we are crossing the mountain pass, we are now only 40 to 45 miles from our destination.

Yuma Territorial Prison

2011-11-27T21:42:00.000-05:00

The Guard Tower

First a Prison:

Cells and yard at the Yuma Territorial PrisonThe prison accepted its first inmate on July 1, 1876.For the next 33 years 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, served sentences there for crimes ranging from murder to polygamy. The prison was under continuous construction with labor provided by the prisoners.
Despite an infamous reputation, written evidence indicates that the prison was humanely administered, and was a model institution for its time. The only punishments were the dark cells for inmates who broke prison regulations, and the ball and chain for those who tried to escape.
In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in Florence, Arizona.

The Cell Block

Then a High School:
From 1910 to 1914 the Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings. When the school's football team played a game against Phoenix, with Phoenix favored to win, the Phoenix team branded the Yuma team "criminals" when Yuma unexpectedly won the school adopted the mascot with pride, sometimes shortened as the "Crims"; the school mascot image is the face of a hardened criminal, and the student merchandise shop is known as the Cell Block.

Now a Museum:
The prison was barely saved from destruction, empty cells provided free lodging for hobos riding the freights in the 1920s, and sheltered many homeless families during the depression. Townspeople considered the complex a source for free building materials. This, plus fires, weathering, and railroad construction, destroyed the prison walls and all buildings except the cells, main gate and guard tower; but these provide a glimpse of convict life a century ago. It is now an Arizona State Park but even at this it was recently threatened of closure and saved by a local Yuma citizen group.

Another view of the remaining Cell Block

The Salton Sea

2011-11-27T21:14:00.001-05:00

When we were stopped in Indio the plan was to go and visit the Salton Sea, California's largest lake it's 35 miles long and 15 miles wide, the surface of the lake is at 227 feet below sea level. In ancient times part of the gulf of California, it became closed off and 2000 years ago it was a giant lake that over time it dried up.

Site of one of the Yacht Clubs that were on the Salton Sea

During the late 1800s, ther was a big planned in a region south of the lake called the Imperial valley. A canal was built to divert water from the Colorado river to irigate the 100,000 acres of fields in the valley.

In 1906 after a very wet winter the swells of the Colorado river broke though the canals and gates and poured in out of control for more then 18 months into the then Salton Sink creating the actual Salton Sea.

Great Egret

By the 1950s the Salton Sea had become a popular resort with 2 yacht clubs, beaches and a championship golf course, by the 1960s the increasing salinity had put an end to the flow of visitors and stuctures, motels, garages, restaurants etc.. became abbandoned and derelics ruins. From a photographic point of view one of the reason I wanted to visit the area, the other being that the Salton Sea is a stop for millions of migrating birds that pass trough the region each years.

Pelicans Feeding

Bombay Beach is a small derelic town on the shores of the Salton Sea, it's a favorite of many photographers for it's post-apocaliptic look, Needless to say that it was on my list but not on my wife's, so I went alone. It was a bit disapointing as some of the famous sights such as the airstream trailer in the sunken trailer park are no more, but still interesting.

Welcome to Bombay Beach

What's left of the sunken trailer park

Joshua Tree National Park

2011-11-22T19:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to visit this National Park, we are now camped on the valley floor between the mountains of the National Park on the east and the Sierras on the west the San Andreas fault line runs right under us allong the valley. So once again the day starts with climbing a mountain road, that road was strait and in the desert so the view as we are climbing is awsome. The Cottonwood entrance to the park is about 25 miles away.

Joshua Tree National Park

We brought the dog alone, the planned trip is 5 to 6 hours, she's not aloud on trails but we can take turns staying with the dog, plus the ranger points out some dirt roads where the dog is allowed.

A dirt road in the park

We have more then 50 miles to drive trough the park to cross it from one end to the other, along the way there are interesting trails and interesting viewpoints. the first one on our trail is the chola cactus garden. We left early and the light is low and yellow perfect for pictures.

Chola Cactus Garden

This Chola Cactus is also known as the Jumping Teddy Bear Cactus because of it's soft bristle. However just brushing against it or a soft touch and the spines will detatch and stick on you, hence the Jumping part of the name.

High Altitude in the Park

Our last stop in the park was a place called Key View it's an high altitude viewpoint at the top of a winding road, You get a complete view of the valley at the bottom and the Salton Sea on the south. The was an interesting view of Mount San Jacinto that had a cloud ring around the summit.

The Raven Soars towards Mount San Jacinto 10,834 feet (3,302 m)

San Francisco

2011-11-19T23:45:00.000-05:00

On our first day in San Francisco we took the dog along, knowing that she gets tired after a while we came prepared. We brought the special crate thet we have for her, she can be carried like in a pack sac or rolled like airport luggage. It was good that we had it as it was the only way that we coud get on the tour bus with her. We parked at Fisherman's Wharf, it was only $32.00 and then took the tour on a double deck bus with the top deck being opened, without a roof, cold but perfect for photography.

Vanilla and Dan visiting San Francisco

I find these tour bus to be the best way to see most of a big city in a minimal time, you can then decide to go and explore some area more in detail. Usualy you can also hop on and hop off these tours.

Golden Gate Bridge

It went trough the interesting areas such as the Haight and Ashbury, Pacific Heights, The Tenderloin district, Golden Gate park and bridge, Chinatown, Financial district complete with the occupy SF movement and Lombard Street. Also our guide was a movie buff with all the Dirty Harry spots and even the bullit car chase street.

Downtown from Pacific Heights

We got off at Pier 39 and walk back to Fisherman's Wharf to eat a Crab Chowder in a Sourdough bread, a San Francisco staple. The bread has been made by Boudin's Bakery for more then one hundred years, that's how he got rich during the goldrush. Miam Miam. We drove the 45 miles back to our camp we even found a shortcut trough a mountain pass to Halfmoon Bay an then the 1 along the clift, in the dark my wife doesn't mind :)

Alcatraz from Pier 39

We went back the next day without the dog to visit Alcatraz.
You take a ferry at Alcatraz Landing and it brings you to the Island, we ate our lunch on the ferry. You need to have clothes for different occasion for cold, warm or rain, or in our case all three. Wen you land on the platform you have a 15 minutes compulsory briefing and then you go where you want on a self guided visit.

The Guard Tower at the Landing

There is the main cell building that they provide ou with an audio tour kit that is very interesting it includes the cell of the 1962 escape as showned in the Clint Eastwood movie "Escape from Alcatraz".

Escape from Alcatraz

The whole visit can take from 3 to 5 hours to complete we left as the rain began 3 and a half hour later. As we left the fog was rolling in and covering the Golden Gate bridge, what a sight.

Pescadero and Surroundings at Sunset:

2011-11-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

We needed a few groceries so we decided to drive to Pescadero, about 8 miles from our camp. So I punch in the coordinates into the GPS an then we go, about 3 miles down highway 1 the GPS tells us to turn on a side road, so I take the turn. It happens to be a very narrow winding mountain road with the clift on the passenger side, my wife's favorites :) so after a few miles of oh.. oh.. oh.. watchout, darn GPS we get back to the main road. The town of Pescadero is a quaint little town with organic and whole food markets. We bought an artichoke and garlic bread that was still hot, it smelled darn good in the car comming back to camp.

So to return my wife prefered that we ignored the GPS instructions and that we stay on the main road, fine with me and it was sunset timeas we rode along Highway 1. There is lots of places to stop and take pictures along the road.

We found a nice secluded beach near the Pigeon Point Lighthouse to walk on and take pictures. The waves crashing on the rocks are very relaxing to look at.

So we got back to camp and made some nice BBQ pork chops with the artichoke bread and a local goat cheese.

Moss Landing and the Monterey Region

2011-11-15T12:41:00.000-05:00

We decided to Setup camp in Moss Landing a small community 15 miles north of Monterey, there is a few things I want to do in the region one of them is eating at Phil's Fish Market a local restaurant that was on the Food Channel Trowdown with Bobby Flay. So we went to eat there for supper the first night, it was a fun place you pick up a menu at the door and go to the counter to give your order and pay, they then give you a big number and you choose a table, then your waiter finds you. The food was good I had Halibut and my wife had salmon, both very good.

In Moss Landing we are also in the middle of a farming area with a nice farmer's market within walking distance.

The vegetables there are cheap and lots of choice I bought some avocados and made some guacamole I also bought something called Jiacama that I have yet to prepare thanks to Google.

Another project that I had was to go on a boat to do some whale watching, I was worried about being seasick but I was lucky the ocean was realy Pacific :) There was no breaching whales but I got the picture of the tail of a whale named Stinky.

The Tail of Stinky the Whale

There was also a pier full of Sealions that I had researched and programmed in my GPS it just happened that all these activities happened to be within a 1 mile radius from my campsite that I had not planned on sleeping there.

Sealions on Moss Landing Pier

Yesterday we drove into Monterey to the waterfront and we took the 17 miles road that passes trough the Pebble Beach golf course and resort. I had a few spots preprogramed including the famed Lone Cypress, we arrived there at the same time as a bus of Japaneses tourists I was not alone taking pictures :)

The Lone Cypress on the 17 miles drive

My boss had told me before I left to go eat at Peppoli in the Spanish Inn on the Pebble Beach Resort. It's a restaurant owned and operated by the Antinori family and that he would pick up the bill when I return, a very generous offer and I took him up on it, we both had an excellent meal and a glass of wine.

The Pacific at Pebble Beach

So this morning we took the road again and we are now near Pescadero Ca. for a few days.

The Pacific Coast to Moss Landing:

2011-11-12T11:24:00.000-05:00

On Thursday morning we started going u p the coast on California Highway 1, our first stop is Hearst Castle in San Simeon along the coast. The castle sits on a mountain top and was complete with a Zoo and everything. I has been said that Randolph Hearst was the inspiration for Orson Wells Citizen Cane.

The view of the Pacific Ocean from Hearst Castle

The place is more then impressive filled with artwork and the grounds are incredible with breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean.

Poolside at Hearst Castle with the Pacific Ocean in the background

The Neptune Pool was the setting in many a movie. Some of the visitors of the castle in the time of Randolph Hearst included, Charlie Chaplin, Howard Hughes and many more. If you pass by it is definitely worth the visit.
We had lunch there and left after, as we kept going north the road got narrower, winding and we were either going uphill or downhill for miles.

The Famous Neptune Pool

With the trailer in tow this panoramic road required all of my attention. Full of blind curves and with the cliff walls overhanging the trailer was passing inches from the rock face wall, my wife didn’t like the road that much good thing she was not on the side of the precipice J .
There was a few overlook, I got to stop and take pictures of the elephant seals basking in the sun on the beach , it was quite a sight.

Elephant Seals on the Beach

The Pacific Coast

Well at 25 mile an hour plus the afternoon traffic in Monterey by the time we got to Moss Landing it was dark again. This morning it was overcast but I got a few picture of the surroundings, the rest of the day was rain so we went to the market to refill our fridge talk about choice at the farmers market, I even bought stuff that I have no idea what they are, I made some fresh guacamole for lunch. Tonight we had supper at a place I had seen on the Food Channel called Phil’s Fish Market.

From Death Valley to the Pacific Coast:

2011-11-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

We left early on Wednesday morning our campsite in Pahrump and drove an area they call Death Valley wilderness, my wife renamed it Nowhere and we were in the middle. It’s 50 miles of desert road then an Indian village with a gas station and three buildings then 60 miles of desert road then you hit Interstate 15 and you pass between the bottom of the Death Valley wilderness and the Mojave desert, the view are spectacular.

View of the Mojave Desert on the way to the Coast

There was a ghost town called Calico along the way and I managed to convince my wife to make an unscheduled stop, She agreed “I guess she didn’t remember the last time” so we stopped just before the the entrance to the ghost town and I took a few pictures in particular of a golden eagle that was just beside us.

Golden Eagle

We then get to the town entrance and there is a pay station, anyway I pay the fee and we proceed in, there is an RV parking so we park and start on foot toward the town as we approached I found out it was a renovated ghost town complete with a mini train ride. Not exactly what I was expecting my wife was smiling “I suspect that she knew in advance” but it was fun and nice to visit with an historical background.

Calico Ghost Town

We had lunch there, it was good and we sat outside on a wooden porch with the dog.
We then hit the road again and this time we had to take a small road the 58 the first part is nice enough passing trough farmlands but then we had to cross the Sierras over Bear Mountain at 6900 feet trough Tehachapi pass, the last 100 miles before we hit the coast . It was a white knuckle rollercoaster ride and a race against the sunset trough the mountains.

We got to the coast as the last of the light was disappearing and got to the campsite, parked didn’t even unhooked and went to bed..

Death Valley second visit:

2011-11-08T13:10:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning I had to fix the toilet in the trailer, the vaccum gasket of the flush valve was pierced and it leaked water everywhere when it was under pressure. Fortunatly I was able to get a spare part at the RV superstore in Pahrump, also we had battery problems that I was able to fix by installing an external charger maintainer on a separate 110 V line ti works fantastic.

So after lunch we left for Death Valley, it's 45 minutes from our base camp. This time I wanted to see the south side with two sites in perticular, Badwater and Dantes View. Our first stop was Dantes View it starts with a 13 miles drive to climb up the mountain from 1000 feet to 5475 feet with the last mile being a very steep white knuckles clifthanger, My wife had to cover her eyes with her hands, I just love those roads ;)

A look of the Saltflats of Badwater from Dante's View

Whe then arrive to a parking lot with a breathtaking view to Death Valley bellow, There is a half mile trail to the sommet, so I decided to do the trail. The temperature at this altitude is 51F or 10C with a strong gusty wind. I have been going to the gym at the resort for the last few days and after comming back from that trail I don't regret it. The view from the top was incredible you can see the Badwater Saltflats bellow in the valley. So we drove down to Badwater a 30 miles drive dropping from 5475 feet to 282 feet bellow sea level donw at Badwater. My wife had serious problems with the pressure equalisation we even had to stop on the side of the road she was in pain. We made it to Badwater and I went on the trail to take my pictures wile she stayed in the car with the dog who was also acting strange maybee having problems with her ears as well.

Saltflats at Badwater

A closer look

The trail is flat and very easy and the view of the salt flats unlike anything I ever saw, and yes did I mentioned there is no wind and the temperature is 79F or 26C and dry, very dry. We then started our way back to the campsite at sunset and got there in the dark. With the tome changes and all the activities we were very tired and went to bed at 20h30. Tomorow we head for the Pacific Coast.

Day one in Death Valley

2011-11-06T16:08:00.000-05:00

One of the places I had researched and planned to photograph was Rhyolite Nevada, I wanted to get be there early in the morning for the light and since it was 60 miles from my basecamp in Pahrump I had to leave early, This is one of two daytrips I planned where I go alone so I can stop every 500 feet to take a picture if I want to. The plan is to leave Pahrump at the crack of dawn an drive to Rhyolite to take my photos passing by Beatty near the Nevada test site and Area 51.

The Ghosts of Rhyolite Welcomes You

Here is an history of Rhyolite that I copied from Wikipedia:

Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is located in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners, and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. Many settled in Rhyolite, which lay in a sheltered desert basin near the region's biggest producer, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine. Industrialist Charles M. Schwab bought the Montgomery Shoshone Mine in 1906 and invested heavily in infrastructure including piped water, electric lines, and railroad transportation that served the town as well as the mine. By 1907, Rhyolite had electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house, and a stock exchange. Published estimates of the town's peak population vary widely, but scholarly sources generally place it in a range between 3,500 and 5,000 in 1907–08. Rhyolite declined almost as rapidly as it rose. After the richest ore was exhausted, production fell. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the financial panic of 1907 made it more difficult to raise development capital. In 1908, investors in the Montgomery Shoshone Mine, concerned that it was overvalued, ordered an independent study. When the study's findings proved unfavorable, the company's stock value crashed, further restricting funding. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss, and it closed in 1911. By this time, many out-of-work miners had moved elsewhere, and Rhyolite's population dropped well below 1,000. By 1920, it was close to zero.

The North Highway in Death Valley

After leaving Rhyolite I headed for Death Valley trough the Daylight Pass, once the mountains crossed I had 45 miles to drive on the North Highway that follows the valley floor.

My next projected target is the Ubehebe Crater from a volcano that erupted 2000 years ago, that is recent in geological terms. The road to the crater although narrow is nice and well maintained. After climbing the crater rim trail since it was lunchtime I ate my lunch sitting on the tailgate of the truck wile contemplating the crater.

Ubehebe Crater

The next photography target was the Racetrack where rocks moves on an ancient lake bed (nobody knows why or how) leaving tracks of their movements. I had done my research and I know I had to drive 27 miles on a narrow dirt road to get to the racetrack. As I entered the road there was a sign recommanding high clearance 4X4 vehicules, well that's fine with me I even have skid plates installed on the truck to protect the oil pand and the transmission.

Racetrack Road

So I get on the road, on these dirt roads they pass with some kind of equipment that makes
grooves across the road every 3 inches or so. I experienced a raod like that a few years ago taking a shortcut into Arizona from Utah and it shook so much that I had broken dishes in the cupboard. This time it was more intense also the road being about 10 feet wide there was no avoiding anything so after a few miles when the GPS and everything else was on the floor and it shook so much that I tought that my teeth fillings would fall off I had quite enought. I had tried different speed and almost skidded off the road, did I mentioned that it was also a road wfull of dips and curves, so after a while I found that the most tolerable speed was 15 mph. by this time I still have 22 miles or so to drive so 22 miles at 15 mph takes 88 minutes that is on and a half hour to go and the same to get back out plus the 85 miles to drive in the desert to get back to the base camp, so I decided to turn around, it took me another 2 miles to find a place to turn around, there was a dry river bed crossing the road and I turn in it, and it 4X4 low I was able to back out of it.
So after I got out of there I decided to go see Scotty's Castle since I was only 3 mile from it. Super nice place like an oasis in the middle of the desert.

Dust Storm passing near Stovepipe Wells

After that I drove back trough Furnace Creek and Death Valley Junction stopping along the way to take pictures. At on point I could see a dust storm in the dunes at Stovepipe Well from across the valley floor, also the sight of the salt flats on the valley floor at 190 feet below sea level.

Salt Flats on the valley floor with the Panaminth Mountain Range behind it

I got back to the camp in time to setup the BBQ and cook a good supper. That was my first day in Death Valley. Today It is raining a little and the sky is grey so I take a break, I went to the gym here at the resort, I am going to look at the 350 pictures I took yesterday and get up to date with my internet stuff. I also have some minor repairs to do on the trailer. Tomorow If the weather is nice I'll go back to Death Valley, I still have to go to Bad Water and Dante's View.

Petrified Forest National Park

2011-11-04T23:37:00.000-04:00

We left Grants New Mexico on our way west. We made a scheduled stop at the Petrified Forest National Park. It's a road 26 miles long that sarts with a view of the painted desert an then cross the the 40 with a marker to the old road 66 and then passes trough a desert littered with petrified logs.

The Painted Desert

A tribute to road 66

The Park road near the Teepee Formation

Here is an explanation of the process that I copied from Wikipedia :
The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the late triasic, about 225 million years ago. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name. Beginning about 60 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau, of which the park is part, was pushed upward by tectonic forces and exposed to increased erosion. All of the park's rock layers above the Chinle, except geologically recent ones found in parts of the park, have been removed by wind and water.

Petrified Logs at Blue Water Mesa

During this period, the region that is now the park was near the equator on the southwestern edge of the supercontinent Pangaea, and its climate was humid and sub-tropical. What later became northeastern Arizona was a low plain flanked by mountains to the south and southeast and a sea to the west. Streams flowing across the plain from the highlands deposited inorganic sediment and organic matter, including trees as well as other plants and animals that had entered or fallen into the water. Although most organic matter decays rapidly or is eaten by other organisms, some is buried so quickly that it remains intact and may become fossilized.

Detail of the mineralisation of the petrified wood

At Crystal Forest

We left and headed west, as we approached Flagstaff we could see that the big mountains were smoking, we later learned after driving trough the mountain pass in the smoke that they were doing a control burn. My wife started to have difficulties with her ashma so we kept on going west. We finally stopped for the night in Seligman on road 66.

El Morro National Monument

2011-11-02T22:32:00.001-04:00

El Morro National Monument is a huge sandstone formation on an ancient trail in New Mexico there is the ruins of an ancient zuni pueblo on top of it. The formation was easy to find and was a favorite stop because it offered shelter and water for travelers over the centuries.

It became customary for these travellers to carve their names and messages in the rock it started in the 13th and 14th century with the pueblo indians they called the place "A'ts'ina" meaning the place with writing on the rocks.

Later after Francisco Coronado started exploring the Rio Grande valley in 1540 the spanish conquistador started using that road and keept using it well into the 18th century they called the place "El Morro" the Headland and they left their marks as well.

Then as the west was developped in the second half of the 19th century the Americans where the ones that started leaving their marks on the formation and they called it Inscription Rock this lasted until 1906 when it became a national monument and federal laws made new carvings illegal.

From Amarillo TX. to Grants NM.:

2011-11-02T11:02:00.000-04:00

Ye got up early enought our plan is to drive to Hollbrook Az. our longest drive yet over 900km. we gain two hours in time change but it's a long drive. After a few hours we are on the strech of road that I like the least with long climbs to cross mountain passes at over 11000 feet it hard to keep the truck from downshifting all the time and getting the RPM to high.

By the end of the afternoon we were exausted even the dog made us stop for nothing she just wanted the car ride to stop.

So we stopped in Grants New Mexico, I never stopped here and there is quite a bit to see, first of all we are parked in an ancient lava bed and there is two National monuments in the area El Malpais and El Moro there is also an iced cave.

The temperature dropped we are at 8000 feets and this morning it was 33F or 1C. The winds during the night were so strong that we could feel the trailer shaking.

All in a day: Oklahoma and Texas

2011-10-31T23:20:00.000-04:00

So the day started good when whe left Arkansas this morning, We were doing good time until we stopped for lunch at which point we found out that a part of our hitch had fallen off, probably from the 100 miles of vibrating road we had been on this morning. So we finaly found an RV repair place in Elk City Oklahoma. To make a story short two hours later we were back on the road.

My wife asked me if we had enough gas to make it to Amarillo, we had 150 miles to go and the car computer indicater that I was good for 175 miles so I said we are OK. So after a construction zone and a weird road change indicated by the GPS we ended up 10 miles from our destination and with 8 miles left of gas. Needless to say there was a few I told you so and I'm not the one walking 2 miles in the boondocks to go get some gas (also I didn't now yet where the gas station was, it was actualy 2 miles past my destination) so when the computer counted down to 0 we repeated the I told you so etc... An interesting fact you can drive another 4 miles on fumes when it's indicated that you have 0 gas.

So we finally got to the campsite at sunset. After we set up we called the Big Texan Steak Ranch and they sent a Limo to pick us up, the real thing with a cowboy driver and horns in the front.

When we got there ther was two guys trying for the 72 ounces free steak challenge but they didn't make it. Me I had the anniversary special 1/4 the size so only 18 ounces. We took the Limo back, I'm going to bed and I intend to snore all night :)

Tomorrow we cross New Mexico.

Nashville : Music City

2011-10-30T00:32:00.000-04:00

This morning we went downtown to visit the city, we started with the visit of Studio B the oldest surviving recording studio in the city it is located in the part of the city know as music row. Full of history it was the place where many hits by many artists were receorded over the years.

We also visited the Country Music Hall of Fame also a very interesting visit 3 floors full of history. Also a big archive preserving the past for the future.

For lunch we went on Broadway and Fifth at Robert's Western World next to Tootsie Orchid Lounge where there was a live band and we had a good time.

In the evening we had tickets for the Grand Ol Opry great place and a great show, it was Charlie Daniels 75th birthday and it made the evening extra special.
Tommorow whe hit the road again.

Day two: From Pensylvania to Tennesse

2011-10-28T08:57:00.002-04:00

So yesterday was an other driving day with rain in the mountains. We drove 1600 km or 1000 miles so far. We are now a short 3h00 drive from Nashville. We stopped in a Walmart an replaced the coffee maker, life is wonderfull again.

First Day

2011-10-27T07:39:00.003-04:00

It started well we did no suffer much delay at the border, now we know the trick leave with an empty fridge and do the grocery in Platsburg, they have a nice grocery store. Then back on the road, I took the corner a bit tight, jumped the curb and emptied the cupboard on the floor. The main casualty was the coffe maker.

Whe then arrived at the campsite near howe's cavern but surprise it was closed for the season.

So we visited the caverns that were very interesting, even with a nice boat ride on an underground river. Well worth the detour, also I found a new road the 88 that is very nice.

After the visit we drove for 285 miles and arrived at a campsite in Pensylvania near Harrisburg around 23h00 and went strait to bed.

Today it's raining but we are closer to our Nashville destination.

Last Preparations

2011-10-25T20:26:00.000-04:00

Well the departure is tomorow so today was the day of the last preparations. This morning it was the car stuff I had an appointment at the garage for an oil change, I like the syntetic it's better when towing and I'll be due for an other when I come back since I should do more then 15000 km on this roadtrip. Also I had a tie rod to replace on the left side and got the alignement done at the same time it makes for a more relaxing drive. Filled the gas tank, the winshield washer fluid and passed trough the car wash. I also check the air pressure on the trailer and the car including the spares.

Everything is packed up and ready to go including the note on the dashboard : (don't forget to unplug the trailer from the wall.) I only forgot once but my wife makes sure she reminds me once in a while. :)

Tomorow is a small driving day we have only 240 miles / 385 km. to do, we are going to Howes Caverns near Cobelskill NY. We should arrive early enough to visit the caverns, otherwise we will visit them the next morning.

Road Trip 2011 (Getting Ready)

2011-10-04T01:15:00.000-04:00

Once again the vacation time is coming, this year the departure will be on October 26 for a 52 days trek. The main destination is San Francisco with scheduled stops in Nashville, Petrified Forest National Park, Death Valley National Park, Monterey, Joshua Tree National Park, Palm Springs, Yuma, San Antonio, New Orleans, Pensacola, Savanah and more..

Needless to say I plan to take a lot of pictures and share some of them with you on this blog. Our first planned stop is in Nashville Tennesse, we have tickets for the grand ol opry a staple of country music and the longest running live radio show in the US.

Meanwhile I've been keeping busy doing the research about the trip, finding the spots I want to see and photograph, tagging them in Google Earth and entering them in my GPS. Wednesday I go and pick up the Travel Trailer from it's summer spot in Dunham and bring it in the driveway so we can start to get it ready for that perticular trip.

More to come as the departure gets closer.

150th Anniversary of the Civil War

2011-01-31T14:02:00.001-05:00

2011 is the 150th Anniversary of the begining of the Civil War and it is a great opportunity to visit some of the battlefield parks.

One hundred fifty years ago and for four bloody years the battle raged between the south and the north. This conflict that pitted brothers against one another killed two hundred thousand men and left close to half a million wounded. In the battle of Gettysburg alone the casualties are superior in three days of battle than all the American soldiers killed during the Vietnam war. The slave question is but one of the factors that started this conflict.

Today as you visit these battlefield it makes you realize the scale of the massacre, the markers and monuments are a reminder of real people who gave their lives for their vision of a country. I am interested by history and the civil war in perticular so it was interesting to go visit a few of the sites with my nephew who is very knowledgeable on history and the civil war, we went to Fort Sumter, Fort Pulaski and Gettysburg on this trip we took in january. He also enjoyed it I think.

Fort Sumter

When the first real battle of the civil war started on april 12, 1861 by a mortar fired from Fort Johnson east battery by Capt. George S.James signaling the beginning of the bombardment. Fort Sumter located at the entrance of Charleston harbour was just finished a few weeks before,most of the canons were in the courtyard and not yet installed in their battery position and the garrison was a fraction of what it should had been . The confederates started a bombardment that lasted 34 hours before the federals surrendered and the confederate flag was raised. Eventualy it would change hand again but not before being almost destroyed. the fort was rebuilt after the war and used until the end of WW2.

Fort Pulasky

Located at the mouth of the Savanah river Fort Pulaski was finished building in 1847 a mere 14 years before the beginning of the civil war. At the time it was built to defend against all the weapons in existence. The fort was captured by the confederates with no shots fired before the events a Fort Sumter the folowing april. I was easy for the confederates to take since the fort was occupied and defended by only 3 individuals. The retaking of the fort by the Union forces that started on april 10,1862 and with a bombardment that lasted 30 hours. At the time new experimental rifled canons and shells instead of canon balls were used and prooved that the improoved range and accuracy of these weapons would mark the end of massonry fortifications. The batteries on the fort that were of a very big caliber but without the new technology did not have the range to engage the attacking artillery, when the Union guns collapsed the east side of the forts and that a few shells came pretty close to the gun powder magazines the Confederates had to capitulate.

Gettysburg July 1,2 and 3 1863

This important battle was what is called a "meeting engagement" a type of battle where it starts with a small clash that draws in troups from both sides until you have two huge armies one in front of the others, in this case 95,000 Union troups facing 75,000 Confederates soldiers.

Although sparsely populated Gettysburg was a hub of more then 5 roads and even if it was not the target of an attack by the South it is not a big suprise that the clash started there. That summer of 1863 General Lee and his army were on their second invasion of the north and in the farmlands to feed his army. The position of Gettysburg made it a possible path to attack Washington by the north possibly gaining support trough Maryland who were on the fence at the beginning of the conflict and who had been forced into colaboration. The first day was a victory in the eyes of Lee having removed the yankees from the town of Gettysburg, In the eyes of George Meade the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac it was a good day since that his foward troops having occupied the rebels in town long enough for the rest of his army to assume the defensive position from Culp Hill to Big Round Top. History would prove him right, although to a modern observer the attack from the south seems like suicide Lee had a strong plan that could have succeded, furthermore at this point in the war he had never lost a battle so his confidence was very high and prone to take risky moves. The result of the whole engagement was the near destruction of the Confederate Army of Northen Virginia and it put them on the defensive for the rest of the war. It was the fight that tipped the balance in favor of the north for the rest of the war. I was the site of the Gettysburg Adress by Lincoln and the point were it became official that this was a war against slavery. The cost in human lives was astronomical even in the prespective of the time.

Today it is a great site to visit, first you can do the auto tour where you drive to one spot, park, get out, take pictures and discuss the history of it with your history buddy, in my case my nepew prooved to be quite knowledgable and interesting in his prespective of it. Inside the main building there is of course the famous Diorama a 360 degrees scaled for prespective model of the battlefield with the walls covered with the remaining view of the battlefield. The visual of it combined with the presentation give a very detailed and comprehensive view of the battle. A flashback to the nineteen century to be experience by anyone intersted in history.

Big Dan's Gator Walk

2011-01-09T12:54:00.000-05:00

One thing I like to do when I come to Florida is to do some hicking on the
multiple trails that exist around here and take pictures.

Some of these trails
are more Gator oriented and since my nephew is visiting and interested in the
adventure we went for this type of trail.

As we approched the trail by the access road that parallels a canal there was a
good size gator on the right side of the road and we heard a splash on our left.
We decided to proceed foward very carefully and I setup to take pictures.
After a few minutes a police cruiser comes along and the officer warns us that
there is many gator around, that they are active and that a few days ago some
people found themselves surrounded by eight gators. Also there was the sighting

of one that is the size of his patrol car.

He recommends us to be very aware of

our surroundings, a reccomendation we take seriously, and by the way he says as

he is leaving... they can run up to 35 miles per hour.

So we proceed on the trail and minutes later we see the one we call Colossus,

without taking a mesure we are pretty sure it is the one the officer was talking

about, like a sniper with his camo suit the gator is covered with vegetation and

he is looking straight at us.

We pass by trying to keep our distance but not as
far as we would like since there is another gator on the other side of the trail.
After that we change trail since I want to show my nephew the vultures nesting
area it is a relax trail for a while but then at one point the trail is blocked by 3
gators and I know that past them there is a beach with god knows how many of them
on it.

So we decided to take an other trail that bypass this one, full of vultures but
no gators. After another 1 or 2 km. walk along the swamp my nephew and I are
happy to get back in the truck without having to do the trail backwards.

Next trail we go for the birds.

Kennedy Space Center

2011-01-09T10:26:00.002-05:00

Thursday January 6,2011
So this morning we woke up and decided to do a little road trip up the coast to the Kennedy Space Center it's an 150 miles ride almost all highway. I haven't been there in twenty years and Felix my nephew only went when he was 4 so it should be interesting.

The place is better setup then I remembered and with a bigger exposition area, including an IMAX theater and a simulator. and lots of things to see.

The Saturn V (not the one pictured here) rocket is always impresive to see. The size of evrything is very impressive. All in all a good thay that ended watching Tron in IMAX and driving back to West Palm Beach when we got home it was close to midnight.

Dive! Dive! Dive!

2011-01-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

Dive! Dive! Dive!
Says the captain of the boat and we all jump together in the ocean, it's my first solo dive fresh out of SCUBA school and I'm a bit nervous, but in a good way as I playback the procedures in my head I intend this to be a safe dive as I plan to do many more. The first good news of the day is that the ocean is relatively calm to the locals it is an unusual occurence at this time of year, for me Neptune decided to give me a break from pucking my heart out to feed the fishes, nevertheless I'm full of triptone a gravol derivative well recommanded by the natives, also I'm eating my ginger as I'm thinking about my fat free breakfast. I'm still nauseous but functional. This dive is a drift diving dive, it is new to me but of course as usual I have researched it and I know the workings of it. As I get on the boat I tell the Dive Leader that I'm new at this and that it is my first solo dive, he introduce himself as Woody and tells me that he's going to be my buddy on this trip. This is the second good news of the day, you can't help being confident when you dive with a diver that has that level of experience. The water is a nice 71 degrees Farenheit and the visibility is a good 25 to 30 feet. They set me up with a 100 cubic feet tank that gives me a nice 3300 psi for my first dive this way I will have enought air to do the entire 40 minutes dive at 50 to 60 feet. The only sad thing is that I can't bring my camera it is rated for 30 feet on that dive it would crush under the pressure. We are told to look for lionfishes that are an invasive species if spotted they will be killed we see quite a few on that dive and the 3 subsequent ones Woody is grabbing some lobster from the ocean floor, supper will be good tonight, as he grabs them I see them Thermidor, Armoricaine and au Beurre blanc. We come across giant turtles the size of small cars one of them swims right by us, how gracious they are in the ocean compared to their demenour on land. As we pass near sharks there is alway a little tought about that movie I saw years ago Jaws it was called. Anyway as Woody is petting the Shark on the nose I think that either he never saw the movie or that that he knows things that I don't (more research about sharks to do for me). On my last dive I can't believe my eyes there is a giant Manta Ray right bellow me, when I say giant I mean it, that thing could swallow my pickup truck.

Photo Time
So today I decided to go diving with a dive instructor that is also a photographer, I looked at his pictures on line before leaving home and that is what I want to do. The plan is for a beach dive (no boat no seasick) at less then 30 feet, I can bring my camera. I get up and it's cold as hell outside 51 F, I think I woke up in Montreal, Well a plan is a plan and I get my ass to the Dive Shop (Force-E Great place and great people) to meet with Mark. Already the locals (except one Tom a wonderful and interesting gentlemen in my age group that dives without a wetsuit) are looking at me strange with my shorty wetsuit and no hood, This time I think they might be right I might get cold the water in in the 65 to 68 degrees, so before we go I aquired a hood and took my gloves along. It is cold to get setup on the beach but once in the water we are fine, Mark told me that he saw a Seahorse on his last dive and that they are a rare occurence, ten minutes in the water and here it is posing for us. My camera works fine the water is clear and with some tips given by Mark before the dive I'm clicking away. Here it is two things that I like doing merge together in perfect harmony and with that big 100 tank strapped to my back I'll run out of batteries before running out of air. We dove for one and a half hour and I clicked away at my heart content and now out of air and batteries it's time to get out. After the feeling of exliration passed and out on the beach the first thing that hits me is the cold, a new experience for me, those who know me for a while or ever entered my office will agree. I took my hoody sweater that I got as a gift from my aunt and uncle and a good 20 minutes to regain my body temperature. The verdict is that I really enjoy diving and I wish I always would carry a camera as I do it, so I see the breaking of my piggy bank in the future.

Seahorse about two to three inches high

Small Stingray taking off after being startled.

Cumberland Island

2010-12-06T13:03:00.001-05:00

When you enter Georgia from Florida on the I-95 at exit 1 there is the town of St-Marys, we stopped and camped there from the 29 of november to the 3rd of december before driving north to get home. We visited the region and it is quite interesting, first the little coastal towns of St-Marys in Georgia. and Fernandina Beach in Florida each side of the estuary of the St-Mary river have a charm of their own and are nice to visit. Also due to the presence of the Kingsland Navy Base and it's nuclear submarines there is a submarine museum in St-Marys. There is also Cumberland Island National Seashore that is a protected island that can only be visited with the park boat (reservations are necessary), on this island there is a population of wild horses and ruins of a castle owned and occupied in the late 1800 by the Carnegies. Also on the Florida side there is an old civil war era fort, Fort Clinch that can be visited, the 3 miles road to the fort is like driving trough a tunel of live oaks with their spanish moss. It gave us a chance to rest before heading home.

The Beach at Fort Clinch

Returning to St-Marys fron Cumberland Island

Key West

2010-11-25T20:35:00.000-05:00

After being sea sick on my tuesday dive and since wednesday the waves were even bigger my dive was cancelled so we decided to spend the day in Key West doing the tourist thing. So we parked the car and used the troley to get around always a good choice when you can get on and off as you wish. So we did the Hemingway house, the butterfly conservatory and had lunch on the Duval beach. The town is nice and full of history, the food is good and there is lots to see and I plan to come back again.

SCUBA Training

2010-11-22T17:45:00.000-05:00

One of the things I wanted to do for a long time is to go SCUBA diving, so I
decided that now it was time for it. From home I did a little research and found
that there was a dive center that is in between the two locations I am camping at
in the keys. So I enrolled in the open water certification class at Tilden Dive
Center in Marathon Florida, uppon registration they gave me a kit including a
book to study, so I got down to it and passed 2 days studying. Then we got to the
pool part of the program and I got to meet my instructor, his name is Hayes and I
am is only student so I get one on one instruction, He's a great instructor
always ready with a tip and a pep talk when needed. The theory part of the
program goes as well as it can go. In my case the hard part is the physical
portion first I need to swim 50m under water without equipement it took me 3
tries, then 200m on the surface any style you want, good thing the people around
the pool don't have those scorecards like at the olympics, when I finished this
portion I was so dizzy I had to sit in the stairs of the pool for 10 minutes to
regain my balance. The third part was the deadman float for 10 minutes, for some
reason this exercise was unsetling for me. Today I went for my first ocean dive,
so I got up at 6h00 and drove one hour to the dive center and had a good
breakfast buritos and coffee at McDonald. When we got to the dive site it was
quite an agiteted sea at least for my comfort zone I felt a little nauseaus. I
got my gear on and took the step into the ocean, we dove got buyant with some
difficulty and did a few excercises before the nausea started again. As the need
to vomit came uppon me I was confronted with a problem that I did not know the
answer for, so I managed to resist the urge to barf and signaled my instructor
that I had to surface good thing that he held me down on the ascent because I was
going up a bit fast since that to ad insult to injury my weight belt was falling
off and I had to hold it with one hand. Leaning on the side of the boat the
fishes below were in a frenzy as I was serving them a Hot McDonald Breakfast.
So on that whole trip my total divetime was 9 minutes and I spent the remainder
of the trip between the side of the boat and lying down. Tomorow was supposed to
be my next trip but I just got a call that the ocean will be even rougher tomorow
and that we are going to try for wednesday instead.

Long Key State Park

2010-11-22T17:27:00.000-05:00

AKA Camper's Paradise.
from Monday the 15 to Saturday the 20th of November:
I haven't posted all week because we were without internet, so here it is with a little delay. The place is fantatastic we are in the keys about 65 miles from Key West, the campsite is on the beach and the ocean is shallow, you can walk half a mile in the ocean before you are waist deep. Needless to say the sunrise is at your door every morning. It is opened to all type of campers quite a few of them camping in small tents.When I arrived I setup a tripod that I pegged to the groung and left it there for the duration of my stay. Here are two pictures I took from this position, the first one right after the setup and the other at night a 19 minutes exposure that reaveling the star movement in the form of a trail.

At the Dog Beach

2010-11-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Walton Rock Beach in Port St-Lucie 27'20'17.00" N - 80'14'00.83"W it's the only beach that allows dogs in these parts. Although it was not a good beach day whit the high winds, big tides and the ever dangerous riptide currents, it was still nice to be at the beach taking pictures. I took those of a dog that was playing in the water, not my dog that was happy to be in her chair looking at the people and dogs passing on the beach.

In and out of Alabama

2010-11-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

Well here it is I'm out of the woods and almost in Florida. For the last few days we were in Desoto State Park in Alabama and there was no internet, we are now in Georgia close to the state line of Florida, we are stopped for the day we have to refill the propane tank and do some groceries. While we were in Alabama we went on a trail with the dog, she likes it a lot but after a while she doesn't want to move anymore, so this time we set her up in the backpack and she was happy. There were some falls to see on these trails but the water level of the river was very low and therefore the falls much less spectacular. Tomorow we will setup somewhere in Florida we are in no rush we still have 5 days to get to Long Key State Park in the keys. Here are some pictures from Alabama, my next post should be from Florida.

Stormfront in the Smokies

2010-11-04T22:52:00.002-04:00

It rained hard all night and through the morning, after lunch the sun came up so we decided to take the road trough the park to the North Carolina entrance 30 miles away. It was nice enought but as we got to Newfound Gap at 5500 feet it was windy and close to the freezing point. The road to the dome was closed because what we got as rain in the valley they got as snow at higher altitudes. On the way back the storm was comming in again. We passed trough a little rain driving down on the Tennesse side and it was sunny by the time we got to our camp in Pigeon Forge, unfortunatly we had dammage to the awning of the trailer caused by the wind. Here a picture taken near Newfound Gap around 4:30 PM on our way back.

Roaring Fork

2010-11-03T09:58:00.000-04:00

There are remote areas in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that were inhabited in the 30s when the land was aquired by the federal goverment to make the park. Some of the occupants were displaced others were allowed to stay for the rest of their natural life. Some of their homestead were conserved by the Natural Park Service. One of these region is Roaring Fork, it is now accessible by a small winding mountain road and along the way there are places to stop for trails or to visit some of the conserved homesteads, this was the house of Noah Ogle and his family.

After lunch we returned to the Roaring Forks, parked and took the trail that

leads to the Grotto Falls one of many falls in the park. The 2.5 miles trail was

marked as moderate in difficulty, now I know we are not better then moderate in

our physical shape the trail climbs from 3300 feet to 3800 feet but worth every

step.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

2010-11-01T22:08:00.002-04:00

Well here it is we are in Pigeon Forge at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, so this morning I went out and took some pictures from the top of Clingmans Dome at 6600 feet. The last kilometer is a hike up a steep hill, it reminds you of how many bags of chips you ate while watching TV during the rest of the year. After much huffing and puffing I made it to the top.

I came back to camp for lunch, and we went to Cades Cove, a valley nestled in the mountains. It used to be populated in the 19th century and there are structures that were abandoned. It's a beautifull place to see.

Natural Bridge Virginia

2010-10-30T21:39:00.000-04:00

Today the weather was nice and we visited Natural Bridge, first there is the trail along cedar creek that goes down at least 150 steps and it goes right trough the formation. at the bottom of the formation there is the survey marker left by George Washington in the 18th century and the trail goes on past an indian village and ends a mile further a a little water fall. We went back to camp for lunch and returned in the afternoon to visit their caverns. Quite a nice day that I ended with a car ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Tomorow we are heading to Pigeon Forge, Tennesse.

Foamhenge

2010-10-29T19:49:00.000-04:00

In the rolling hills of Virginia hidden at the end of a dirt road on top of a hill you can find Foamhenge a full scale replica made of styrofoam of the famous Stonehenge. I had found the spot in Google Earth and entered the coordinates in my GPS, good thing I would never have found it. We are parked in this area for a few days and there is a lot of little gems to discover, more to follow.

Getting ready for the annual november road trip.

2010-10-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

With only five days before the departure there is still lots to do. This morning we took care of putting away all the stuff in the backyard and other seasonal chores, has to be done before we leave, when we come back it will be winter. We have 2 or 3 days of work left to do. Last preparations on wednesday and then thursday morning we hit the road.

Here is the travel plan so far, we have to be in the keys from the 15 to the 29 of november, the rest is flexible depending on the weather.