Posts Tagged ‘Travels’

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Scenic Sunday #56: Ormond Beach

August 9, 2009
Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

We were in Ormond Beach, Florida, this past Wednesday to celebrate Betsy’s birthday.  We had an ocean view room on the fifth floor of the hotel and had a wonderful view of the beach and the ocean, as you can see from the picture above.

We woke up in time to see the sunrise over the Atlantic.  It was almost as good as seeing the sunrise from a ship at sea.

Sunrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

Sunrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

We were treated to a beautiful start of the day.  Later in the day we spent some time on the beach and even got wet in the ocean.  We had dinner with Betsy’s cousin Bonnie, who shares a birthday with Betsy.  Bonnie and her husband, Dave, met us at a seafood restaurant where we were able to enjoy the fresh seafood.

Moonrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

Moonrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

The day ended as beautifully as it began with a beautiful moonrise opposite the balcony of our room.  All in all, I hope Betsy had a nice birthday.

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Posted in Betsy | 14 Comments »

On the Road Again

August 1, 2009
The Arkansas River in a sunrise from Mount Nebo. December 2, 2008.

The Arkansas River in a sunrise from Mount Nebo. December 2, 2008.

I managed to finish a third set of photos and get them published.  This third set is of a sunrise on Mount Nebo in Arkansas taken last December.  This picture shows the Arkansas River in the valley below in the light of early dawn.  You can see other pictures of that sunrise by clicking HERE.

Actually it’s appropriate for me to post a travel picture today because Betsy and I are about to hit the road again.  Betsy’s brother is in a nursing home in Jacksonville, Florida, and we want to go see him.  My beautiful bride likes the beach, so we’re going to spend a couple of days on the beach near Daytona.  We’ll be at the beach on Betsy’s birthday (I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the number), so we’ll have an appropriate celebration.

As a matter of fact, it will be a double celebration.  Betsy shares a birthday with one of her cousins and we will be having dinner with Bonnie and her husband.  We’ll celebrate by getting some fresh seafood.

It should come as no surprise that we’ve planned the trip to include some waterfalls.  We’ll check out a couple of waterfalls in northern Georgia on the way to Florida.  We’ve learned that Florida has one natural waterfall, so we’ve arranged our trip home to include that waterfall.  If we see it Florida will be the first state in which we’ve visited all the waterfalls!!!

So we’re going to be away from home and away from the computers for several days.  We plan to get back home on Saturday, August 8, so hopefully I’ll have a post on Sunday, August 9.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

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Posted in Travels | 11 Comments »

Skywatch Friday # 55: The Great Wall

July 31, 2009
The Great Wall at Badaling. July, 1990.

The Great Wall at Badaling. July, 1990.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

This is obviously not a picture I took this week.  It is actually a scan of a slide I took in 1990.  I was on my second trip to China and our hosts took us to the Great Wall at Badaling, outside of Beijing.  This watchtower is located at the highest point on the south side of the pass.  I made it to the tower, but not before taking this picture.

It was a beautiful day for hiking on the Great Wall, and I really like the wispy clouds in that blue sky.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 13 Comments »

Jamestown Settlement

July 30, 2009
The gate at James Fort in Jamestown Settlement. June 20, 2007.

The gate at James Fort in Jamestown Settlement. June 20, 2007.

We’ve had rain off and on for the past couple of days, so I’ve been able to get more work done on some of my back-logged photos.  If we had enough rain for me to completely catch up, I think we would all need arks.

The picture above is the entrance to James Fort at Jamestown Settlement in Virginia.  Betsy and I went there in 2007 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settling of Jamestown.  Jamestown Settlement is a living-history museum on the road leading to the National Park, so we stopped there first.

Jamestown Settlement includes a film about the first two decades of the Jamestown colony and several galleries of artifacts from both English settlers and Powhatan Indians.  The Settlement also includes a re-created Powhatan Indian Village, replicas of the three ships which brought the English settlers to Virginia, and a full-scale replica of the fort built by the settlers.

You can see more of our pictures from Jamestown Settlement HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 8 Comments »

Scenic Sunday # 54: Newfound Gap

July 26, 2009
Newfound Gap, Great Smoky Mountains. May 19, 2001.

Newfound Gap, Great Smoky Mountains. May 19, 2001.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

As I mentioned the other day, Betsy and I visited with friends at Cades Cove in the Smokies on Thursday.  That visit got me looking at other pictures we’ve taken in the park, and I decided to share these pictures with you.

The picture above was taken in 2001 at Newfound Gap.  As southerners know, a gap is a low point in a mountain ridge.  New Englanders call such places “notches” while westerners refer to them as mountain “passes.”  At an elevation of 5,046 feet Newfound Gap is the lowest drivable pass through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The old road over the Smoky Mountains crossed at Indian Gap, located about 1.5 miles west of the current site.  In 1872 a Swiss geographer, Arnold Henry Guyot, discovered Newfound Gap was lower than Indian Gap.  When the lower, easier crossing was discovered, it became known as the “newfound” gap.  A new road followed, and it became the forerunner of Newfound Gap Road, which can be seen in the distance in the picture above.

But as scenic as the picture above may be, the following picture is even more scenic.  That’s because it shows my beautiful bride at that same location on the same day.

Betsy at Newfound Gap, GSMNP. May 19, 2001.

Betsy at Newfound Gap, GSMNP. May 19, 2001.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 9 Comments »

Yorktown Victory Center

July 25, 2009
Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, Virginia. June 19, 2009.

Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, Virginia. June 19, 2007.

I’ve had a chance to work on photos over the past several days and came across pictures that were taken when Betsy and I visited Virginia in 2007.  We went to celebrate our anniversary and to visit Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown.

The first place we visited when we got to the Colonial National Historical Park was the Yorktown Victory Center.  The Victory Center is a living-history museum that helps bring the American Revolution to life.   In addition to a film about the Siege of Yorktown, there are re-enactors in a Continental Army encampment who help bring that period to life.

We enjoyed our time at the Victory Center and found it to be very interesting.  Afterwards we saw a little of the riverfront in the town of Yorktown.  It was a very nice beginning of our historical vacation.

If you would like to see more pictures from the Yorktown Victory Center, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 8 Comments »

Scenic Sunday # 53: The Blue Ridge Mountains

July 19, 2009
The Blue Ridge Mountains near Mount Mitchell, North Carolina. July 11, 2009.

The Blue Ridge Mountains near Mount Mitchell, North Carolina. July 11, 2009.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

The picture above was taken last Saturday (July 11) at Mountain Air, North Carolina.  The mountains under the clouds are the Blue Ridge Mountains near Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi.

The Blue Ridge Mountains under a sunny, blue sky.  What could be more scenic?

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 4 Comments »

How the Other Half Lives

July 18, 2009
The runway at Mountain Air, North Carolina. July 11, 2009.

The runway at Mountain Air, North Carolina. July 11, 2009.

When Betsy and I visited with my son last weekend, we stayed at a condo in Mountain Air, North Carolina, owned by the parents of my son’s girlfriend.  Mountain Air gets in name in part from the private air strip shown in the picture above.  The air strip is on top of the mountain and runs through the golf course.  Do you want to spend a weekend in the mountains?  Hop on your plane and fly in.  If you enlarge the picture your can see a few planes parked to the right of the runway near the ridge line.

The Mountain Air golf course.

The Mountain Air golf course. July 11, 2009.

Crossville calls itself the Golf Capital of Tennessee, and the Glade, where we live, has five golf courses.  But none of our courses have holes quite as dramatic as the course at Mountain Air.  Can you spot the two golfers on the tee to the left of center in this photo.  That’s the runway in the lower right-hand corner.

A home in Mountain Air, North Carolina. July 11, 2009.

A home in Mountain Air, North Carolina. July 11, 2009.

I will admit that the architecture of the homes we saw did a marvelous job of blending with the environment.  But some of the houses were huge.  I think several of the houses on our street would fit inside this one house.

But Mountain Air is a beautiful part of the country, and we were very happy to be able to visit there.

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Posted in Travels | 13 Comments »

Watery Wednesday # 44: Ammons Creek Falls

July 15, 2009
Ammons Creek Falls, Clayton, Georgia. June 22, 2009.

Ammons Creek Falls, Clayton, Georgia. June 22, 2009.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday, a weekly meme created and hosted by 2sweeetnsaxy of Eyes, Mind, Heart.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

Last week I shared Holcomb Creek Falls, which we visited on our anniversary trip to northeast Georgia.  After enjoying Holcomb Creek Falls we hiked another quarter-mile through the woods.  This part of the hike was uphill, but it led us to Ammons Creek Falls.  Ammons Creek Falls is not as tall as Holcomb Creek Falls, but it is still very pretty.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 16 Comments »

My World # 40: The Mountains of Western North Carolina

July 14, 2009
Evening in the mountains of North Carolina. July 10, 2009.

Evening in the mountains of North Carolina. July 10, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

I lived in Black Mountain, North Carolina, from 1972 – 1985 and really grew to love the mountains.  So when my son Bob called to ask us to come visit them during their vacation in North Carolina, it didn’t need to think long before saying yes.

Sunlight breaking through the clouds. July 10, 2009.

Sunlight breaking through the clouds. July 10, 2009.

Bob, Mel and the boys were staying near Burnsville, North Carolina.  It was great to get back to those mountains that I had visited many times.  Friday evening was cloudy, but the sun did attempt to break through the clouds.

Clouds over the mountains. July 11, 2009.

Clouds over the mountains. July 11, 2009.

Saturday morning the sky was brighter, but there were still clouds skirting the tops of the mountains.

Bob, Mel, Zack and Sean. July 11, 2009.

Bob, Mel, Zack and Sean. July 11, 2009.

The real reason our visit was so nice were these wonderful people.  Their hospitality was as high as the mountains behind them.

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Posted in My World | 13 Comments »

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