Mornings on the pool deck are my favorite times, because the only people out then are me and the deck attendants. 😉
Not Quite Bernini
Tag Archives: Travel
An Accidental Success?
This is for Jeff, who mentioned the fortunate placement of the sun in my earlier sunrise photo from Fort Walton Beach. I wish I could say I planned it! 😉
Checkers
“Chad”
Currently back on land with a little time to look at photos, so I’ll be posting a few random frames. Here is an interesting scene from Sint Maarten a week or so ago.
This Morning’s Gift
Sunrises have gotten sort of cliche for me lately, but the chance for a sunrise at the beach still manages to get my attention. We spent last night at Fort Walton Beach, FL and I got myself up this morning to see what I was presented with. I gladly accepted this gift of a beautiful sunrise. The crescent moon, Venus and stars were an unexpected bonus!
Postcard From Fredericksburg, Texas
This past weekend, Kathy & I spent some time in Fredericksburg, Texas, which is the heart of Texas wine country. Didn’t know Texas made wine? Well, sure ’nuff they do!
We stayed at a lovely motel located at the Gillespie County airport called the Hangar Hotel. It is styled after a WWII hangar from the 1940s, complete with an Officer’s Club bar and an airport diner. It was a great place to hang out for a few days, watching the planes come and go, including an impressive number of business prop and jet aircraft.
We’re in Florida now, getting ready for another cruise that starts Friday. More photos in the works!
Rescue At Sea
On the first day of our cruise we were at sea, headed to Costa Maya, Mexico. At some point in the afternoon we started to notice that the ship had slowed and started a big turn. As passengers realized this we started to wonder what was happening, and soon word started to spread that someone had spotted a stranded sailboat.
Soon the captain came on the PA and explained that we had passed a disabled boat and that the passengers were waving for help. It is a maritime rule that the closest vessel is obligated to perform a rescue, and that was us.
While the rescue was taking place, the cruise director kept asking for “no photos or videos,” which is a lost effort when everyone on board is carrying a camera! I took a few photos of the rescue, but they are heavily cropped. The one time on the cruise where I wish I had packed my long lens!
Turns out it wasn’t much of a sailboat. We learned the following day when the rescued people were turned over to Mexican authorities that they were refugees from Cuba, had been at sea for over a month, and had recently run out of food and water.
I can only imagine the desperation that people have that would make them want to undertake such an effort. I am thankful that any ship I sail on has plenty of food and water!
A Slice of Color From Belize
Kathy & I are in Fredericksburg, TX after our cruise on Norwegian Prima, and I just took time to look at my photos so far. We didn’t get off the ship in Costa Maya, Mexico because we got in to port late and the weather was iffy, which turned out to be the right move because it rained most of the time we were in port!
Our stop in Harvest Caye, Belize was cloudy and overcast, so I didn’t get any “postcard worthy” photos, but I did manage to find some slices of color in this interesting foliage.
I’ve taken a bunch more photos and will get them posted in due time!
Postcard From Space Center Houston
Houston, We had no problem. 😉
Kathy & I visited the Space Center Houston Complex, including a tour of the Christopher C. Kraft Mission Control Center, which was the Mission Control made famous with the saying, but also for the center used in all of the Apollo missions and many Shuttle missions. The center has been completely restored, down to the butts in the ashtrays on the consoles. The idea was to make the center look like the workers just got up and went home for the day.
The presentation included snippets from the Apollo 11 mission which landed on the moon. For a long-time space buff it was truly a memorable visit!
This photo also looks pretty good (possibly better) in B&W:
Postcard From Vicksburg, Mississippi
Kathy & I are enroute to Texas for the first leg of our winter travels. We made a long overdue stop in Vicksburg to visit the National Military Park there. It is a solemn reminder of the price many have paid over our nation’s history.
We visited on a cloudy and overcast day, but thankfully with no rain. The whole time I photographed there I was envisioning the photos in black & white, in an inadequate homage to the photographs that were made in the heat of the moment. The battlefields as they exist today are a distant reminder of the horrors of battle, but the tribute paid in the form of monuments and memorials is moving.