Jen and I spent the better part of a day in December at the San Diego Zoo. Our favorite exhibits were the monkeys. The zoo was surprisingly hilly - it was a good walk. Some animals were not on exhibit when we visited, including the Galapagos tortoises. It was our first trip to San Diego.
On a road trip to visit relatives in Florida in November, we stopped at Avery Island, Louisiana for a couple of hours to tour the Tabasco pepper sauce factory. Avery Island is located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by swamp marsh. It's right on top of a major salt dome, and the saltworks on the island were an important reason why the McIlhenny family began producing a pepper sauce there.
Jen and I spent a September day exploring California's Sierra Nevada Foothills. We visited Twisted Oak Winery in Calaveras County and tried our hands at gold panning in the upper Mokelumne River in Amador County.
Jen and I spent a September day visiting the wineries in Napa Valley, California. This was our second trip to Napa Valley, and we tried to visit mostly smaller wineries and wines we've never tried before. We're getting better about tasting wines (more tasting, less drinking), and were able to visit ten wineries during the day.
Jen and I visited Maui, Hawaii, in January, 2007. It was our first trip to Hawaii, and we spent a full week exploring the island of Maui. We saw wonderful beaches and natural scenery, visited a working tropical plantation and botanical gardens, saw whales, snorkeled at a coral reef, and saw the summit of the highest dormant volcano in the world. Maui no ka oi!
Jen and I spent a Sunday afternoon in October, 2006 hiking at the Doeskin Ranch Public Use Area in the Balcones Canyonland National Wildlife Refuge. Doeskin Ranch is a former working cattle ranch about an hours' drive west-northwest of Austin. When I think of Texas terrain, this is the kind of vista I imagine, prairie grasslands and rugged hills covered in Live Oaks and mountain cedars.
Jen and I visited Sonoma County, California in October, 2005. It was our first trip to Sonoma wine country. We spent all day Sunday tasting wines. I think the Dry Creek Valley is now my favorite wine appellation to visit, and I definitely want to go back and try more Zinfandels there.
We visited two New Mexico wineries in August, 2005. Both Casa Rondeña Winery and Gruet Winery are located in the greater Albuquerque area. We were able to visit both in the same afternoon. My personal favorite from Casa Rondeña was their Cabernet Franc, the original red wine varietal that the winery has focused on since they started the business in 1996. All of Gruet's sparkling wines were good, if you like sparkling wine, but their still wines did not impress me.
We visited two wineries in the Texas High Plains AVA in August, 2005. Both Llano Estacado Winery and Cap*Rock Winery are located near Lubbock, Texas. The best wine we tasted on this trip was the 2000 Cap*Rock Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. This was our first trip to the wineries in this part of Texas.
The Good Water Trail around Lake Georgetown is one of our favorite hikes in Central Texas. The lake is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir, so there is no private property on the lake. There are a few developed parks and campgrounds, as well as primitive campgrounds, all connected by the Good Water Trail, which is 16.5 miles in total length. April 16-17, Jen and I hiked in from Cedar Breaks Park to Cedar Hollow Camp, where we spent the night before returning the way we came.
Jen and I went to the 2005 Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival April 9-10, 2005. This year, the festival was held in Austin, at Auditorium Shores, just across Town Lake from the downtown business district. It was a two-day event this year, and we went for most of both days. We had excellent weather. These photos were taken on Sunday.
Mount Diablo State Park is located in the San Francisco bay area of California, about ten miles east of Oakland. Mount Diablo is 3,849 feet in elevation, and has a road that you can drive up to the summit observation area. We brought a picnic lunch with us, and encountered many cyclists on the drive.
Jen and I spent a day in Napa Valley, California in May, 2004. This was our first visit to California wine country. We visited the tasting rooms of five wineries and a wine merchant, had a picnic lunch and took a winery tour, and finished with dinner at a Spanish restaurant in the town of Napa.
Muir Woods National Monument is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This is the last old growth stand of coastal redwood trees in the San Francisco Bay area, spared from logging by their inaccessibility in a deep valley. We visited the Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods, and Muir Beach on a nice spring day in May, 2004.
An inch and a quarter of snow fell in Austin on the morning of February 14, 2004. This is sufficiently unusual event in central Texas that it merited a two mile long walk around the Laurel Oaks neighborhood. We walked a loop formed by Fireoak Drive and Oak View Drive, with a shortcut through Oakview Park and up Carlwood Drive.
Colorado Bend State Park is located in San Saba county, Texas, about a two hour drive from Austin. The park was once the Gorman and Lemon Ranches, which were situated on the inside of a large bend in the Colorado River, above Lake Buchanan. Jen and I camped overnight at the park, did some light trail walking, enjoyed a camp fire, and took the Gorman Falls Tour. While we were in the area, we also took the opportunity to visit Alamosa Wine Cellars and try some of their 2001 "El Guapo."
Inks Lake State Park is adjacent to the Inks Lake reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas. It is a little over an hour drive from Austin. Most visitors do not realize that the park has 12 miles of hiking trails that meander through the granite hills south of the campgrounds. The trails on the south side of the Park Road, away from the campgrounds and lake, are even pretty well marked.
Jen and I visited the state of Washington in the first week of April, 2003. After attending my cousin's wedding, we went on a mini-vacation to visit both Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park. We stayed at the Mount Rainier National Park Inn, which was wonderful, and in Olympic National Park, we hiked in the rain.
Bull Creek flows in northwest Austin and northwest Travis County, Texas. It is known as the "Galapagos of Texas," and supports a wide range of wildlife including golden-cheeked warblers and bobcats. The creek drains into Lake Austin, a reservoir of the lower Colorado River. For much of its length, the city maintains a greenbelt and parkland, including a hiking trail and a couple of parks.
We visited New Zealand in October, 2002. We rented a car to go visit the Bay of Plenty and the Bay of Islands regions on the north island. We then flew to Christchurch on the south island and rented another car. On the south island, we visited the Canterbury, Otago, Central Otago, Westland, and Marlborough regions. We crossed the Cook Strait on the ferry, rented a third car in Wellington, and drove through the Wanganui-Manawatu, Taranaki, and Waikato regions on the way back to Auckland.
In May, 2002, several members and friends of the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club got together for a picnic and sailing cruise on Lake Travis, a large reservoir on the west side of the Austin, TX metropolitan area.
The Ride for the Roses is an annual fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for those living with, through, and beyond cancer. Lance is a three-time winner of the Tour de France, and a local hero. This year, 9,000 riders supported the cause, doing 10, 25, 40, 75, or 100 mile rides. Jen and I rode the 10 mile route, and had a great time.
Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park is a great place to visit for a walk in the woods or a picnic. It has a great trail system right in the middle of town. Jen and I spent a January afternoon in the park practicing our Amateur Radio direction finding skills. One of us would hide with a radio transmitter and the other would have to locate the transmitter. It was a little chilly, but otherwise great fun.
The Lost Maples State Natural Area is located in Bandera and Real Counties, of Texas, north of Vanderpool on the Sabinal River. It covers 2174 acres and has several creeks and streams in canyons. We hiked a couple of miles to a hilltop primitive camping area at 2250 ft. ASL, where we spent the night in the tent. The next morning, we hiked back down into the canyons for a meandering three mile hike back to the trail-head before lunch.
One of our favorite places in Austin is Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park. This is a large city park in north Austin that was part of a farm thirty years ago. The really interesting part of the park is the extensive woodland trail system surrounding the several branches of Walnut Creek. The undeveloped portion of the park is large enough that you can hike for two or three miles in woodland trails without crossing your own path.
Jen and I hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont in June, 2001. We hiked north for two days from Sherburne Pass in June, 2000, and started up from the point we left the trail the previous year and hiked two more days to Vermont State Highway 12, where we walked into the Village of Woodstock.
The Barton Creek Greenbelt is located in southwest Austin, TX. It is approximately eight miles long. The trail-head we entered was at the Barton Springs Pool, in Zilker Park. We walked upstream about three miles before heading back to the park.
Matagorda Island State Park is a 38 mile long barrier island separating the Texas coastline from the Gulf of Mexico. Aside from a lighthouse and the park ranger stations, it is undeveloped, and can only be reached by boat. We took the ferry from Port O'Connor, and camped out on the beach in February, 2001. It was deer hunting season, so we were not allowed to wander from the beach area, but there was only one other couple on the beach overnight, so it was pretty secluded.
Jen and I visited Big Bend National Park in January, 2001. Big Bend is in west Texas, in the big bend of the Rio Grande River, and is an eight hour drive from Austin. We spent two full days hiking in the Chisos Mountains, almost certainly the most fantastic hiking scenery in the state of Texas. We camped overnight on the South Rim, overlooking the Chihuahuan Desert.
Granger Lake is located in the Texas Blacklands Prairie northeast of Austin, TX. It is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir, which means that it is completely surrounded by parks and wildlife areas. These photos were taken on a three-mile nature walk around the southwest corner of the lake.
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area is located in the Texas Hill Country, northwest of Fredericksburg. Enchanted Rock is a batholith, a single large rock exposed by erosion. It is quite unusual for its enormous size. The Tonkawa believed that the rock was enchanted, and that if you listen carefully at dusk in the summer, you can hear the rock groan. These photos were taken in the spring of 2000.
Padre Island National Seashore is the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the United States. Jen and I visited the north end of the island, near Corpus Christi, in February, 2001, and camped overnight on the beach. Being February, it wasn't very crowded, but there were plenty of fishermen driving down the beach, even in the middle of the night.
Inks Lake State Park is adjacent to the Inks Lake reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas. It is a little over an hour drive from Austin. Although we've been back several times since, this was our first visit to the park, in November, 1999.
Pedernales Falls State Park is located in Blanco County in the Texas Hill Country east of Johnson City. The park gets its name from a series of rapids in the Pedernales River, which is a tributary of the Colorado River. Jen and I visited the park on a day trip in November, 1999. We saw the "falls" but we also took time to explore other parts of the river.
The Texas Hill Country is a large region in the center of the state, just west of Austin, TX. I visit it every so often, and I have friends who live there now. It can be quite pretty in the spring with lots of wild flowers, lakes, rivers, and rolling hills.
In March, 1999, while attending the IEEE Virtual Reality '99 conference in Houston, TX, the entire conference went on a planned outing to Space Center Houston, the official visitor's center of NASA's Johnson Space Center. These photos were taken on 16 March 1999.
In March, 1999, while attending the IEEE Virtual Reality '99 conference in Houston, TX, I took off for a few hours one afternoon to visit the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Park and the U.S.S. Texas, nearby.
I spent the summer of 1998 in the Washington, D.C. area while working for the Virtual Reality Lab at the Naval Research Laboratory. These photos were taken on a Sunday bike ride to the Mall.
I spent a weekend in June on top of the highest mountain in West Virginia, where I was participating in a radio contest. These are photos I took walking around the summit area.
I traveled to Haïti with my father and sister. We were traveling with a group active with World Vision, an inter-denominational Christian relief organization. Our trip was involved with the establishment of micro-enterprise development projects in the country.
In the summer of 1992, I spent three months studying and traveling in the People's Republic of China. In late August, we walked across the border from Shenzhen in Guangdong Province into the (then) British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, where I spent a week living in a youth hostel in Kowloon, and did a lot of sight-seeing. After three weeks in the People's Republic, Hong Kong was something of a sensory overload.
In the summer of 1992, I spent three months in the People's Republic of China. I was with a group of ten students and one professor in a Dartmouth College Foreign Study Program. We spent ten weeks living in the foreign student dormitory of Beijing Normal University and taking language and literature classes. In late July, our group took a two week trip to Xinjiang, Gansu, and Shaanxi Provinces. In late August, after the academic term was complete, many of us took a two week trip on our own to the city of Shanghai, to Guangxi province, and finally to Hong Kong.