Summer 2014, lots of adventures!

Venetian adventures!

An amazing journey to Venice began when two art teacher friends, Mary Hilger and Mary Sorrels, wrote a grant to study mosaic making. After they were notified that their grant had been funded, they invited fellow art teacher Susan Buttermore and me to join them in this art adventure. How could we say no!

Our second vacation this summer was also spent with our good friends Gary & Gail Chittaro. We visited The Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville and visited the Biltmore House as well.  Next our trip took us north along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP.  While camping near Lynchburg, VA we also decided to get in a little cultural history and took a tour of Appomatix Court House where the treaty ending the Civil War was signed.

Please visit our photographs in the Photo Gallery.  We are always adding those we think you will enjoy.

The entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway at the northern end.  The parkway is 469 beautiful miles long - without one stop sign.  I wish we could say we drove the whole thing but at 35-45 mph we would probably still be driving.  We did see many great vistas and waterfalls in the portion we did drive - probably 150 miles or so.  Much of the first 2 days were spend in the rain but it didn't dampen our spirits or keep us from making photographs. 

Here is Terri standing by our mode of transportation.  Her sisters like to call it the 'Travel Castle'.  This truck, a Chevy 3500 HD Duramax Diesel is a great upgrade from our last one - a 2500 HD. At 9-11 mpg fuel stops are expensive.

This is Appomatix County Court House. Originally built in 1846 it was destroyed by fire in 1892.  This is a replica although many of the buildings such as the stores, jail, law office and residential houses are original.  An actor played the part of a Union soldier who was at the surrender April 9, 1865 and stay in character even during questioning after his performance. If you into visiting Civil War battlefields this is one you should not miss.

We just completed a short vacation with our friends Gary & Gail Chittaro.  Visits included Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks as well as Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ.  Although we only had 4 days we had wonderful weather and were able to make many interesting photographs. Look at all our photos in the latest galleries.

Memorial Day weekend was spent in Southern Indiana near French Lick and Spring Mills SP.  Pictures are posted in our latest gallery page.
We had to show this picture as we sure got a great laugh from it. 

This was a very lucky shot of a Red Tailed Hawk.  It was taken in 30+ mile per hour winds at our son Chris's ranch in San Benito, Texas. He/she had landed in a mesquite tree about 100 yards away and was spotted by his father-in-law Stanford Knowles.

While visiting our oldest son Chris and his family in San Benito Texas we decided to visit Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge is on a major flyway and over 400 species of birds have been recorded.  Although overcast and the wrong time of day we were able to see and photograph an Eastern Screech Owl seen at the left.  He/she was nestled in a drain pipe from the roof of the visitor center. Below is another nice picture of a green jay as taken in the blind at the visitor center.  And lastly, while driving through the park we got a picture of the quite ugly Turkey Vultures sitting in a tree.  This is one of the few times we have seen them not flying and using the thermals looking for road kill.

Our bird feeders in the backyard seem to attract hawks to feed on the birds.  This is one of many Sharp-shinned hawks that like to frequent our yard.

Rich and Terri have both tried to get photos of the nesting pair of eagles and have had little luck. This last week we both had a chance as they were out flying.  Terri got a few on a sunny day and Rich got them a few days later while very overcast.  Terri caught them flying overhead but didn't have a long enough lens.  I think she will remember to keep a longer lens in her vehicle from now on. Rich had his 600mm lens but that day they did not cooperate and come close to the road.  We will keep trying as they are such majestic birds.