edpaffjr.comHere are a few photos from my DSLR camera from our recent vacation in and around Virginia Beach. Included are the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the USS Wisconsin. We have additional photos on another camera that I will get online sometime soon.
Archive for the 'Travel' Category
Here is a set of photos from our day spent in Delaware. We drove to Rehoboth Beach (through Milton) from Hagerstown, Maryland in the morning/afternoon. Later that night we stayed in Seaford before driving the next day to Virginia Beach.
And then there was one. That’s right, only one state left that I have yet to visit. We spent the last four days knee deep in the water at Virginia Beach with Kim’s family, but before doing that we made a slight detour over to Delaware, state #49 for both Kim and I. We left after work on Friday and drove to Hagerstown, Maryland for some sleep. Saturday morning we were up bright and early to get a good jump on the day. We pointed the car toward Milton, Delaware home of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Tours are offered of the facility, but we didn’t think to make a reservation until the day before and everything was full. But even if you can’t take the tour, it is worth a stop at the brewery for three ounce samples of some of the beers and a gift shop filled with all kinds of merchandise and even some harder to find ales. Plus it was on our route to Rehoboth Beach anyway.
Once we made our way to Rehoboth Beach, our intended destination for the trip, we immediately found Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats, which I will review in full at another date. Not only does this restaurant serve an incredible number of Dogfish Head beers and tasty food, it sits on the site of the breweries beginnings dating back to 1995. We arrived just past 6pm and found a very short wait for a table, and even though we weren’t very hungry we figured we better take a seat while we could. We ended up sampling nearly a dozen different beers and eventually having some good food to go along with it. After a couple of hours there we made our way down to Rehoboth Beach and the neighboring boardwalk. Even with the sun already beginning to set, the heat of the hot day was still lingering. We all took a quick dip up to our knees in the Atlantic Ocean before returning to the car and calling it a night.
This was an excellent way to start a great vacation. I have a bunch of photos on our various cameras that I will attempt to get online soon. For now enjoy this photo of Kim and Trey at Rehoboth Beach.
And if you are asking yourself, “What’s the last state left?” It is Oregon, and I hope to scratch that off sometime within the next year or so.
As I mentioned at the end of last week, my parents were in town visiting over this past weekend. Originally we had planned to spend the time in Breckenridge, but Trey’s pediatrician suggested that he stay below 8,000 feet until after three months of age. Instead, we decided to spend the weekend up in Estes Park near Rocky Mountain National Park.  This still felt like a mountain vacation, but the elevation was safer for our newborn son.
We headed up to our condo for three nights after I had finished work on Thursday evening. Packing the car was much more difficult than I was thinking it would be. Who would have thought that four adults and a baby could fill the back of a crossover SUV with no problem? Sure Trey’s clothes are tiny, but his bassinet, stroller, and other supplies more than make up for that. We did eventually make it to our rented condo near The Stanley Hotel.
The rest of the trip was spent relaxing at the condo (which was fabulous!), dining at nearby restaurants, and even some exploring in Rocky Mountain National Park. I managed to get my mom on snowshoes for a brief hike and my dad continued to run his outrageous marathon training runs despite the much higher elevation. The best part of it all was having some extra hands to help with the baby and Trey loved having them around for another visit. I wish we all could have stayed longer.
I didn’t take many photos but my mom (per usual) more than made up for it. Her photos should be up on her flickr page soon.
Elk Outside Condo
I was just flipping through these photos of riots in Tunisia, a country that Kim and I almost visited a couple of years ago. Tunis, Tunisia was a scheduled stop on our honeymoon cruise, but when we arrived in Barcelona we were told that the stop had been replaced by Palermo, Sicily. We later found out that the switched the stop due to previous passengers’ opinions of it being dangerous. I guess they might have been more right than I originally thought. Or maybe things have just heated up over the past few years. Interesting to think that we almost went to this place that is pictured in so much turmoil.
Happy New Year! Before I get too far into 2011, here is the list of cities I visited in 2010 with at least one night spent in each place.
- New Orleans, LA
- Denver, CO *
- Breckenridge, CO *
- Kansas City, MO
- Copper Mountain, CO
- Frisco, CO
- Grand Canyon, AZ
- Sedona, AZ
- Phoenix, AZ
- Dillon, CO
- Section Hut, CO
- Lee’s Summit, MO
- Albuquerque, NM
- Santa Fe, NM
- Noblesville, IN
- Cincinnati, OH *
- Loveland, OH *
- Boston, MA
- Newport, RI
- New London, CT
- Yellowstone National Park, WY
- Bozeman, MT
- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
In addition to the football game and the Run Like Hell, over the weekend I also visited Kings Island for the first time in many years. It was the last weekend for their annual Halloween Haunt, before they close the doors until next spring. Jason, another of Kim’s brothers, was working one of the haunted houses, so we decided to check it out along with other members of her family. Our first stop upon entering the park was Drop Tower, the tallest Gyro drop in the world. Riders plunge a staggering 26 stories from a height of 315 feet straight down at a speed of 67 miles per hour! I had been on this one a couple of times before, and was able to convince Kim’s dad and a couple of uncles to hop on as well.
After that thrill, most of us decided to head through the Slaughter House, where Jason was working. It wasn’t too scary, especially since I was at the back of the pack. A couple of young girls were at the front of the pack and they were taking the majority of the scares. Toward the end, we finally found Jason, and he chased us all the way out of the haunted house. There we were able to get some pictures with him before he was off to frighten more victims.
From there we walked over to The Racer, a traditional wooden racing roller coaster built in 1972. Since it isn’t terribly tall, I tried to convince Kim’s youngest brother, Nick, to come along for the ride. Even her dad thought I was going to get him to come along, but he would have nothing to do with it. I was still able to bring her dad and uncles on to the ride, where we sat in the farthest back seat. I forgot how fast this old rollercoaster actually goes (53 mph). We then walked over to The Beast (longest wooden roller coaster in the world), but the sign there said it was over an hour wait. We also checked on Diamondback, which I have never been on, but it too had a long wait.
Instead of waiting for the other rides, we decided to enjoy one last ride on Invertigo. I remember riding this ride when it used to be called “Face/Off” and the park was owned by Paramount, who named lots of rides after movies.   Riders sit face-to-face, staring at fellow passengers as they’re put through the ride cycle and returned through it backwards (or forwards depending upon their initial direction), though we opted to sit in the front seat which offers views out rather than looking at other passengers. With six inversions, the ride was incredibly thrilling, though maybe a little too much for some of the others in the group. I recall hearing someone mention that it was the worst ride they have ever been on. I loved it!
After Invertigo, we decided to leave the park. I had forgotten how much fun Kings Island could be, and I hope to return soon. There are a number of rides that I have never been on that I would definitely like to try.
While in Cincinnati this past weekend, we headed down to the University of Cincinnati campus for the homecoming celebration on Saturday. First, we watched the parade as it flowed past campus. My mom came along with us, while dad found our tailgating spots, and we met up with Kim’s parents and Nick. Chris, another of Kim’s brothers, was in charge of putting together a float for his fraternity, and we wanted to be there to see it. The parade itself wasn’t very long, but was a great way to start the day.
Watching the homecoming parade with Kim's family.
After the parade, we walked through the ever-changing campus on our way to the tailgating lot. While Kim and I were in school, the joke around campus was that UC stood for Under Construction. The construction has continued with the addition of football practice fields, along with other athletic complexes, but the campus is so much nicer than it was ten years ago. In fact the campus now appears on Forbes Magazine list of the most beautiful college campuses in the world!
Kim and I with the brand new Bearcat statue.
Our tailgate party was complete with fantastic food and a pretty good selection of drinks. Before too long it was game time, and we headed for the stadium. As well as the day started for us, the same would not be true for the UC football team. The game started with a series of punts, and a scoreless first quarter, before Syracuse scored their first touchdown in the second. On Cincinnati’s next possession, a fumble on the first play deep in their end, led right to another Syracuse touchdown. As bad as that was, the same thing happened again on their next drive, however this time it was only a field goal for Syracuse. Regardless, the Orange never looked back and came away with a solid 31-7 win. Disappointing, but I hope Bearcat fans are staying optimistic for the future.
More pictures from my mom can be found here.
Kicking off our last weekend in Cincinnati until after the baby is born, was the Run Like Hell. This was my second time running the race, and my main goal was to beat my time from last year. Earlier in the day, I heard a rumor that the course had been changed and that it was no longer a 5K race. Once we started the run, I knew that this rumor must have been true. Rather than running out to Dana Avenue, a rather busy street, to start the race, we simply started running the course in reverse. It’s a little hard to describe, but this new route ended up cutting out over 2/10 of a mile.
Nick and I dyed our hair blue.
I started off running with my dad, but he quickly picked up the pace and I could no longer keep up. I blame this on a few things. First, I haven’t been running very much recently. Secondly, I ate too much at dinner before the race, but the Rusty Bucket is too good. Finally, I couldn’t breathe that well, which I think was a side-effect of a recent illness I had. Anyway, I was able to run the remainder of the race on my own pace, and actually finished with a pretty good time of 24 minutes. I don’t think the race tracked any results, so you just have to believe me.
Me And Kim, Elton John style.
My dad ended up with a great time, under 7:30 pace. Originally he had a goal of making it under eight minute miles. Kim’s youngest brother, Nick, ran the entire race with my mom and Kim’s sister. He wasn’t able to make it through the graveyard section of the course last year, and that was his goal for this year. Meanwhile, Kim brought up the rear of the pack, but still managed to walk a good chunk of the course before it was closed off. Kim’s cousin, Patrick, who has cystic fibrosis was able to come out to the event again to hang out with family and friends. This race benefits a very worthwhile cause and I hope it continues for many more years.
Patrick and I after the race.
I stole all of these images from my mom, and more can be found here.
It was another early morning on our second full day in Grand Teton National Park. We opted to skip sitting down for breakfast so that we could drive out to some popular viewing points for sunrise photos. We first stopped at the Oxbow Bend, where we were treated to great views of Mount Moran, including a wonderful reflection in the still water of the Snake River. Next, we drove out to the Snake River Overlook, which is a location that was made famous by Ansel Adams photo of the Grand Tetons. My photo didn’t turn out nearly as well as his did, so we quickly moved on to the Schwabacher Landing. This was my favorite location of the morning, with plenty of spots for great reflection photos.
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the southern roads of the park. We spotted a bull moose just off the side of the road as it approached Moose Junction Entrance Station. We also spotted a black bear down on the Moose-Wilson Road, around the same area we had spotted the moose a day earlier. This area proved to be one of the better wildlife viewing places in Grand Teton. We watched the bear for a while as it was feeding on berries. There was a ranger nearby to keep the crowds inline, and he proved valuable when the bear suddenly decided to cross the road right where a group of us were standing. He warned everyone not to move and to let the bear cross without startling him. It worked, but I think Kim nearly freaked out.
The rest of the evening we spent down in Jackson, Wyoming, the majority of the time at Snake River Brewing. We enjoyed a selection of food and beer while watching the University of Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Oklahoma Sooners. The game didn’t turn out how I would have liked, but the Bearcats played well and could have won had a couple of plays gone differently. As far as the beer goes, they were all very good, and I managed to sample quite a variety in the hours we were there. Afterward, we drove back to the lodge for one last night before making the drive back to Denver the following day. I think I have a few photos from the last day that I’ll get online soon.
