Russell and Michelle

Vacation '09 - Bryce Canyon National Park

Last but not least, we visited Bryce Canyon National Park.

Vacation '09 - Zion National Park

Album 3 of 4 from our recent trip is now up. It's from Zion National Park. Click the postcard to see it.

We also posted a short video to YouTube that was shot in 'The Narrows', one of Zion's most spectacular canyons.

Vacation '09 - Grand Canyon North Rim

Grand Canyon Sept 2009

Click the postcard above to see the next album of pictures from our recent trip out west.

Vacation '09 - The Amazing Hoover Dam

17Sep09 Hoover Dam

Michelle's recent conference in Las Vegas provided an opportunity for us to visit the 'Grand Circle' of National Parks - Grand Canyon (North Rim), Zion, and Bryce Canyon. Our first stop though was Hoover Dam, an engineering marvel and a truly fascinating place to visit. Click the postcard above to see the album.

Enjoy!

Doe, a Deer!

We'd seen some deer around since moving up to our new home but nothing like this! We're in northern Cherokee County and one recent afternoon a family of deer joined us for an afternoon snack. M glanced out a window and there in the back yard was a baby deer. We waited and sure enough, mom and dad showed up to chaperone the young 'un a few minutes later. They came up very close to the house but never did ring the bell. ;-) Never saw that at the old house!

Click on a pic to enlarge it.

The Move

Wow...where to start. We had some ambitious plans for Friday, May 22. Movers to arrive at the old house at 9am, buyers' final walk-through at 1045, the closing for selling the old house at 1200, closing to buy the new house at 1pm (same office, thank goodness), and on from there. Things never go exactly as planned and this was no exception. The whole day felt like driving fast on a hilly, curvy road knowing a wheel is loose and may fly off at any moment but having no choice but to go on and hope for the best. Nobody really wants to read all the drudge details of what went wrong, and the goal was to end up with the buyers of our old house happy and us in the new house with our belongings accounted for and relatively intact, so it was a success. We'll get some pics posted soon.

Our Dream House

Michelle and I found our dream house a couple of months ago. We decided to put our current home on the market, aware it was unlikely to sell before someone bought the other one but willing to cross our fingers and hope somehow all the planets would align. And did they! The 'For Sale' sign went up on our current home on Wednesday and by Sunday evening we had a great offer. On Monday morning our offer on the dream house was accepted and we're scheduled to close later this month!

The new house is in a neighborhood but out in shall we say a very rural area (you can have pizza delivered if you're willing to meet the driver halfway to the nearest town). On the road out to the subdivision, you pass three cornerstones of the Georgia countryside: a cemetery, a chicken farm, and a Baptist church. We've met some of the neighbors and like us, they love the quiet and the woods and the wildlife. It's so still there that nothing blocks out the birds' singing or the sound of the wind in the trees, yet we can still be in downtown Atlanta in a shade over an hour. Truly the best of both worlds.

Here are a few pics. It's just about finished and as you can see, the furry member of the family already feels right at home.

Another Update

Yes, it's ridiculous to finally be posting the album from our whitewater rafting trip on the Ocoee River last July. I am suitably humbled. Now the pics! ;-)

Whitewater Rafting - Ocoee River, June 2006

Update

It's been way too long since I've updated this. I'm looking for easier ways for readers to view pics, so here's the first try: a link to Picasa online albums. Let's see how it goes. First up are pics from the Saints' return to New Orleans last September. Click the pic below to go to the album. Once there, you can either click on the first pic and use the forward/back arrows to navigate or choose "Slideshow". Hint - users of tabber browsing can right click on the picture and select "Open Link in New Tab". Enjoy!

Welcome home Saints!

Honeymoon in Rocky Mountain National Park

We decided to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, near Estes Park, Colorado, on our honeymoon, arriving the evening of Sunday, November 13, 2005. The next morning, we set out to the park despite heavy snow.

On Day 1, Michelle said, "I hope we see elk." We'd barely entered the park - the gate was still in sight behind us - when we saw something strange up ahead.

Then we realized that yes, we would see elk...lots and lots of elk. Looking ghostly through the snow, dozens of them were making their way towards the road.

Alas, turns out that at least to the elk, the grass was greener on the other side.

The winter landscape was beautiful.

Then we saw magpies, who were most cooperative. They posed for over 10 minutes.

Mr. Magpie finally got tired of posing and returned to his perch.

So on day 2, Michelle says, "I hope we see bighorn sheep!" We didn't even make it to the park entrance before running into these guys. We met a couple while shooting pics who said they'd never been this close to bighorn sheep in their 20 years of visiting RMNP.

From the condition of his horns, this guy's been around the block a time or two.

After a couple of minutes trading the latest gossip, these two backed off and cracked heads. The noise sounded like the crash of pads in an NFL game.

Nothing like a little road salt when you're done butting heads, and if you hold up traffic as you eat, oh well!

We didn't mind that it was clearly off-season for the park. The solitude just intensifies the remarkable beauty that stretches to the horizon wherever you look.