Lafayette, CO - Wow, I am really getting behind in my posts now. Suwei and I just spent a week making our way down to Las Vegas for a bit of climbing out at Red Rock Canyon over Thanksgiving. I brought along a new (at least new for me) camera and tripod and shot another bunch of new photos that I may or may not get around to processing this year. And here I am just getting around to working on photos from August.
Speaking of August... Here are some photos from way back than.
On August 16th, I left New York City and headed south to Miami, FL to start my 4th tour with Suntrek. I had one week to get there So, I decided to make a few stops on the way down.
My first stop was in Arlington, Virgina where I stayed with our friends Tommy and Jessica. Suwei and I met Tommy and Jessica while hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. Since then Suwei has run a half marathon with them in California, we've gone ice climbing with them in Colorado, and they came to our wedding in Utah. You might say, they are a couple after our own hearts. Anyway, they are living just outside of Washington DC now and since I'd managed to pass through the area three times during the course of the summer and had not managed to see them once, I thought I'd pop by and say, "Hi". On top of that, the three previous times I passed though DC, I was so busy that I didn't get to see much more than the campsite in Maryland, the local Jiffy Lube, and the laundromat. DC just seemed to be an ideal place to get chores done and catch up on planning my tours. This time, however, I vowed to be a bit of a tourist myself. So, I spent a day museum hopping down at the National Mall.
Washington DC (Clockwise): Space Helmet at The National Air and Space Museum, Tyrannosaurus at the National Museum of Natural History, The Washington Monument, The Capitol Building, Smithsonian Sign, The National Museum of the American Indian, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Kermit the Frog in the National Museum of American History, & one from the lobby of the National Museum of Natural History.
From Washington DC I continued south stopping for the night at Hunting Island State Park in South Carlonia, had coffee in Savannah, Georgia, passed a drug test in Jacksonville, Florida, saw a movie in Daytona Beach and still had time left over to sleep a day on the beach in Hollywood, Florida.
Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina
Savannah, Georgia
On August 22nd I met my fourth group at the Ocean Surf Hotel in Miami Beach. We got a little bit of a slow and worrisome start when one of the girls didn't show up at the prescribed meeting time. The desk clerk at the hotel informed me that she had not checked in the night before and that they had no record of her staying at the hotel. That kicked off calls to the Suntrek office and a frantic search for our lost passenger. Turns out she was up in her room the whole time and just didn't hear her alarm clock. She got up two hours late, found my note at the front desk and gave us a call. I was much more angry at the hotel staff for telling me she wasn't there. After a few quick stops at Best Buy, Target, subway, and a Publix, we were on our way to Key West.
This trip was called, "Florida Sunshine B." The "B" just denotes that we were going the opposite direction of trip "A". The Florida Sunshine trip is a one week camping tour from Miami to Orlando with stops in Key West, Everglades National Park, Naples, Sanibel Island, Fort Meyers, St. Petersburg, and Tampa. There were only 7 passengers, so we had plenty of room in the van. Nationalities included 2 Australians, 3 Germans, and 2 from Great Britain. Here are some of the photos:
Group Shot (from left): Christine, Richelle, Danielle, Nick, Sharielle, Olga, and Jule.
Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys
Sunset view from our campsite in Key West.
Key West (Clockwise): The Southern Most Point in the Continental US, Geared up and ready for Snorkeling, Sharielle working through her fish phobia, and finally group nap time.
Air Boating in The Everglades, Bowman Beach on Sanibel Island, Nick lost in the Everglades, Karl in Naples (thanks Christine for the photo), Gator Spotting in the Everglades, Bowman Beach on Sanibel Island.
Thanks again to another great group. Hope you all enjoy the pics. If you'd like to see a few more click on the slide show link below. Don't forget to hit full screen to watch the slide show.
Lafayette, CO - Wow, I can't believe we are about to wrap up yet another decade. It seems like just yesterday, we were all ready to start digging bunkers and hording food for fear that a computer glitch would end life as we know it. It's nice to know that going into this next decade all we have to fear is joblessness, socialism and total economic collapse. I know I'm breathing easier.
