The end of an era

After much deliberation, I have decided that I will discontinue this travel blog. I have thoroughly enjoyed posting about my adventures over the last three years. I've felt closer to my family and friends since starting this blog, it's been a great way for them to remain a part of my life and me a part of theirs through comments and the numerous emails spurred by blog posts. With my career change however, I've decided that this much transparency is no longer appropriate. Not that I post about work things very often, but I don't want to be the one who provides pieces of a seemingly innocent puzzle that produces a potentially harmful "big picture" (either to the mission or to myself). And for all you conspiracy-theorists out there. . . NO, the military did not tell me I could no longer do this blog!

And so it is with somewhat reluctant hands that I type this last post. It's been a great learning experience for me on many levels- writing, photography, societal dynamics, website organization, photo-journaling, etc. I hope that I will be able to pick up this hobby again at a later point, perhaps in a different format or focus. I will leave this web address active for a while longer until I decide what I want to do with it. It always amazes me to see the page load counter climb as folks check in to see what I've done or have to say (it's currently over 28,000)! Thanks for everyone who has been checking in on my adventures and providing support along the way!

The grand, nostalgic tour!

It's taken a while, but I'm finally getting around to finishing the tour of my new place with y'all! For a long time, I've wanted to get some of my photos developed onto canvas as wall art, but up until now the walls of my residences have been a mish-mash of my photos in random frames. I got them all done through a website called Canvas Love. I had gone through them previously for a print of a surfboard fence I had taken in Maui and was very happy with the finished product, so I decided to do the rest of my collection from them.

This is the view of my living room from the dining/kitchen area. I love my new furniture- this sofa & love seat represent the first "set" of living room furniture I've ever owned!

The close-ups of the canvas prints don't look great in these pics because the flash from the camera reflects off of them, but you get the gist. Although you can't really see her in this picture of the print, that speck on the road is Suzanne on her motorcycle! I took this pic of her when she, David and I made a weekend riding trip out to Ouray, CO last summer. I felt like this was the perfect representation of all the great memories I have of riding out in Colorado; where my love affair with two wheels began. That perfectly smooth, open highway winding into the mountains with Suzanne riding on it almost makes me feel the road rolling out under me as I look at.

The prints over the sofa are (clockwise from the top left corner)- 1) NAS North Island perimeter fence on Coronado Island, CA 2) island of Diego Garcia, 3) Great Wall of China, 4) Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO and 5) one of the villages of Cinque Terre, Italy.

The ocean pics are obvious choices for the beach/water lover that I am, but each one evokes a different feeling of moving water for me. 1) The fence on Coronado was the turn-around point on my morning runs when I lived in California. Every time I would run up to it, whether it was a bright sunny day or a rolling fog day on the beach, I was always moved by the composition of the scene. 2) The pic of Diego Garcia will forever represent the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. "Dodge" was my first Navy deployment and first trip "overseas". 3) Although China is not a place I desire to return to, it truly was an awesome experience to stand on the Great Wall half-way around the world from where I grew up. 4) Garden of the Gods is just so majestic, I love the contrasts of colors and textures in this shot. 5) Had I not hiked to the Cinque Terre village of Manarola on an overcast, churning-water day in March between the Olympics & Paralympic Games, I would've never gotten this great shot of the Italian cliff-side village. It reminds me to take advantage of even the less-than-perfect opportunities that present themselves.

To continue the tour and give you some perspective, this is a shot of the living room taken from the front door. You can see the bedroom through the opening in the hall.





These are the pics over the bookshelf- 1) Hania Harbor on Crete, Greece 2) Aspen trees in the fall in Colorado, 3) a patio in Morocco and 4) boats docked in Cinque Terre, Italy.

1) The shot of Hania was taken from the lighthouse on the opposite end of the harbor looking back on the restaurants and shops that line the water. I spent a lot of time down in the harbor area with Jim, Dave, Rob and the rest of "my boys". I use the term "boys" tongue-in-cheek to describe the men with whom I spent hundreds of hours flying missions and men whom I am honored to call close friends. Hania will always represent some of the happiest times of my life. 2) The picture of Aspen trees were taken on a hike up to Pikes Peak on a team-building outing with the USOC. The turning leaves were one of the rare things I appreciated about the crazy climate of Colorado. 3) The one next to it is from one of the trips I made to Tangier, Morocco when I was stationed in Rota, Spain. It's an hour ferry-ride from Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar to get to the North African port city for great food and a different version of "sweet tea"! 4) The dry-docked boats scene was taken in the Cinque Terre village of Riomaggiore on a summer trip. I've hiked between the five Cinque Terre villages a couple of times, but a return trip is certainly on my list!

After everyone voted for the beach shot of Waimae Bay, HI to be hung in my bedroom, I discovered that the digital photo file was too small to get blown up that big. I always shoot with my camera on the highest resolution, so I have no idea why the one picture I wanted to get printed HUGE was one of the smallest photo files I have! Murphy's Law I guess!! So, I went with the top two vote-getters and had them both done, just a little smaller! They both elicit the calming effect I was going for, so no complaints!



I'm using the second bedroom as an office/junk room, so I didn't take pics of that for y'all!

One of my favorite areas in any house is finally is adorned with canvases of some of my favorites food pics! Being Cajun, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen/dining area, so it was important to me to have some familiar pics in there as well.




On the large wall behind the table is- 1) Greek salad on Crete, Greece 2) chocolates in Blois, France 3) Chinese spices in a market in Beijing, 4) beignets & cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, LA and 5) Italian gelato in Torino, Italy.

1) Although it's too small of a pic to see here, the Greek salad is sitting on a beach-side table accompanied by a hunk of feta cheese drizzled with olive oil. That meal represents endless summer days on the Greek Island of Crete hanging out and enjoying the crystal clear Mediterranean waters. We worked really hard back in those days, but we played just as hard too! 2) The chocolates are from the backpacking trip I made with Andy and Alexis to France & England and were oh-so yummy! 3) The open tubs of Chinese spices instantly bring me back to the pungent, exotic experience of foods in the Far East. 4) For anyone whose ever experienced beignets & cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, that picture requires no explanation! Ever since Andy was little, I'd take him to New Orleans for beignets sometimes when I was home on leave. I'd always wait until he had the beignet right up to his face to take a bite and then I'd blow on the powdered sugar so it would cover his face! Childish I know, but I loved laughing and spending time with him while he was growing up. 5) Between Navy and USOC trips to Italy, I'm sure I've eaten at least my weight times 3 of rich, creamy gelato! Man that stuff is divine!!!

Now you know I couldn't live without pics of Louisiana seafood adorning the walls of where I eat! They look much crisper hanging on the wall; these pics just don't do the prints justice! The top one is of boiled shrimp, crabs & crawfish taken at one of the countless seafood boils at my parents' house- my favorite meal in the world!!! The bottom one is of live, Louisiana blue-claw crabs!!! Mmmmmm, makes my mouth water and my heart long for home every time I look at those two pics!

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane disguised as a tour of my new home with me! Hopefully a few of you recognized some of these scenes and that it brought back fond memories for you too.

That's it for now. I'll do another post this week when I get a chance. Hope everyone had a great weekend and is re-charged for a new work week!

Horses and trails

Now that I am unpacked and settled in for the most part, I was pretty excited about the prospect of a beautiful weekend ahead of me. It had been rainy all week so visions of being outside in any capacity were appealing.

The very first day I was moving into my new place, two of my neighbors came over to introduce themselves. Next to me in the picture are Linda and Allison- neighbors extraordinaire! Although I thought my equestrian days were over when I left the USOC, their enthusiasm for horse riding convinced me to join them for a little tailgate action at the 58th Stoneybrook Steeplechase here in town. It's a rich tradition with the locals complete with hat and tailgate contests!

I became quite versed in Eventing during my tenure with the Team & Technical Sportfolio at the USOC, but I had never seen Steeplechase contested before. Allison's husband Jason staked out some prime real estate with his truck so that we were tailgating right in front of one of the jumps. With temps in the upper 70s/low 80s, Saturday turned out to be a sun-filled day of eating and meeting new folks at the tailgate party! Ironically, most of the people there weren't horse-people per se, but were there for the festive atmosphere on such a beautiful day and to support the local community.

The towns surrounding the one I live in are renowned for golfing and equine. There are no less than a dozen golf resorts in the surrounding communities of Southern Pines, Pinehurst and Talomore. On the Equine side of the house, the sandy footing of this geography draws horse-people from every discipline to live and train in the area. Beyond the Olympic disciplines of Equestrian that I was familiar with, racing, carriage driving, hunting, polo and Steeplechase are all popular in this area. Such a high concentration of golf resorts and horse farms make for lush, open expanses of green scenery in every direction.

Faced with another beautiful day this morning, I figured I'd get my "chores" done early so I could take the Harley out for a little exploring in the afternoon. While visiting with such a diverse group of folks at the races yesterday, I learned that there are several running trails throughout the woods just blocks from my house. So after cleaning house and doing some laundry, I pulled on my running shoes and headed towards the horse trails up the road. The hills and sand humbled me as I had to run much shorter than I had intended, but the scenery and smell of spring in the air made up for the abbreviated workout.

With responsibilities behind me, I jumped on my bike after a quick shower and set out to explore the many back roads through the area. I rolled out dozens of leisurely miles on country roads flanked with horse farms like the one in this picture. I took the scenic route (i.e. I was disoriented for much of the afternoon!) and explored alternate byways from the main highways. The smell of pine hung delicately in the air as did pollen from all the blooming flora. By the time I got back, me and my bike were covered in a fine yellow dust. Guess I'll wait a few weeks before I wash the bike and car again!

Well, that's my weekend. Laying low to gear up for another week of being the "new kid" at work. I may not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but I'm not the dullest either, so I'm confident I'll get up to speed pretty quickly!

Have a great week!!!