The Journey is the Reward

The walled city of Dubrovnik

2011-12-14T09:59:00.001-05:00

Flora in the Rockies

2011-12-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Glückliche Kühe in Bergen, Deutschland

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...and that's a very good thing!

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This is the hike that started it all.

2008

Tullulah Gorge, Georgia

Thousands of steps down to the river.

(And hours later, thousands of steps back up!)

Along the river's edge

And down steep rock faces.

But no bridge, so this is how we crossed the river.

And finally, there it is.

Sliding Rock!

But do I try it?

You bet I do!

And I haven't been the same since!

Life at the top of the world - Nepal!

2011-12-01T12:01:00.004-05:00

Yak butter votive candles in Muktinath Temple

Chili peppers

Dried peas and beans

Brass plates, pots and heaters

Religious puppets

Beads

Near Patan, Nepal

Vegetable stand

Making funnel cakes

Canoes from high above Lake Fewa, Pokhara, Nepal

Yes, baggage claim at Kathmandu airport!

One of several thousand loads to be carried up Mt. Everest

Locals open their homes for trekkers to use their "facilities"

And what those "facilities" usually looked like

Main Street, Namche Bazaar, Nepal

Trekkers love their electronics!

NOT your typical trekker!

THIS is the typical trekker!

Beauty along the Everest trail

The local 7-11

Prayers wrapped in silk inside a temple

Yes, even in Lukla, Nepal!

"Architecture aims at Eternity" Christopher Wren

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San Francisco

Bergen, Germany

The Great Lawn, Univerity of Virginia

Miami, Florida

Munich, Germany

Deggendorf, Germany

Idaho

Bauhaus Cube, Weimar, Germany

Rooftops in Kagbeni, Nepal

Hagen, Germany

Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana

Cologne Cathedral, Germany

Vatican Museum ceiling, Italy

The most incredible Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan

Thasang Valley, Nepal

Olympic Village, Munich, Germany

Ruit, Germany

Ulm, Germany

Fredericksburg, Texas

Idaho

Edgard, Louisiana

Copenhagen, Denmark

The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas

Bridges over non-troubled waters

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I left my heart......

Crossing the Mississippi near Edgard, Louisiana

Glacial bridge on Margerie Glacier, Alaska

Burano, Italy

Paro, Bhutan

Planes, trains, and automobiles....and feet

2011-11-29T17:12:00.002-05:00

Float planes in Vancouver

The best tourist idea ever! Two person electric cars.

You wear headgear with a GPS and as you pass something worth seeing,

a voice automatically begins to tell you all about it - in San Francisco.

Cruise ships in the Caribbean

Subway in Munich

The cutest little Smart car in Ruit

Tractor pulling vineyard grapes at harvest time in Stuttgart

Flying over Pokhara, Nepal

Gondola on the Grand Canal in Venice

Motorcycles in Kathmandu

Train in Flam, Norway

Pedi-rickshaw in Kathmandu

The airport shuttle in Jomsom, Nepal

On foot for the 10.5 km from Jomsom to Kagbeni

The steep runway in Lukla

Sunrise over Dhauligiri Massif, Nepal

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And another stunning day in Nepal!

Oh, the blue of Lake Louise!

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Beautiful verdant Norway and the cold white Polar Ice Cap

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Sognefjord

Flam

Trondheim

Great food

Incredibly great wines (all from 1991 this night)

Entering Geraingerfjord

Flam

View out my window on the Flamsbana

Where did you say we were?

Flam

Geraingerfjord

Sognefjord

Trondheim

VERY strange art work in Trondheim!!

Flam

Beware of Polar Bear signs all over Spitzbergen

Eeeek! One is attacking!

Off the grid, north of Spitzbergen, Norway, looking for

the pack ice that will signal the Polar Ice Cap

And there it is, sheet ice for miles. It's the Polar Ice Cap.

We were REALLY far north!

The trail up, up, up to Taktsang

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Taktsang sits way up high on a sheer cliff

To reach the monastery, you must climb up to the small white building on the very top left of this picture, then down that very steep cliff to the little white building in the lower center of this picture, and then, finally, up again to the monastery!

A beautiful mill at the beginning of the climb.

It's still a long way off!

Lots of steps up

Lots of steps down

Yes. That would be the trail right along a sheer cliff drop off!

Finally at the top of the first peak.

Down more steps to that small middle building.

Almost there - just hundreds more steps up!

More steps on the route back

The lower trail back to Paro Valley

The climb all the way up to the monastery and
back down took seven hours...
but the serene destination and incredible view
were well worth all the effort!

Cruisin' the Med

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Venice

Olympia

Ephesus

Dubrovnik

Istanbul

Santorini

Lindos

Saint Peter's Basilica

Pompeii

Barcelona

New York City

2011-11-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

Madison Square Garden/Penn Station

My first hot dog from a street vendor

My first White Castle hamburger

Delicious Dean & Deluca

Empire State Building

Central Park obelisk

Pale Male and Lima in their windows at the Beresford

Pale Male

The Nest Building - 927 Fifth Avenue

Beautiful Central Park

Pale Male's home turf

In The Ramble in Central Park

The Ramble

Occupy Wall Street - Zuccotti Park

The Anarchist Table at Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

2011-11-05T17:06:00.000-04:00

Bangkok Airport

San Fransicso

Surfers right in front of the Do Not Surf sign on the Isar River in Munich

Go Green march and demonstration in Ulm, Germany

This particular yodeling woodcarver lives in Idaho

Vineyard in Stuttgart, Germany

Canada

Bach Slept Here, Weimar, Germany

Edgard, Louisiana

Hans Christian Anderson Slept Here, Weimar, Germany

Lafayette, Louisiana

Entering the temple in Muktinath, Nepal

Classy art store in Idaho

Yakdonald's in Kagbeni, Nepal

Moscow, Idaho

Any grocery store in Louisiana

Paro, Bhutan

Any bayou in Louisiana

Restaurant menu in Lindos, Greece

Town crier billboard in nothern Idaho

DRIVE-THRU DAIQUIRIS!!! Any town in Louisiana!

Louisiana

Idaho

Montana

Ketchum, Idaho

The warm and wonderful people of Nepal

2011-11-05T16:12:00.000-04:00

Animals around the world

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Cows in Bergen, Germany

The only cat I ever saw in Bhutan

Canada Geese in Canada

Elk in Yellowstone

Bison in Yellowstone

Gray fox in Yellowstone

Crow in Lake Louise, Canada

Big horned sheep in Yellowstone

Muffin

Lucy and squirrel

Tommy

Spunky in Yorktown, VA

Mountain goats in Nepal

Cow in the road in Kathmandu, Nepal

Yak on the trail to Namche Bazaar, Nepal

Monkeys hanging around the temple in Kathmandu

Dog and monkey...NOT getting along

The only cat I saw in Nepal

Oscar, the male screech owl

Olivia, his wife

Their baby owlet

The very happy and content people of Bhutan

2011-11-03T16:43:00.000-04:00

San Francisco

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Alaska

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Oak Alley Plantation

2011-11-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

Gatlinburg October Glory

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Montana, The Beautiful

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Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain.

America!

God shed His grace on thee;

And crown thy good

With brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.

Yellowstone National Park

2011-11-01T23:55:00.000-04:00

Yellowstone Falls

Heart Springs

Mirror Pool

Morning Glory

Old Faithful

Shell Geyser

Sunset Lake

Emerald Pool

High Himalayas

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Nilgiri

Dhauligiri icefall

Annapurna Massif

Machhapuchhre (Fishtail)

Ama Dablam

Mount Everest and Lhotse at sunrise

Mount Everest and Lhotse

Mount Everest

The Ground Below My Feet

2011-11-01T18:02:00.000-04:00

Passau, Germany

Cologne Cathedral, Germany

Max Eyth Strasse, Ruit, Germany

Ruit, Germany

Weimar, Germany

Ruit, Germany

Bergen, Germany

Trondheim, Norway

Doors

2011-11-01T17:54:00.000-04:00

Hagen, Germany

Weimar, Germany

Schiller Haus, Weimar, Germany

Weimar, Germany

Denkendorf, Germany

Passau, Germany

Weimar, Germany

Passau, Germany

The Skies Above

2011-11-01T17:30:00.002-04:00

Stockholm, Sweden

Moonrise in Ruit

Ruit, Germany

Hochfelln, Germany

Punta Delgado, Azores