The annual HCO Big Bend Adventure, November 5 - 10:

Wednesday

Leave work at 2.
Arrive Ft. Stockton ~10pm, spend the night in Super 8.

Thursday
Arrive Big Bend National Park, Chisos Basin Campground, ~11am.
Set up camp.
Hike Ernst Tenaja.
Hike "The Window".

Friday.
South Rim hike. 15 miles.

Saturday
Freezing temps over night.
White water rafting the Rio Grande.
Dinner in Terlingua.

Sunday
Bruja Canyon.
Thorn in sole of boot.
Barbed thorn in leg.
Adult beverage.
Campfire surgery to properly remove barb.
Adult beverage.

Monday
Break down camp.
Drive home.

Pictures are here.

We hiked 10 miles at Lost Maples Natural State Area, about 3 hours west of Austin. Meet everyone at 8:30am and got home just after midnight. I made very good use of the time change!

Pictures are here.

Yesterday I went to the Dallas Museum of Art, mostly because I have never been. Why on Red River shootout game day, you might ask. Well, I went with 5 others, who are not college football followers and did not think to check the date. :) We actually ran into very little traffic, however, I think I saw more cops and pullovers in one day than I have seen in the last two years! I think the numbers were 7 / 17 on the way to Dallas (17 cops seen, 7 people pulled over) and 5 / 13 (ish) on the way home.

I didn't have to drive (yay), and we left from Michael's house before 8:30, stopped at West for mm mm mm kolaches, and arrived at the museum about 11:30. They all had tickets to see the King Tut exhibit at 1pm (I went when it was in Philly last year), so we puttered around near the same room until they had to go, and I just took my time enjoying the entire museum.

Here are some very poor, no flash pictures of some of my favorite pieces.

In addition, here are links to other pieces I was not allowed to take pictures of:

The Icebergs

Tiffany Stained Glass Windows

The Big Read was a 2003 survey carried out by the BBC, with the goal of finding the “Nation’s Best-loved Book” by way of a viewer vote via the Web, SMS, and telephone.

The Big Read figures that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books. How do you stack up?
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them
( Read more... )

Last weekend I went to Round Top, Texas to see Shakespeare at Winedale. Our play selection was Antony and Cleopatra. It was pretty well done. Except it was in a barn, and no number of ceiling fans could keep that place any kind of not warm. They did serve lemonade at intermission. Definitely worth the $10.

After, we went to a Royers, a local restaurant for some famous pie. Pretty good (but I can make better).

Got home and watched the Olympics.

How 'bout that Michael Phelps?

Running in the dark is a very very bad idea.

My trip to DC started with an uneventful flight.
( See the gory details )
Anyway. Walked back through the Arlington information center and saw what I missed. Took the Metro back to WP House, grabbed my stuff, walked to Union Station, waited for the MARC while snacking to BWI, checked in, to my gate, no issues to home. Yay. And thusly I returned.

Due to the volcano'ing in Patagonia, next year's preplanned vacation, I had been pondering a backup plan.

Then the opportunity to dive in Fiji arose, and I was in!

Tentative schedule:
- Thursday, September 17, 2009, Fly to Fiji
- Saturday, September 19, Arrive
- Sunday thru Friday, dive, dive eat, hike, dive, dive...sleep
- Saturday, September 26, fly to New Zealand
- Sunday, October 4, fly home.

yay!

My big vacation plans for next year, which is now covered in ash. *sigh*

http://capecodboudreaux.com/Gallery/DCApril2008

I'm currently writing up a trip report. Maybe I will actually finish it!

I donated all of Hannah's stuff to one of the local rescue groups today.

Packing up was harder than I thought it was going to be.

:(

"I've increasingly come to believe that those of us who play by the rules (work hard, live within our paychecks, save) are chumps. The way to get ahead is to gamble big and then, if you lose, find someone to cover your losses."

I read too much".

My 2007 tax refund.

Yes, I'm crossing another line of geekiness.

I'm thinking of buying a GPS, mostly for hiking/geocaching/travelling.

I'm looking for a list of "must haves" and "don't bothers".

I know this is the place to ask such a question. :)

I think tomorrow I will wear one of my coats to work. dang!

But to put it in perspective - southeast Idaho was a bit chillier.

-16 wind chill yesterday morning.

this morning? -35.

OMG.

Wherever you are now, these are my wishes for you:

1. There are no big, mean men with brown boots.
2. There are no small boys chasing you into corners and teasing you.
3. There are no allergens to make you scratch your hair off and force you to take steroids to make it go away, and then horse size pills because the steroids gave you a bladder infection that will never go away.
4. No more bladder infections and the required every-3-day antibiotic.
5. Two whole and unscarred back legs to run and play on.

And I drinking the most DISGUSTING key lime martini right now. But I refuse to throw it away.

Apple martini's to the rescue!

My June Trip Report to Belize! :)
http://www.capecodboudreaux.com/website/belize2007.html

Coming soon: pictures and a report from my Labor Day trip to Philly. :)

Yesterday I decided that since everyone was off shopping in Wimberly, I was going to do an urban hike to check out Town Lake, as I was told it was white water and I "just had to see it". To make a day of it, I decided to also go to the AMOA-Laguna Gloria to check out the gardens, then to the downtown AMOA to check out its current exhibits.

Then I walked from AMOA down to the Congress/Ann Richards bridge, down to the hike & bike trail and then to the back of Auditorium Shores/Stevie statue to check out the flooding. And there was indeed some pretty good white water going on.

Pictures are here.

On my way back to my car, I noticed my first guitar of the downtown guitar exhibit. Most of the rest I saw were either on the other side of the road from where I was, or was odd enough to not be interesting to me. So only one picture of that.

Also on the way back, I stopped at two more (free!) galleries. I don't know the name of the first, but the them was airplanes and airports. This amused me, because just this week, my friend Anne was teasing me about my Belize vacation pictures (well, all my vacation pictures), because I like to take pictures from the airplane as we are descending to whatever country/city being visited. It just so happens at this gallery, it included 2 exhibits of pictures from an airplane; the first was a flight from LAX-MEX and the second was MEX-AUS.

The second gallery was the Jones Gallery on Congress and around 6th street. I've been in this gallery before and it's usually got REALLY WEIRD exhibits in it. But I go back anyway. This time it had less weird stuff, but included pictures of "white trash tree house" and "rainbow bridge". Now the rainbow bridges was a large picture, and you had to stand back to see it in all its glory. You look at it and noticed the bridge will all the wires and architecture and such, with fingers intertwined in the high cables one sees on bridges. Then as you focus your attention on the hands, you finally notice that you are being mooned from the picture, and the hands are on each cheek getting ready to spread 'em. Mm hm.

Anyway, I got home and then finally last night I started working on my Belize trip report (no, I never finished Australia), and hopefully should finish today and get it posted this week after a second read-through. If a trip report doesn't interest you, pictures are here: the highlights or all 200-ish.