Summer’s Over??!!
Summer’s over already? Much fishing. A backpacking trip last weekend with Tricia. And, a few runs to Nevada.
Another backpacking trip in planning stages, trip to Howard, S.D., and hopefully some more fishing. Ahh… and photography, too.
Xinjiang (Uyghur) Province
If you are interested in seeing more of the Western Uyghur Autonomus Province (Xinjian Province) that’s been in the news about the People’s Republic of China, take a look at the Silk Road Tour that we took in 2007.
When cowboys were just heros.
My Brother wrote a comment that I had to bring to the front of this post-
When we were younger, my brother and I enjoyed fully experiencing the outdoors together. We would pack up our horses and spend time in remote country. Having taken only bare necessities, we would “live off of the land”. Many of you know that George (Sam) continues activities in pursuit of his love of fishing, which probably started during these trips. But, you may not know that we both were pretty good hunters as well as horsemen.
George recently found an old photo, one of our favorites, that captures a special moment on one of those trips. It shows me, Loren, on one of our horses and George getting ready to set out on a hunt, probably for dinner that night.
Annual 4 lbs Fishing Trip.
Just returned from, as Tom Hobday describes it, “The Four Pound Fishing Trip.” And, that isn’t the size of the fish; although it could be. Tom’s moniker is attributed to the amount of weight Tom has to lose after the trip to get in “fighting shape” again. So we eat well, socialize, nap, and….catch fish. Oh, this takes place at Digger Creek Ranch just above Manton, Ca. No picture from this year. Too busy cooking, eating, napping and fishing. But have included a fish picture from years gone by.
Here fishy, fishy. 2009 trout season opens.
Wanted to Stay- St. Thomas
Went back to St. Thomas for the second time. Well it was actually the thrid time but the first time really shouldn’t count; didn’t get much past the crusie ship pier. So let’s agree- second time.
Weather was just perfect. Never needed a sweater. Never broke a sweat or even a bead of persperation. Water was warm and tranquil. Just a light, calming tradewind throughout the week.
Family was all there. What more could one ask for? Well….How about some great food, beautiful beaches, and great visitas?
If you boogie, you gotta eat!
Saw this Alton Brown “Good Eats” video on hulu.com on how to make barbecue baby-back ribs . Haven’t tried it myself yet but will attempt later this spring. Let me know if you try it.
"Old" stuff. China and Puerto Vallarta.
Added a link to the Silk Road Trip web site under the “Travel” section. Also, added a photo gallery for Puerto Vallarta.
There and back again. Dubai and Kenya in 8 days.
Dubai and Kenya. January 2009. Photos can be accessed from the menu on the far right column.
Sergei and Carol kindly extended an invitation to visit them in Dubai this past January. The original plan was to hang out there for five days. That was modified by a business trip that required Sergei and Carol to head to Kenya. So rather than stay in Dubai on my own, I went to Kenya, too..
After being enroute 25 hours, I arrived in Dubai just in time for a late dinner. Two days in Dubai seeing the overwhelming construction and trying to find signs of the Emirati history and culture. Yup, saw the Atlantis Hotel on one of the Palm Tree islands. Glanced at the Burj Dubai, for the moment the world’s tallest bulding. Stopped for lunch at the indoor snow ski slope. Best way to see the sights- The Big Red Bus. Took a one hour tour of the river, shopped at the spice market, and toured the Dubai Museum
And then, off to the airport for a 5 hour flight to Nairobi. Overnight at the Palacina Hotel, breakfast, and off to the Wilson Airport for a 45 minute flight to Mara Triangle in the Masi Mara. Not even 5 minutes on the 4WD van and we are looking at scads of wild animals. Another 5 minutes drive and we’re awe struck staring down an embankment at a river filled with Hippos… and as we found out when we returned two days later, really big crocodiles. I mean really big.
Oh, yeah in Kenya for work. After driving on a dirt road for 4 hours to Kissi (about 30 miles from where President Obama’s grandmother lives), we have a 30 minute meeting. I help with my techical prowless and fiddle with the government official’s computer and ping Sergei’s company’s server in Nairobi to prove that is in fact reachable. We brown bag lunch while sitting on a stone wall outside the office compound and then drive 4 hours back to the Mara Triangle. Our respite for two days is the Tichwa Tembo (elephant head) Tented Camp. Tent is very misleading. More like really nice cabin with canvas walls.
Up early Friday morning. Finish packing up from last night. Head over to the lodge building for a quick bite to eat before jumping back into the 4wd van for 3 hours of looking at wildlife. Flight back to Nairobi is at 11:00 a.m. We’re back at the river looking at the hippos and the newly observed crocodiles that I mentioned earlier. Have a new respect for not standing too close to the edge of the undercut bank. At 10:45 a.m. we head back to the airstrip to catch the Kenyan Air flight back to Nairobi. It’s the first leg of 25 hours of flight time and another 9 hours of layovers before getting back to Sacramento at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
Not bad for a week and a day worth of travel. Ready to do it all over again.
Much thanks to Carol and Sergei for their invitation, hospitality, and friendship.