Until recently, I’ve always lived close enough to home to make a short drive and be there. For the last year that hasn’t been the case. So, this year, for the first time ever, I did something I promised myself I never would: I flew on a major holiday. Luckily, my wife and I both have frequent flier status, which made our overpriced trip bearable. And, at the end of the day, I was very happy to see my family and take part in Thanksgiving.

I didn’t actually take any pictures at our Thanksgiving get together. I just enjoyed it. I did however carry the camera around on a family trip to the River Walk in San Antonio with my parents and Adrian.

My parents sit for a spell on the river walk on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Dinner at Las Canarias. Despite its name, this is a French Resteraunt, and an exceptional one at that.

The Passing of a Barge. The River Walk isn't just for walking. Tour and dinner barges run up and down it carrying tourists.

The Crowds. The river walk was quite crowded on the day after Thanksgiving. I didn't mind this time, which is out of character for me.

Tower Life Building. This building sits along one of the less heavily traveled sections of the river walk and it is much more interesting than the more modern all glass monstrosities.

A bull rider comes out of the gate at the Rodeo.

I grew up in a small town in Texas named Seguin. Every year in October the county held a fair and rodeo and every year I would go to the midway for my birthday. It has been a few years (well, quite a few) since I’ve been to a small town fair and rodeo.  When we decided to go to the Loudoun county fair I wasn’t expecting the that type of experience. Loudoun county is only an hour from our apartment and my (all be it limited) experience with things an hour from DC is that they are overrun by city dwellers (like myself) trying to escape the city.

A little over a year ago I accompanied Adrian to a conference in Beunos Aires, Argentina. We managed to squeeze (and I mean squeeze!) in a quick side trip to Iguazu’ on the border with Brazil. The falls at Iguazu’ are the second largest in the world behind Victoria Falls in Africa and they are spectacular. The expense and loss of sleep this trip cost us was well worth it.

The edge of Iguazu' falls.

To visit the falls, we flew into Beunos Aires via Ezeiza airport and then had to transfer via taxi to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery about 30 minutes away. We had a short layover and were on the last flight of the day to Iguazu’ so there was some question of whether we would make it. We did, partially thanks to the refreshingly non-TSA-insane security. It was nice to enjoy a flight instead of being treated like a convicted criminal as we are in the US.

The entire area seemed like a lost world, especially our first overcast and rainy day.

Iguazu’ is more than just falls. It is a national park and wild life refuge. There are 100s of colorful birds, including the Tucan Grande and parrots all around the park as well a monkeys and coati. I’ll post some of those images later this week.

Milford Sound is one of the world’s greatest natural settings. Until recently, the only ways in were by boat or to take the 3 day Milford Track. For the last few decades, ever since the Homer Tunnel was completed, the sound has been accessible by car or bus. With that access has come more opportunities to see the sound, such as ocean kayaking. During our visit we spent a full day kayaking the sound and experienced the full range of weather it has to offer up to and including hail and very strong gusting winds. It is the sort of place that lets you know that NATURE is in charge, not you.

Rafted up in the middle of our trip, we enjoyed a snack and a wonderful view. This image was taken looking towards the Tasman sea.

During our day of kayaking we experienced Sterling Falls from up close as well as New Zealand fur seals playing in the water and lounging on rocks. The operator we chose motor boated us out 6 km and then we spent the day paddling back. Many of the other operators have you paddle out and back so you only get to experience half the area we were able to explore.

Highway 6 threads its way up the west coast of the south island of New Zealand. This is the least densely populated portion of an island with extremely low population density to begin with. At times, highway 6 travels along flats just off the beach. At others, it clings to the side of cliffs 10s or 100s of meters above the ocean. If you are lucky, there is a guard rail. Locals and tourist don’t really seem to pay much attention to the center stripe in the blind corners. And of course, the west coast is a rain forest so wet roads are the norm.

At Punakaiki

Along highway 6 you find gems like the Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki, Barrytown Knife Making (my post about it), Cape Foul Wind and finally Karamea (the end of the road). Some of these towns are little more than a backpackers lodge and few houses clinging to a small spot of nearly level land between the Tasman sea and the mountains. All along the highway is some of the most rugged and beautiful coastline I’ve ever seen, despite the rainy overcast weather.

Adrian and I made a quick run out to Manassas National Battle Field Park on Sunday afternoon. This is where the 1st and 2nd battles of Bull Run took place during the civil war. At this point, the park is pleasant fields with some old buildings, artillery, helpful NPS rangers and some nice displays and demonstrations explaining the battles. Before the civil war it was peaceful farm land, some of it owned by freedman.

Confederate Lines

Adrian and I headed out to Assateague and Chincoteague for the first of our annual Earth Day camping trips. We stayed off site at a private camp site since all the camping spaces in the national sea shore were full and the national wildlife refuse doesn’t allow over night stays. The camping was still fun even if it did rain our first night.

Reading in the tent on a rainy night.

Apparently every girl knows about the wild pony’s of Chincoteague Island. Personally, I’m not bitter that I was left out. I’m just glad I was allowed to visit eventually. During our Earth Day camping trip, we spent a long relaxed morning sitting in lawn chairs, drinking tea and watching a pony drama unfold. The story starts like so many….

with a group of mares grazing and relaxing.