I tried sniffing coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose.

Kristen, the girl from whom I had met when I bought my theater chairs, and I went to the ICE! exhibit today. It was supposed to be a surprise, but it was guessed before we even got there. I had first attended last year and enjoyed it enough to return, so even though it was a long day trip, it was kind of nice and enjoyable. The sculptures were well made and seeing this kind of makes me want to attend the Harbin Ice Festival some year.

A person who isn't making waves isn't paddling hard enough.

Yesterday I finally got the chance to do the paddling trip that I had been planning. I kept intending to paddle to Egmont Key State Park from Fort De Soto, but something often got in the way. Last time I actually had the kayak loaded and traveled south, however I had to meet up with someone later in Bradenton to look at, and subsequently purchase, some home theater chairs for the new set up in the den. this time, I finally made it to Ft. De Soto and parked near the fishing pier. After carrying the stuff to the water it didn't take too long to paddle the 1.8-2 miles to the key. Sure, taking the passenger ferry would have been easier and faster, but since when has anyone ever known me to do something like that?

Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge was more expansive and interesting than I had initially thought. Egmont Key has a unique natural and cultural history, including a lighthouse that has stood since 1858. During the 19th century, the island served as a camp for captured Seminoles at the end of the Third Seminole War and was later occupied by the Union Navy during the Civil War. In 1898, as the Spanish - American War threatened, Fort Dade was built on the island and remained active until 1923. Though almost all of the buildings were gone, the 8 miles or so of brick road and sidewalks remained. They offered an eerie feeling at times as the road would often just disappear into the overgrowth. The well on the 'old well' trail was never found, but there were several interesting aspects; gopher turtle, old sidewalks, and even an old tennis court. There were a few seemingly huge logs around that were trip hazards, but overall it was a great experience. Before heading off there was a little bit of time to locate a geocache and relax for a while on the beach and enjoy some cookies, fruit, and some quite excellent homemade sandwiches (who needs Subway?). There was still a bit of time before dark to check out Fort De Soto on the mainland once everything was packed up. With the cool breeze, lovely view, and recent memories of the day, to me it added up to a perfect experience!

I had a really incredible time hanging out with Kristen and even though the crossing was a bit further and more rough than I had expected, I think she had a good time as well. We had an awesome walk around the island and some memorable experiences and I even got her introduced a bit to geocaching when we found a hidden cache along one of the trails. She really is a wonderful person and I am so very much looking forward to getting to know her.




This picture above is a panoramic picture stitched from a series of pictures taken at the intersection of two brick roads. It looks as if four roads are converging on a single point in relation to the viewers stance, however it is indeed a 360 degree view. The first road is looking west towards the Gulf of Mexico, the second road is looking north, third looking east towards Tampa Bay, and the last is looking south.

I hope Santa brings me that mistletoe belt I asked for!

This evening I went to Ybor with some friends for the annual Santa Pub Crawl. We met at my friend Michelle's place and walked down to the strip. Outside of hashing, I really hadn't attended many events like this, so it was great to meet a lot of different people. I dressed up as the Christmas Pleasure Fairy and was one of the finalists in the costume contest, however was beat out by a hot recreation of Cindy Lou Who.

Dream it at home, be it in the theaters.

I went to De Soto National Monument today in Bradenton to check out the park and get a stamp. I had not been here previously and enjoyed walking around some of the trails. Originally I had intended to do some kayaking from the park to just putz around, but instead went to check out some theater chairs that I had seen advertised in Craig's List. I wasn't sure if I would get them, but took the trailer just in case. After seeing them I decide to purchase them and got them loaded up into the trailer. The girl selling them was extremely nice and we were able to chat for a while. after everything was tied down, I actually got the nerve to ask her to dinner that evening; so she lead me to a sushi place where we talked for a long while. Hopefully we'll have a chance to hang out again sometime soon. The chairs are set up in the den and look pretty nice. Funny how fate can work things out.

There is no place like ..er... where do I live again?

Yeah, I've been away a bit, hence the complete lack of blogs since early July. This has been another trip of superlatives and I have been able to see and experience so much. Hopefully I'll be adding a couple of blogs a days until I catch up to the present time. So for right now, I'll just crunch some numbers from the trips I've taken since early July.

States visited on mid-west trip (8): Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
States visited in August (4): North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia [well just drove through]
Miles drive on mid-west trip: 4200+
Emails downloaded when I got home from mid-west: 1200 [after spam and worm filtering]
Miles hiked: ~100
Friends missed: all of them

I love the way your red dress matches your eyes.

This was my third annual New Orleans Red Dress run. I've decided that I want to visit this place at least once a year and so far have also hit Mardi Gras. I had a great weekend, though am still trying to figure out where all my money went. I think someone mugged me and stuffed $60 of Fat Tuesdays receipts into my pocket! I got to hang out with some good friends; AP, Ginger, Little Fin, Pic, Fill Me Up, etc, hit a couple of caches, a few national park stamps. and explore the city. The biggest dislike was the sheer number of people in the pub crawl. There were just too many people involved with probably more than 1500 in attendance. That is jsut a little too much as it gets so crowded that it is very difficult to get a drink. This year someone had an inflatable pool being driving on a trailer in which hashers would jump in on occasion to cool off, however after a while the water had been splashed out. Fortunately a pumper truck from the fire department just happened to be passing down and they actually stopped and filled up the pool!

Getting flipped off the mechanical bull.

"I'm in UR Bourbon Street drinkin' UR daquaris"

Crikey!!

Weddings rarely go off without a hitch.

Angie and I traveled to Wilmington NC to attend my friend Tara's (Porcelina) wedding. She and Dan (F'em Dano) had met whet group of use went to the DC RDR a few years ago. On the way up and back I hit a few geocaches as well as a few other stops along the way. when we got there Friday evening we got there we attended a hash that the locals had set up for us with a trail hared by someone I knew from one of the previous hash cruises. On Saturday morning Angie and I went to the maritime museum of the 'USS North Carolina'. I've been on other naval ships, however this was the first real battleship, so I had a grand time running around the various areas of the ship and felt like I was a kid again running around the aircraft carrier 'Yorktown' back in Charleston. The wedding in the afternoon was lovely with it be set on the beach followed by a reception. I was sad to see one of my friends permanently moving away, but I know she'll be very happy. After all the wedding guests had left most of us, including the newlyweds, went across the street to a hole-in-the-wall bar to relax for the rest of the evening and had a great time sharing stories.

On the way back out on Sunday I hit the battleship again so I could check out a few more places and then went on to Charleston. I stopped my my grandparents graves in Paxsville for a short while and then checked on my pond and other family property in St. George for a little while. My friend Jason graciously allowed us to crash at his house for the evening. I stopped by Edisto Beach to deal with some business regarding the beach property before finally heading for home.

Veni, Vidi, Vegas...I came, I saw, I lost some money and saw some great shows.

After nearly three weeks, I am nearing the end of the trip. On the way back to Vegas after leaving Zion, I stopped by Hoover Dam, though I had been here once before since I was already nearby. I just walked around a bit before heading to Henderson so I could do some laundry and catch up on messages. After finishing errands I headed into Las Vegas to spend my last days. I spent the day walking around the strip around MGM Grand, Luxor, etc just taking in the sites. I was walking around Mandalay Bay in the even as I heard there was a 'Tear for Fears' concert. I was just hanging outside when I was approach by the very lovely lady named Rebecca that explained that her friends could not make it to the show, so she offered me a ticket before she left for home. I accepted and was able to convince her to stay as well and spent the concert in the outside area by the pool listening to the music and chatting for a long time as I was still pumped about the trip and wanted to share stories. After the concert was over, which was quite enjoyable in itself, we chatted for a while before she headed home while I explored some of the hotels before heading over to my friend's place to crash for the evening. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with her the next evening and had a very memorable time hanging out. The next morning I drove over to Red Rock Canyon to do some exploring, climbing, and hiking. The first time I was here I was with someone that wasn't into hiking, so I really didn't have a chance to explore. I spent a few hours here crawling around the rocks and checking out the different crevices and alcoves before heading back into town. I made it out to the Las Vegas H3 run, however I was only able to do part of the trail before I had to rush back into town to MGM to see the Cirque du Soleil show 'Ka'. I absolutely loved this show and was really impressed and have it as my favorite so far. The whole theater was used for the show, however the most impressive part was the stage. I was impressed when the whole thing lifted up, kind of amazed when it tilted at incredibly sharp angles, and was simply astounded when it started spinning.

The next morning I first visited the 'Star Trek Experience' at the Las Vegas Hilton. It was not quite what I had expected in that one purchased two tickets that gave access to two different live action shows. though they were small in scale, it was fairly interesting enough. I really wasn;t that interested in the memorbelia, but overall it was entertaining. After leaving the Hilton, I did a little geocaching on the way to the Pinball Hall of Fame. One of the really neat caches was true Vegas style as it was in a drive-thru wedding chapel. One just had to drive to the window, ask for the cache, and sign the log. After a few hours of gaming, spending much more time there than I had expected, I explored more of the Bellagio, Circus Circus, Cesar's Palace, Paris, and the Venetian along the strip and watched the Treasure Island pirate show. After a few hours of walking around I headed inside to take my seat for the Cirque show 'O'. This would now be my second favorite show just behind 'Ka'. The scenes and acrobatics were very impressive and I again thoroughly enjoyed myself. I walked around more and enjoyed a couple of the fountain shows before having to finally head back to my friend's place as I had to get all my stuff together. I had to wash the car to get ride of all the grime that had built up over the weeks of dusty driving before heading to the airport. The rental attendant was somewhat shocked when they checked the records and realized that I had put on 4200 miles on the vehicle in the three weeks I was gone. I hit 8 different states (Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico), met a few really nice people, slept in a hotel 0 nights, almost ran out of gas twice, showered in countless truck stops, and had some very amazing experiences.