Christmas Day in Paris

Day Six It’s Christmas! The timing of the day’s activities was perfect, as we arrived at Notre Dame during a gorgeous Christmas mass. Aside from the mass, the day felt pretty much like any other. None of the usual Christmas misery. Just fun exploring new places. What a great day! In the afternoon, we strolled…

Auvers Sur Oise

Day Five We visited the last home of Vincent Van Gogh, and stood on the very spot where several of his paintings were made. We learned that he made more than 70 paintings in the last 70 days of his unhappy life. We also got our first glimpse of the sun today, which lasted about…

Les Andelys

Day Four Les Andelys is a town of 9000 people 60 miles from Paris, which makes it close enough to be considered a suburb. Much of the population commutes from here to Paris. Naturally the town has a large church named Notre Dame where we enjoyed a beautiful organ concert.

Christmas in Paris

This year we decided to avoid the depressing spectacle that is Christmas in the US by traveling abroad for the holidays. This turned out to be an even better idea than we thought it could be. The usual guilt and stress of our most dreaded holiday melted away, and we pretty much forgot about the…

I Truly Hate Hiking

Unless of course it’s near Jackson, Wyoming. Hiking isn’t the only thing we did in Jackson Hole. We also shopped and ate way too much. And of course, we took a few pictures. (Some of the best shots from this trip were shot by the Kellster!) It’s hard to pick favorites. Here are just a…

Frank & Dot are Octogenarians!

We took a short trip to Cambria and Paso Robles to celebrate dual birthdays with the Hunter clan. On the way, we stopped at the spectacular Post Ranch Inn for a tasty lunch with a view. We both loved the little town of Cambria. Moonstone Beach is lined with cozy hotels, and the pace is…

Weekend of Love

We spent a perfect three-day weekend in Gualala with a few of our favorite people. We drove up the coast with no firm plans, loaded down with food and booze. We stayed in our pajamas the first day while we waited out a much-needed rain storm, but things got really nice on the second day….

Happy Birthday Baby!

Austin Powers celebrates the big seven-oh with a bunch of old hippies at Urban Legend.

Budapest

One of many surprises on the trip was the beauty of Budapest in the morning. Wish we’d had time to see the interior of the Gellert Spa. Finally time for a coffee and treats at Anna Café. More photos of beautiful Budapest here.

Bratislava

The capital of Slovakia was not supposed to be on our tour, but due to some loch work, we took a welcome detour to this interesting city. The rest of the images from Bratislava can be seen here.

Vienna

Vienna, with its 1.7 million inhabitants, is the largest city we visited. The city has a modern (and very expensive!) feel. Dozens of quaint cafés serve some of the best coffee and sweets we’ve ever tasted. We only wish we could’ve had a bite of this edible pony. St. Stephen’s Cathedral and another impressive organ….

Salzburg

Scenery along the Danube is starting to become really lovely – especially when the sun (almost) makes an appearance. The Salzburg Cathedral. I’m not sure of the significance of the big gold ball or of the dude standing on top of it! View more pictures of our visit to Salzburg here.

Passau

Now on board the River Beatrice, our first stop is Passau. The site of the worst flooding in 5 centuries, Passau is small and charming. Our guide explains that the city was built at the confluence of three rivers – the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz. More Passau pics here.

Last Night

I like this shot of thedude and Kellster a lot. So I’m posting it. It’s my blog. So there.

Terramare and Beyond!

Despite near gale-force winds, this motivated group was undeterred in its quest to place a small white ball in a teeny-tiny hole far, far away. First at Sea Ranch Golf Links, and the next day at the Little River Inn. I know – two golf courses in two days??? Don’t worry – thedude has not…

Grillin’ with the Gang

Chris and Ben prepared pork AND lamb for last weekend’s feast. I’m trying out settings on the Fuji X100s. Hope you like the “HD” aspect ratio. These were shot with the Film Simulation mode set to “Pro Negative, High Contrast”. Now, I usually (always) shoot RAW, but it turns out that there are some advantages…

Friday Night on the Square

Tonight at Jack London Square we saw a man with two chickens, and another man with two chicks! Must be the fez. The more I use the Fuji X100s, the more I like it. It’s already become my go-to camera. It’s small enough to carry everywhere, and as they say, the best camera is the…

Fabulous Kellster!

Kelly is absolutely fabulous before last night’s Xenophon Gala. I’ve been staring at this beautiful woman for two days now, and I still cannot believe how lucky I am!

Sundial Bridge, Redding

We’re a long way from the truly spectacular Milwaukee Art Museum, but not all that far from another beautiful Santiago Calatravo design. The Sundial Bridge is a gorgeous and unexpected treasure in Redding, California.  

Poop Scoopin’ with Annie

While most of the rest of the country deals with a weather emergency, Jim and Kelly drove out to Xenophon to meet the newest member of the herd – Annie. She seems to be taking to her new digs nicely.

Second Super Sunday

What fun! Great game, even if the wrong team came out on top. We first took a shot like this last year, and decided to do it again in 2013. Looking forward to a third shot in 2014!

Crazy Beautiful Wine Country

Our dear friends Ann and Lynne provided the excuse for a trip to the Napa Valley. As it happens, the trip could not have been timed more perfectly. We arrived just in time to witness Mother Nature at her scenic best. Thanks to Lynne, we visited some of the most beautiful wineries we have ever…

First SONY DSC-RX100 Shot

After reading a couple of glowing reviews like this one, I decided to pick up a SONY DSC-RX100, the images I’m seeing from it are very impressive! It’s amazing that a camera this small deliver images this big! The list of technological achievements in this tiny gem is long. An f1.8, 3.7X zoom lens, 20…

Fourth of July Cruise

We decided to check out the San Francisco fireworks this year. Neither of us has seen them close up for decades, so we braved the fog and bitter cold to sail out on the USS Potomac. The ship parked close to the action for a relatively fog-free show. But the coolest thing about the event…

Oops – It Must Be Sunday

I think I need to add a new “horsie” category to my blog! By the way, I used my el-cheapo Korean 85mm 1.4 lens on today’s shoot. I love that lens!

Happy Anniversary

We’re 2-1/2 months late, but we finally got around to celebrating our anniversary with a day trip to wine country. What a beautiful day. Happy Anniversary, Kellster!