Excursions is a new main theme that began as Urban. I was looking for a catch-all keyword I could use for random images but as it turns out, almost all of the images fit under other main themes. I then decided I needed to tag all of the little adventures we had along the way including museums, beaches, bike rides, cemeteries, city visits, etc. To be clear, the keyword Urban has evolved into Excursions. We’ll have to see how I like it and how useful it is.

This image is an example of one picture needing at least three main theme tags; people, nature, and excursions.

Portal was a busy two days and three nights. Our excursions included visiting the little town, following Michelle around on her daily house-sitting tour, a quick driving tour of the area including Rodeo, NM, and some campgrounds in the Chiricahua national monument, and a couple of short hikes, one to this watering hole and another to a beautiful vista in the monument.

The Harlingen area was a remarkably busy four days and five nights given that we were only supposed to be there two nights and one day.

These little babies, maybe baby Jesus? were found in a store in Mexico. They were initially tagged as People, though that’s a stretch, and Art, another stretch. This is an example of an image not fitting in any of the initial main theme tags very well but they were seen on our excursion into Mexico.

Heading into Mexico we crossed the famed Rio Grande River. Here is a border patrol truck driving the river frontage road. I have no idea how far this road goes or how many desperate people they encounter each day. The river is smaller than I had imagined.

The tags for the above image are Transportation, Nature, Excursions.

In the Harlingen area, we had several errands we ran. Here’s ellen at the post office mailing a package to her sister in Bellingham, WA. We also got the truck windows tinted, tried to get help fixing the outdoor shower leak, discovered some items we needed and did a Walmart run, went grocery shopping, saw a movie, hit a mall, and the like.

South Padre Island was a big day. Being only an hour away it was easy enough to get to but we actually spent a good chunk of time in Port Isabel, the town on this side of the bridge connecting the two.

The sand dunes on SPI are tagged People, Nature, Excursions.

The cemetery in Port Isabel is very close to this hotel. We walked over from the lighthouse where we could see it from the top. This picture is a classic example of needing a catch-all tag like Excursions. I guess it could also fit under Buildings.

This image is tagged People, Buildings, Excursions as it is the stairway up to the top of the lighthouse.

This is Ellen in her childhood home in Harlingen. Finding this home was the reason for our deep south Texas detour. It was such a wonderful experience. The owners were lovely and let us in to visit. Ellen told lots of stories of her adventures with her siblings in this house.

We had three full days in Houston with cousin David and that was a very busy time as well. We did two bike rides on bayou trails. One of the rides went past a bat colony. We could see any bats but found evidence of them in their scat on the ground. It didn’t smell very good.

We also went to Houston Post, a renovated U.S. Postal facility that has the largest urban park on top of a building in the country. Inside are restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues. It’s still being developed but it is in Houston’s theater district downtown which is second in size only to Broadway in New York City.

This is in downtown Houston where you can walk down to the bayou. It is said you can kayak in these waters although we did not see anyone in them.

We spent an afternoon at Rice University. An hour and a half was spent at a lecture cousin Dave had signed up for. He’s my idol in the area of not letting your brain atrophy.

We also attended this fascinating museum. The museum is home to “the country’s largest collection of funeral service artifacts and features renowned exhibits on one of man’s oldest cultural customs,” according to its website. For its hallmark exhibit, Celebrating the Lives and Deaths of the Popes, the museum collaborated with the Vatican to highlight the ceremonies surrounding papal funerals. As of October 2020, the museum has a presidential exhibit, including Abraham Lincoln’s death mask.

Displays go back in time as far as Ancient Egyptian funerary practices and include items like hearses and unusual coffins. It also devotes space for a Presidential Funeral Gallery. Among other items, it has the original $99.25 funeral bill for George Washington.

And the interactive exhibit on Frieda Kahlo.

On the way to Galveston, we hit the Johnson Space Center. Named after Lyndon B. Johnson, the Johnson Space Center is NASA’s center where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in the Clear Lake Area of Houston, which acquired the official nickname “Space City” in 1967. The center is home to NASA’s astronaut corps and is responsible for training astronauts from both the US and its international partners. It houses the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, which has provided the flight control function for every NASA human spaceflight since Gemini 4. It is popularly known by its radio call signs “Mission Control” and “Houston”.

We had two excursions in Galveston, the town itself where we spent the day, and a walk to the beach from camp.

These electrical lines remind me of some I photographed in Kathmandu. During the 19th century, Galveston became a major U.S. commercial center and one of the largest ports in the United States. It was, for a time, Texas’ largest city, known as the “Queen City of the Gulf”. It was devastated by the unexpected Galveston Hurricane of 1900, whose effects included massive flooding and a storm surge that nearly wiped out the town. The natural disaster on the exposed barrier island is still ranked today as the deadliest in United States history, with an estimated death toll of between 6,000 to 12,000 people. The city subsequently reemerged during the Prohibition era of 1919–1933 as a leading tourist hub and a center of illegal gambling, nicknamed the Free State of Galveston until this era ended in the 1950s with subsequent other economic and social development.

Our last morning was a foggy one.

Then it was on to New Orleans. We really only had two excursions in three days, the plantation museum and NOLA itself. New Orleans was a gold mine for photography and within the city, we had what seemed like a million little excursions. We hit restaurants, museums, parades, shops, and we people watched to name a few.

These two critters were taking in the festival parade. They could use a good brushing, don’t ya think?

This critter was at our Cajun Restaurant where we ate after the morning at the plantation.

These big round containers had something to do with raising and processing sugar. The slave quarters are in the background.

We went to a Mardi Gras mask store where the owner/artist makes leather masks. They were exquisite .

Again with the Voodoo Museum. There was so much fascinating information in there.

By chance Ellen’s sister Ruth was in Poplar, Mississippi visiting her son and grandchildren when we were passing through so we stopped in. This is her son’s place and Ruth’s bedroom when she visits.

Our visit to Houston, MS was brief. We had planned two nights at Davis Lake Campground and one whole day in this small town of 5,000. The city hall is beautiful and I have no doubt this lunch counter saw some action during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Another Houston excursion included finding Ellen’s grandfather’s grave. We found it largely on Ellen’s memory of where she used to visit when she lived there. It overlooked the high school, which mysteriously burned down in 1973 after electing its first Black homecoming queen.

We allowed ourselves one day to visit Dollywood. These two images are from there. We also rode the steam train which was pretty cool. But we weren’t loving the theme park so we headed to Gatlinburg in the afternoon.

The town of Gatlinburg wasn’t our jam either. It was kind of a cross between The Strip in Las Vegas and Main Street at Disneyland. Buy, buy, buy, and fake, overdone building facades. We DID have some delicious fudge though and a good meal at a restaurant with a Hopi Radio sticker on its window.

What saved the day was the sky bridge experience. We took a ski lift to the top of a hill and walked on suspension bridges between other hilltops and had pretty great views. It turns out Smokey Mountain National Park is the most visited national park with 11 million visitors a year.

From Tennessee, we headed to Weaverville, NC, just outside of Ashville to visit some old neighbors who had moved there a few years ago. It was a delightful time, we had lunch at the country club, drove around Ashville and got the tour, and stopped at this park for a wander. It was beautiful with turtles and lots of birds.

In Hillsborough, NC we stayed three days to visit my beautiful cousin Wendy and her two lovely children. We had many outings with them including lots of thrifting. Wendy could rival Chelsea, our daughter, in the thrifting department.

We also hit up UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University and their gardens,  chapel, and downtown Hillsborough, and just hung around her property which is full of chickens, mules, ducks, geese, and at least one snake.

Five states later we are in Cincinnati for a week! Following a day in the ER with Akacia she rallied and we thrifted.

We tried to go to the shark girl museum but had lunch instead.

Ellen and I hiked Embshoff Woods.

We also walked around Eden Park and saw great views of the city.

We found this beautiful pond at Spring Grove Cemetery. Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the third largest cemetery in the United States and is recognized as a US National Historic Landmark.

On the Purple People Bridge, one can stand in two states at once. Not quite as impressive as the Four Corners of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico but fun nonetheless. It connects Cincinnati and Newport, Kentucky. And locks are always fun to shoot.

After Cincinnati, we stopped in Iowa for two nights. from there we hit the Amana Colonies for a morning of walking and photographing. the stores were fun. There was an entire store devoted to just Christmas ornaments and decorations. Baskets of taffy are always fun.

Once we made it to Nebraska after our harrowing experience in near tornado weather we got up the next morning and my brother Jonathan took us to the Platt River. He felt a need to wade across and check out the other bank. It is a shallow slow-moving river that occasionally floods. He showed us signs of severe erosion where parcels of farmland are being swallowed up by the river.

That afternoon went to a local cemetery where my birthfather is buried as well as several members of Jonathan’s family. They have been on this farm for over 100 years. The next day we donned beekeeping suits and helped with some bee boxes. Later that day we helped extract honey and bottle it. SO cool!

On to Denver and our excursions there. Chelsea took us to Idaho Springs on I-70 outside of Denver for a day of hot rubbing in some natural hot springs. It was a delightful day. We finished with some Colorado Style Pizza and a quick look in an outdoor clothing thrift shop.

In Denver, we stayed with my brother Jonathan and his wife and two kids and visited our good friends the Prows (who had this sign hanging in their home). Of course, both of these images could be tagged under Art or Signs, or both!

We ran errands at the mall, walked the Santa Fe Arts District, walked the kids to school, and generally hung out with family. We bugged out a couple of days ahead of schedule to miss the snowstorm heading our way with over a foot of snow predicted.

I feel like we were twice as busy as this blog shows but it was a nice mixture of busy and chilling at campgrounds and with family.

Thanks for letting me revisit our amazing adventure. I hope you’re enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it! Until next time,

Happy shooting!