Recent Events

We took another memorable summer road trip this year, visiting 15 states and logging 6150 miles in five weeks.
Our first destination was to Gulf Shores, Alabama to spend a few days with members of our family enjoying the beach. It was a nice relaxing time. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins Jack, Emma, Caitlin, Kara and JJ and learning to surf.
Ian catches a wave

Stair-stepped cousins

A wet and happy family photo


After the beach we had a long drive to Austin, Tx to visit my brother and his family. We went canoeing on City Lake and had a great meal of Mexican food.
Willie received the princess treatment in her canoe

Evan didn't miss the opportunity to get wet

These ducks were not too shy


We left Austin and headed for the heart of Texas to visit my grandmother. We stopped at Brownwood Lake State Park to have a picnic and get cooled off.
Here is Michelle and the boys after our dip in the lake


We always enjoy seeing Memaw and this visit we had some nice highlights, such as seeing my cousin Julie and her two children and taking Memaw to the Stanford Cowboy Days Rodeo.

Here are the boys and their third cousin Braden clowning around



















A great shot of Nell Myers










The Rodeo was lots of fun


This guy didn't last very long


I spent a little time taking some photographs of Memaw's house and of Anson. I don't think much has changed around there in 30 years.

Here is Memaw's table

A view from the front room

Parts of Anson have been left to mother nature





Another long day in the truck took us to Castle Rock, Co to spend the 4th of July with some old friends.

The boys celebrate with Mason at a neighborhood cookout


We continued our trip through Wyoming, eager to begin the camping portion in Grand Teton National Park.
We had a great time there spending seven days, hiking, biking, building fairy houses, swimming in the cold lakes and seeing lots of wildlife.
Here is a nice view from near our camp













The deer were plentiful and docile


Here we are from inspiration point on the first of many hikes we did

Erik and the boys at Cascade Canyon falls

This shot was from a hike we took to Taggert lake

Michelle and Evan had to defend camp from this black bear

The boys pose before taking a swim

One of the eagles we spotted from our raft down the Snake river

Buffalo at dusk

A beautiful evening in the Tetons













I got this one before the boys could blow it away


The weather and time of day made for some interesting light


We really enjoyed our stay at Jenny Lake, it was wonderful but we had a bit more traveling ahead. Our final destination was Yellowstone National Park. Although it was hot we found lots to do. We saw some incredible geysers, more wildlife (lots of Buffalo), and went swimming often. Our first hike was along the Yellowstone river with lots of great views of the upper and lower falls as well a return route through a small geyser basin.
Here is Michelle and the boys at the upper falls

The lower falls

The canyon below the falls

Our second geyser after Old faithful was the much more beautiful Castle Geyser

We took a bike ride and then a short hike to gain this view of the incredible Grand Prismatic Hot Spring

A two mile bike ride along a beautiful river brought us to Lone Star Geyser. To our surprise and delight it erupted a few minutes after our arrival. We were quite lucky, it only erupts every eight hours.

We left the Wyoming heat and started heading south to find a cooler climate among the high peaks of Colorado. We went a bit out of the way to visit Dinosaur National Monument.
The boys at the Utah Field House Museum in Vernal, Utah

The landscape in Utah was very interesting and we enjoyed exploring the stark landscape

A driving tour of the park took us to this incredible view of the canyon

In Colorado we were joined by the same friends we had visited on the way north. Wendy brought Mason and Grace to play with Evan and Ian. Our campsite was gorgeous, the wildlife was plentiful, the weather was cooler. It was a great place to spend our last week before heading back to Alabama.
Here is a shot of our camp and "the tent"

This was taken from our campsite, we had an awesome view of the valley

Ian spotted these colorful mushrooms on a hike

On our last day I took the boys fishing, we had a great time even if though it rained and we didn't catch anything.

Our route home took us to St. Louis, where we visited the zoo and the arch. Although it was sad to be heading home I think we were all ready to sleep in our own beds and get showers more often.