This page contains my latest created albums and perhaps one or two new favorite photos. These albums and photos will not necessarily be from our most recent travels or outings. They will often be older ones that have just now been made into albums or an individual photo that I had decided to make a "favorite"
Helsinki to St. Petersburg (2005)
Our First Safari (2002)
We wanted to do a safari for many years but were always concerned about safety and possible medical problems. We finally decided that if Tauck Tours was running a safari it probably wasn't as dangerous as people kept saying and we decided to do it. Buying the appropriate clothes and more importantly having the right photographic equipment including a long lens made the anticipation of the trip really exciting. We didn't even mind the efforts involved in getting the appropriate visas, shots, malaria meds, etc. I didn't have a really long lens but since I didn't know when I might use it again after this trip I decided to save the expense and rent one. As it turned out I eventually bought a Nikon 80-400mm lens and extender after it became clear that we had found a new type of trip.
Budapest to Bucharest by Riverboat (2008)
As noted immediately below less than 2 years before we had cruised the Black Sea so it was now time to cruise by Riverboat down to the Black Sea. So we came down the Danube from Budapest and went to Bucharest & Transylvania
The Black Sea
(2006)
This was an unplanned trip and a fascinating one. We cruised from Athens around to the Black Sea and through the Black Sea on a renovated former Renaissance 105 passenger ship. It was like being on a large yacht with all suite accommodations. The days were spent in exploring, lectures, and different cultures. The evenings in luxurious entertaining and dining.
TRAVELS IN JORDAN
In 2010 we went to Jordan twice. Actually Les went twice and Joannie went once. Les went to Jordan to teach at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. On that trip his hosts managed to include some serious site seeing so that when we went to Israel and Jordan later in the year Les had some idea of what we had to include on our itinerary. That trip was really more about Israel but that is for another time.
In the South of France
This is a compilation of pictures from two trips in Southern France. One was by land and one by river. As all of these trips, wine, food, people, and old architecture including medieval castles and Roman ruins are featured. I did not always label the locations in my catalogue so I have spent a great deal of time trying to find locations based upon a structure, sign, or whatever I could use. I hope I've been successful but if you note a discrepancy please let me know so I can correct the error. I hope this album conveys the beauty of Southern France. We'd love to return.
India Over the Years
Call it "secure at home", "lock-down", or even "Safe at Home". It's still being essentially not able to be out and about. It is a good opportunity to do things you always wanted to do at home but never got around to. Better than rearranging closets. From 1996 to 2013 I made several trips to India, some on business, some for pleasure, and all enjoyable. This is a compilation of those trips. As I say in the introduction to the album I am missing pictures primarily in the cities but I think what I have provides a view of this diverse and vibrant country
cruising new Zealand & Australia
It took us an extra year but we made it. Although traveling has become more difficult for us, we are still in the need for travel. The weather turned out to be a little problem but we still had a great time. Of course we ate too much, drank too much, probably even drank more than too much. Fog or no fog; rain or no rain we viewed and enjoyed this cruise.
Paris to Normandy: River-boating with the Family
This family trip was our most recent (July, 2018). After a couple of days in Paris, we cruised up the Seine to Normandy .It was our 7th all family trip. They are getting more difficult to schedule as the grandchildren grow up but we will keep trying.
zoo lights & fireworks
2020
This is the most recent series of photos taken "From the Balcony". I started this series some time ago and will eventually post them as I organize them. They often include weddings, children play groups, even bird watchers. I did this one because I have taken many photos of the zoo-lights from the zoo and realized that display has become much larger as the years have gone by. This is the 25th year and I guess I need to put them in an album as well.
victoria f alls (2009 & 2013)
Just a couple of weeks ago I read an article noting that Victoria Falls was noted to be without much water falling in parts of the year thought to be due to the droughts caused by global warming. I was surprised by the article since the various droughts have been occurring for some time. As you will see in this album summer drought in 2013 caused the Falls to look like the plumbers were on strike.
THE Canadian Rockies (1993)
The first of our trips with Tauck. It's the one that so impressed us that all these years later we are still doing some of our travels with them. We have actually visited all 7 continents with them.
SWITZERLAND (1994)
In 1994 we went on our 2nd Tauck trip. We decided the year before that having someone take care of all the issues that come up on a trip and the handling of luggage, etc. was worth giving up a little of our independance. Our really good travel agent had retired and we didn't have anyone that we were impressed with to help us plan trips. Our experience in 1993, with Tauck and the Canadian Rockies trip gave us the impression that their trips might well meet our needs so we thought we'd give it a try. What a try, we visited the major sites of mountains, lakes, villages, and towns. We ate in unusual settings, i.e. true Swiss in the foothills, Italian in the French part of Switzerland, French in German Switzerland, and gourmet whatever in a Best Western Hotel in view of the Eiger and Jungfrau.
Paris to Normandy by Riverboat: A family vacation
This is the first trip we have taken since our medical misadventures. I am so glad that we never plan a trip without travel insurance. As we get older, we really appreciate our traveling and know we will continue as long as possible. All went well on this trip and we got to spend a great deal of time with our children and grandchildren. Even after having our flight cancelled coming home and having to stay overnight without our luggage we are ready to go again. Our plan is to do the New Zealand trip we had to cancel in January, this January. I reminded Joannie of the long flight (over 16 hours) and her response was she'd just sleep it away. I'm getting the cameras ready for this January
Brussels to Amsterdam by Riverboat
This album has been sitting in the Travel Page for some time but it was not a particularly good album since it was created from the printed albums using older techniques. I have now made it into a single Blurb album which shows the trip to an advantage.
In recreating the album I had an opportunity to reflect on the trip again and may have enjoyed it almost as much as when we actually did it. There was no place we went that we didn't enjoy and learn from. The canals and old city of Brugges to the US cementery to the canals of Amsterdam and just walking around Amsterdam.
Cruising the Atlantic
With all of our traveling I had never crossed the Atlantic Ocean by ship (Joannie actually did in 1955 on the Queen). A couple of our friends have gone across several times when ships are repositioning and they love the total relaxation. It sounded like something we should do. This cruise was across the ocean and then to Gibraltar and up the coast of Spain to Barcelona. The only places we wanted to get off at were Madeira and Gibraltar. Madeira so we could walk on land (well it's an island) and Gibraltar since we had never been there. More
Rainbows around the world
This is a temporary file as I am still working on it. I'm having a problem with Blurb that needs to be resolved but I just wanted to get some of these in the Blog
Tango: Music, Song, & Dance
A compilation of pictures from various Tango shows that we have attended in Buenos Aires primarily, over the past 20 years.
Indigenous Tribes of Panama
Our trip to the Panama Canal was made even more interesting by our visits to various indigenous tribes. These are photographs from 2 very industrious groups who have managed to maintain their cultures and yet function well in the contemporary world
Thailand
This album is a consolidation of several trips to Thailand, some for pleasure and others for work/pleasure. We were there between 1997 and 2008.
Machu Picchu in 1975
This is a very brief album as it goes back quite a few years and when I looked in my various cataloging systems I didn't find much regarding Peru but I did find the photos at Machu Picchu. Since the reason I was looking for them was that my daughter Lisa and son-in-law Doug are going there for their anniversary. Although it is now an inplace to be and there are photos galore I thought they might like to see my impressions from 43 years ago. I know that the restoration is far more along than it was back in 1975 but then we did have the advantage of being the only group there at the time (all 20 of us) and the chance to use our imagination regarding the various buildings. What was really amazing was that all the construction was done with stone on stone and no mortar. The other thing amazing to me was that the Inca's had managed to farm the mountain steep mountain slopes back then by using terracing. Enjoy!
Kruger National Park, South Africa
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Botswana
Following a great and educational trip through South Africa (yes, there was even a several day safari in Kruger National Park) we went on to Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls. But then we were next to Botswana and could not resist another safari in a country we had never been in and was now known for its conservation and abundance of animals in the wild with few people around so on we went.
Although we did print an album we were not able to obtain an e-version so I've just made one. I will do the same for the South Africa trip and the time at Victoria Falls
Tanzania & Kenya
This was our 2nd safari to Tanzania and Kenya. It was more extensive than our previous one, more places, more animals, and as it turned out we actually were there for the migration. That was really impressive. Although the migration was impressive, I think that our contact with a particular Leopard, and with the pride of lions later made the entire safari a great adventure.
Tuscany & Umbria
This album is from a trip in 2009. Currently, I am trying to create albums of all of our trips from 2008 through 2018. Periodically I have done some as immediately below from much earlier times but I want to complete this ten year segment soon. This was a rather intensive walking effort because of all the small towns and Joannie was already having walking problems but being a real trouper she did fantastically well. The trip was exciting because of the towns, wine, scenery, and let's not forget the parade in Perugia.
My First Impressions of Venice (1984)
This is another album I put together for a friend who is about to make a first trip to Venice as part of a retirement trip for his wife. It brought back many good memories. Eventually I'll make this into an album featuring our entire trip which included taking the Orient Express from London to Venice, then the Rapido from Venice to Florence, and then on to Rome.
This should have been Cruising Alaska