The Atlantis in the Bahamas...tolerable I suppose

These are some shots of our trip to the Bahamas. Camille and Michelle happened to join us for this excursion, and seemed to enjoy themselves.

I took them for a walking tour of Nassau, which included the fort at the top of the hill ... very warm, and very humid!

Bartering for goods was a lot of fun, especially when we ran into a lady we had gone to church with earlier in the week.

It looked like fun, so I traded her for a while and sold stuff to tourists. "Hey, pretty lady, like to buy some earrings?"

Great Britian is pretty great!

So we went to England to visit the queen ... actually, I took a course at the Business School at Oxford, and spent a week in London enroute. We asked these two Bobbies to pose with Dana near #10 Downing Street, where the PM lives. On to Parliment and Big Ben!

I tried to explain to Dana that the Red Box was not a public restroom but a phone box...I hope she believed me!

While in Notting Hill (think Portabello Road market), we stumbled accross our name emblazened on a pub accross from the tube station. Naturally, we had to stop by and amaze the staff, and have a bite to eat.

I'll post some of the more touristy shots later for you vacation purists.

Disneyland is for Kids...

So, Disneyland is for kids, right? So why are my son-in-laws smiling?

Hector, in particular, felt like a...king.

Of course, my grandchildren seemed to be enjoying themselves too.

Halloween in Disneyland is fast becoming a family favorite, and gives us all an opportunity to connect, wear costumes, and generally goof off.

Thailand Excellent Adventure Part Two

Ok, so I thought I'd throw in some of the actual Thailand shots you'd rather see. Here are some from Ayudttya, an ancient capital of Thailand that was sacked by the Burmese in the 1600s (don't take the dates as gospel). The Burmese descecrated their temples by beheaded all of the Buddha statues, and there were plenty of them!

The Buddha head wrapped in the roots of a tree was one such image; it has become a revered icon in Thai Buddhism. It has been photographed thousands of times, and professional copies are available at many websites. I like mine better. :-)

The intact Buddha figures are from the only temple to remain safe from the Burmese incursion, and give you a glimpse of what the others may have looked like before the damage.

Our Excellent Adventure to Thailand Part One

Hi all;

This is our initial post, so we thought we'd throw in a couple of pictures from our trip to Thailand earlier this year.

We took a train to Ayudttaya...3rd class. Dana was not impressed with the lack of air, the upright seats, etc., but we met some great people on the train. That was the whole purpose of the train part of the trip -- we were the only farangs (foreigners) on this section of the train.

The couple with the little boy were on their way to Ubon, a 12+ hour train ride. The little boy ended up on my lap, and I sang the "Elephant Song" to him. He liked it a lot.

The train security guard started out by trying to impress us with his English. Once he found out I spoke Thai, he stayed with us for an hour talking about everything from the government to his teenage kids...in Thai. His uniform was so threadbare it was shiny in the hazy sunlight; his gun may have worked once (20 years ago), but looked to be rusted shut.

Look for Part Two coming soon...