This picture is from the Hurricane Ridge part of Olympic National Park in Washington. This day started out rainy and I nearly didn't even venture up to this part of the park because i has assumed that is would be too cloudy to see the mountains.
This is the Bill Clinton Presidential center in Little Rock, Arkansas. I have been to a few of these places and this one is my favorite. To be fair, I am an unabashed fan of Bill Clinton.
This picture is from early 1997. The little dog on my sister's shoulder is Fluffy as a puppy. As a puppy, she was a frenetic burst of energy. she would race around jumping up on every piece of furniture she could find.
The is the Great Hall at Ellis Island from my visit in June of this year. Ellis Island is truly one of the most impressive National Parks I have been to so far. It is important to the history of the United States and the stories are both uplifting and heartbreaking.
This is a pictures of me in Venice from 1998's Europe trip with Tone & Stan. I like Venice because it is very unique. It was also cleaner than when I visited with my family in 1986..JPG)
Janeen and I both really like this photo. Our wedding photographer, Rick, from Precious Memories in Canton, took these photos a week before the wedding as part of an engagement session. We had this one blown up to an 8x10 and displayed at the wedding with a matted frame that our guests signed.
This is a Photo from my visit to Shenendoah National Park in Western Virginia. The highlight of the park is driving Skyline Drive, the park's scenic road which runs right along the crests of the mountains and provides great views in to the surrounding valleys.
This is me standing on top of Australia's Parliament Building in the capitol of Canberra. This is the equivalent of standing on top of the U.S. Capitol Building! The building in the distance is the Old Parliament Building and across the lake is ANZAC parade, a long boulevard dedicated to Australia's armed forces.
This is one of my Dad's favorite pictures. Troy has one of him & Colin doing the same thing. Maybe I will find that one and post it later.
This is a picture of Monaco Harbour in 1998. The King's Yacht is the big boat in the center of the photo. Monte Carlo's famous casinos are on the left side of the picture.
This is a picture of my Dad's mom & dad. I never got to meet Grandpa Smitty, as he died 3 years before I was born. He looks a lot like my dad's brother Bob. Nana says she thinks she was about 18 when this photo was taken.
This is my Grandparent's Wedding Photo. I was lucky enough to take care of them for three years in Mount Pleasant before they died, and I miss them every day.
I like this random photo from my 2007 Out West trip. This was taken on I-40 somewhere in Central Oklahoma..JPG)
As the title states, this is Montezuma Castle in Central Arizona, from May of 2003. The dwelling did not actually house Montezuma, which is confusing for a lot of tourists. Unlike Mesa Verde, You can not walk around inside this ruin.
This is a picture of my college friends Keath, Tone, Mike and I at the Alamo in San Antonio. They had come to visit me while I was on Spring Break from teaching in Houston. We also visited Corpus Christi and Padre Island National Seashore on this trip.
Janeen and I visited our parents in Florida in February of 2007. While we were there we spent a couple of days in Orlando visiting my sister and brother-in-law and going to Disney. This is a picture of us a Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, where we stayed.
This is a common breakfast in Spain. The churros are a deep fried doughnut that come is many different shapes, and the chocolate has a little less consistency than pudding, and is served warm.
This mounment is located in Southern Arizona and preserves the area in which Coronado made his first trip into what is now the United States. The land in the background is Mexico.
These dolphins were in front of the tour boat I took out to Fort Sumter National Monument in February of 2007.
Fluffy has travelled with me on three of my National Park trips. She loves to fall asleep this way, when the road is smooth enough that she isn't constantly being jarred awake by bumps or potholes. She has been to 21 states, that's more than most people!
Here is a picture of me and one of the few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall. This photo is from my 1998 Eastern European Tour.
This photo is from Bangkok. These teeneagers are having a school lesson. It doesn't seem like a very effective place to have a class, but each culture does it differently.
The Natchez Trace Parkway runs almost uninterrupted for 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It runs along almost the same path as the original Trace, which was used by first the Native Americans, then by the first Europeans. It is now administered by the National Park Service. It has no stoplights and a 40 MPH speed limit the whole way..JPG)
This picture was taken at the Australian Wildlife Park outside Sydney. I visited the park on my tour of The Blue Mountains. Koalas sleep about 20 hours a day as my sleepy friend here will attest to!
This picture is one that always makes me laugh. Obviously, this rim is not 10 feet high, but it was about 9 feet 3 inches. I was in a little better shape then and had some pretty good ups.
This is our wedding party. The bridesmaids from left to right- Lisa Hacke, Lisa Huckleberry, Karen Slowinski, Khris Daniel, Amy Smith, Junior Bridemaid, Alexis Jackson (up front). The guys from left to right-Troy Smith (my brother), Matt Jackson, Martin Becker, Keath Patterson, Mike Johnson, Ken Tedford, Kirk Stueber. Colin and Eli Smith, the ring bearers (up front).
This picture is of three Las Vegas casinos, Flamingo, Bally's and Paris from my trip there in May of 2004.
This is a photo of all the guys who lived on my floor my Sophomore year of college. We lived on the third floor of David Hall, so we called ourselves 3D. Legend like James "Gleemo" White, Billy Bishop, Mike Johnson, Keath Patterson, Steve Boldt and "Wild" Bill Wargo were created here.