Orlando and Disney World!

And now for some pictures from Orlando! They set us up in the Gaylord Palms Resort and Conference Center. It was a bit crazy. Connected to the hotel below (the picture below is only the hotel) is a massive convention center that dwarfs HyVee Hall in Des Moines: At the center of the complex was an indoor forest with a castle, about eight restaurants, and a number of other shops.

Me also made a new friend while we were in Florida:
We found the time to head over to Disney / MGM Studios for an afternoon and part of the evening.
An Imperial Walker!
Fun in the sun...

What more could you want?

More pictures? OK - check out our new Web Album site. There are pictures of New York (all of them) and some pictures of Carter and Lucy we've acquired. Check them out!

Becky's Wedding

Here we go: the main event! Here you can see the wedding tent and the long walk the bridesmaids had to make:
Becky and Dave from our spot in the tent:
Here is the whole crew (except Clay and myself. Oh, and not Dave either...)
And here with are with the mini-mountains in the background. Aren't we cute?
And yes - believe it or not - I can still fit into my suit. kinda...

We're Gorges!

Ithaca is Gorges!

That's what they say, you know! First, just up the road from Ithaca is Taughannock Falls - taller than Niagara Falls! (although not quite as big...)
Next, we wandered onto the campus of Ivy League Cornell University. This seems like a harmless bridge, right?
If you take a look over the edge, you see one of the two on-campus 5o+ foot deep gorges. Fun, huh?
That's it for now - more when we get back!

More from D.C.

Meet our new friends Tom...... and Abe.
Our future residence?
And the eternal flame.

A Taste of D.C.

Here are a few early pics to tickle your fancy...

Hello from the nation's Capital (and Capitol)!

Oh, and don't forget the best part - I had to find it and on day one of our explorations I did!

Locked in a glass case in the basement gift shop of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum was the Enterprise!

Many more pictures soon to come...

Above in the sky...

Who needs expensive aerial photography? Just take a plane ride from Des Moines to Cincinnati - it's amazing what you'll see!

So there we were - reaching cruising altitude when I saw something out my window. Jamie got the camera for me just in time to see what was obviously the lake:



Yup - there's the bridge:



Hmmm... That looks like 'ol P-town...



And there it is - Otley!



And if you look closely...



The pictures are from the north so things are a bit upside-down. Do you like you digital camera and its zooming? (Thanks Phil and Nancy!)

PS - be sure to click on the pictures to make them big. Also, for those who are a bit less than savvy with a computer, once the picture is big move your mouse over the bottom right-hand corner of the picture, click on the box that appears, and you'll be able to make it really big.

Pictures from Philadelphia Below!

Be sure to check them all out! There are lots...

UPDATE: Since this site was getting spammed with bogus comments on the posts, I added the thingy where you have to type in some wierd letters and numbers to post comments. In case you want to post, don't be alarmed...

Independence Hall

Here it is. On the left is the security building we had to pass through to get to the Bell and Independence Hall (It was just easier than airport security. We didn't have to take off our shoes, but that was the only difference. Come 45 minutes early!) The building on the right houses the Liberty Bell.

George is out front.

Here is a plaque talking about all that went on inside.

And yes, Mom, I stood in front of Independence Hall, just like JFK.

Inside Independence Hall

Here is the inside. This is the stairway to the top (where the Centennial Bell now hangs.) They wouldn't let us up there. No, Mom, I didn't jump the railing.


They only let us into the two main rooms on the main floor. This one was the Pennsylvania court house. Between the windows in the back (you can hardly see it) is the seal of the state of Pennsylvania. On July 8, 1776 the British coat of arms that used to hang there was ripped down by constitutional militia after the Declaration of Independence was read to the people of Philadelphia in the courtyard outside.


Here's where the magic happened. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed in this room. However, the only authentic piece of furniture is Washington's chair that stands at the back of the room.There is a half-sun on the top of the back of the chair (I bet you can't see it in my picture.) As the delegates argued over the Constitution, it was said that Benjamin Franklin sat and wondered if the sun on the chair would be a rising sun or a setting sun. It turned out that it was a rising one.

Liberty Bell

Don't forget this! If you can imagine, we spent a bit of time in this room. As you can see, the 'ol Liberty Bell is in a building so you can see Independence Hall in the background. I have dozen of pictures, but here are just a few...





It's the coolest. I says: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Boat House Row

Here is the view of "Boat House Row" from below the Art Museum. Pretty much, the boat houses are rowing clubs' little clubhouses. The day we where there they were having a crew tournament. From the look of the houses it looked like they were fraternities for old guys...

In the bottom of the picture is Philadelphia's old water treatment plant (according to Riley?) Off to the right you can see the boat houses.

Here's a closeup from the same spot.

Here are two of them. I thought they were the coolest...

And here is the extreme closeup from right close to the river.