Travel

McDonald Observatory

On my return trip from Denver, after I had been up to visit my mother in Colorado in 2011, I diverted my route home in order to visit the McDonald Observatory and Big Bend National Park, in the far reaches of West Texas. It made my trip three days long, rather than the usual two

McDonald Observatory Read More »

Big Bend National Park

After I left the McDonald Observatory, I proceed to Big Bend National Park which was 130 miles to the south. This fact was not known to me when I left, on the map of Texas, it appears to be a short distance. But I had a worrying problem, I was running low on gas, and

Big Bend National Park Read More »

Bike Ride with Julian

On Friday, July 31st, I joined my daughter’s English friend Julian on a great bike ride through the countryside south and west of Stuttgart, Germany. It truly was a beautiful ride; within minutes of leaving his house in the village of Vaihingen we were riding through lush green farmlands and forests, quite beautiful to my

Bike Ride with Julian Read More »

2009 Trip To Europe

This was a visit to newly discovered family we had never met, combined with a trip to see our daughter and her husband. Meeting the Margutti cousins in Essex, England for the very first time! 2. Hanging out with Larissa and Hans Georg in Stuttgart and vicinity. 3. Speyer Cathedral, consecrated in 1061, has been

2009 Trip To Europe Read More »

Kaho’s beautiful wedding dress creation stars in Larissa and Hans Georg’s 2008 Summer Celebration in Ludwigsburg.

After a simple civil marriage ceremony in Switzerland in the autumn of 2007, Hans Georg and Larissa moved to southern Germany. It is the custom in Europe to have both a civil ceremony and a church ceremony. The civil ceremony is always first, because the church ceremony has no legal standing. The church ceremony is

Kaho’s beautiful wedding dress creation stars in Larissa and Hans Georg’s 2008 Summer Celebration in Ludwigsburg. Read More »

Luckenbach, TX

In October 7, 2007, Marilyn and I were out for the Luckenbach run with the Volkssportverein Friedrichsburg. Here are some of the pictures that we took. I had heard about Luckenbach, which is just a few miles from Friedrichsburg, for a long time. Both places started as mid-19th century German settlements in the Texas Hill

Luckenbach, TX Read More »

Edinburgh, Scotland in June, 2000

Edinburgh Castle Cramond Kirk tour with Willa Stewart Edinburgh was a special treat because we visited it with a native! Marilyn’s college friend, Moira Lees, often called Willa Stewart her “oldest friend” because Willa, at age 12, had braved the wartime blackout (without telling her parents) and had ridden her bicycle across town to see

Edinburgh, Scotland in June, 2000 Read More »

Claire’s Visit to America

Back in the late spring or early summer of 1990, Rodney called our house in Austin and asked if Larissa would like to accompany their family on a camping vacation, driving west from Texas to Arizona and then Nevada. We told him that Claire, an exchange student from France, was going to be visiting us

Claire’s Visit to America Read More »

Climb Mount Baldy

In the summer of 1973, Marilyn, Tom Benton, and I drove out East of LA to climb mount Baldy. We drove as far as we could go, then hiked the rest of the way. It was slow going but the scenery was pretty. I found this very detailed web page about climbing Mount Baldy today.

Climb Mount Baldy Read More »