Aruba

WOW! Beautiful Aruba! For Candice and I's first Anniversary, we decided we wanted to go to the Caribbean again. We chose Aruba this time because of how far south it is and how close it was to the equator. We definitely wanted laying out whether. Boy were we right! The weather was 88 degrees on average. The only bad thing was that it was windy every single day. This wasn't a bad thing given the humidity. I can't say that we toured a bunch of sites and experienced all that there was in Aruba. We decided to make this trip about relaxing in the sun on the beach and by the pool. Disappointment was not in our vocabulary for this trip. If you are looking for trees, waterfalls, tropics, etc, you will not find it here. Aruba is a flat desert. There are a few trees but not many. We stayed at a Raddison and it was awesome! Food was great and the people were great! We had a beautiful view of the ocean and the entire property was tropical with well landscaped plants and even birds in cages that you can hold. The price was not bad at all. As a matter of fact it was one of the cheaper hotels compared to others. We will probably definitely go back one of these days. Overall, it was a great anniversary! Click the picture to view more pictures from the trip.

Downtown Wichita

Downtown Wichita
Originally uploaded by baywatch75

I just recently received an e-mail asking to publish this picture on a new website being developed by Wichita.gov. I am excited to say that this is my first photo being published. I am so excited now, I am posting all my favorite pictures on Flickr with hopes that I will get more bites on my work.

Lover's Leap Falls

Lover's Leap Falls
Originally uploaded by baywatch75

Today we went to Rock City on Lookout Mountain. This spot was supposed to be the place I was going to propose to Candice, but when we arrived it was closed. I captured this image using a ND Filter to slow the shutter down. Later in Lightroom I added some saturation in it to bring out the greens. Just on the other side of this waterfall is a view where supposedly you can see 7 states. According to experts it is not possible due to the curvature of the earth. Anyway, it is high enough where you can see plenty!

Whoa Camel!

I know in the previous blog I talked about how we went to the Zoo in Chattanooga, but I decided I need to write a little something more about it. Anyway, this was a cute little zoo. It really isn't like Wichita. Wichita gave me a whole new appreciation for how nice it was. I had always thought that the Wichita Zoo was just ordinary. When my wife and I went to the Chattanooga zoo, we were shocked at how small it was. We literally had to walk slowly just to stretch out our 6 dollar admission fee. There was only 5 zoo exhibits. Each exhibit only had a handful of animals. There were a couple of animals that I had never seen before such as, the Red Panda. There is a bird that I got a picture of that I have no idea what it is, but he has a great hair doo! Additionally, this zoo was the first time I had actually gotten close to a camel. My wife was excited! We were able to pick some grass and they ate out of our hands. I have no idea why we have such a facination with camels! Anyway, it's a good kids zoo and it's cheap to get in. What more can you ask for. I think our next zoo adventure is going to be to the Atlanta Zoo. Will post on it when it comes!

Ruby Falls Chattanooga Tennessee

Yesterday, we decided to go do the tourist thing. First stop was the Chattanooga Zoo. This zoo is extremely small. It did however have some good animal exhibits. What can you say when Chattanooga is about half the size of Wichita. Next we drove out to Lookout Mountain to a place called Ruby Falls. This is an underground waterfall where you have to travel over 260 ft below the surface and walk about a half a mile through caves to get to. It was a nice show. They lit this waterfall up with various lights. It was really spectacular as you can see in the photograph. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wishes to come to Chattanooga.

Married at last!!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this thing! Well, there has been several new events happen since Thanksgiving. 1st of all, Candice and I are both home now. Candice came home in December and I came home middle of January. We are both still looking for jobs but at least we are back. The biggest update is that we finally got hitched!! Our wedding was held in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a blast! The wedding went practically flawless. We couldn't have asked for better weather or turnout. A few of our closest friends and family came. There were about 20 people that showed up. I will be posting many pictures on my zenfolio page when I get them all edited and sorted. There were about 2700 pictures that were taken during our vacation so it might be a while.

Thanksgiving in Iraq

Once again, another Thanksgiving in Iraq. This is the 3rd one I have spent out here. Really there isn't much excitement during Thanksgiving except in the chow hall which we call the DFAC. DFAC stands for Dining Facility. This picture on the right is made out of food from the DFAC. Now, this is a great idea and sheer creativeness. The walls of the ship are made of macaroni and the deck is made from pop tarts and power bars. I am a bit torn as I think the soldiers and everyone out here deserve a nice show, but at what expense to the tax payer? Rumor has it that each meal costs close to 40 dollars per person. I am suspecting this ship was very expensive. Is this a waste or a gift? I guess it is up to each individual to decide. This was just one piece on display. There are other pieces throughout the DFAC. The turkey on the left was geniusly made out of potato chips. The meal this year was very good compared to other years. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and the works. I think the deserts were probably the best as usual. Hard to go wrong with those. On another note, heard on the news that a Walmart employee got killed on Black Friday due to customers breaking the door down and trampling the man to death. What has this world come to when a bargain constitutes breaking down a door and bum rushing through employees? My prayers go out to the family of this maintenance worker. It's too bad that people don't have any respect anymore. Credit for the above pictures go to Dwayne Machinski. He is a new photographer to be.