Laura

Waves crash upon the shore at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, Florida. And yes, that is Laura out in the waves. During our October 2023 Florida trip, Laura and I spent a day at Cocoa Beach, one of our favorite places to spend a day. For most of the day it was cloudy and slightly cool, but that did not keep us from getting in the water, and it did not keep us from enjoying our day.

Continuing in the great tradition of Laura’s Trunk or Treat ideas (see past ideas here), Laura dressed as a pirate complete with a pirate ship this year for our church’s fall festival. It was a great success! But this was no ordinary pirate or pirate ship. As the sign near the bottom of the ship said, “Treasure ahoy, mates!” Whenever a Trunk or Treater walked up (which was almost constantly since we had well over 200 children there), Pirate Laura would say, “Fire the cannon!

We have done some traveling this year, and those travels have taken us to both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Putting those together, one thought ran through my mind: From Atlantic to Pacific, Gee the traffic is terrific! “Home for the Holidays” by Al Stillman and Robert Allen (Made famous by Perry Como and the Carpenters, among others) Except that we went from Pacific to Atlantic, chronologically speaking.

The sun sets past the lagoon and ocean near the Disney resort of Aulani on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, as seen during our June 2023 visit. As you may know from reading the trip report, we went for a walk just about every evening that we were there. Part of that was to work off some of the calories we had eaten (do vacation calories even count?), part of that was to unwind from the day (not that we were stressed, but it is always good to relax at the end of the day), and part of that was to enjoy the beautiful scenery and sunsets.

These two kids got married 30 years ago today! Happy anniversary to my beautiful wife Laura. Thirty years into the future seems like a long way off when you are just starting out. But it does not seem like that long ago when you look at it from this direction. We have had lots of fun adventures, and of course a few difficult times to work through together, too. But the good times have far, far outweighed the bad times.

As you gaze upon the title of this post, you may be pondering, “What in the world do Michelangelo and Casey Jones have to do with each other?” The answer to that question is simple: Not much. Yes, they were both characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that has nothing to do with our story today. We came across both the famous artist and the famous engineer in one day, very close in distance to each other.

Cheyenne Bottoms near Great Bend, Kansas, is a large marsh habitat that provides a stopping place for migrating birds on the Central Flyway bird migration route. I took this moody-looking photo during our visit in April 2023. As you might guess from the name, Cheyenne Bottoms is a low area right in the middle of the Kansas plains. The entire Cheyenne Bottoms takes up 41,000 acres. Over 19,000 acres are the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, while another 7,300 acres are managed by The Nature Conservancy.

The other night, we went for a walk as the sun was setting, and it was an adventure. I did not have my camera with me, but I did have my phone. So here are some photos from our evening. Sunset Views Even before we had started walking, as I was still tying my shoes, Laura said, “Look at the sky!” And when I turned around after making sure my shoes were double-knotted (can’t have them coming untied while we walk, after all), the above was what I saw.

An interesting tree grows in Central Riverside Park in Wichita, Kansas, as seen during our Easter 2023 visit. We had gone to Kansas to visit Jaylin over the Easter weekend. However, he had to work some, so Laura and I went off exploring on our own. We went to check out the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit, and after we had seen the animals there, we spent a little time walking around Central Riverside Park, which is the home of the exhibit.

A marker placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution marks the location of the Santa Fe Trail in Great Bend, Kansas. Over the Easter weekend, we took another trip to Kansas to visit Jaylin. As is our custom, we looked for some interesting things to see while we were there. Of course, we are interested in history, so what interests us might not interest you. If not, just keep clicking.