Endeavor

When I was a kid, I wanted to go to space. I wanted to float around in zero gravity, eat astronaut food, go on space walks. I remember Jupiter was my favorite planet. It was just this giant spinning sphere of gas much much larger than the Earth. A mysterious red storm permanently tattooed on its surface. It amazed me.

When I grew older, I learned of more planets, bigger stars, red dwarfs, black holes, wormholes. I felt so small, so meek. I realized that I was just a speck of dust, floating on this tiny ball around this other giant ball of burning gas. It made me sad to be so small, but it gave me solace. Every time I felt melancholy, every time I screwed up, I looked up and realized how inconsequential my actions were.

As the space shuttle program comes to a close, I can't help but feel sad. It's the end of a tremendous era and defined a huge part of my life, but looking forward there is so much to be excited about. As long as the human race never stops dreaming, we will never stop exploring. Onwards to the red planet!

Grandfather

A hiatus.

Here we are now, entertain us - Seattle Part 1

Highlights of the Seattle trip.

First day in Seattle we get the party started right with lunch and a tour at the Red Hook brewery. The food was good and the tour was entertaining. More importantly we got to try a bunch of delicious beer. My favorite? The Red Hook ESB.

After a quick rest, we headed over to Gas Works park for it's July 4th celebration. 

We finished the day on top of a toxic waste capped hill over looking the beautiful Seattle skyline and watching fireworks blast off from a barge in the lake.

Day two started at Pike's Place where we saw the first Starbucks, fish tossing, and had delicious chowder. My favorite picture from Pike's Place, though, was this picture of the Olympic Mountains peeking out from behind the highway. Seattle's blend of city and nature is awe inspiring. Even when you're in the city, you can feel the trees and mountains cushioning you.

A short hike from chowder was the well-known gum wall. Colorful, yet disgusting. 

Ashley and I left our mark.

Next up was the Space Needle. The weather was beautiful, so the line was long. We didn't go up, but I snapped this photo of the Space Needle from the base. From afar, it looks so simple, but once you get close, you can see how architecturally complex it is.

On a whim, we decided to go to the EMP museum. Honestly, one of the most fun museums I've ever been to. 

The hallway leading down to the section about horror movies. My favorite part of the museum!

The largest LED screen with some trippy flowers hovering by.  Name the music video playing on the screen!

The scifi section was my second favorite part of the museum. It had a huge collection of movie props and memorabilia from all sorts of sci fi flicks throughout the years.

Friday started with a hike up to Rattlesnake Ridge. That's my cousin, Harley, looking like a pro while shooting some pictures. Like father like son.

It wasn't an easy hike, but the view was worth it. 

As we headed back into the city I snagged a shot of the space needle.

After a quick rest, we toured UW. I grabbed an iced mocha at Cafe Allegro, Seattle's oldest espresso bar, to pep myself up.

We walked around and learned about the campus courtesy of my cousin. The Suzzallo library was impressive to say the least.

It even had a Harry Potter-esque reading room.

Part 2 later.

Never Stop Exploring

Land's End trail in San Francisco

The ruins

Red and green

The Golden Gate Bridge to China Beach

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Louisville, KY with a brief layover in DFW

Abbey Road on the River!

Louisville knows what's up

Sundown in Kentucky

I miss Texas sunsets.

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I'm a bit behind with photo editing and posting. The first set of pictures is from hiking the Land's End trail with my cousin and brother. There are some great views of SF along the trail, and the flora is really unique.

The second set of photos is from Louisville, KY. I wasn't expecting much from Louisville. The Kentucky Derby, Louisville sluggers, KFC was about all I knew about the city, but it turned out to be a fun city. It has some really industrial looking beaches as well as some cool spots to hang out. 

Food Food Food Part 2

Part 2 for food. Some of these pictures are from my phone camera. A lot of these pictures are from buffets. One from a hot pot buffet (hence the uncooked meat) and another from a family reunion dinner where we went to a European style buffet with a variety of sushi and snacks.

Yammy Yammy Part 1

Food in Taiwan is magical. I tried to document as much of my food as possible when I went back. I think I probably got about 70% of my food, but sometimes I felt self conscious and didn't want to look like this. Anyway, there's a bunch of pictures here, and I still have a bunch more to post. If you click on one of the photos, you'll be able to scan through all the photos more easily. Enjoy! Dang, now I'm hungry...