It’s halfway into the trip and we’ve already had to ration the Oreo cookies. Ahhhhhh….. The first night of camping I thought there was a moth caught between the tent and the fly cover, but it ended up being a small chipmunk. Our small friend, Alvin, seemed to do all of his business errands during the night time right outside of our tent. The very next day Jen witnessed a small mouse land on our tent from tree limbs above then quickly scour off to one side. Bison have been abundant, so much so that it gets pretty ridiculous when you see traffic stopped just because of one when you eventually see them all over the place. Tonight’s animal excitement, as I’m typing this, is listening to the Elk bugle, or as the campsite hostess said, “trying to get a girlfriend.” As we end our last night in Yellowstone Park read more…
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un poco de todo
Alvin!!!!!!!!!! in Yellowstone.
September 19th, 2010 by 
Michael in Grant Lodge Yellowstone National Park, WY
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Tags: camping, traveling, Yellowstone
“I would like to have seen Montana…..”
September 16th, 2010 by Michael in Tower Fall Campground Yellowstone National Park, WY
This was day one of our long awaited vacation. Yesterday was mostly spent flying into Jackson Hole, then hitting numerous stores in the town of Jackson trying to get supplies for our trip. On my third attempt to find this rare cooking propane tank that comes in blue, I was greeted at the register by a Dale Gribble. This guy gave Jen and I a 30 minute schpeel on bears, bear safety, and what to do in 10 different situations with a bear. Really?!? With us finally escaping, we headed straight north to Montana to a small town just over the border called Gardiner. We found a local pizza joint for dinner called K-bar which served amazing pizza and beer, Kettle House Cold Smoke to be exact. The next morning we had breakfast with 2 other couples and heard all kinds of stories. From blizzards that shutdown Yellowstone to bear read more…
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Tags: camping, traveling, Yellow Stone
Back in the land of rules.
October 27th, 2009 by Michael in Raleigh, NC
This has probably been the craziest two trips of my life over the past two weeks. I was first on the west coast attending a wedding for my Cali cousin Michelle at this amazing place in Healdsburg, California. We met with friends and family over this extended weekend and saw much of the Sonoma Country Wineries. It was great to attend such a great event with such good company even though the room Will and I shared had scary porcelain cats that where placed by the fireplace to glare at you. Getting back to the San Fran airport was even pretty cool since we took the Oakland bridge which gave a totally different prospective coming into the city rather than taking big red across the bay. As for my family getting back to North Carolina, it was pretty easy but as for me and Jen it would be a total read more…
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Tags: Europe, San Francisco, Switzerland, traveling
My Car hits 100,000 miles!!
July 6th, 2008 by Michael in Greensboro, NC
This weekend was another fun weekend spent at my parents house down in tropic coastal Myrtle Beach. You may not see beautiful rainbows or smell exotic flowers but when you arrive, you can sure tell when life’s a beach. (okey so that tourist phrase is over done) This weekend was spent with the appearance of my sister as well as my parents, 4 other friends of my mom’s (all women…poor dad) and last but not least Jen my girlfriend. Traffic wasn’t so bad since years past, but that could be due to conserving tourists. The fireworks on the other hand, were in no means cut back. It also gave me an opportunity to shoot moving objects at night with my D80, which proved to be a bit of a challenge.
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Tags: auto, Myrtle Beach, traveling
Roadtrip to Maryland
June 8th, 2008 by Michael in New Windsor, MD
Throughout my life I have traveled many times though the state of Maryland but never have I needed to stop nor did I have relatives to stay with (imagine that!!). Now I do have a reason, with this trip planned for several weeks in the making, the plan was to entertain ourselves ( Jen and I) with a concert of Death Cab for Cutie but to also stay with Jen’s parents. They live in a very envyous town called New Windsor which is really in the middle of nowhere. For miles and miles there are rolling greens hills covered with parallel rows of corn littered with alternating squares of cow pastures which make a smelly delight when driving by. Yesterday we did the 5 hour trip from Elon heading straight north with only a few stops to dilly dally. We arrived at Jen’s home home around 11:30pm but we knew sleep was read more…
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Merry Christmas from New Orleans
December 25th, 2007 by Michael in New Orleans, LA
Well I can’t say too much for the cold. I came down to the south expecting warmer temperatures than my home state of NC but since last Sunday the temperature has dropped. On the day of cold upper 40 degree weather we decided to take a Steamboat ride. At 2:30pm we boarded the Natchez, one of 5 steamboats that are still operational in the US. The parents stayed inside the warm sweat smelling cabin riddled with smells of Louisiana style food while me and Katie ran around the sides and floors of the boat. The Engine room was pretty remarkable, seeing the piston’s slide back and forth creating tons of energy to power the wheel of paddles that cut through the water.
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Tags: christmas, New Orleans, traveling
The Big Easy
December 23rd, 2007 by Michael in New Orleans, LA
Selecting from a long list of cities already been visited, my family had to decide where we’d spend our Christmas holiday. San Francisco has been worn out like Firestone tires on a Ford Explorer, Hawaii was done for vacation too many times and all the large US cities (New York, Chicago, Seattle, L.A. etc) have been conquered by the fearless Shepherds. It all came down to a suggestion given by a friend to go visit New Orleans. The first mention of this gave my mom a sour look in her face, we assured her that yes, the touristy areas like the French Quarter were spared from Katrina’s devastation.
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Tags: New Orleans, traveling