Among other things, we’re still trying to decompress from our 2 week whirlwind vacation to Vancouver, Alaska, Victoria and Seatle. Most of it from the deck of the Celebrity X Mercury cruiseship. My first time aboard a ship this size and we go for almost 2 weeks! I’ve got over 600 digital pictures from 3 different cameras, a couple days worth of GPS track files, and plenty of amazing memories to sort through as we try to get stuff posted online between this site and our Facebook account.

Throw all that into the blender with Madeline, College Football in full swing, and the day-to-day stress of Atlanta and it becomes clear we need more hours in the day to get it all done on time.

I’m hoping to get pics posted by the end of the week and then some of the GPS track highlights afterwards. I think we’ve got some cool shots of some amazing scenery and I can’t wait to get them posted.

Every Spring, Melissa and I try to plan a ski-related vacation, making sure we pick a different location each year. We’re not expert skiers but we love the sport and use it as an excuse to get out of town for a long weekend. We started this tradition a few years ago but missed last year due to Maddie. This year we decided on Big Sky, MT and as a bonus, hit Yellowstone Nation Park for a whirlwind tour by snowmobile. It was a blast. Montana is beautiful country – unlimited visibility, wide open country with 10k+ mountain peaks on every horizon.

Big Sky
We stayed at the Big Sky Ski Resort which is located at the base of Lone Peak (11k ft). March is considered late in the season but up above the 5k mark or so, the drifts are still deep and the park gets enough fresh powder to push into late April. At that point, everything closes up, they wait for the Spring thaw and then reopen in early June for hiking, mountain biking, trout fishing, etc.

Yellowstone
Something I didn’t know – the Yellowstone National Park service, completely shuts down access into Yellowstone to all civilian traffic during the winter months. The only way into the park is via a guided tour or hiking in on foot (if your crazy enough to brave the sub-zero temps). Mel and I went in via a snowmobile tour (60 mile round trip) and it was one of the most amazing things we’ve ever done. Even better – we only experienced about 20% of the total park during our tour so we’ve got plenty more to see.

For the past several years, my extended family has been gathering in [Steinhatchee, FL] during the first weekend of August to partake in our annual [Argopecten irradians concentricus] hunt. Getting the Tober mob all in one location at the same time during a regular holiday is impossible so our scalloping trip is an oportunity to catch up and spend some quality vacation time with everybody.

Continue reading

On October 10th, 2007 Melissa and I had the pleasure of being part of a select group of close friends that attended the wedding of my best friend, [David] to his lovely fiance, Tricia on the beautiful island of Maui’i, Hawaii. More specifically, we spent an entire week surrounded by sand, sun, crystal clear blue-green pacific ocean, and a great group of friends and family.

Congratulations David and Tricia!

About 3 years ago, Melissa and I decided to try out snowboarding. Our friends had been telling us how much fun it was so we finally decided it was time to give it a shot.  Living in the South, we never really had a chance to pursue winter sports so it was the perfect reason for a winter vacation every year.  Something we could do together over a long weekend or a couple of days in a different part of the country. 

After some research and pricing out hotels, vacation packages, etc. we decided our first trip should be something relatively short, easy to get to, and more importantly – not terribly expensive.  Nothing like setting up a whole 5-7 day vacation around something you’re not sure you’ll even like!

With that in mind, we finally decided on a 4 day weekend trip to [Park City], Utah in early March of 2006.   Mel found a great weekend package that included airline tickets, lift passes and 4 days in a decent hotel just minutes from 2 of the major lift resorts.

After an easy flight out of Atlanta into Salt Lake Thursday night we rented an SUV and headed off for Park City (~45 minute drive).  Salt Lake was snow free but within 20 minutes driving west into the foot hills, we had plenty of fresh powder.  The local radio station reported more snow was on the way. Looked like we would have a great weekend.

Friday morning we headed over to the lift area, picked up our rental gear and decided to goof around on the bunny slopes before our first snowboarding lesson at 12pm. Not 15 minutes later disaster struck.  Melissa was coasting down a 100 yard stretch of the base lift assembly area and towards the end caught the front edge of her board.  She fell forward and landed at a weird angle on her left shoulder (with her arm extended out).  POP! Sure enough, she had dislocated her shoulder.  She remembers popping it back in when she sat up but it was severe enough to knock her off the slopes for the rest of the weekend.

I spent a couple hours on Saturday after my lesson slaloming down the kiddie slope while Mel snapped a couple shots from the edges and drunk herself into a minor state of inebriation.  We had a nice time touring some of the Park City area later that night (the Olympic bobsled park was cool) but I know she was really disappointed and I don’t blame her.  Sunday we packed up and returned to Salt Lake for our flight home.

Even with Mel’s minor medical emergency, I think the trip turned out pretty well. We both got a small taste of snowboarding (loved it) and spent some quality time traveling together.