Highlands, Castles, and Whiskey - Scotland

We spent 5 days driving through the highlands of Scotland late in August. We stayed in some great waterfront hotels more or less out in the countryside and smaller roadside towns.

The Isle Of Skye was first destination and highlight of the trip. Very beautiful hills and mountains, sheep herding dogs, highland cattle, and Talisker Whisky. Another funny find was these purpose built stone domed pigeon houses near the castles. A perfect home for pigeons where you could walk in and grab one for dinner anytime....

We also had a beautiful afternoon at Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. Here's our usual Possum Junction shot... Do you see Nessie?



We closed out the trip with a day in Edinburgh. The military Tattoo Festival was just coming to a close that weekend so there were lots of people and performers out in the streets. We spent some time in the castle, climbed a church tower, and rode the city bus tour when our legs wore out.

Click through to see more pictures below. Further down is a map of where we went...





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U2 Live in Dublin's Croke Park

We're not the biggest U2 fans in the world but when U2 plays in their hometown of Dublin, you go. The show averaged over 80,000 in attendance over each of 3 nights. We bought tix in a block of six with Colin and Rod that I worked with at IBM and met them in the seats with their respective partners. It was a good show and I was glad to be there and see it but stadium shows just don't measure up to seeing your favorite bands up close in the Cat's Cradle...

Pictures of us didn't really turn out but here's a panorama of the stadium during the show.

Visiting Germany

Allison was off to Paris and the rest of Europe with her Mom first week of July so I flew out to Brühl to visit Leilani, Jeff, and the Kids for a few days. The other objective was to do some riding in the hills of Heidelberg so I packed up the road bike and brought it along.

Little did I know the hardest ride of the trip would be through the local paths to Heidelberg and back with Leilani for 5 hrs on the city bikes... with a trip up the philosophers walk. The next day I planned a route in the hills and Jeff and I covered 3x as much distance in half the time but on the good bike it still seemed easier. Somehow I completely failed to get any pictures of the kids on this trip... but planning to be back soon anyhow. The few pictures I did take.... Click through below.

Mom and Dad in Ireland

Mom and Dad (Asa and Verla this time) came over for a visit to finish off their trip to Europe... I took them Hiking in Glendalough on a beautiful day. They also went out on a couple bus tours to Kerry in the south and Giant's Causeway in the north. It was great to have family in town again as we never tire of the visitors from back home. A few pictures below are a mix taken by Mom and me. Click through the first to see the rest.

Volvo Ocean Race

OK, we've got some serious catching up to do.... Reaching all the way back to the first weekend of June we went down to Galway to see the send off of the Volvo Ocean Race. I was a good fun festive scene. Some boats even seemed to have groupies that traveled port to port... The Irish contingency was the Green Dragon boat which was a joint venture with the Chinese.
Click through the photo for a few more.

Chris Graduates - Finally!

My brother Chris has always been our family 'genius,' an exceptionally smart and talented kid. He just finished his PhD at Purdue in Chemical Engineering, and I made the trip home from Ireland to go to his graduation. Too important to miss! It was a great day, and really fun to be back at Purdue... was my first trip back in 10 years!! Starbucks in the Union?? The Sweet Shop restored back to its 1950's glory?? I can't believe how good the kids have it these days.. After buying armloads of new Purdue gear from the bookstore and a quick pint at Harry's, we headed out on the graduation party circuit. Chris's friends and adviser were all delightful, and it made me miss my grad school friends from Duke. Chris will now be working at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, doing something to hopefully save the world. Congrats little bro!!

Me, Kyle, and our super smart PhD brother Chris

This past weekend I traveled out to Bergamo and Milan Italy. Allison was back in the states to see Chris graduate from Purdue and the Giro d'Italia Stages 8 and 9 were on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's stage passed near Bergamo before looping around some small mountains and returning to finish in town center. I brought my bike and rode about the last 90km of the course. I stopped at the top of the last climb and stopped on a hill for about and hour and a half 'till the peleton rolled by then finished out the course into town.

On Sunday Stage 8 was Circuit race (laps of about 10 miles) within the city of Milan. I left the bike at the hotel and rode the train out to Milan for the day. The circuit race was better as a spectator as the riders would come around every 20 minutes or so instead of only once.... At the end of the day I managed to get a spot right on the barriers leading up to the finish at the 250m mark. Would have had some great photos of the sprint finish win by Mark Cavendish but I accidentally left the camer in Movie mode so all I got was 2 seconds of blur... oh well.

I reverted to pure tourist on Monday and toured City Alta the old part of Bergamo until it was time to fly out in the evening. It was a nice old town upon a hill and the weather was great all weekend. Some photos below. Click throught the photo for more.

We went to Barcelona!

London!

After finishing up a nightmare of a work project in London over the past month, Reuben and I took a few days to tour the queen's city. It had been 15 years since I had been to London, and I forgot how BIG this city is. This time around I got away from Piccadilly Circus and Planet Hollywood... completely different experience. In addition to Westminster, Big Ben and all the favorites, we hit the Tate Modern, Borough and Spitalfields Markets (Best Jerk sandwiches ever in the Spitalfields area - see sidebar), the West End for a production of Billy Elliot, and Greenwich. We had pints in Notting Hill and witnessed a near family brawl at an Italian restaurant in Covent Garden. Excellent! Unfortunately all of the walking nearly crippled us and didn't do anything for my recovery from the project - thank goodness next weekend is Spain.

View of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London

Donegal

Some more catching up... Allison and I stayed in a country lodge in Donegal. A really nice place run by a Belgian chef. The big draw of course was that it must one of only places in ireland with Belgian beer right at the bar. At least that was enough for us to stay there. Donegal of course is famous for the old Irish culture, coastal cliffs, and some great mountains.

Slieve League was the big draw as the highest coastal cliffs in all of Europe, but they let us down a little as they were half covered in cloud. Moving on up the coast each day we saw more cliffs, toured and Island, bought some hand woven local twead, and hiked up one of the most striking mountains in Ireland, Errigal.

All in all a fantastic weekend in Ireland as the weather was on our side for 3 days of early spring. Click through the photo for some more.

Prague

In early April we took a long weekend and headed to Prague. We hit an absolutely wonderful time in the Easter season - painted eggs everywhere. Lots of outdoor markets with mulled wine, wonderful pastries (think Elephant Ears wrapped around a stick and rolled in almonds), and kitschy crafty stuff for the holiday. Reuben enjoyed the great beer selection while I trolled for garnet necklaces.

Prague has a reputation for being one of the most beautiful cities in Europe - and I have to say it is beautiful. But.... I actually prefer Budapest. Seems a little more authentic and a little more grand. In any case we had an excellent time. Took a jazz boat dinner cruise down the river one evening and it was such a highlight - highly recommended.

Jazz Boat Cruise on the Vltava

Ireland wins the Rugby Grand Slam!

Duffy's in Malahide: I surprise Reuben as he picks up our two celebration pints

In Bruges - Our Belgian Beer Tour

Cork and Kinsale

Great Sugarloaf

Reuben here... we seem to be getting a bit behind so I'm going to talk about Great Sugarloaf. Whenever there's a clear day I'm inexplicably drawn to go walk up to the top of something. Great Sugarloaf is the most conspicuous mountain south of Dublin with a volcano like cone shaped top. It stands alone only a short distance from the Irish Sea and can be hiked by nearly anyone that doesn't mind a little hand over foot scrambling up the final ravine to the top. Numerous 6 year olds didn't seem to mind at all. I think this was the first time we got our hiking boots out after Kili so it was good to ease back into it with a short walk that give huge payback in views of Dublin, the Wicklow Hills and the Irish Sea in all directions.

More pictures here!

Allison posted about our trip to Paris but that was only half my trip for that week. I continued on by train to visit the Schnoors in Germany. This was my first trip on a truly fast train, around 190 mph for a stretch.

Once in Brühl, I ventured out on the buses and trains and made my way to Heidelberg while Jeff and Leilani were at work the first day. Familiar sights I'm sure for anyone who has visited already. It was freezing and snowcovered but sunny. I also toured a few of the nearby towns with Leilani during her days off did my best keep up with Camden, Audrey, and Cole. I was Happy to see the whole family after over a year away besides Leilani's visit to Dublin a few months before.

Click on the picture above to see more!

Paris (yes... for Valentine's Day)

Well, we didn't intend to be so cliche about Valentine's Day, but Ryanair had cheap tix to Charleoi, and we had a couple days off, so we couldn't pass up the chance. The last time I was in Paris was in 2005 at the height of the "freedom fry" craze in the US, so needless to say, my All -American crew made quite an impression during our late night "Bye Bye Miss American Pie" sing along in a Parisian bar. I wasn't sure they'd actually let me back in the city this time.....

This was Reuben's first trip to Paris, so we got to see all the sights. The line is definitely an obstacle (even in freezing cold February), but the Eiffel Tower at dusk is still worth every minute of a wait. I found new appreciation for the food culture in Paris this time 'round. We ate our way from patisserie to patisserie until we couldn't force down another pain au chocolat. By the time we reached our destination falafel stop (recommended by Lenny Kravitz, of course), I had a hard time even managing bites of pita. Ah Paris.... More Pictures Here!

At the Louvre

The KPs in Ireland

At the end of January, Kyle and his wife Kim came over for a visit. We are giving them the official "worst Irish weather ever award" for spending nearly a week in the SNOW. Now, we were told that it NEVER snows in Ireland. And we were lucky in that we got away to Clare and Galway for the weekend where it was bitterly cold, but at least it was sunny. The morning we checked out of the hotel, we caught the BBC news story about the huge blizzard in London, and by the time we rolled into Dublin that evening, it was a disaster. In any case, we had a great visit... Kim conquered Guinness, we found a bar showing the Super Bowl, and we had some sun for good Cliffs of Moher shots. And don't forget to ask Kyle about our 'percolator.' More pictures of their visit here.

The Cliffs of Moher - Fricking Freezing

Killiney Obelisk

Africa: Kilimanjaro

We made it! After weeks of anticipation, Reuben and I made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro at 6:42am on January 12. They say Kilimanjaro is one of the most underestimated mountains in the world, and I completely believe it...our summit push was one of the more mentally and physically challenging things I've done. After 5 days on the mountain, we woke at 10pm to start our summit hike. After 7-8 hours of slowly trudging uphill in 10deg F weather with 40mph winds, we arrived at the summit just in time for sunrise and stunning views. We covered 4000ft of elevation in those 8 hours, and in the next 8 hours, we descended 10,000 ft. One of the longest hiking days in memory.

At the top of Africa

There's really too many stories for me to post on the blog, but I will make a note about our climbing crew and the experience. Between Reuben and I, we had a staff of roughly 12 guides, cooks, porters and other helpers who ushered us up the mountain. They carried fresh fruit, water, camp chairs, tents, sleeping pads, and most of our things. For Reuben and I, this was a luxury camping experience... we're used to carrying our own things, cooking our own food and setting up our own tents when we backpack. We had 2 guides who hiked with us during the day and pointed out interesting facts about the mountain and African life in general. When we arrived to camp, our sleeping tent and mess tent were up, and fresh popcorn and hot tea were waiting for us. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner usually consisted of fresh vegetables or fruits, local honey and peanut butter, hot chocolate, and LOTS of carbohydrates. I am grateful to our crew from Team Kilimanjaro for taking such good care of us.. we wouldn't have made it without their support. I can't say enough good things about this little company, they know the mountain well and are well respected on the mountain.

Team Kilimanjaro Website

Kilimanjaro Climb Photos

Safari Photos

Our crew from Team Kilimanjaro