We spent the last five day in Bangkok high up in the Grand Centara Hotel . . . thanks Marc for the upgrade! The view from our 51st floor room was beautiful in the daylight . . .
. . . beautiful in the evening . . .
. . . and beautiful at night. Good-bye Bangkok, it has been a fantastic 17 years! I'll be back in Thailand for retirement one day . . . but first . . . a summer vacation in:
The Pacific Northwest, USA
Olympia Washington: My sister-in-law Mary is a great gardener. She grows everything. It is always a treat to go from the steaming tropics of Thailand directly to to cool climes of the American Pacific Northwest.
I still had Internet access, so I had fun with my big camera in the Mary's garden.
Very sweet.
We all took several long nature walks along the shores of Puget Sound. The blackberries were not ripe yet . . .
. . . but the salmon berries looked inviting.
The essence of the Pacific Northwest.
New life everywhere under the forest canopy.
A nice morning to row about on one of the arms of Puget Sound. An old log loading pier still stands.
It Doesn't Get More American Than This: The Monmouth, Oregon 4th of July Parade.
The Monmouth, Oregon Parade is open to anybody from the community who wants to 'parade' themselves.
It's a great opportunity to crank up that old tractor you lovingly restored, and drive it down Main Street. I love this little town: I attended two years of univesity here.
An old Mac Truck. Nice. Brought back memories of El Paso, Texas at 3:00am in 1958 for me.
As is my personal tradition, I ingest The National Dish on the 4th of July every year. Yep, it was great.
What would a parade be without a car show? I met my Hot Rod photo quota for the year.
I LOVE these flames!
I prefer the 4-door fat fender hot rods . . . you can take your friends.
Silver Creek Falls, Oregon
My good friends Jeff & Sharon under Silver Creek Falls. It was a good day for a trail walk in the foothills of the Oregon Cascades.
Oregon.
Delicate new growth.
More ripe salmon berries.
A beautiful trail through the forest along Silver Creek.
A serene mountain stream.
Upper Silver Creek Falls is somewhat unique because the trail takes you under and behind the falls, making for unusual photo opportunities.
Loud and beautiful.
You can judge the scale in this photo by noticing the size of the hikers on the trail.
A perfect day.
Looking out from behind Upper Silver Creek Falls.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I visited my daughter near Valley Forge.
We all went to the Longwood Botanical Gardens for a morning stroll with my new grandson, Torin.
Scrumptious cacti!
Lovely flowers everywhere.
Touching.
Longwood had formal Italian gardens too.
The tropical greenhouses were interesting.
I remember seeing these same lotus pads in Jogjakarta, Indonesia a few years ago.
I had to laugh when I saw these wax flowers . . . I came half way around the planet to see a flower that was growing in my back yard in Bangkok!
Lovely early summer day in Pennsylvania.
Ocean City, New Jersey
A strangly cold summer in Ocean City New Jersey. We took a walk with our freinds, Bud, Gaile, in the gathering gloom . . .
Night falling over Ocean City.
Last Light.
New England Village
I won't reveal the exact location of this village in New England, except to say that it was the perfect New England village. Our good friends from Bangkok, Joe and Nancy, recently retired there.
A dream . . . more like a living calendar! Just too perfect.
Rural Colonial New England.
Mmmmm.
House Proud New Englanders sure know how to spruce a place up.
Around Nancy's garden.
A friend's home.
More old barns than I had time to photograph . . .
I could have stopped a hundred times . . . but Bud and I had more important things to do . . . .
NASCAR at New Hampshire Speedway
Yep, Bud and I joined 40,000 of our best friend and at the New Hampshire 300. Bud commented that the people watching here was like looking through a 1920s physiology text book, so varied were the physiognomies of the gathered throng.
We rooted for Juan Pablo Montoya . . . . and I think we were the only ones who were. We rooted for him when we saw him at the Chinese F1 race in Shanghai years ago too.
It was an unseasonably hot day with the threat of rain that never materialized. It was a good, tight race with surprising results. Loud and fast . . . just the way I like it.
Loudoun, New Hampshire. Pre-race ceremonies were colorful, to say the least.