Tracks for Miles

Check out these awesome tracks!


Photography and construction by both me and my nephew.

A Trip Down South - Tega Cay

From Philadelphia we took the scenic route to Tega Cay, home of Sand Gnats. It's also where my brother lives with his wife and three kids. We went to see the Sand Gnats, but it was also nice to see family.

Tega Cay, in South Carolina but just south of Charlotte, North Carolina, dates back to 1972, when a young man named Tega Cay sought the freedom to settle a new town and name it after himself.

OK, now that all the nonsense is out of the way, the rest of this post will be dedicated to truth, though you might not believe all of it. First the stuff that's easy to believe...

We had an excellent time catching up with Chris, Jan, Mike, CJ, Katie and Luke. We only had three nights, but we made the most of it, except when Dana went to get her hair done at the Steel Magnolia place. Aside from going to watch Michael & CJ's Little League team, the Sand Gnats, we just hung around, catching up. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the baseball game - it was semi-dark and raining - but I did get a few shots of Mike & CJ with their parakeet, Luke.

Perhaps it's a result of all the traveling I've done lately, but the camera stayed hidden in my pocket most of the visit... until we came across fearsome goats and an abandoned Christian amusement park. We didn't find the goats to be particularly scary, but a warning sign kept us at a distance. This was a nice lunch spot where we also took a look at the Reverend Billy Graham's grandfather's cabin. It was closed, so we ate our Subway sandwiches on the porch.

Afterwards, Chris took us on a drive to the ruins of Heritage USA. This Christian-themed amusement park was, in the mid-80s, the 3rd largest amusement park in the country after Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker built it, along with a massive hotel, on the grounds of their church/business. This was not a very successful long-term venture for Jim Bakker. He accepted $1000 donations in exchange for a 4 day stay at the hotel. He didn't do the math and there were not enough rooms for all the people who had donated. After a lawsuit, those who donated $1000 received a refund of $6.54. This and the affair with his secretary Jessica Hahn, among other things, led to the demise of Heritage USA. He sold it to Jerry Falwell. You may remember Jerry Falwell as the class act who said the gays, lesbians, pagans, and others helped bring the September 11th upon us. Here's a silly photo of him on the water slide Typhoon, fully dressed. Let's laugh at him.

Somehow I managed to fit my brother, Billy Graham, Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, killer goats and a water slide all in the same post. Thanks to a trip to South Carolina.

More photos here. And if you want to see more photos of Heritage USA, this site has lots of great shots of the place in its heyday and after it fell into disrepair but before they dismantled most of it. The photographer even made it up to the higher floors of the hotel before being chased by security guards.

A Trip Down South - Part 1

After a fairly steady flow of Big Trip entries, I got side-tracked by another trip. This one was not nearly as big, but equally well-earned... at least for one of us. With Dana starting work very soon, we decided to take some time to see some family and friends who live a little farther away than most of our family, but not nearly as far as our Australian friends. And then we threw in two more stops.

Falling squarely in the "not very far away" category would be my parents. However, they live in the direction we were heading, and they were also celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, so a visit was in order. Pat, Jen, Danny & Ciara were also in town, and the little ones are the stars of the photos. It's hard to believe that my parents have been married 40 years. Well, not for me, because my oldest brother is 39. (There is a rumor that my brother was carbon-dated to be 41, but we won't talk about that.) What I mean is that it must be hard for other people to believe it. They don't look old enough! But that's because they were 15 when they were married. Again, I'm kidding. What's true is that both of my parents are very lucky people. We watched clips from their wedding. We flipped through old photo albums. We had a good laugh at some of the clothing, but it's clear that they were very much in love on the day they got married, and things have not changed that much... except for the horn-rimmed glasses.

Labor Day in Bay Head

Harriett & Bette rented a house in Bay Head for Labor Day weekend and the week that followed. Let me explain what Labor Day is to the non-Americans: this is the extended weekend that marks the end of summer. The other extended weekend that bookends the season is Memorial Day. Memorial Day makes us excited for summer; Labor Day makes us wish that summer would last a bit longer. Most other countries celebrate their "Labor Day" on May 1st, or May Day, but the US is not one. "May Day" makes many Americans think "Commies".

Enough history. We enjoyed the beach, playing celebrity head, Jenkinson’s Boardwalk, and combing the beach for interesting trash. The best thing I found was an action figure with barnacles growing all over it. Check it all out here.

Hitting the Water with Pete, Jane, Julianna & Valerie

Since Dana and I made our visit with my brother & his family last week, every Australian I have spoken to has had the same reaction: surprise. "The beach? Near New York?"

Yep, there are a number of beaches near New York, and you can even swim at some of them! Actually, some of them are very nice. They are a bit different from Australian beaches... a bit more crowded, maybe five or six more people, but the extra humans add comic value. "My wife's bustin' my shoes, 'Coming to the beach every day!' I gotta recharge my batteries! Whayagonnado?" Real New Yorkers here, people. Even in New Jersey, there are real New Yorkers... even more fun when they are wet and covered in sand!

Jane's brother owns some jet skis, and we took them out a few times. Crazy fun, but they definitely do not feel safe. I alternated between screaming with fun and crying in fear. Pete and I got ours up to 58 miles per hour, and Pete's little girl, Valerie, wanted to take one out by herself to go "Super-fast!" Wisely, Pete didn't let her.

Back at Pete & Jane's, Julianna tried to teach me how to hula-hoop, which I have never been able to do, and still can't. We also enjoyed a few episodes of Full House. Cut. It. Out! It's not as bad as you think it would be. Except the clothes. And the same catch phrases being used every episode. Really though, even fifteen years ago, was Bullwinkle still popular?

Pictures of said visit.

Big Birthday Weekend

No, not our birthdays, but the birthdays of others. This is a selfless birthday blog entry.

Birthday #1:
Bode's First Birthday! Last Saturday, Dana and I made it over to Park Slope, Brooklyn, to check out Jason & Cristi's pad and the roof above the pad. Bode decided on a luau theme, so he set up an inflatable palm tree, a little pool for him and his buddies and leis for all the guests. Jason & Cristi tease me about how many photos I took at their wedding four years ago, so I couldn't let them down this time. The photo count is huge, but it's sure hard to trim down photos of an adorable baby. Or of Jay, apparently.

Birthday #s2&3 (or is it Birthdays #2 & #3? or Birthday #2 & Birthday #3?)
Bah, whatever it's supposed to be, the birthdays were for Jim, of Raritan River fame and Kay, of Kay & Wally Visit Sydney fame. Last Sunday, we went to Middlesex, where Gail cooked up an incredible meal of pork loin and pineapple & cranberry salsa. She served delicious cupcakes for dessert. No one went home hungry. Some snaps from the Sunday.

Backblogged 2.0 (lots of family photos)

I've been backblogged before, but never quite like this. It's been tough to write myself out it... on top of having thousands of photos and dozens of stories from the Big Trip, I've been gathering up more just from being home, plus I have been doing lots of other writing. Now I'm going to pick up the pace and bring it all up to where I am in reality. It'll be a bit like what the television station Nine did in Australia: the country was five years behind in the soap opera Days of Our Lives, so they ran a special that summarized four years of the show in one hour. I won't be that brief.

OK, here we go:
basketballwithdadchriscjandmike¹
goingtothebeachandplayingstackeratpatandjens²
dinnerwithmybrothersandsistersinlawthenbacktothebeach³

1. We got in a game of HORSE before the surprise party that even Mike & CJ knew about but managed to keep from me!
2. The weather wasn't ideal, but we had a good day at the beach in Jersey. That night the adults kept themselves entertained with games like Stacker. Loads of laughs.
3. Eight of us - Chris, Jan, Pete, Jane, Pat, Jen, Dana & me - went out for a night in Red Bank. The next day the entire clan - add on Mom, Dad, Mike, CJ, Katie, Julianna, Valerie, Danny & Ciara - went to Long Branch for fun in the sun and surf.

Pat & Jen's

As I've been slowly catch up on Big Trip photos and blog entries, I've fallen behind in real time entries. Here are some photos from our first weekend home, when we were at Pat & Jens. We spent the days playing with Danny and Ciara and the nights catching up Survivor-style.

My Surprise Birthday Party

I never thought I would be the surprisee of a surprise party, but I found myself in that situation this past Saturday afternoon. My first instinct was to take a photo of the surprisers (pictured to the left), my second instinct was to check my fly (it was closed - not pictured).

There were a number of organizers and planners of this party - such as Dana, her parental units, my parental units, various siblings, and more - and I can't believe how well they put it together. Somehow, while traveling right by my side though Australia, Singapore and Australia, Dana put the pieces together for a killer party jut 10 days after we landed. For a little while there, I did think Dana was up to something... but I assumed she was just moonlighting as an assassin. No one could believe that I was actually surprised, but honestly, if I knew about the party, I would have shaved! (Apologies to those who attended the party and heard that joke up to three times now. You have to forgive me for repeating it... since I had no idea about the party, I made it up on the spot... or did I? Dah-dah-dahhhhhh!)

My brother Chris and his family were visiting from South Carolina, and for some reason I didn't note the absence of our parents, his wife or his three children from our parents' house in Jackson, New Jersey. Chris and I went to lunch together before driving up to Dana's mother's house in South Amboy to bring her down to Jackson. I didn't even realize that Susette's house number is 30, which must mean that they have been planning this party for years, while they were still building the development!

Dana took us to the clubhouse to say a quick hello to Susette and Marvin... and this was the first time I sensed I was missing something. I checked my pockets and still had my wallet, and that was about the time I opened the door and saw 50 smiling faces looking back at me. Well, they were not actually smiling. Instead each face was contorted, frozen for a moment in a different point of the word "surprise".

My 30th birthday was actually on the 9th, when Dana and I were in Koblenz, Germany, but it was fantastic to be able to celebrate it with family: cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, nieces, nephews, and all of the people from Dana's who will soon be my family too. We had plenty of food, drink and laughs. A big thanks to everyone who helped make it happen and to everyone who gave up a Saturday afternoon/evening in July to celebrate the first 1/3 of my life. Also, a big happy 30th birthday to my cousin Brian, whose special day was just two days after the party. We've come a long way since Ocean City, Brian!

There are a few more pictures here, but not many. I was too confused and busy saying hello to get enough photos. Don't worry, I'll be more prepared next year, for my surprise 31st birthday party.

How Do I Tell This Story? Charlie The Rabbit Would Know

Saturday the 26th of May was a beautiful day in Sydney. This was the seventh day straight that the city would see nothing in the sky but deep blue during the day and Lite Brite pin-holed black at night. Dana woke up with a sore throat, but after 11 hours of sleep, we were well-rested and ready for a full day.

Dana had lunch plans with Jenny, while I finished back-ups of our hard drives and sorted through paperwork. Afterwards, we set off to Glenn & Alexis's for dinner. They live across the harbour, in Neutral Bay, so we decided to walk the Harbour Bridge one last time. It's a nice walk - long but not excessively so. We popped into The Australian Heritage Hotel for a middy of Little Creatures before the big journey across the bridge.

We were supposed to be in Neutral Bay fairly early, so we were crossing the bridge just before sunset. At Milson's Point I decided to scoot back down towards the water for one last good shot of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was a little secluded area, surrounded by an old stone wall, so we check that place out. Someone had laid out a picnic blanket with some champagne, cheese and chocolate-covered strawberries right on the grass.

--------------------------------------------------

Nearing the bridge, I realised that we were running a bit early, so I figured that a stop into The Australian would be a perfect way to buy some time, calm my nerves and use the toilet. I don't think I've ever ordered a half pint at the Aussie, but Dana didn't seem to notice the anomaly.

Up on the bridge we took some photos in the same positions as ones we took two and a half years earlier. As we neared the end of the bridge, I noticed a man sitting in the park near the water. I knew this guy. He was wearing his signature "Communist Party" t-shirt, with Castro, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao having a few cocktails. This was my friend Glenn, and he was also stroking his bushy beard as he flipped through a book next to a picnic rug.

Once we were off the bridge and on the street I gave Glenn a call to see if he needed anything else. He didn't, and we jumped down closer to the water for a shot of the Opera House as the sun set.

--------------------------------------------------

I had to stop into the Aussie for a quick one to calm my nerves and to buy some time. My goal was to get to the spot at 4:15, leaving just enough time for us to enjoy the sunset.

The walk across the bridge was nice, except that Glenn stood out like a sore thumb. Dana glanced down and noted that there was a picnic, but she didn't recognise Glenn... somehow.

As we neared the water, my call to Glenn was the cue for him to abandon the site.

--------------------------------------------------

Those are three different ways to tell the story up to that point, but the next part is the most exciting: she said yes! Well, first she said no... but then she said yes!

That's right, on Saturday, May 26th, I asked Dana to marry me. She was extremely surprised and her first response was disbelief, so she covered her face, laughing, shaking, jumping up and down and saying "no! no! no!" before I asked her if she was really saying no. She clarified: "No, I mean yes!"

Dana did not realise that the picnic rug was ours, but she understood when I got down on one knee. It was a wonderful sunset that night, and we enjoyed the goodies for a solid hour and a half before swinging back into the city for a drink at the Shangri-La Hotel and dinner at Dana's favourite restaurant in Sydney, Sushi-e.

Luckily, there was a woman out walking her rabbit, and she offered to snap a few shots to mark the occasion. Sadly, I did not get a photo of the rabbit.

And so we are heading back to the States, ready to start a new life together!

Some photos of the day here.