Travel Photo Gallery
Pictures from around the world (37 countries so far) and the U.S. (49 states to date).
2019: South and North
We took a trip to Texas visiting relatives, Space Center Houston, and the beach in Galveston. Then off to New Orleans for the 4th of July and some beignets. We also took some trips up north for fun and cooler weather.
2018: Europe
We flew to Ireland and went to the Cliffs of Moher. Then off to Northern Ireland to a cemetery with the graves of great, great, great grandparents and to see cousins and more cousins back in Dublin. The hospitality was INCREDIBLE as always.
We then flew to the continent to head up to Denmark and Sweden. Here are the three Danes on the trip.
After Denmark we drove to Amsterdam. Canals, bicycles, and the Anne Frank house were highlights for us.We had been to France before, but not Paris. The city was nicer than expected and we hit the highlights such as the Louvre, Versailles. and the Eiffel Tower.
The final leg was flying back to London for the sights including the Harry Potter studio tour. It was soon time to come home after spending a lot of quality family time together.
2016: Canada
The trip started in Springfield, IL after a friend recommended the Lincoln Museum.
We kept going east to Toronto and went to the top of the CN Tower.
The kids enjoy pandas and the Toronto is the only current place in Canada to see them.We still do some highpointing and stopped at Timm's Hill in Wisconsin.
Our final leg was two weeks in Minnesota and Wisconsin enjoying family time.
2015: Western Bound
The trip started in Colorado visiting friends and then going to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
We kept going west to Utah. This is what Madeline was seeing out the to car window.
In Moab we went to Dead Horse State Park and had a great banquet with a friends from Huangshan University.After some time in Boise, we climbed the 300 steps to view the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.
Our final leg was two weeks in Minnesota and Wisconsin enjoying family time.
2013: Going International
We spent about half of 2013 on trips related to work and pleasure.
Summer 2013:
We let the kids pick the summer vacation spot and they chose Harry Potter World in Orlando.
We stopped at other places including the Georgia Highpoint along with Chicago and Minnesota to visit family and friends.
Fall 2013:
From August to December we were living in China teaching and absorbing the culture. It was the first time the kids were on an airplane and outside of North America.
In China we were teaching at Huangshan University in Anhui Province. Huangshan is Yellow Mountain in Chinese and Joy and I climbed the mountain with our friend George.
We also had the opportunity to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Hong Kong on this incredible adventure. The best parts though were the friends and students we met.
Summer 2012: Canyon Bound
We trekked out west to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon as well as visiting friends and family in Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, and Iowa.
Michael and Joy look like tourists, but who can resist 'standing on a corner' in Winslow, Arizona.
We stopped at Hoover Dam before going to Las Vegas. It was hot!
I am not 100% sure why, but all of the girls liked this giant shoe at a Vegas casino.
Next stop was the north rim of the Grand Canyon for a stay in a cabin. It was quite peaceful. Here are the kids at Cape Royal.
The drive to get there was rough, but the kids enjoyed a slot canyon hike in Utah.
The kids want to get to all 50 states and going a mile into Montana gives them 47 and Joy 49.
Summer 2011: The Kids Decide
For the summer of 2011 we let the girls pick the destination. They chose Washington, DC and then added Maine and Florida as they try to get to all 50 states.
We spent the first two weeks visiting cousins in Jackson and West St. Paul.
The girls enjoyed the beach at Fort Foster, Maine and we conquered the Rhode Island Highpoint.
We tried to catch all of the main points in DC like the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, and the White House.
The fun did not stop in DC as we visited friends in the Florida Panhandle and went on a dolphin tour.
Summer 2010: West, but not too far west
We stopped to see our old friend Paul in Colorado after going to Colorado Springs and Glenwood Springs. On the way we went to some Kansas places we had not been to yet such as Tanganyika Wildlife Park and the Underground Salt Mine museum in Hutchinson.
The girls enjoyed going underground at the salt mine in Hutchinson, KS.
You can get launched in Glenwood Springs even higher than you would prefer.
Rifle Falls in Northwest Colorado was a nice break from the heat.
The girls really enjoyed the dinosaur museum in Vernal, Utah.
Michael climbed Harney Peak near Mt. Rushmore almost 20 years after the first time.
Summer 2009: Back to the East
We have always liked the cooler weather of the Northeast and the city of Quebec, so we ventured east to New York and Canada. The trip lasted 31 days including time spent with friends and family in Minnesota.
After visiting friends in Illinois and Ohio we hit the highpoints of Ohio and New Jersey.
We spent several days in New York City and visited Lady Liberty. Here is a video from the ferry.
The next stops took us to Connecticut to visit friends and then to beautiful Quebec. The city of full of history and street performers.
After Quebec we went to upstate New York to Lake Placid and Michael climbed highpoint #37. It was 16 miles in a rainstorm to go up and down Mt. Marcy, but it was worth it.
Our final stops were the cabin in Wisconsin and visiting family in Minnesota for about two weeks.
Summer 2008: Adventure of a Western Flavor
During the summer of 2008 we went to Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to visit friends, family, and fun places. By the end of the trip we had spent 34 days away from home.
We started in Colorado with visits to Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde National Parks. After that it was time for some dinosaur hunting and hiking in Utah. Here are Aideen and Madeline standing in fossilized dino prints near Moab and Michael at Corona Arch.
In Fort Collins the girls managed to get in some drumming, organ playing, and pony riding at Paul's house.
This year we managed only one highpoint: North Dakota. The hike was not very long, but it was hot.
We managed to get to the family cabin (Picture 1 and Picture 2) in Wisconsin again this year after a trip to Duluth, MN for a harbor cruise.
Our final stop was Minnesota where we relaxed with family and friends for about two weeks.
Summer 2007: An Adventure to Toronto and Beyond
We like six week trips so we took another one. Three weeks were spent with relatives in Minnesota and three weeks were on the road east.
The trip started with Jackson, MN with relatives. The girls toured Fort Belmont for a taste of prairie life in the 1800's.
Next stop was West St. Paul for another set of parties and then to Wisconsin for lake time. Here are Madeline and Aideen with three of their cousins Trevor, Nolan, and Nick and Michael's mother Maureen and sister Amy doing some serious reading by the lake.
From Wisconsin we went to Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. We highly recommend it for touring Fort Mackinac and getting away from cars.
Aideen had been to Canada before, but this was Madeline's first trip. Michael has been to Canada about a dozen times, but this was the first time seeing the Stanley Cup in Toronto. The girls loved the CN Tower from the bottom and the glass floor at 1122 feet above the ground.
After Toronto we made short stops in
Niagara Falls and Pittsburgh before heading for some state highpoints.Madeline made it to her first state highpoint at Mt. Davis in Pennsylvania. Here she is
showing us the way. This was Aideen's ninth highpoint, but she still gets excited and wants all 50. We also went to the Maryland and West Virginia highpoints where we all got in on the fun. The last leg of the trip involved some tedious driving, but Joy and Michael also stopped by colleges where they used to teach. Here is Michael at Shawnee State Univ. in Portsmouth, Ohio and Joy stopped by Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL. Overall, we had a great trip.
2005 (summer) - A Western Adventure with Two Children
Arizona highpoint at 12,633' early in the trip.We took a six week trip to California and many other parts of the Western US. The last several weeks were spent in Minnesota. We all had a lot of fun visiting friends and relatives.
Michael summitted the
In California we stayed
near San Francisco and also in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains visiting Mady and Aideen's cousins Ross and LeighAnna. (The older kids in the photo.)Next we went to Idaho to stay with friends and we stopped at
Shoshone Falls (The Niagara of the West). Michael also climbed in Colorado with a guy Aideen calls TALL PAUL.South Dakota has a lot to see including some
interesting characters at Mt. Rushmore.We ended our trip with time in Minnesota visiting relatives and Michael took a trip to the BWCA with his friend
Duke. Aideen had fun with her cousins Nick and Nolan and Mady played her little cousin Trevor.2003 (summer) - Aideen's Second Big Adventure
Virginia highpoint. We all did the eight-mile hike together with Dad carrying Aideen. Dad also hiked Mt. Washington in New Hampshire solo.The three of us went to the Eastern US and Canada for the month of July. At age 2 Aideen has now visited 35 states!
Here is Aideen at the trailhead for the
We spent several days in New York where Aideen got to see some of her
pals.Some of our highlights in Canada were hiking along the coast of
Nova Scotia and visiting Quebec City.
2002 (summer) - Aideen's First Big Adventure
swimming in Flagstaff, Arizona. From Flagstaff Joy went to the Grand Canyon. Look out Paris here I come.The three of us went to the Western US for the month of July.
Here are Joy and Aideen
We visited some beautiful national parks in the far West. They included
Redwood and Crater Lake. The trip ended with a tough hike to the highest summit in Nebraska.2002 (March)- Texas and New Mexico
The three of us climbed the highest point in Texas as seen from New Mexico. George Gangwere joined us at the top. This was Aideen's first high point adventure. Joy also visited Carlsbad Caverns.
2000 - A "Tour of the Americas". Ten weeks in Costa Rica, Peru, and the United States
Tony Goldenstein joined us in Costa Rica for a visit to the Irazu Volcano. We all went on a magnificent horseback ride along the Pacific Coast in Jaco. After a tough hike we got to see all 500 feet of Costa Rica's highest waterfall. Another crappy day in Paradise: boogie boarding in the Pacific Ocean.
The Spanish Colonial architecture of Cuzco, Peru. Here is a photo of a Peruvian woman and her baby in Pisac, Peru and its ruins. The famous Incan ruins at Machu Picchu and Joy at the site. On Lake Titicaca the Uros people live on small floating islands made of reeds.
1999 - An adventure in Europe and Tunisia
Our first stop was Ireland to visit relatives and Kilkenny castle.
Next stop was Denmark. This photo is at the northern tip of Europe.
Look out Luxembourg here we come (through.)
Our friend Tony Goldenstein joined us for a jaunt to Berlin.
Here is Joy and Tony keeping up with the Germans at Fritz's house.
The Fiat Polski: A car that seats 4 adults "comfortably".
After Poland it was the wonderful Bavarian Alps in Southern Germany.
Next we took the train to Rome to see St. Peter's Square and the Roman Forum.
The final stop on our 44 day adventure was the beautiful Tunisia.
Here we are in the Medina of Tunis and the Mediterranean town of Tabarka
1998 - Honeymoon to Fiji and Australia
Hanging out in Fiji.
On the top of Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia.
1992 - Michael's Trip to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
The birdman of London.The West coast of Ireland.
Tanzanian children doing laundry.
A typical home in a rural village in Tanzania. An elephant in Tanzania. King of the jungle. Simba!The Western Wall (wailing wall) in Jerusalem.
The pyramid Cheops in Giza, Egypt.
