Hoosier National Forest Part Deux

Candace and I again traveled to Brown and Monroe Counties in Indiana to spend some time in the "backcountry" of the Hoosier National Forest. This year we rented a canoe and dodged the holiday crowd and several waterskiers paddling into the more remote areas of Monroe Lake. We had a great time camping on the shore, swimming, hiking and well, a lot more paddling. Definitely one of my more favorite places within the radius of "long weekend" trips from Dayton.

Not so much of a blogger

Yep, I'm not much of a blogger that is for sure. Seems to me it is more for people with kids (no time) or people with opinions (and too much time). I guess I have time and no opinions so it must not be for me. That being said I now facebook (for those who have time but no clue) much more than I should but not so much by comparison (I think they blog too, therefore too much time and probably no kids, except for those that don't and do). So for the sake of my friends who blog (the no timers?) I have Picasaed some pics of our recent trip to Alaska. I have also used a handy dandy facebook application to transfer the photos to facebook for the rest to see.

Whatever that all means (In my opinion I have too much time), click on the photo link to the right. Yay for user created content.

Christmas 2007

We spent some time with Candace's family in Jamestown, NY and Washington, PA over Christmas. Here are some photos. The complete set is up on the web gallery.

Sledding!

Cold and windy on Lake Chautauqua, NY

Molly and Candace being themselves.

The NY crew.

The PA squad.

Merry Christmas!

Just a little something to say Merry Christmas.





Jars of Clay, Love Came Down at Christmas

The cats would also like to wish you a Happy New Year! They enjoy the Christmas tree.

Phoenix Warrior

As usual I haven't updated this in a while. But thats okay, as this stuff can really suck up a lot of time. I went to NJ for two weeks in September for some deployment training. I didn't think to bring the camera, but fortunately others did and were organized enough to put a CD together for everyone. Here are a few cool pics that I got recently, if you are interested I put some more on my web album. For most of the training I was hungry, tired and uncomfortable... and having a blast!

Lesson in handling the M-16.

M-16 Qualification

Getting gased with CS is kind of like soaking your face in a vat of Tabasco sauce with your eyes and mouth open... ouch.

A UH-60 carries us into a combat exercise.

Practicing my compass 'skills' on the land nav.

What happens when someone drops their rifle!

A lesson on dismounted patrols from one of the pros.

Charles C. Deam Wilderness

Candace and I spent a fantastic weekend over labor day backpacking in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area in the hills of southern Indiana. The weather was perfect, the surroundings were beautiful, and the hiking was great. Amazingly enough, we even had one night of complete isolation, even with the notoriously busy weekend. All I can say is thank God for public lands.

Lake Monroe (a reservoir) on the northern border of the wilderness area, a great place to cool off after a long hike.
An old forest service road now serves as a trail. The wilderness was originally settled and farmed, then turned over the federal government during the depression, and designated wilderness in the 80's.

Home, sweet home.

ASBC

Well I just returned from six weeks of training at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. Fortunately Ryan and Eric happened to be attending the training at the same time. Consequently we had a lot of fun weekends. Highlights included the beach in Florida, camping in Alabama, visiting Phil and Jane in Panama City and stopping in the Smokies on the return trip.
All the people in my training flight were great too, we really had a good team. This led to a very enjoyable time only broken by all to frequent sessions of death by powerpoint. All in all it was a great TDY, but very good to be home. Candace returns from Montana tomorrow and I can't wait to see her!

Florida, change your whole Latitude.

Anyone for frisbee? Eric shows off his mad skills.

The Talledega National Forest (and no Ricky Bobby to be found)

It was pretty hard to accept Phil's offer of going sailing... one word: Awesome.

The Great Smoky Mountains.

For all the photos use this link or use the Online Share Album on the side bar.