View from the Phoenix Mountains

Overlook of Phoenix

Braves 9, Snakes 3

Finishing the tour at Chase field to see the Snakes host the Braves. The rattles are deafening!

Arizona Thunderstorm

Rain!

Petrified Forest NP

The Painted Desert

Manny in NM?

Albuquerque is excited that Man-Ram may turn up here for a few minor league games before return to Dodgers.

Mt. Rushmore

Hanging with da boyz

Crazy Horse

Me and Crazy Horse (the scale model)

In the Black Hills

The SD Badlands

Im on Bombing Range road!

On the MO river

Lewis & Clark passed by this spot in 1804.

The Metrodome

At the dome baby!

Nutrition

My typical meal: 57 carbs.
Ham or turkey & cheese protien.
Broccoli coleslaw and lettuce veggies.
Carrots to justify the chips.
And a cookie to lay it to rest.

I have eaten this meal each of the last 10 days.
I still like it.

Rob & Rip overlooking confluence WI & MS Rivers.

Twins at Sox with Ty

Back to the Windy City to see the Sox beat the Twins 6-2.

Again, we had awesome seats. New Comiskey is now labeled US Cellular. Totally different than Wrigley, a nice park in this modern world of baseball. After screaming "Jermaine Dye - you're on my fantasy team. Please sign my ball." repeatedly at the top of my lungs, I failed once again to get an autograph.

I then took a breather on the Sox dugout.

Ten ball parks and counting!!!

A Visit to The Oak Brook Office

Lunch with the R&D gang.

It was real fun to visit with my old workmates. We talked and laughed, talked and laughed... It was nice to hear about the current events. No shortaqge of excitement with Papermate!

Psst... This is the number one problem to solve with the next ballpen writing system.

My love of Papermate and all who toil for her will forever be close to my heart.

The chain. A lousy picture, granted, but that is the chain counting the days till departure for Ty, Monica and Tyler.

Great seats at Wrigley with Ty!

Three pictures tell three thousand words!

And a funny thing happened on the way to Chicago. I stopped in at Miller Park to catch up on the Brewer's haps. They were out of town, but the local radio station is kind enough to broadcast the game call in the parking lot. Brewers beat the Cards 1-0 on a Hart homer.Joining me to enjoy the game long distance was the wedding party. I bet they have season tickets! All the best to the bride and groom.So I went inside, bought a Brewer's decal and added this park to my list.

Ty tells me the they are changing the name of the Sears Tower next month, so we took this photo for you all to drink in the lore of last century along with us.

What will the next 100 years bring?

The UP

The Michigan Upper Peninsula is truly a natural wonder!
Waterfalls
Munising Fall

Upper Tequamenon FallsLake Superior vistasThis nice lady came into the visitors center while I was discussing the locks with the volunteer to turn in some keys she found in the street. Low and behold, they were mine! I must have dropped them when that guy honked at me while I was crossing the street.

Good thing, my spare set is in California!

Large shipping locks

The CSL Laurentien is at Lake Heuron level...

Then presto! At Lake Superior level!21 foot Soo LocksAnd tons of beautiful wildflowers...

Yellow violet

Jack in the pulpit

Fiddle neck fern

White ones (aka white bleeding heart, thanks Nancy)

Another Jack in the pulpit

Probable yellow wood sorrelDutchman's breeches

Ipi likes these too!

And this spring beauty

I believe this is a type of bellwort Emerging ferns

And these neat shoots - very bizarre

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Welcome to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore!

Yes, I hiked up the dune to get a close up look.

Note in the picture below of the steep slope of the sand how many more steps were required on the way up (right) compared to down (left).

Ripley didn't get to climb the dune, but he had a lot of fun in the woods. Then we walked through the upper dune trail...

And out to the steep slope and a view of Lake Michigan.
We also enjoyed some close up views...
Including this freshly unfolding fern.
That first one was a crowded ant hill... amazing!