Photos from the Flint Hills

I haven't posted anything because I still don't have Internet at my house...but here are a few recent photos from the Flint Hills.

Armenia - First Time

     I've been to Armenia twice now, and each time I had quite a different experience.  The first time I drove there from Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia.  It was about a 4 hour drive across a mountainous region.  We could easily pull off to the side of the road and see sights like this:

 

 

Or this:

 

There were ice fields and small villages.  We stopped in one of the villages at a bakery.  They made bread by sticking the dough on the sides of the oven. 

I can't remember what it was called, but it was so tasty, fresh from the oven.  I asked and they said they usually only lose about one loaf per day. 

The first time I stayed in Yerevan at the Marriott.  It was nice, but not too different from any other hotel I've ever stayed in.

Yerevan was a bustling city.  Walking around in the evenings the streets were full of people out and about, cafes were full, and people were standing in line to get in to dance clubs. 

I took a day trip out to Geghard and Garni.  Geghard was a monastery partially carved out of the side of a cliff.  It was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator.

The Garni Temple is a short drive away from Geghard.  It is a pagan Temple, and one that survived the Christianization of Armenia.  It is contested about the timeline of when the temple was built, but it has a rich history.

This was my first trip to Armenia, and I enjoyed it enough to return another time :)

ABQ Quick Pics

Brief trip back to Albuquerque.

 

 

 

Albuquerque is embracing their role in Breaking Bad...a Heisenberg sticker and rock candy designed to look like the infamous blue stuff on the show.

 

 

Any other fans of the show?

There's no sand! - Almaty Kazakhstan

     When I pictured Kazakhstan, I imagined lots and lots of sand, heat, few trees, and more sand.  I was wrong.  Well, at least for the area that I visited. 

See, no sand.

 

Someone commented that it reminded them of Denver.  It did, to a degree.  For one thing, there were large mountains and a cooler climate.   (Cooler, in Kazakhstan than the Midwest!  Blew my mind...) 

 

 

 

But, on the other end, traffic looked like this... 

 

 

 

This was one of the nicer pictures.  If it's hard to see, we are driving into oncoming traffic to try and turn.

 

Another thing that surprised me, was this - a pop up bar, in English, in Kazakhstan.  Although, it does have a retro vibe. 

 

 

 

This is more like what I expected to see. 

 

 

A colorful church in the middle of a park that I was walking through.  More like what I was expecting, but still no sand. 

 

Also, this was a shock.  The Holiday Inn was one of the nicest hotels in Almaty. 

 

 

They had room service.  They delivered complimentary fruit and nuts and drinks to the room every night.  Customized slippers.  If only they would have stopped trying to serve me horsemeat...

 

 







The Flint Hills

Internet service has been spotty at best lately.  Here are a few pictures from last weekend in the Kansas Flint Hills.

 



Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik - The Not so Hidden Gem of Croatia -

 

 

   Just driving into Dubrovnik late in the evening was exciting. They had bridges that were well lit, you could see fancy yachts in the harbor, and we slowly wound our way towards the city which had been hailed as a hidden gem in Croatia. I couldn't see much driving up at night, but I was excited for the next day. Dubrovnik turned out to be a beautiful city, steeped in history and culture, full of charming citizens, amazing architecture and... lots of tourists. I could not even imagine trying to visit Dubrovnik in the summer. I was there one of the final weeks in fall that it was still nice out and it was crowded. I walked the entire wall around the city which in some parts was really only meant for a single file line and I couldn't imagine visiting with more people in town. It's apparently a huge attraction for European cruises as well, with large ships full of thousands of people docking, invading the city, and leaving at the end of the day. I thought Croatia was one of the less traveled countries in Europe, but apparently the secret is out about how great it is to travel there. And don't get me wrong, it is. It really is worth a trip to see the city and everything it holds, but just be prepared for crowds. Here are some pictures to convince you:    

 

Stradun, the main street of Dubrovnik.

Sponza Palace

The walls of Dubrovnik which defended the city in the Middle Ages.

The harbor in Dubrovnik.