Go West! Alaska - July 04

I had the luck to get invited to a conference in Alaska. I headed up a few days before the conference started and 'played'. Technically, I should have had an extra day in Alaska...but that is a different story.


It was a bit odd getting to the hotel at midnight and it was still light out. I slept for a few hours, couldn't sleep anymore, and started my day at sunrise...shortly before 4am. I had a great western breakfast and drove to my first trailhead.

Above is the moose I saw on the way. To every native Alaskans' dismay, I stopped the car almost in the middle of the street and took this picture.

The next morning I started out on a two day solo trip. This would be my first night camping alone. They say that the most dangerous part of Alaska is not the bears - it is getting lost in the vast wilderness.

The valley above was massive and amazing. One feels quite 'alone' during such a hike. I saw about 5 people during the two days.

Self portrait at campsite. It was extremely eerie when the clouds moved in. At one part, I couldn't see more than about 10 feet in front of me and was walking over snowpack. I came to a crossroads and couldn't see far enought to know where to turn.

So, I just waited until some Swedish hikers came by. Needless to say, it was very eerie.

While they say that bears aren't too much of a risk, I did see a few from a distance. Needless to say, I put the dry food I had a long way from the tent.

Working hard in the Yard

I helped my father in law build a small deck over his small pond. It is now his favorite spot to listen to the frogs.

It is pretty easy to see how exhausting the work was...

My 30th Birthday (May 2004)

For my 30th birthday, Eva gave me a cultural trip to the former Eastern Germany. During the trip, we saw a Stasi (East German Secret Police) bunker, visited Weimar (where Goethe, Schiller, and numerous classical composers lived, wrote, and performed), and stayed in the monestery where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German.

Me at a restaurant in Erfurt.

The inner terrace and view from our room of the monestery in Erfurt where Martin Luther lived and worked. During his time here, he translated the Bible into German for the first time, literally creating the written German language.

We got to go on a few hikes. Here is Eva on one one of the more curious and interesting parts of the hike, where we had to go between these huge stone walls. Since the small space between the rocks was literally a small stream, there was a wood 'bridge' that allowed us to keep our feet dry that we walked upon.

We also spent one night in an old castle that had been renovated. Here is the view from our room.

The 5th Erlanger Season: Bergkirchweih

In most parts of the world, we talk of four distinct seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. In Erlangen, the locals talk proudly of the 5th season: Bergkirchweih.

Bergkirchweih is a 'small' spring beer festival where the number of visitors per day to the open air biergarten on the side of a small hill almost equals the number of residents in Erlangen: 100,000. There really isn't much space to walk around, or even sit for that matter. There are amusement park rides, bands playing live, and, of course beer.

I still find it amazing how little trouble there is considering the masses that are downing beer, in one liter Maß heavy ceramic Krugs. The spectrum on ages is truly diverse. Even Siemens' former CEO would attend the festival. There is dancing on the tables. Bergkirchweih has been an Erlangen tradition now for over 250 years.

It is a wonderful time, and it is the 'passage into summer' for many Erlanger. For more about Bergkirchweih, please see the attached CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/04/14/beer.festival.ap/index.html

Groundbreaking...

As mentioned earlier, I'll post pictures of the progress of our house. Here is a big hole in the ground that would eventually become the basement - taken near the end of May 2004.

Who's your Daddy??

I know I shouldn't post this picture, but in the weakness of my old age, I'll let my impulses get the better of me.

Here I am, letting my father get his way...again ;-)

Walberla Fest - 1 May 2004

The first of May is a holiday in Germany, and many folks in the area celebrate it by riding or hiking to Walberla, a bluff that overlooks the region, for one of the regional festivals.


Since the festival came shortly after Easter, we saw the many Easter fountains decorated in their Easter glory while we were on the way to Walberla. During the Easter Season, many of the village fountains are decorated in such a manner.

On the way with Tanja and Rene, we had to stop for something to drink. It is pretty amazing to see all the people out and about on the 1st of May - it is a huge urge of the locals to 'get out' and enjoy nature and to even possibly check out the Biergartens for the first time of the season.

The McMullin's come to town - Spring 2004

Kelly and Lindsey came to visit in the Spring 0f 2004. Fortunately we had great weather at each of our stops in Munich, Erlangen, and Prague.

Kelly and I at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich with beverages.

I learned from Justin that it is always fun to pose with statues. In the picture above, Kelly shows his variation of the theory and is posing with an ice cream cone in Munich.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. However, Kelly's mom insisted that he bring some gloves, because when she was last in Munich (for the 1972 Games), she remembered that it was really cold. Above is Kelly posing for his mom - showing how useful the gloves were and how cold it was (it was about 70 that day).

Kelly and I on one of the bridges in Nürnberg.


Above, and artful picture of us hiding behind some hedges in one of the many gardens in Prague. It still had a very medieval look, the people were friendly, the Charles' bridge was very cool at night (along with the rest of the scenery), and Kelly and I really loved the 30 cent half liters of beer.


Eva and I on the Charles Bridge at night.


Kelly and I had a few beers in Prage to catch up on old times. The bar was very cool, but we both thought that there was something different about the crowded place that we couldn't really put our fingers on.

...then as we left, we saw the rainbow flag on the sign of the place and realized that it was an alternative lifestyle place...


The two Siemens' geeks at a sign in front of the Siemens museum in Munich.

As mentioned before, we've got a ton of pictures at the Erlangen sculpture garden. Here's a few more of Kelly and Lindsey. I laugh every time I see these pictures.

Take me to your people...

This picture above is typical Kelly. Believe it or not, but the pitchfork was just laying there. I was off looking at sculptures, and I turn around and Kelly is fighting with the statue with his newly found pitchfork.

Visit on the Farm

During another trip to Atlanta, I got to take a short weekend trip to Florida to see my grandparents. Below my grandfather, Stephen. Unfortunately, the trip was bittersweet, as my grandmother, Lydia was in the hospital. Nonetheless, it was great to see them both.

The only house I remember from my grandparents. It has remained almost unchanged since I was a little boy. My dad still tells stories about the early days in the early 80's when he had to take a cold shower there...

My grandmother loved peacocks, and my grandfather bought a few years ago. They multiplied, and they were great to see on the farm.

I took a sidetrip during the afternoon to see some spring ball (Houston Astros). My dad tought me early on that the best beer is at a ballpark...

Unfortunately, this picture of my Aunt Irene didn't turn out well. During the trip to the farm, we took one night and hit the town of Bushnell. Let's just say that it was an interesting experience - especially the bar scene in Bushnell. It was awesome having drinks with Irene!

Romaniello's new bachelor pad

During a business trip to Atlanta, I visited Romaniello at his new condo.


As with most bachelor pads, there was only cheap beer...

...and small catsup packages (and other various condiments) in the fridge.

Ecke's 30th Birthday - Orange! Orange!

We headed up to Hattingen for Ecke's 30th birthday party. The theme was Orange - Holland's colors - due to Ecke's Holland heritage. Below are the 'Ischen': Babsi, Susi, Eva, and Ecke.


...people even died their hair orange for the event...

Valentine's Day 2004 in Bayerischer Wald

So for Valentines Day, I surprised Eva with a trip to Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian Forest). I only told her that she had plans for the evening...then we drove the 2 hours to the forest.

Along the way we had a great dinner in Regensburg at a wonderful restaurant that we stumbled upon that we'll probably never find again...


Our hotel was in the sticks, and the owners were a bit odd, but we had a great time nonetheless.

And there was TONS of snow.

The birth of Axel

Susi and Moritz visited us on their way to pick up the new addition to their family, Axel, pictured below with Eva and Moritz in the yellow color.


They picked up the car from the Audi factory in Ingolstadt, just an hour south of us.

House Hunting

During the Christmas holiday, we started thinking about getting something a bit bigger than our 500 sq ft (~52 qm) apartment that we were renting. We wanted to buy and said that we were in no hurry. If it took a year, it took a year...

On the 31st of Jan, we signed on the dotted line. So much for taking our time...But, we found the house of our dreams. Since it was going to be built, we would get to choose the flooring, bathroom hardware, etc. We were stoked!

Here is the land that the condo would be built upon. It will be one house with 8 units. We're on the ground floor with over 2000 sqft of yard (large enough to have some space, too small to buy a riding lawnmower), have about 1000 sqft of condo on one level, live 300m from a huge forest where I could run and mountanbike, and 100m from a protected open space/city park where we can go on evening walks.

We would have to wait almost 16 months before the house was finished.

Self portrait. More pics of the development of the house will come!

New Year's in the Bavarian Forest

We spent Christmas in Hattingen with Eva's family. On Christmas day, we had a brunch with Eva's friends. Above, a picture at the brunch, with Tabasco in focus. Moritz is in the background.

After Christmas, we went to the Bavarian Forest for a few days of snow and relaxation with Eva's family. We went on a few great hikes in the mountains, and in the picture above, I'm straddling the German and Czech border.
As with many trails in the area, they usually lead to a peak of some sort. Almost always, there is a cross at the top (not pictured here...but there was one) and oftentimes an outpost of some sort. The great thing about these outposts is that they have a good fire going, have warm food and beer to tank up on before the trip down.

Above, another self portrait at the peak.

Christmastime in Erlangen

Here's our first real Christmass tree that we got together. It was a bit of an adventure. We weren't really planning on buying one that day, and we found 'that perfect tree' in the city. Since we were on foot and bike, we had to carry it home (about a mile).

Needless to say, here is the tree in her natural form...

Us with the decorated tree in the background...our arms weren't long enough to get more of the tree in this self portrait.

Our first Thanksgiving

Shortly after the wedding, we had our first Thanksgiving as a married couple - in Germany. Needless to say, Thanksgiving isn't really big over here ;-)

We shifted the dinner to Saturday so that we could have more time to prepare. Pictured above is me and the largest turkey I could find in the store (I'm the large turkey with the t-shirt).

It was my first time to cook a turkey from start to finish. Let's just say that there were lots of calls to mom!

The Erlangen gang with our feast. Since the turkey was a bit, well, small, we suplemented the feast with the typical Thanksgiving specialities like: Nürnberger sausages and red cabbage.

The pilgrims would be proud! We had a great time and it was fun bringing this part of my culture to Germany.