Marching Band State Competition

We spent the day yesterday in Louisville for the state marching band competition. Because Jessica is so involved with helping the band get ready, we didn't stay to watch many performances. I think we saw about 4 bands perform in the 5A category. Our kids did great! We put on the best show we've had all year and we were all really proud of the band and everyone who helps to put on the show.

We got 5th place which was really good for us. Unfortunately, only the top 4 bands go on to finals that evening so we didn't get to perform a second time.

At a couple of points in the show, Kyle runs across the field with his friend and they trail a really long flag behind them. He really enjoys being part of the high school band even though he's only in 6th grade. He works really hard and is quickly becoming a bit of a leader when it comes to getting work done.

After the competition, the senior's had a chance to give speeches so we sat around and listened. This is Kevin with his friend (in the pink) who came with us to watch him perform.

This is a formal picture I took of the saxaphone section last week.

Cuenca and Alicante in one weekend

This weekend was pretty special. Many of you know that I've been going to Spain quite often lately. It's a work project, and I'd like to say that I'm a travel photographer or something cool like that but alas, such is not the case. So, while I'm here I make the best of it. I've seen Valencia to death, been to every beach, castle, pub, orange grove and outhouse within 100 miles. So, this weekend we traveled to Cuenca. I invited the team from Poland to go along and a few decided it was worth the risk of riding with me across a foreign country. Hey, they made it out of the iron curtain. How bad could this American possibly be, right?

So, I drove to the town where there were staying early in the morning and picked them up from their hotel. We drove back to my hotel and picked up the remaining 2 Americans and the Canadian. As we left the coast and headed inland, the scenery began to change very quickly. We drove past a large dam and then headed up into the mountains past the scores of wind turbines. Many ridge tops in Spain have wind turbines and it's neat to see something that big moving like it does.

A quick stop for some gas and we noticed the land had changed from rocky, craggy outcroppings to rolling hills and pasture. We were passing through the region of Requena, famous as a wine producing region. We passed miles and miles of grape farms, each beautiful in it's own way but without the richness and sense of majesty that one gets from visiting Napa Valley in northern California. No "Falcon's Crest" here.

After obtaining a map from the tourism center, we walked up the hill and found the old city. It was really a lot to try to take in. Try as I might, pictures just can't do it justice. I don't even know how to describe it exactly except to say it is breathtaking.

This is me standing on a bridge near the casas golgadas or hanging houses.

This panorama is actually 9 different photographs stitched together. This is taken from across the ravine from the town. We had to walk across the bridge on the left to enter the town.
This view was taken from above the town after passing through the walls to the castle that stood on top of the mountain. You can see the newer part of the town below and the valley behind.
Interesting rock formations appear in the canyon next to the city and made for a great picture.
This is the "Plaza Mayor". On the left (not shown) is the old cathedral which has been very well kept. The masonry is absolutely beautiful. When I get those images processed, I may post some of those as well.

After a great day in Cuenca, we decided to take the scenic route coming home. We passed through some very interesting terrain and were treated to majestic views of mountains, steep ravines, goat herds (yes, that's right) and the occasional town in the middle of nowhere. Some of these towns were built using the same redish-brown (think Missouri) clay that covered the land. You could almost drive by a house and not see it because the walls and roof tile matched the terrain. They were completely void of any color or vibrancy. It was beautiful and depressing at the same time. Very hard to describe how I felt as we passed through that part of the country.

This morning, we drove down to Alicante on a whim. Again, a beautiful drive to see some nice beaches ;) and a castle. Believe it or not, I'm a little tired of beaches and castles. I never thought I could say that, but I'm glad that I can. I've cherished many trips over to Spain and I hope you've enjoyed me writing about them. Depending on how the project goes, I may not be back for awhile so you may have to wait until my next adventures in Poland! I'm already thinking and planning that trip which hopefully will include Germany.

Back from Spain (again)

I'm back again with more tales of adventure, or at least some sightseeing. Several of my coworkers and I drove to Barcelona to spend a day. Here is the quick rundown: we left Valencia at 6:00 AM and got back at 2:00 AM the next morning, one guy was pick-pocketed within 1 hour of arriving in town, we walked 8 miles, road various buses all over town, saw the big cathedrals as well as the street life including performers and musicians. I don't think it's possible to see more of a large European city in one day than we did that day. On the way up to Barcelona, I noticed that there were windsocks in the middle of the highway. You know, the kind you see at an airport. We made some comment like; "Those silly Spaniards" and "Wow, look at those big wind turbines!" and "hey, look at that bird flying backwards".... then I found out why. As we were driving through some mountains along the cost, the Mercedes (no it was a van not a sports car) almost went airborne off the side of the cliff. I don't think I've ever driven in such a strong crosswind before. The windsocks were standing straight out, and that's when it made sense. So, we slowed down until we made it out of the area. Okay, that was the only "thrilling" thing about this trip. Sorry to disappoint.

There were many street performers playing some of the most interesting and beautiful music that I've ever heard. Notice the sitar player below.

Several actors dressed up in the most detailed costumes you could imagine, just for show. If this guy didn't move, you would walk right by and think it was a statue. There were too many to get pictures of but this guy is representative of the kind of detail that went into his costume.

Here is Tom & I looking like a couple of geeks on the tour bus. We road on the top deck and I got a little scalped from the sun but the view was worth it.

Everywhere we went, there were beautiful monuments and obelisks. Evidence of Greek and Roman influence were very prevalent in much of the city.

I really enjoyed all the repeating patterns of straight lines, vertical columns, etc. It makes for some nice pictures. The Barcelona Cathedral (not pictured here) was just as a Catholic cathedral should be. Then we came to Mr. Gaudi's idea of architecture. Keith, I know you can appreciate this more than anyone. I now know where the term comes from!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaudí

I honestly think that Gaudi's style of architecture was the influence for Dr. Seuss's cartoon rendition of buildings.

His architecture is splattered all over Barcelona like green eggs and ham. I cannot say that I'm a fan, Sam I am.

Then we came to the holy grail of Gaudi achievements, the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family). I must say that this is without a doubt, the ugliest cathedral I have ever seen. However, it is also the most interesting. I spent a lot of time reading about how Gaudi chose shapes and structures, and I understand the theory behind it but it's too .... Gaudi! There is not an inch anywhere that isn't cluttered with way too many colors and detail. As you can see from the construction, it's not finished yet. They haven't even started the tallest of the towers, which will make it the tallest cathedral in the world. If you click the link above, you can read about it.

Even the support columns on the inside are built like the branches of trees, single trunks splaying out and twisting as they reach toward the sky.

On our way home, we stopped for dinner in Tarragona. We walked through the old city walls and found a quiet little cafe and had crêpes for dinner. I had mine with goat cheese, which probably wasn't a good idea. Around the corner from where we were was a quaint little alley. Several young people (a.k.a. hot chicks) were making there way down the ally to a disco that was on the other side of the little village. We only stayed long enough for a quick dinner and then had to head back to Valencia since we still had a long drive.

Now if all goes as planned, I should have some great things to share with you next trip. I'll be going inland a bit to a very old town with some unique architectural flavor and hopefully some really great restaurants!

Till next time, safe travels.

Night Photography in the Gorge

Last night, Kyle and I drove down to the Red River Gorge to get some sunset pictures and try something new. If I would have planned better, we would have just spent the night camping primitive but I didn't think about it until we were on our way (typical).

We setup on Chimney Top Rock which gives us a great view of the river valley to the West and also an incredible sunset view of Half Moon Rock to the East. We got several great pictures and then after the sun had set and there was nothing left to shoot from the cliffs, we headed into the woods.

I would love to be able to tell a story of great adventure on our trek to our next stop. Maybe something about scaling down sheer cliffs in the middle of the night and fending off rattle snakes and bear attacks. Although we have those things, the truth is we just walked to our next stop. It was through the woods and it was well after dark. However, other than trying to figure out which path to take to get down off the top of the arch, it was rather uneventful. I think a cave cricket fell on Kyle, which provided about 30 seconds of excitement but that was about it.

So, we were trying a photographic technique called light painting. Essentially you "paint" your subject with light during a very long exposure. We tried different lights, different patterns and highlighting different parts of the subject from different angles. It was a lot of fun but working with your camera and tripod in the dark while stumbling around trees and rocks can be a bit awkward. I had to change lenses at one point and that was a bit of a trick with no place to work.

As always, Kyle was a fantastic help. He actually took most of the pictures and also helped me "paint" during exposures. At one point I had him behind the arch covering it from the back. That's when the monster cave cricket viciously attacked Kyle. He bravely ,or rather histerically, fended off the beast and informed me that he would be taking the pictures and I could go stand in the dark.

Below is one of the many picures we took of Princess Arch. I think it turned out pretty good. I can tell you that light painting provides a lot more drama to the scene than seeing it during the day. There are many beautiful arches in the Gorge and I've seen most them during the day but nothing comes close to seeing them in this kind of a setting, without the harsh light of day washing out many of the colors and textures.

Princess Arch

Jessica tries to find her Prince!

I've had this frog in my pond almost since I built it a few years ago. Actually, as of this year there are 3 frogs in there. I have no idea where they came from but they've taken up residence and they aren't paying any rent! To add insult to injury, these guys don't know when to shut up. They croak day and night. My mom knows this because while we were talking on the phone the other day, they were so loud she could here them over the phone. Last night while sleeping with the windows open, I was up half the night listening to these guys croaking away. About 4:00 AM, I got up and went outside and yelled at them. They all jumped in the pond and were quiet for about 20 minutes but then were back at it again. My neighbors are probably going to file a complaint soon.
So this evening, I saw the big guy coming out of the waterfall where he lives. To make a long story short, I chased him out of the waterfall and into the pond and then scooped him out with a net. After a frantic chase around the yard (he can jump about 4' in a single hop), we finally caught up with him. Jessica saw her opportunity to upgrade husbands and immediately went to work trying to turn a frog into a prince. After a brief wait and no prince, she determined all she had was a happy frog!

Then Sasha saw her chance and tried the same thing. No luck there either. I guess they are both stuck with me until they find a better frog.
That's really all I had to talk about today. In my world every day is a little adventure. Hopefully you don't mind me sharing a bit of it.

A fun fishing trip

Kevin & I had an opportunity to do some fishing this weekend. We borrowed a boat and headed out to the lake. Kyle and Jessica were busy with some other things so it was just the 3 of us (we brought Sasha). I can tell you that after much effort, there are no fish to be found anywhere near my fishing pole! We didn't even get a single bite.

However, we take some time out and pull up to a beach and swim for awhile. Sasha has been in the water before but it's been awhile and we weren't sure how she would do. Especially since the last time was a bit tramatic because someone threw her into the water! Um...er, that might have been me :(

Anyway, she jumped right out onto the beach and immediately walked into the water and started swimming around. We waded out into the water about chest deep and she came right out to us and just swam back and forth between us. She also likes to fetch a stick and had fun with that.

More sightseeing in Spain

I had the opportunity this weekend to spend some time sightseeing up the coast of Spain. We are staying in Valencia and traveled about 1.5 hours North to the town of Peñíscola. There is a beautiful castle there that was built around 1307 by the Knights Templar and became the home to Pope Benedict XIII. Follow this link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peniscola


The castle was absolutely beautiful and offered some breathtaking views. We parked in town and walked through the town and up to the castle and took a self-guided tour.

As we were coming home, we saw an old old castle that set on top of a mountain so we decided to go have a look. After meandering through the town to get to the top and getting nearly stuck on a small street, we had to go back down the hill and park at the bottom of town and then hike up.

Here is a picture of a typical street that we had to navigate our little car through. There was one street that was so narrow that you could stand in the middle and almost touch the buildings on both sides! I was driving and needless to say, the other 3 guys were a little nervous.
Oh and here's the best part. Before we went to the first castle, we tried finding our way to another castle that we saw. It looked abandon and we didn't see a road going to it but we did see a little town close by. As we were driving through the town (same little streets), we were almost hit by a tractor! Some old guy with about 3 teeth was driving his tractor through town and came out a side street and almost hit us in the side. We never did make it up to that castle but without going into all the details, let's just say it was an adventure and I never even put a scratch on the rental car!

For more pictures, follow the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bjkk1988/Spain