Stairs

Staircase on the River Walk, San Antonio, TX.

Hamilton Pool

Trees at Hamilton Pool Preserve near Austin, TX.

Sapling

A little tree growing in Barton Creek in Austin, TX.

Greenbelt

Pics of Thomas hiking on the Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin, TX. We parked at the 360 trail head and tried (unsuccessfully) to find Sculpture Falls.
But we found a nice overlook and some pretty wading spots anyways.

Dallas Blooms

Spring flowers at the Dallas Arboretum in March. Pansies, Daffodils, and Tulips.
Yellow and red Tulips next to a pond.
Pink Parrot Tulips.
Large planting of yellow and red Tulips in front of a perfect lawn.
Pansies in dappled shade.
Picnic on the lawn.

Brayden At The Arboretum

Last year Brayden and I went to the Dallas Arboretum and took pictures on the frogs while Grandpa was having surgery.
This year we brought Mommy.
And made some very nice photographs.

Jade Mountain

On the last leg of our honeymoon we stayed at Anse Chastenet Resort on St Lucia. Perched above Anse Chastenet is it's sister resort, Jade Mountain. For more than twice the price of the borderline unreasonable rate we paid for our room, you get this.
Three-walled suite with a private infinity pool and panoramic view of Soufriere Bay and the Pitons.
Thomas in the living area with the Pitons in the background. There is no wall on this side of the room, but it is engineered with an overhang that prevents rain from entering.
To keep the mosquitos out.

From the outside. The interior shots were from the room at the top.
Courtyard with skyways leading to the suites.
Beautiful, but the money we would have spent there would have eaten up our travel budget for several years.

Gros Piton Hike

We choose St Lucia for our honeymoon site in no small part because of the opportunity to hike UNESCO World Hertiage site Gros Piton and Petit Peton. After running a gauntlet of travel-related adventures and realizing that vacationing in a third-world country was more of an adventure than we had anticipated, we opted to hike the well-traveled Gros Piton and forgo Petit Piton. Above is a view from the top of that hike with a view of Petit Piton.
Myself in Five Fingers. Hiking in these was not as fun as some other hikes. The trail was very rocky and I had trouble keeping up with our guide.
St Lucia Coast, to the north.
Valley to the north of Gros Piton.
Another view of the coast with farming villages visible.

Interior mountains.
Me.
That other guy I was with.
In a tree.
Steps. Lots and lots of steps.
View from the bottom looking up at Gros Piton.

Boiling Lake Hike

Dominica's UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Boiling Lake, is a two-hour hike through cold, wet jungle, over wind blasted hills and thought the aptly named Valley of Desolation. It was to be one of the highlights of our trip, and the main reason for going to Dominica.
The night before our hike was spent stranded on another totally unfamiliar island, Antigua, thanks to the lies and general incompetence of inter-island airline Liat. After a night of international phone calls, paper thin walls and sleeping on the bathroom floor, our Dominican hosts graciously managed to collect us from the airport and get up to our jungle-bound convoy by 7 am. They even managed to recover my lost baggage while we were on the trail (I can't say enough about Jungle Bay). The experience was wild, other-worldly and completely worth all the trouble.
We entered Morne Trois Pitons National Park from a site called Titou Gorge and began our trek through the rain forest. We experienced a bit of rain and a whole lot of moist, dark muddiness, but it was relatively clear when we crossed Breakfast River, above.
However, the wind, rain, and fog picked up at higher elevations, severely limiting our visibility.
These photos were taked on the trail above the Valley of Desolation.
See the video at bottom for a sense of how strong the winds were here.

Incredible mountain view--a last flash of green before we enter the sulfur valley.
Clouds follow us down a slippery slope...
...into a hellscape of steaming, foul smelling vents.
But the warm steam is a welcome change from the frosty wind above the valley.
We search among the vibrant rocks for the source of all these fumes.
Sulfur hydroxide bubbles, leaks, and spews from the floor.
It's superheated, so we have to watch our step.
But it's not harmful.
We even indulge in a little face-painting.
It's a ghostly, picturesque land. Sulfur and other volcanic minerals discolor rocks, streams, plants--everything in their paths.
Through the valley and back into the jungle. Another river.
After much terrain too dark for pictures, we arrive at hilltop again. Above, the Valley of Desolation from viewed from afar through lush green.
And more evidence of volcanic activity along the trail.
Finally, after steep rock climbs, the lake itself.
A sunken, steaming cauldron viewed in glimpses though the mist.
We eat lunch huddled in the warm steam, among the mud shrines of previous visitors.
And are glad to have done it together.