Blue Angels Practice, Pensacola, Florida (April 24, 2024)

We went from Navarre, Florida where we were staying, to NAS Pensacola, Florida. There we saw the Blue Angels Practice Show. It was a beautiful day and a remarkable display of flying. I have been to see them at a few air shows over the years, this was one of the most remarkable. The practice was held at the Naval Air Station and parking was free and easy at the US Naval Aviation Museum. 

After the show which lasted approximately 90 minutes, we toured the museum and had a great time. 

It was a highlight (both the flight display and the museum) of our trip to Florida.  

 

US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama (April 21, 2024)

 

We visited the US Space and Rocket Center while on a journey on April 21, 2024. These vehicles (and a very few are replicas such as the Lunar Lander, but the rest here are the real deal including one of three remaining Saturn 5 rockets). 

Truly a remarkable place and a fun visit. This is just a very small sample of what can be seen there, but it is well worth a visit and I highly recommend it. 

This was our second visit in the last three years.    

Late Winter Update (February 18, 2024)

February has been an interesting month here in Central Ohio. Seen some visiting birds, and some fantastic regular residents here at the lakes. 

Fun to watch them, and enjoy seeing the interesting things they do here. 

As for the weather early in February it has for the most part been very warm for this time of year in the 50's and even low 60s. Have enjoyed that. 

On Valentines Day we traveled to CJ Brown Reservoir which is located just outside of Springfield, Ohio. A very large man made lake which is also the site of a state park.

Saw the deer below while there and the seagull. The deer was as curious about us as we were about her. The seagull did not seem to mind us at all, sure it had been fed by people in the past. There were a few people there but not a great many.

It was a wonderful place to explore and we will return in the future.  

On February 16, Winter returned. In fact it was the biggest snow fall of this winter, though here it measured at four inches. It has not been a big winter for snow, though it has a few times. 

From the Friday snowstorm which was quite pretty to watch, the snow lasted through the weekend. Got out a few times to check it out, quite beautiful and very peaceful.

Expecting the snow to really start melting on Monday as the temperatures will be well above freezing. In fact expecting 60's again by mid-week.

It has been an interesting month, and we have had a great time here with these and other advenures. We even made a day trip to Indian Lake earlier this month. 

Looking forward to the days to come. As always, thanks for visiting my pages,.  

 

Winter 2024 (January 31, 2024)

A few sights from Winter 2024, which so far has been pretty moderate as winters go.

Starting out from my previous post, the big Christmas tree at Carillion Park in Dayton. Beautiful sight during Christmas and as the bell tower is inside, it plays music every so often. It is the largest "Tree" in Ohio by the way. 

Always fun to see the sights. As you can see directly below, we had some snow from time to time, but not really any big amounts. I think all the snow we had probably would not reach 2 inches in total. The vast majority of the time it looked like the scene in the photo below the snow photo.     

We have had some cold weather as it is January after all, but again nothing really brutal for the most part. In fact we have had some temperatures in the 50's, which is really unique for this time of year. 

Made a few visits to Dayton, which is a very cool city. Have a good time there with my wife, and we love to explore it and check out sights both old and new to us. 

As always critters around the lakes are fun to see, like this woodpecker I saw this month. We also have the usual bunch of geese and ducks here around the lakes, and they always see to have a lot of fun.

All in all, as February looms on the horizon, having a wonderful time in Ohio.  

 

Christmastime 2023 (January 31, 2023)

Had a wonderful Christmas with Debbie in 2023. Did a lot of fun things, and saw many amazing sights. As always this season, visited Rising Sun, Indiana. In fact we visited twice to see the reindeer and the lights there. Always a fun place to go, as is the surrounding cities of Aurora and Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

  

 

Enjoyed driving around the area seeing the houses decorated for the holidays. This is one of our favorites which we found in Huber Heights a few years ago. Thankfully he keeps doing it, and this is how it looked in 2023. 

Always fun to see the light displays and we saw some big ones this Christmas.

Had not been for a couple of years though did visit when we first moved here from Indiana, but this Christmas once again visited Clifton Mills. Located just outside of Springfield, Ohio it is one remarkable place with well over 4 million lights and a really good light show which happens on the half hour. 

Clifton Mill was once a winner in the "Great Christmas Light Fight" seen on ABC TV during the season.  

 

Finally in what is becoming a yearly tradition, we went to Carillon Park in Dayton. Filled with historic items and buildings, it is is a wonderful place during the Christmas season to see it all lit up for the season. 

It was a magical and wonderful time this 2023 Christmas celebration.

Hope your holiday was wonderful as well 

 

Rising Sun, Aurora, and Lawrenceburg, Indiana (October 13-15, 2023)

Scenes from the trip from October 13-15 where we visited Rising Sun, Aurora and Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Just a few highlights here of some of the sights to be seen in those towns. 

Was a great time along the banks of the Ohio River which is where these cites  can be found. Weather was pretty good, with some rain but mostly at night. Looking forward to our next visit.  

 

Festival of Flight October 7, 2023)

One of my favorite yearly local events is the Festival of Flight. The best part to me, is the parade held on the first Saturday of the event. Unique in that airplanes are in the parade. Those seen at left and below are just under half of the ones that were in the parade. There were of course marching bands, cars and other things common to Parades. 

The event was a lot of fun on a chilly October day. I went down and explored the booths, had some lunch there, and...well there is a lot going on in New Carlisle for this festival!