Welcome to our TravelBlog

Little known British author/gardener/flirt Vita Sackville-West once said, "Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong Kong." And I do not disagree with her. Why then, am I expecting anyone (that would be you) to peruse this blog? After all, it's just my personal trip accounts which are almost all far less exciting than any trip to Hong Kong. Because, as Huxley said, travel is a "besetting vice," and therefore not only must I do it to please myself, but I also have a compulsion to document it. This blog is the end result of that vice. Yes, I fully recognize the irony here, as a trip to the highest point in Alabama is not usually the stuff of National Geographic Traveler articles. Nor is a weekend in the capital of New York. Ah, but therein lays, perhaps, the point... If I'm going to spend the time and money to get somewhere (and the effort convince my wife to join me), then damnit, I'm going to make it as interesting and fun as I possibly can. Also, I'm sure I'm subconsciously trying to convince you (and myself) that all of this is worthwhile somehow.

Rest assured, we've taken some incredible trips (Hawaii, France/Switzerland, the Pacific Northwest) so it's not only the ridiculous and the sublime, but the grandiose as well. For those of you already familiar with my writing elsewhere on the Internet, you can expect more of the same here - just a bit more palatable to a wider audience (like my parents and hypothetical future children***). For those of you unfamiliar - the good; I employ some decent observational humor and typically include lots of good (often funny) links and pictures. My intent with this blog is to include lots and lots of our personal photos, which people often seem to enjoy. The bad; I write too much, as you have probably already discerned for yourself. Also, please bear in mind I'm starting this project in March 2005, in some cases years after the trips I'll be recounting - relying on my memory and pictures alone.
I also have done a cool thing (The World Cup Tour 2006) and continue on in my MuseumQuest! as well as working through the Modern Library Top 100 List.
Please enjoy, stop back often (as I have much to add) and feel free to send me your feedback (unless you are someone I happen to have made fun of behind your back within these pages. If that's the case, you're thinking of a different guy. And yeah, he was a jerk.)
I am neither a writer nor a photographer. (Both are evident within this blog). However, so far, I've enjoyed putting this together and when I look at the piles of pictures and remember some of our stories, I'm eager to continue sharing.

So that was the original intent of this blog - but then we went and had a baby boy which I tend to dote on a bit in these pages. So now this is about Damian as well. But no one seems to mind.