In early June 2022, I had the privilege to journey with our daughters to the Grandfather Mountain State Park for the first time. We embarked on a three-day, two-night backpacking adventure and relished a wonderful experience. Although we ended up hiking more on the second day than planned, leading to some exhaustion, the overall trip was superb. In this post, I aim to reflect on our journey, the trails we trekked, and my overall impressions of both the Grandfather Mountain Biosphere Reserve and the Grandfather Mountain State Park.
We have been residing in North Carolina for a year, and I have previously enjoyed backpacking and camping. I aimed to provide our daughters, aged 19 and 22, with a memorable backpacking experience, while also allowing them to appreciate the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachians of North Carolina. I had heard from friends that Grandfather Mountain was an outstanding place to hike and explore, and they were absolutely correct.
I recorded quite a few video clips during our trip, and I edited these together along with a few still images in a 12.5 minute video using iMovie for iOS.
Back in March, during Easter Weekend, my wife and I stayed at a vacation rental in Deep Gap, near Boone, and spent some time driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was then we discovered the Boone Fork Parking Area, which served as our launch point for this adventure. Our planned route to the Storytellers’ Rock campsite was a modest one-and-a-half-mile journey, ideally completed in about an hour. I made reservations online a couple of months in advance and planned to arrive on Sunday afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to hike into camp and set up.
Impressions of Storyteller’s Rock and the Nuwati Trail
The Nuwati Trail, leading to Storyteller’s Rock, isn’t particularly challenging, but it is rocky with many roots. It’s now essential to make camping reservations online and fill out a written camping form upon arrival, noting your plans and emergency contact information.
On the second day, we returned to the Nuwati Trail and connected with the Daniel Boone Trail, which follows the entire ridgeline up to the top of Grandfather Mountain. This challenging and rigorous hike offered spectacular views. If you plan to tackle the entire trail, ensure you are in excellent physical condition and prepared for a significant challenge.
Overall Impressions of Grandfather Mountain Biosphere Reserve and State Park
Grandfather Mountain Nature Preserve and State Park are breathtaking areas of North Carolina. As new Charlotte residents, it’s fantastic to be just a couple of hours from the mountains. The communities of Blowing Rock, Boone, Banner Elk, and Linville are conveniently close.
We plan to return later this summer, having chosen to join the Grandfather Mountain non-profit and truly take advantage of the summit’s hiking trails. The area reminds me of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, which you can drive to the top of, but Grandfather Mountain offers a greater range of trail options. This spectacular area offered us a chance to introduce our girls to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
If you’re planning a trip, I recommend the mobile app ‘AllTrails,’ which proved invaluable on our journey, tracking our mileage and elevation changes, and allowing us to see precisely where we were on each trail.
To conclude, I’ll share a short video of a black bear we encountered at the Grandfather Mountain Preserve, which was one of the most incredible experiences we’ve ever had with a bear, either in a zoo or in nature.
Grandfather Mountain is indeed magical, and I am eagerly looking forward to our return. If you’re considering a trip to North Carolina, I highly recommend making Grandfather Mountain State Park a priority – it’s an adventure you won’t forget.
Today Rachel, Shelly and I attended worship at Cavalry Episcopal Church in Front Royal, Virginia. Today is Pentecost, and after the wonderful service the congregation hosted a celebratory coffee and snack time featuring (predominantly) red cakes, pies, and other goodies! Cavalry Episcopal has been Rachel’s church home the past year as she’s been studying on a Falcon Scholarship at Randolph Macon Academy, just up the street from the church. In a month Rachel is headed to the US Air Force Academy for Basic Cadet Training, as a member of the USAFA Class of 2027. In this post, I’d like to share some of the fantastic resources we learned about in our conversations with Reverend Valerie Hayes, who is the rector at Cavalry Episcopal. These resources relate broadly to the themes of seeking empathy and understanding in our politically polarized times, finding ways to discuss and explore our shared history which was (and still is) strongly influenced by racism and discrimination, and seeking to both love and share the love of Jesus Christ in our communities often fixated on “culture war” issues based more in fear and judgement rather than the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit. I’m sharing these resources because I want to remember and revisit them myself, and I am also positive there are others in our church family back in Charlotte (as well as elsewhere) who are interested in these topics as we each venture forward on our own journeys of faith seeking to follow Jesus.
Reverend Hayes mentioned several books in her courageous and challenging homily in today’s worship service, particularly as she shared about the “Triangle of Hope Youth Pilgrimage.”
The Triangle of Hope is an Anglican-led effort to form covenantal community between the dioceses of Liverpool (England), Kumasi (Ghana), and Virginia dedicated to transforming the long history, ongoing effects and continuing presence of slavery in our world through repentance, reconciliation and mission.Each one of our Dioceses was directly involved in the dreadful Slave Triangle. We remember and acknowledge with sorrow that human beings were captured and enslaved for financial gain with no regard for their dignity and humanity. We view this history with great pain and in penitence before God, the God who wills in Christ to bring freedom and justice for all.
This is a courageous and absolutely WONDERFUL initiative I want to learn more about. In exploring the project website, don’t miss the videos on the “Tsedaqah” page, including the video, “Explore the Way of Love: Go.” I agree with the thesis of this video: Jesus calls us today to move outside our comfort zones in love and humility, as we seek to live like Jesus and share the transformative message of his Gospel which is filled with love, grace, empathy, understanding, listening, and faith.
This mandate to GO includes finding ways to discuss and explore culturally sensitive issues, like the history of the transatlantic slave trade and the ongoing, multi-generational impact of this sinful economic system.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America is a non-fiction book about race in the United States by the American historian Ibram X. Kendi, published April 12, 2016 by Bold Type Books, an imprint of PublicAffairs. The book won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.[1][2][3]
The book also has two “remixes” for children, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You and Stamped (For Teens ): Racism, Antiracism, and You. A graphic novel version, adapted and illustrated by Joel Christian Gill, is expected to be published in June 2023.
Discussions of racial difference always embody a story. The dominant story told in our society about race has many components, but two stand out: (1) racial difference is an essential characteristic, fully determining individual and group identity; and (2) racial difference means that some bodies are less human than others.
The church knows another story, says Luke Powery, if it would remember it. That story says that the diversity of human bodies is one of the gifts of the Spirit. That story’s decisive chapter comes at Pentecost, when the Spirt embraces all bodies, all flesh, all tongues. In that story, different kinds of materiality and embodiment are strengths to be celebrated rather than inconvenient facts to be ignored or feared. In this book, Powery urges the church to live up to the inclusive story of Pentecost in its life of worship and ministry. He reviews ways that a theology and practice of preaching can more fully exemplify the diversity of gifts God gives to the church. He concludes by entering into a conversation with the work of Howard Thurman on doing ministry to and with humanity in the light of the work of the Spirit.
These ideas and this approach to our society today is a very “counter-cultural message”, amidst so much focus on “culture war” issues and political candidates. Yet I think this is one of many things we need to be doing as followers of Jesus Christ, regardless of our current denominational affiliation, background or context.
Sacred Ground is a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity.
The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. This series is open to all, and especially designed to help white people talk with other white people. Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day – all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.
This is a 4.5 minute video from Episcopal Christians in Cody, Wyoming (where coincidentally my 95 year old aunt, Marge Wilder, and family live!) sharing some background about the “Sacred Ground” film and dialog series. I would love to participate in this study back in North Carolina!
This groundbreaking historical expose unearths the lost stories of enslaved persons and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude shortly thereafter in “The Age of Neoslavery.”
By turns moving, sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented Pulitzer Prize-winning account reveals the stories of those who fought unsuccessfully against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the companies that profited most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today.
Following the Emancipation Proclamation, convicts—mostly black men—were “leased” through forced labor camps operated by state and federal governments. Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history.
This book, and others like it which highlight our shared history of racism and racial discrimination, represent perspectives from and about history which many adults living today did not study or encounter during their years of formal schooling. It is important work for us, together, to seek to better understand our own history, especially as we seek to understand the experiences and perspectives of our brothers and sisters of color who have faced (and continue to face) so many hardships and persecutions. It is lamentable that some prominent politicians today (Ron DeSantis comes to mind, but there are others) are pushing an agenda which seeks to silence, marginalize, and/or deny the validity of perspectives on history of many folks, including African-Americans. As I’ve learned vividly through my ongoing work in the “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” media literacy project, just talking about these issues with others (either in-person or online) can be perilous and challenging. However, specifically as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ, “we are called to do hard things.” At a very basic level, this includes seeking opportunities to engage in mutual DIALOG about these issues touching on race, racism, and social justice.
Unfortunately, gun related violence is closely tied to conversations today about political polarization and our ongoing culture war. Later in June, different church and other groups in Fort Royal are planning a shared event to promote gun safety awareness and (I expect) new gun regulation to try and reduce levels of firearm violence in our nation. Rev Hayes mentioned this in her closing announcements during today’s worship service. On this topic, we also shared a couple resources today.
I mentioned the outstanding TEDx talk by former firearms executive, Ryan Busse, “It’s Time For Responsible Gun Owners to Save our Democracy.” This is the best video I have seen to date on the issues of gun related violence, and the unfortunate ways millions of people in the United States have tied their IDENTITIES to tactical firearms like the AR-15. I share this as a gun owner, hunter and sportsman myself, as well as military veteran. I am personally NOT anti-gun, but agree with Ryan Busse that none of us should define our identities by our love and passion for tactical firearms. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I know that my identity should be rooted in HIM, not in things or possessions. This is a great TEDx talk, and if you haven’t watched it, I encourage you to take time to now or later. (Add it to your YouTube “watch later” playlist!)
Rev Hayes shared a documentary about gun culture and Christian faith in the United States I haven’t seen and hadn’t heard about previously, “The Armor of Light” documentary from 2015. More information and links about it are available on the film’s official website as well as from PBS. According to the PBS website:
The Armor of Light follows the journey of Evangelical minister Rob Schenck, who is trying to find the courage to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America, and Lucy McBath, the mother of an unarmed teenager who was murdered in Florida and whose story cast a spotlight on the state’s “Stand Your Ground” laws.
Reverend Schenck, a well-known anti-abortion activist and long-time fixture on the political far right, breaks with orthodoxy by questioning whether being pro-gun is consistent with being pro-life. In a series of uneasy conversations, Rev. Schenck is perplexed by the reactions of his friends and colleagues, most of whom are gun owners and adamant defenders of the 2nd Amendment, and who warn him away from this complex, politically explosive issue. Along the way, he meets Lucy McBath, also an Evangelical Christian, who decides to work with him. Lucy is on a difficult journey of her own, trying to make sense of the devastating loss of her murdered son, while using her grief to effect some kind of viable and effective political action where so many before her have failed.
The Armor of Light follows these allies through their trials of conscience, heartbreak, and rejection, as they bravely attempt to make others consider America’s gun culture through a moral lens. The film is also a glimpse at America’s fractured political culture while demonstrating that it is, indeed, possible for people to come together across deep party lines to find common ground.
I have not yet watched this documentary but, as with the books referenced in this post, am adding it to my “watch list” / “read list” for the future.
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out?
McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare.
But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game.
This sounds like it should go on the “required reading list” for anyone today interested in better understanding where we’ve come from and how we can move forward together on the primary topics of this blog post: Racial Justice and Healing.
An impassioned, thoughtful, and fearless essay on the effects of racism on the American identity by one of our country’s most humane literary voices.
Acclaimed as “one of the most humane, honest, liberating works of our time” (The Village Voice), The Hidden Wound is a book-length essay about racism and the damage it has done to the identity of our country. Through Berry’s personal experience, he explains how remaining passive in the face of the struggle of racism further corrodes America’s great potential. In a quiet and observant manner, Berry opens up about how his attempt to discuss racism is rooted in the hope that someday the historical wound will begin to heal. Pulitzer prize-winning author Larry McMurtry calls this “a profound, passionate, crucial piece of writing . . . Few readers, and I think, no writers will be able to read it without a small pulse of triumph at the temples: the strange, almost communal sense of triumph one feels when someone has written truly well . . . The statement it makes is intricate and beautiful, sad but strong.”
Vision: The Coming to the Table vision for the United States is of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past—from slavery and the many forms of racism it spawned.
Mission: Coming to the Table provides leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of slavery.
One possible source for digital stories as well as personal, family geneological research mentioned by Rev Hayes today are the slave census documents available from the 1840s and 1850s. Some of these documents reveal the historic connections which families have to slavery. The 2008 PBS “Traces of the Trade” documentary is an example of a film / digital story created by someone making these kinds of personal, historic connections to the slave trade of the past. Commercially licensed streaming versions of the film are available on Vimeo.
This book introduces Coming to the Table’s approach to a continuously evolving set of purposeful theories, ideas, experiments, guidelines, and intentions, all dedicated to facilitating racial healing and transformation.
People of color, relative to white people, fall on the negative side of virtually all measurable social indicators. The “living wound” is seen in the significant disparities in average household wealth, unemployment and poverty rates, infant mortality rates, access to healthcare and life expectancy, education, housing, and treatment within, and by, the criminal justice system.
Coming to the Table (CTTT) was born in 2006 when two dozen descendants from both sides of the system of enslavement gathered together at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), in collaboration with the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding (CJP). Stories were shared and friendships began. The participants began to envision a more connected and truthful world that would address the unresolved and persistent effects of the historic institution of slavery. This Little Book shares Coming to the Table’s vision for the United States—a vision of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past. Readers will learn practical skills for better listening; discover tips for building authentic, accountable relationships; and will find specific and varied ideas for taking action.
An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically–up to the present day–worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.
The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don’t know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.
The Color of Compromise:
Takes you on a historical, sociological, and religious journey: from America’s early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War
Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today’s Black Lives Matter movement
Reveals the cultural and institutional tables we have to flip in order to bring about meaningful integration
Charts a path forward to replace established patterns and systems of complicity with bold, courageous, immediate action
Is a perfect book for pastors and other faith leaders, students, non-students, book clubs, small group studies, history lovers, and all lifelong learners
The Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality. A call that challenges black and white Christians alike to standup now and begin implementing the concrete ways Tisby outlines, all for a more equitable and inclusive environment among God’s people. Starting today.
All forms of media and expressions of “the arts” have potential to play constructive roles in our individual and collective journeys of healing, when it comes to social justice and racism. The Selah Theatre Project of Winchester, Virginia, was a final organization shared by Rev Hayes today as playing a positive, constructive role in encouraging community dialog around the different issues related to racial healing. According to the about page of the Selah Theatre Project :
VISION: Our vision is to enlighten, empower, and unite people through the arts to build a stronger, kinder, and more creative community.
MISSION:
We believe that theatre is an impactful artistic medium that encourages reflection and conversation. Our mission is to bring diversified community voices to the stage, encouraging audiences to “pause and think”.
So many wonderful books, projects, films and organizations here! We are deeply indebted to Reverend Valerie Hayes and the congregation of Cavalry Episcopal Church in Front Royal, Virginia, for the love and care they have shared this past year with our daughter, Rachel. My wife and I are also deeply appreciative to Rev Hayes for taking the time to visit with us today after church, and share such a wonderful wealth of resources, stories, and ideas relating to social justice and racial reconciliation!
It is inspiring and wonderful to learn about so many other people working with parallel purpose to promote racial healing and social justice in our nation and world. By sharing this blog post, I’m hoping the “long tail” of the Internet will meet more manifestations of “The Fruits of God’s Holy Spirit” in our individual lives and communities.
A 2X video of my flight this evening from Manhattan, Kansas to Dallas – Fort Worth, featuring the MHK takeoff sequence and the DFW landing sequence just after sunset. This was American Airlines flight 3434 on December 26, 2022.
Links to follow and learn with me / Wesley Fryer are available on wesfryer.com/after. Resources to support the creation of media projects like this are available on:
I’m wearing the warmest boots I currently own, a pair of Thinsulate hunting boots I bought a few years ago at Academy Sports in Edmond, Oklahoma, in advance of a winter “Venture Scouts” camping trip I took with our oldest daughter. In this post I want to reflect a little on the severe blast of cold weather that is hitting the United States this week, and how this relates to the idea of being a “Communitarian Prepper.” For some reason, I also just want to reflect a little on these boots. So here we go…
I’m enroute to visit my parents in Manhattan, Kansas, today, for a short visit. My dad told that later this week the wind chill is going to get down to something crazy like minus 30 or minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. That is insane. I really don’t remember many times growing up in northeast Kansas, in the 1980s, when we had weather that cold. Checking out the forecast in the iOS Carrot weather app (my new fav, since “Dark Sky” is going offline in 2023) it looks like Thursday at 3 am the local temperature in Manhattan is supposed to be minus 13 degrees F. That’s WITHOUT wind chill, of course. During the day Thursday, it will warm up all the way to positive 4 degrees F. Yikes.
I love the fact that we live in Charlotte, North Carolina, now, where the weather is generally milder than what I’ve experienced most of my life in the midwest. Charlotte rarely receives snow, although they did last winter. Apparently it was the first time in 4 years they had snow. In Oklahoma, we experienced some pretty brutal ice storms over the years, living there 16 years, from 2006 to 2022.
The worst was in January 2007, when I flew to MacWorld with my cousin, Devin Henley. It was amazing, but Oklahoma City received over a foot of ice and the OKC airport shut down for several days. Devin and I got stuck flying back in Denver, but made the best of it by staying with a family friend, purchasing some ski gear at REI, and taking the “ski train” to spend a day skiing at Winter Park! Stuck at home without power and three young children, Shelly was not super-happy with me.
When severe weather strikes, wherever you happen to be, you need to be PREPARED NOW. In the craziness of moving from Oklahoma to North Carolina last summer, we left a LOT of stuff behind. Apparently, those abandoned items included my winter ski gloves, because they are not in the large trunk of “stuff” we have in our new garage, where I did pull these winter hunting boots out last night.
Incidentally, these boots are NOT the ideal footwear for passing through airport security checkpoints. At some point I’d like to pay and enroll in TSA Precheck, but at this point, I don’t have any special privileges when it comes to airport security.
I’m hoping to buy some new winter gloves at the Manhattan WalMart early in this visit. Literally the only gloves or mittens I have to use at this point are a pair of wool hiking socks, which I had to use for this purpose over Thanksgiving break when our Charlotte temperatures fell below freezing.
Happy first day of Thanksgiving break! It’s a cool, crisp morning for a walk with our dogs.
Unfortunately, I have no idea where my gloves are in our remaining boxes from our Oklahoma move, so I had to use some wool socks as mittens this morning. But they work! #goldenretrieverpic.twitter.com/7JvJ9B4SxZ
My level of winter preparedness, living now as a new resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, may be at an all-time lifetime low. I did find my thermal underwear to bring, and a fleece hat, but to not have any winter gloves to use? This is a sad level of preparedness indeed.
So this brings me back to thinking about emergency preparedness, and living into this idea of being a “communitarian prepper.” We all need CATALYSTS which encourage (or in some cases, FORCE) us to change our thinking and behavior. Most people will not simply wake up one day, sans-catalyst, and decide to change their own mindset and ways.
Sometimes our CATALYST which pushes us to change our ways is traumatic. In the past six months, I’ve had opportunities to interact with different adults taking some self-defense / self-protection classes, and the stories some of them have told about “Why I’m here” have been heart wrenching. It’s always better to “find your why” to “change your ways” in a non-traumatic, more intellectual activity (like reading a blog post, for instance) rather than a life-threatening, “fight or flight” moment of true struggle and survival.
I’m not sure what the word for this is, but maybe I can suggest a few creative possibilities and others will chime in with other suggestions. Sometimes we change our ways because of:
Externally imposed, traumatic life events (the death of a relative or a friend, becoming permanently disabled in an accident)
An authority figure in our lives who demand changes (could be a parent or a spouse)
New circumstances which require us to live differently (moving to the northern tier, for instance, which has harsher and more brutal winter weather requiring a different wardrobe and different routines through the winter months)
Maybe we can call those, “externally imposed life change catalysts.” These kinds of changes are unavoidable, given the facts of a new context. To survive, to live, or even to THRIVE (and isn’t that a lovely goal) we have to make important changes.
The other kind of thinking and behavior change catalysts are CHOICE CATALYSTS. These are events, ideas, conversations, or observations we experience which we CHOOSE to MAKE into catalysts. Examples could include:
We don’t have to go on a diet and lose weight, but we notice undesirable changes in our weight, so we decide to make some dietary, lifestyle, exercise and/or routine changes.
We recognize how our thinking and our interactions with others are affected by our use of mobile technologies, so we decide to make some screentime changes to address those unwanted dynamics.
We have to get out all our cold winter clothing for an upcoming trip to the midwest, and realize we are not only poorly prepared for cold-weather activities, we’re also still pretty poorly prepared for a variety of potential emergencies or crises.
This, then, can be a defining characteristic of a “communitarian prepper,” as well as just an individual who wants to be better prepared for the potental (and often unforeseen) challenges of life: Seeking CHOICE CATALYSTS in life and then making an individual ACTION PLAN so those catalytic events / ideas / experiences propel us forward into our better prepared, aspirational future.
Here is another poster she created, this time for 9th grade English class. Students were ask to sketch a scene from “The Alchemist,” which was one of their summer reading books.
This week, prior to the annual MoRanch Men’s Conference Planning Council Meeting, our family spent three nights at River Run Cabins on the Guadalupe River in Ingram, Texas. This is a fall break trip for our family, and has provided a much-needed opportunity to just hang out together in a natural setting and “mostly” be offline. It turns out the LTE/4G connectivity at our cabins was ok, and wifi was also available… so this was not an entirely “unplugged” vacation. Still, it was a more more “nature-focused” vacation and gave us changes to simply hangout by the river, go canoeing and kayaking, and read a lot.
This 360 degree Bubbli panorama is the most compelling representation of what our space was like by the river. This was EXACTLY what I hoped it would be: A great space to relax and enjoy the river.
This week was the first time Rachel has ever gone canoeing! She and Sarah also went kayaking by themselves, which was both fun and exciting. The part of the Guadalupe River where we stayed has almost a mile of water to explore by boat… the eastern side has a damn stopping the water before a bridge, and the western end has an area of rocks and rapids.
Yesterday before we left the river we recorded a short (4 minute) audio podcast, reflecting on some of our favorite parts of the week had been. Some of the animals we saw and heard during the week include fish, ducks, donkeys, deer, and a water snake.
I recorded a few 6 second Vine videos during our time in Kerrville and Ingram, and also shot some “slow motion” videos with my iPhone6S on the river. I combined these videos on my phone using iMovie, and published it to YouTube with a copyright-friendly music track using YouTube Capture.
I used the “burst” feature on my iPhone to capture a series of photos when Alexander made his first rope swing jump into the river, and created a collage of it using Diptic.
One of the culinary highlights of the week was campfire foil dinners. It’s been several years since we’ve cooked these, and I forgot that these taste even better with fattier ground beef. They were still good, but next time I’ll buy either 73% or 80% lean meat.
We dined at several restaurants in Kerrville during the week as well. Mary’s Tacos was the biggest hit, we actually had breakfast there twice. It had over 20 ratings on Yelp with a perfect average of 5. That’s rare to find on Yelp, in my experience… and it was 100% accurate.
Overall this was a great experience and I am so pleased with how things turned out. If you are looking for a great family vacation spot in the Texas Hill Country, definitely check out River Run Cabins. Mid-October is a spectacular time to come visit too!
The past two weeks Shelly, Rachel and I have traveled together in Philadelphia and Washington DC. I created two different, short digital stories using the free iPad app “Adobe Voice” to reflect on some of our experiences around the DC area.
Over the fourth of July when we hung out with our friends, the Casebeers, I had an opportunity to interview Jonah about his amazing experiences last year at MIT for the Battlecode competition. I published that interview as a podcast on my main blog.
Today is our final day of sightseeting before we fly home to Oklahoma, and I’ll add our photos from today (which we expect to include the National Archives and the Library of Congress, among other destinations) to our Washington DC July 2015 photo set. We’ve had a great trip!
Educator Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) is a very clever guy. On his family’s vacation this summer, he used a unique hashtag every time he posted a photo to Instagram. By doing this, he is enabling others to aggregate all his photos of the trip, and it’s possible for him to do the same thing. This creates a dynamic, separate set of images like a photo album. Great idea!
Also, we love every inn and hotel that we have been through. It is very safe because they have these surveillance cameras that they got from SecurityInfo.com. I say that was safe and fun vacation.
Some images and video from our wondering experiences cooking and eating LOBSTAH in Maine yesterday! I shot this with my iPhone5 and edited it using Pinnacle Studio for iPad. Many thanks to chef Jonathan!
Some video of our family trip yesterday taking the ferry from Portland, Maine, to Peaks Island and back. I shot this with my iPhone5 and edited it using Pinnacle Studio for iPad.
Welcome to another podcast on Learning Signs, recorded & published with Mobile Podcaster and WordPress. This is a quick podcast from Colorado Springs and the start of my 20th USAFA college reunion.
![Grand Prismatic Spring [PANO]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7273/7659865054_9690854d75.jpg)