Aya Sofya
My first day in Istanbul I went to the Aya Sofya. Built in the sixth century, it was the largest church in the world for about a thousand years until the Ottoman invasion, when it was turned into a mosque. Much of the original artwork was left intact.
Johnsonburg, PA
Not quite to Turkey yet. This paper mill is on my way home. The yellow sodium lights make the scene almost as monochrome as this photo.
Turkey 2010
I just bought a plane ticket, and I’ll be headed to Turkey for a couple weeks after Christmas. I’m not sure how often I’ll have Internet access, but I’ll try to upload some posts and photos during the trip and more afterward.
Valley of Fire
After we got out of the canyon, we had a couple days in Las Vegas, so David and I went for a side trip to the Valley of Fire State Park about an hour away. My brother Adam brought me there a few years ago, and we had a good time climbing around. It took a while, but I was able to find a cache that we had hidden there.
Grand Canyon
A few weeks ago I went on a backpacking trip with some friends in the Grand Canyon. It was a great time. My friend Dave leads these trips for the Sierra club, but this one was just four friends going. He did a great job.
Hoover Dam
We hit Hoover Dam on the way to the canyon. I didn’t notice before how Art Deco it was.
NRT to BUF in time for Christmas
I’ve made it home. Things were a bit confusing in Dulles. A number of people got bumped off my flight to Buffalo. There was too much luggage, so the plane was going to be over-weight. The policy is that they’ll take the luggage, and leave the people stranded in the airport. I almost volunteered to stay back, but it didn’t look like there was much of a chance that I’d get to Buffalo before Christmas, as all the other flights were over-booked as well. This trip was a good one; Japan is an intriguing and beautiful place. Over thousands of…
Sesshin
I’m back in Tokyo after three days at the Tekishinjuku International Zendo. I stayed in their guesthouse a little way down the road, and lived a short three-day stint as a monk would. I had a little bit of trouble finding my way back to the guesthouse from the temple in pitch blackness the first night. I wasn’t sure I was in the right place, and as I was stumbling around in the dark looking for the door, I kept expecting some old Japanese man to come out and ask me what I was doing trying to break into his…
Nara and Koyasan
Over the past few days I’ve been to Nara and Koyasan and back to Kyoto. I’m leaving Kyoto today to go to the Zendo that I’ve mentioned before. There have been a couple of delays in getting there, but I’m looking forward to it. It looks like somebody is going to owe me ten bucks. Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto, about 1200 years ago. It’s still surprising that when I head out to a smaller city in Japan, it’s still pretty big, and there’s not much level open space between one city and the next. The Daibutsu…