Monday, December 21, 2009
Happy Holidays!
Hear is the annual picture of the Hope Boys. Compare this one to the 2008 version. Wow. Bart is growing up fast! Alex looks pretty much the same. We hope to have a restful and fun holiday season (hopefully with a couple of outings).
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Bears WIN!
Well we were so excited about the Bears this year See the post for the preseason game August 16. Its amazing how quickly excitement and optimism can turn to disappointment. Cutler our new quarterback leads the NFL in interceptions, not TDs like we hoped, Anyway, only had tickets for one real game this year, Bears vs St Louis Rams. At least they won against one of the worst teams in Football. No playoffs this year. At least we still have Illini B-ball. They have two great freshman guards.
Another Great Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Day is always a big event at the hope household. This year we has 28 family members (if you count little children). We couldn't find a turkey more than 19 pounds. So I roasted two 13 pounders. Yum! Yum!
Monday, November 2, 2009
A LONG WAY FROM HOME - Tom in Moscow
Yes, that is Tom in Red Square. The former center of the USSR and the communist empire. That is Lenin's Mausoleum over his left shoulder and the large wall is the Kremlin. To his right is St Basil's Cathederal. It was amazing seeing Lenin who was embalmed (essentially mummified) after his death in 1924. He looks great for someone who died 80+ years ago. Behind the mausoleum are the graves of other famous Soviet era leaders including Stalin. It was so interesting to be there considering they were America's mortal enemy not that long ago. Remember the Cold War? Tom was in Moscow for a US-Russia HIV Workshop. More politics than science. Even had a reception in the US Ambassador's residence. Overall, the food was pretty good. The cyrillic alphabet was very confusing. The weather was miserable (rained the whole time). In the end Moscow was a very interesting place to visit.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
King of the Neighborhood
There has been a big buck hanging around the neighborhood this fall. Nice rack on one side. If complete it would have been an eight pointer. This picture was taken in the next door neighbor's front yard. Hope I see his cousin in November in Shawnee National Forest down south.
Mammoth Weekend
On the Columbus Day weekend we loaded up the Jeep and headed to Kentucky and Mammoth Cave National Park. Its a 6-7 hour trip from Chicago. It was the family's first visit. Diane had been there over 30 years ago on a family trip. The Park did not disappoint as can be seen in the pictures below. The cave did turn out to be a photography challenge. But we did get some nice pictures. It was a wonderful trip and we had a great time. It was also another junior ranger badge for the boys (#19). We would recommend it to anyone who doesn't have claustrophobia.
Day 1, Historic Tour. This is the natural and historic entrance into Mammoth Cave. Humans have been entering for at least the past 4000 years. Mammoth cave is the worlds longest cave. Its called Mammoth Cave because of the large size of many of the rooms formed by rivers that used to flow underground here. The river is now much deeper allowing you to walk in the dry upper passsageways.
Mammoth cave in this area is full of large rooms and narrow passageways. Unfortunately, the large rooms were too big to capture with flash photography. Here is one of the narrow passageways.
The Mammoth Cave is full of evidence of previous visitors over the years.
A interesting picture of Alex, wish I knew how I did it.
The rooms are large and the walls are carved by water to form interesting shapes.
Diane and Bart squeezing through a tight spot on the tour.
Tom on the other side of this tight spot.
Next the famous Fat Man"s Misery. The trail becomes very narrow up to about waist high as the ceiling gets lower.
Bart takes a breather in Fat Man's Misery.
Diane and Bart in a tight stretch of Fat Man's Misery. Bart looks a bit worried about everyone getting through.
The tight stretch ends with tall mans misery. Tom had fun squeezing through.
The Historic Tour was a great way to start our Mammoth Cave adventure.
Day 2, Great Onyx Lantern Tour. We got a special treat with a tour of Great Onyx Cave. Its only open to the public for a couple month each fall. Its a cave not yet connected to the mammoth cave system that does not have electric lighting. Therefore, lanterns are used to illuminate the way.
Touring the cave by lantern light was really cool. It gave you a feeling of what it was like to tour the caves by candle light in historic times.
The first part of the cave was full of columns, stalactites, straws, and stalagmites. Here is a nice column illuminated by lantern.
This is a gypsum flower. There were a couple in the cave, Very unique formation.
Deep in the cave the walls were lined with gypsum. Very white and sparkly. Very well preserved!
The great Onyx Cave also has Helictites. Helictites are cave structures that form in asymetric ways. This one is called the witch's finger. Thanks to the ranger for illumination with flashlight.
Touring the Great Onyx Cave by lantern light was a wonderful caving experience. What a great way to tour such a well preserved cave. Shame it was so difficult to photograph.
Along he road in the park we saw this large Tom turkey. Beautiful bird. Makes me think that T-day (Thanksgiving day or Turkey Day) is just around the corner.
We visited the Cave City Action Park. Bart and Alex raced in the go-karts. They took it all very seriously and got yelled at for running into each other.
Diane, Bart, and Alex went on the alpine slide. There was a 1/4 mile concrete track down the hilslide supported by a ski lift.
Even Tom went for a drive.
Bart had fun on the bungee trampoline. It took a number of tries but eventually he was able to do back flips. He complained about a sore back and neck for the next couple days.
Alex also enjoyed the bungee trampoline. Excellent safeguard for face plant prevention. Alex also did a back flip.
We visited Mike's Mystery House. Lots of interesting real life optical illusions.
Diane defies gravity in the Mystery House. The best part was that it was only $1.00 to enter, fifty cents for children with a guided tour. We had a lot of fun.
Day 3, The New Entrance Tour. This tour starts with a big drop down stairs into mammoth cave. Lots of stairs. Bart and Alex like to be up front with the lead ranger.
Lots of tight spaces on the long climb down. Around 270 steps.
Alex in a low ceiling area located 300 feet below the entrance.
Bart in an open area in the middle of the tour.
Tom and Diane at the entrance to the Niagra Falls area. The best is about to come.
The tour ended with a walk through the Niagra Falls area. It was quite a site. Its easy to see why its one of the most visited areas of the park.
The Drapery Room was lined with wonderful structures.
There is plenty of water at the Niagra Falls rooms. The structures are changing before your eyes (just very slowly). The Stalactites here are growing. You can see a bead of cloudy water at each of their tips. Those minerals precipitate and form the structures.
The New Entrance Tour was a great way for us to finish our Mammoth Caves adventure. The caves of Kentucky are big and diverse. They also have a very interesting historical component being a tourist attraction since the early 1800's. The National Parks are so wonderful.
On the way home we stopped at the Abraham Lincoln birthplace Historic site. This year was his 200th birthday. Unfortunately, the best part, the Memorial Building, was closed for renovation. There was also some damage from an ice storm last winter. The boys completed the activities and earned a junior ranger badge. That makes 20 badges.
Then there was a fun 6 hour drive home. Some of us got to take a nap
Day 1, Historic Tour. This is the natural and historic entrance into Mammoth Cave. Humans have been entering for at least the past 4000 years. Mammoth cave is the worlds longest cave. Its called Mammoth Cave because of the large size of many of the rooms formed by rivers that used to flow underground here. The river is now much deeper allowing you to walk in the dry upper passsageways.
Mammoth cave in this area is full of large rooms and narrow passageways. Unfortunately, the large rooms were too big to capture with flash photography. Here is one of the narrow passageways.
The Mammoth Cave is full of evidence of previous visitors over the years.
A interesting picture of Alex, wish I knew how I did it.
The rooms are large and the walls are carved by water to form interesting shapes.
Diane and Bart squeezing through a tight spot on the tour.
Tom on the other side of this tight spot.
Next the famous Fat Man"s Misery. The trail becomes very narrow up to about waist high as the ceiling gets lower.
Bart takes a breather in Fat Man's Misery.
Diane and Bart in a tight stretch of Fat Man's Misery. Bart looks a bit worried about everyone getting through.
The tight stretch ends with tall mans misery. Tom had fun squeezing through.
The Historic Tour was a great way to start our Mammoth Cave adventure.
Day 2, Great Onyx Lantern Tour. We got a special treat with a tour of Great Onyx Cave. Its only open to the public for a couple month each fall. Its a cave not yet connected to the mammoth cave system that does not have electric lighting. Therefore, lanterns are used to illuminate the way.
Touring the cave by lantern light was really cool. It gave you a feeling of what it was like to tour the caves by candle light in historic times.
The first part of the cave was full of columns, stalactites, straws, and stalagmites. Here is a nice column illuminated by lantern.
This is a gypsum flower. There were a couple in the cave, Very unique formation.
Deep in the cave the walls were lined with gypsum. Very white and sparkly. Very well preserved!
The great Onyx Cave also has Helictites. Helictites are cave structures that form in asymetric ways. This one is called the witch's finger. Thanks to the ranger for illumination with flashlight.
Touring the Great Onyx Cave by lantern light was a wonderful caving experience. What a great way to tour such a well preserved cave. Shame it was so difficult to photograph.
Along he road in the park we saw this large Tom turkey. Beautiful bird. Makes me think that T-day (Thanksgiving day or Turkey Day) is just around the corner.
We visited the Cave City Action Park. Bart and Alex raced in the go-karts. They took it all very seriously and got yelled at for running into each other.
Diane, Bart, and Alex went on the alpine slide. There was a 1/4 mile concrete track down the hilslide supported by a ski lift.
Even Tom went for a drive.
Bart had fun on the bungee trampoline. It took a number of tries but eventually he was able to do back flips. He complained about a sore back and neck for the next couple days.
Alex also enjoyed the bungee trampoline. Excellent safeguard for face plant prevention. Alex also did a back flip.
We visited Mike's Mystery House. Lots of interesting real life optical illusions.
Diane defies gravity in the Mystery House. The best part was that it was only $1.00 to enter, fifty cents for children with a guided tour. We had a lot of fun.
Day 3, The New Entrance Tour. This tour starts with a big drop down stairs into mammoth cave. Lots of stairs. Bart and Alex like to be up front with the lead ranger.
Lots of tight spaces on the long climb down. Around 270 steps.
Alex in a low ceiling area located 300 feet below the entrance.
Bart in an open area in the middle of the tour.
Tom and Diane at the entrance to the Niagra Falls area. The best is about to come.
The tour ended with a walk through the Niagra Falls area. It was quite a site. Its easy to see why its one of the most visited areas of the park.
The Drapery Room was lined with wonderful structures.
There is plenty of water at the Niagra Falls rooms. The structures are changing before your eyes (just very slowly). The Stalactites here are growing. You can see a bead of cloudy water at each of their tips. Those minerals precipitate and form the structures.
The New Entrance Tour was a great way for us to finish our Mammoth Caves adventure. The caves of Kentucky are big and diverse. They also have a very interesting historical component being a tourist attraction since the early 1800's. The National Parks are so wonderful.
On the way home we stopped at the Abraham Lincoln birthplace Historic site. This year was his 200th birthday. Unfortunately, the best part, the Memorial Building, was closed for renovation. There was also some damage from an ice storm last winter. The boys completed the activities and earned a junior ranger badge. That makes 20 badges.
Then there was a fun 6 hour drive home. Some of us got to take a nap
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Italian Adventure
On Saturday Sept 12, Tom had his first visit to Rome. A wonderful mix of the ancient and contemporary. He had a wonderful guide, Cristina Di Primo, a collaborator from Pisa who grew up near Rome. They ran into a couple of Roman Guards outside the Colosseum. It was 9 amazing hours in Rome.
The ruins of the colosseum are quite remarkable. It must have been amazing to see the games there.
I think that the Pantheon was my favorite. It has been in constant use for the past 2000 years and is well maintained and in great shape. Here is the light coming through the occulus in the center of the dome.
Last we visited the Vatican. Here is I nice image of the dome in St Peters Basilica. The beams of light are nice.
Tom and David outside the Uffizi. On Sunday morning Tom went to Florence (Firenze) with Alberto, a young researcher in Pisa. We visited the Uffizi, an amazing art museum with a remarkable collection of Renaissance Paintings. A must see in Florence!
In the end it was 1.5 amazing days of Italian history. I can't wait to get back. Next time I really want to see the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and Roman Forum. Maybe a trip to
Venice.
The ruins of the colosseum are quite remarkable. It must have been amazing to see the games there.
I think that the Pantheon was my favorite. It has been in constant use for the past 2000 years and is well maintained and in great shape. Here is the light coming through the occulus in the center of the dome.
Last we visited the Vatican. Here is I nice image of the dome in St Peters Basilica. The beams of light are nice.
Tom and David outside the Uffizi. On Sunday morning Tom went to Florence (Firenze) with Alberto, a young researcher in Pisa. We visited the Uffizi, an amazing art museum with a remarkable collection of Renaissance Paintings. A must see in Florence!
In the end it was 1.5 amazing days of Italian history. I can't wait to get back. Next time I really want to see the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and Roman Forum. Maybe a trip to
Venice.
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