| Seymour Johnston - May 2007 | |
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Another Great Air Show Click here for a few photos |
| Bushmills Distillery - Mar 2007 | |
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On a stop off at home in Ireland, my brother and I headed up to the north Antrim coast for the day. We stopped off at the Bushmills distillery for a 'wee tate'. See the pics here. Originally called “Uisce Beatha” ("Water of Life" in Irish), the name was found difficult to pronounce by English speakers and was shortened to "uisce". Through time the name was eventually Anglicised to whiskey. Despite a lack of historical evidence, it is believed that troops of King Henry II enjoyed the taste of Bushmills some 400 years before the distillery became officially licensed in 1608 by King James I. In 1784 the Bushmills Distillery became an officially registered company. From 1740 to 1910 Irish emigrants to the USA spread the word of Bushmills, and it soon became a huge success at international spirit and whiskey competitions. |
| Jack Daniels Distillery - Dec 2006 | |
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We visited the Jack daniels distillary at Christmas. We stopped off on our way to see Elvis. It was a beautiful day and i got some nice pics of the distillery. See the pics here. Jack Daniel's is a Tennessee 'sour mash' whiskey distillery and brand known for its rectangular bottles and black label. The taste is distinct, sweet and mellow. Jack Daniel's is consumed in shots, neat, on the rocks, in mixed drinks (especially 'Jack and Coke' AKA "JD & Coke") and as an ingredient in several cocktails. Tennessee ('sour mash') whiskey is similar to bourbon but is different in that it is filtered through maple charcoal in large wooden vats prior to aging. Tennessee whiskey is also not subject to the regulations relating to bourbons, such as the use of new barrels and low level of distilling proof. |
| Cars of the Stars - Dec 2006 | |
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We stopped off in gatlinburg for lunch. We ended up in 'The Cars of the Stars' motor museum. See the pics here. The collection features a large range of famous vehicles including:
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| Bahama, NC Christmas Parade - Dec 2006 | |
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What can i say? Check it some pics here. |
| Richard Petty Museum - Nov 2006 | |
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We visited the Richard Petty Museum on the Saturday after thanksgiving. It was a beautiful lazy warm November morning and the Museum was pretty quiet. We spent about an hour looking around. Richard Petty has a spectacular collection of Guns, Knives, Dolls (I guess that was the wife!) and of course race cars. The museum celebrates 4 generations of the Petty's racing careers. The Museum had some great highly polished race cars, including Richard Petty's last ever race car (which he wrecked). See the pics here. |
| Occoneechee Mountain - Oct 2006 | |
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I took a day of work at short notice, just to get away from the office and forget about databases & programming and arguing about requirements and all. I didn't really have a plan as to how i was going to spend my day. I wasting the morning trying to think of what to get up to. I knew i wanted to get out, but i also knew i didn't want to go to the usual parks in the triangle that i spend time in. I found Occoneechee Mountain on Google earth. I did a little research on Occoneechee and found i could easily loose myself in the woods for an hour or 2 and be sure to find my way out eventually (just follow the noise towards I85 !!) Anyway - I found a great little park with an amazing lake. I found the lake at just the right time of year for the fall colors. Check out some of my photos here. |
| New Hope Valley Rwy - Oct 2006 | |
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Julie and I set out for a Sunday morning drive ( i know we are getting old !) And we happened across the New Hope Valley Railway. We stopped in, but the the trains had broken down that day. Maybe we'll go back another time. I took a few snaps. See them here. |
| NAS Air Show - Sep 2006 | |
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I had been looking forward to this Air show all Summer. We even paid for some premium seats even though the air show was free entry. NAS Oceana (Naval Air Stations) is in Norfolk Virginia, which is pretty close to Virginia Beach. We stayed in a nice little motel on the beach for the weekend. The air show was billed as the home coming display of the F14s which had just recently been retired by the US Navy. It was a pretty big air show on the US air show calendar and as such there was a great many demonstrations. They had F14s, F15s, F16s, F117s, F18s, F22s, an F35, the Blue Angels and many more. Check out my pics here. |
| Nantucket Island - Jul 2006 | |
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Our summer holidays pretty much consisted of 10 days up on the north east this year. We spend a few days driving along the Connecticut coast line. We visited Rhode Island and Massachusetts too, spending a few days in Boston. The highlight of the visit was a day trip by ferry to the island of Nantucket. I had read Moby Dick over the winter and had been looking forward to visiting the home of the 'White whale' since then. My photos are here |
| New River Air Show - May 2006 | |
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The marines put on an air show at Cherry point air show, just outside Jacksonville North Carolina. The traffic getting to the air show was a nightmare. but once inside it was pretty good. The highlight of the show for me was the V22 Osprey demonstration. There was plenty of hardware on show and you can see a few of my picture here. |
| Shenandoah trip - April 2006 | |
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I had to work for a bit up in Audubon, PA. I took the opportunity of driving back to north Carolina back through Lancaster Country, PA and the Shenandoah valley. We had planned to camp put but the weather wasn't really on our side. I don't have any picture of it but as soon as we got one to skyline drive it was quite literally like driving in the clouds. Couldn't see a damn thing. Then the thunder started. So we shrugged that one off and settled in for the long drive home. You can see some of my pictures here. |
| Arizona trip - March 2006 | |
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My dad and I spent 2 weeks traveling around Arizona. We met up in Las Vegas and traveled from there to Hoover dam, Along Route 66, the Grand Canyon, Monument valley, Canyon de Chelley, Window Rock, Winslow Arizona, Flag Staff, Sedona, Tucson, Tombstone. It was quite a trip and we had all sorts of weather, from snow storms to dust storms to blazing sun shine. Take a look at my pics here. |
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G-BOAC in Manchester At the end of January i had the opportunity to get over to England and so i got on a flight from Belfast to Liverpool to hang out with my brothers and try and visit the Concorde at Manchester airport. Here are a few of the photos i took. |
Appalachian Trail This weekend (11-Nov-2005) we went Hiking. Derrick and I headed west and ended up on the Appalachian Trail. The weather was fantastic for the middle of November. Perfect weather for hiking. A little Breeze and unlimited sunshine. See the images here. |
G-BOAD in NYC During the Summer i went to New York with my brothers. While there we stopped off at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. THey have a BA Concorde there. I took the opportunity to take a few snaps. See the images here. |
Seymour Johnston AFB This weekend (06-Nov-2005) we visited the seymour Johnson Airforce base in Wayne County, NC for the annual wings over wayne airshow. I took alot of pics while we were here. Click the link to see some of the better ones. See the images here. |
Charleston Cemetery A visit to Charleston is not complete without a ghost tour. As budding tourists we always like to sign up for these kinds of tourist tours. We didn't see any ghosts or zombies, but we did get eaten to death by mosquitoes which seemed to be in high season on the 16-Oct-2005. See my not so scary photos here. |
USS Yorktown Last week (18-Oct-2005) we visited the USS Yorktown, docked at Patriots Point at Charleston, South Carolina. The Yorktown was known as 'The Fighting Lady' and served throughout world war II. The Yorktown is the main exhibit of the Naval and Maritime museum. I took a bunch of pics. You can see them here. |
| NC State Fair We visited the state fair today. They have a huge fair every year in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was the first time that we went. The weather was fantastic, not too hot with clear blue skys. Couldn't ask for me. As usual the 'Hot Dogs' were suspect, but the candy floss was great. Here are a bunch of my pics. |
Giant's Causeway When i was home at the end of July, i met up with a good friend and we went up to the Giant's causeway late on Thursday night after work. By the time we got to the causeway, the sun was going down and it was beginning to rain. I got some nice menacing pics all the same. See them here. |
| dodge charger To celebrate the new dukes of hazzard movie they brought a dodge charger in general lee colors out to one of the local cinemas. So i thought i'd pop over to have a look and take a few snaps. Check out the results here. |
Valley Forge Park Spent a great evening in Valley Forge, PA. I was starting to lose some of the light by the time I arrived, but tried to take as many pictures as i could with what light was left. You can check out the results here. |
| Blue Ridge Park Way I still have to upload my North Carolina blue ridge parkway photos. I hope to do that before the end of September . | F-BVFA Concorde On a visit to the Air and Space Museum at Dulles airport i took quite a few snaps of F-BVFA. Air France Concorde that they have there at the Udvar-Hazy air and space Museum, just beside the airport. Check these out here. |
| Nantahala Here In early September we visited Nantahala outdoor center for a spot of white water rafting. It was a great day out. I went with My cous Davy and his Fiance Colette. The pics were taken with a disposal that was soaked, hopefully you can still get a bit of a feel for what whitewater rafting is like. Check it out here. | British Car Club There was a british Car club meet in the Raleigh Area late last year. I popped down and took a few snaps. They had some really gorgeous cars there. See the pics here. |
| New York City I love New York and i love to take my camera when ever i visit. Here are a few snaps of some some of my NYC pics so far. Ready soon! |
Dodge Charger & Friends This weekend (06-Nov-2005) we visited the seymour Johnson Airforce base in Wayne County, NC for the annual wings over wayne airshow. While there we came across a few car clubs. They were was Chrysler, Dodge and Ford. Dodge immediately took my interest. They had a brand new Dodge Charger R/T daytona. See a few of the pics of the charger along with some of it's friends here. |