Arizona Thanksgiving Trip - November / December 2019

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Tucson, AZ to visit my wife's family that lives out there. We decided to take the long, slow, relaxing route and went by Amtrak in a sleeper car.
Lots of desert scenery, gardens, and animals.
We flew home on December 7th.

This post is a list of links to the photos themselves.

Below are links to the images broken up by date:

November 23, 2019:
Amtrak 49-449 Lake Shore Limited – Viewliner Sleeper Car Bedroom B
Rensselaer, NY – Rensselaer Rail Station

Phoenix, AZ – Desert Botanical Gardens

We visited an old coworker of mine in Phoenix, AZ. We visited the Desert Botanical Gardens. Lots of flowers and plants to photograph.

I have pictures of signs for some of the flowers and plants.

Tucson Estates, AZ - Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

We paid a visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson Estates, AZ. It is part zoo, part garden, and part museum. The road to it was very winding with a lot of rolling up and down. It was a very pleasant drive.

The first photos I tried to take were of humming birds.

Pima County, AZ – Pima Air & Space Museum (Part II)

After our tour of the 309th AMARG finished we returned to the Pima Air & Space Museum. We wandered around until closing.

F-4C Phantom II

Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, AZ - 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group – “Boneyard”

Continuing at the Davis–Monthan Air Force Base and the 309th AMARG we turned into the Boneyard. Here the planes are never expected to fly again. But, as planes are damaged and/or retired their parts may still be useful to other planes that are still in service.

This means that a lot of the planes here are missing parts and are sealed up in interesting ways.

Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, AZ - 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group

As part of our trip to the Pima Air & Space Museum we payed extra for a tour of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309th AMARG) at the Davis–Monthan Air Force Base.

B-1B Lancer

Pima County, AZ – Pima Air & Space Museum

We visited the Pima Air & Space Museum. They are a very large privately funded air and space museum with an extensive and interesting collection.

A7-D Corsair II

Tucson, AZ – Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

While in Tucson, Arizona, we took a hike in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area.

Lots of saguaro cacti.

Tucson, AZ – Tucson Amtrak Station

Our final stop on the Texas Eagle was Tucson, Arizona.

Low light night photo of the train.

Amtrak 1 Sunset Limited & 421 Texas Eagle – Mexico

From the train we had some nice views of Mexico and the US / Mexico border wall.

We got to see some gorgeous mountains to our south.

El Paso, TX – Union Depot

At El Paso, Texas we had around a 30 minute stop to stretch our legs. There was also a woman selling burritos who is well known to the train crew and regulars.

At this point our train had two engines, a baggage car, two sleeper cars in the front, a dining car, a cafe / lounge car, three or four coaches, and then our sleeping car in the rear.

Amtrak 1 Sunset Limited & 421 Texas Eagle – Superliner Sleeper Car

After San Antonio the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle had joined together I took some images during the afternoon. I decided to take some photos out of the back of the train of the tracks as we were traveling.

Lots of open sky and single track.

San Antonio, TX – The HemisFair District

On our walk back to the San Antonio Station we walked back through The HemisFair District.

San Antonio has a tower that was rather pretty at night, the Tower of the Americas.

San Antonio, TX – The Alamo

While we were in San Antonio we payed a brief visit to The Alamo.

Unfortunately we only got to see The Alamo in the dark.

San Antonio, TX – River Walk

San Antonio, Texas, has a very nicely developed River Walk with shops and restaurants.

Lots of low light photography and lots of bridges.

San Antonio, TX – Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center

In San Antonio, Texas the Texas Eagle meets the Sunset Limited on its way from New Orleans, LA to Los Angeles, CA. The Sunset Limited is not a daily train. Our sleeper car and one of the coaches got disconnected from the train for through service to Los Angeles and put on a siding and coupled to power while the rest of our original train prepares to turn around and return to Chicago.

San Antonio is a long stop. It is an over four hour stop for the train.

Temple, TX – Temple Station

We had a brief smoking break and stretch your leg break in Temple, Texas. There was also a miniature railway museum with some also engines and rail stock. Since this was another short stop I did not get to walk very far in terms of exploration.

Primarily old Santa Fe railroad stock that looks like it could use a new coat of paint.

Dallas, TX – EBJ Union Station

Our first stop, while we were awake, during which we could get off the train, was Dallas Texas at the EBJ Union Station. We really enjoyed being able to stretch out legs. The station was a meeting place of the DART Light Rail, Trinity Railway Express, and Amtrak.

Not quite the most urban central train station I have been to.

Amtrak 21-421 Texas Eagle – Superliner Sleeper Car Bedroom C

In Chicago we boarded the Texas Eagle. While we were in Chicago we checked our largest bag through to our final destination in Tucson, AZ. This train was our home for the majority of our 80 hour journey by train.

The Texas Eagle using Superliner cars has less vertical and window space than the Viewliner car.

Chicago, IL – Jackson Blvd

We primarily walked along Jackson Blvd in Chicago for our errands.

I got a nice photo down the Chicago River.

Chicago, IL – Union Station

The second major stop, and our first layover between trains, was at Chicago's Union Station. We walked around and took some pictures of Union Station. We then ran some errands and grabbed a bite to eat.

I have always loved the Great Hall.

Rensselaer, NY – Rensselaer Rail Station

The first stop where we got to get off the train and take a walk around was at Rensselaer, NY. We walked around the Rensselaer Rail Station for 40 or so minutes while waiting to meet the half of the Lake Shore Limited coming from the New York, NY.

We walked around and took pictures of the platform, station, and some of the area around the station.

Amtrak 49-449 Lake Shore Limited – Viewliner Sleeper Car Bedroom B

For Thanksgiving this year we spent it in Tucson, AZ with my wife's family. Rather than flying out we took Amtrak trains in sleeper cars. From Boston, MA to Chicago, IL we took the Lake Shore Limited.

When you get the Bedroom from Amtrak you have a stow-able chair across from the larger bench.

Prudential Tower, 50th Floor - InterSystems Global Summit 2019

My employer, InterSystems Corporation, is hosting its annual conference Global Summit 2019. As a social event tonight we had the 50th floor Skywalk Observatory at the Prudential Tower at our disposal. I took a few night shots.

EF-S 10-22mm f/9.0 ISO 100 20"

Bahamas Trip - May / June 2019

Holly's family enjoys beaches, sun, and occasionally boats. I am not such a beach, sun, and ocean fan. We went for a one week trip sailing a catamaran around the Great Abaco island and some of the surrounding cays.

These photos have been white balanced, though no additional editing was done.

This post is a list of links to the photos themselves.

Below are links to the images broken up by date:
May 25, 2019:
Great Abaco Island – Marsh Harbour – Leonard M. Thompson International Airport

Elbow Cay - Abaco Inn

Our final dinner in the Bahamas was at the Abaco Inn. One side faces White Sound in Elbow Cay and the other side faces the Atlantic Ocean.

While getting ready to go to dinner our dingy motor gave out for the second time. Luckily there were a set of home or residences being  built with their own docks. The Abaco Inn told us that we could dock there.

Elbow Cay - Hope Town - Reef Bar & Grill

After the light house we crossed the harbor in our dingy, walked around Hope Town some and stopped for drinks and food at the Reef Bar & Grill.

There were some great views.

Elbow Cay - Hope Town - Light House

We visited the light house in Hope Town on Elbow Cay.

The light house was originally red and white.

Man-O-War Cay

Having moored in the Man-O-War Cay Eastern Harbour the night before some of us went to explore Man-O-War Cay on foot. The boat and a few passengers went out of the harbor and met a boat with filled scuba tanks.

I really enjoy how polarizing filters allow you to see through water.

Man-O-War Cay - Eastern Harbour

Sunset shots in the Eastern Harbour of Man-O-War Cay.

Mooring 4800 (Robertson and Caine International Yachts)

I decided to take photos of our boat for the week. Our boat was a Mooring 4800 by Robertson and Caine International Yachts.

The beds were okay for two people. There were two drawers and a cabinet along with the side shelves.

Fowl Cay - West

West of Fowl Cay we saw the yacht Zoom Zoom Zoom, which is another rental. Quite the boat. But by using a telephoto zoom lens I was able to see the writing on the water slide.

The yacht had jet skis and a giant floating flamingo.

Great Guana Cay - Bakers Bay

We spent the night at Bakers Bay off Great Guana Cay. More sunset photos.

Another rental boat also thought it was a good idea.

No Name Cay (Video)

We took the dingy to No Name Cay and I shot a little video of the pigs and chickens.

No Name Cay

We visited No Name Cay, the home of the swimming pigs.

The pigs were very food motivated. So were the chickens. But the chickens took second fiddle to the pigs for food.

Green Turtle Cay - White Sound

Morning photos of White Sound at Green Turtle Cay.

 

Green Turtle Cay - White Sound

We went for dinner on shore at Green Turtle Cay in White Sound. I took some sunset photos.

We parked at the dingy pier.

Crab Cay - Mangrove (Video)

I also took a video while we were motoring around the mangroves.

Crab Cay - Mangroves

Later in the day we took the boat to Crab Cay where there are a bunch of mangroves. We took the dingy into the mangroves.

The mangroves were very pretty and were flowering. This mangrove area was also quite shallow.

Manjack Cay - North

We spent the night off Manjack Cay. In the morning we took the dingy and kayaks to the beach to see the sting rays and some sharks. We all did some snorkeling.

The water generally had very pretty colors.

Great Abaco Island – Marsh Harbour – Leonard M. Thompson International Airport

We started our trip in the Bahamas by landing at Leonard M. Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island. The airport is quite small with no normal gates, all stairs / ramps and walks on the tarmac.

You can take some closer than usual photos of planes.

Vermont Trip - February 2019

We went for a quick overnight trip to Burlington, VT. We saw my brother who was in visiting a friend of his. Then we stayed overnight at our friend's place and dropped off an air compressor and shelving unit previously moved out of our storage unit.
I did not take a whole lot of pictures. On the way up on Friday we stopped at the Sharon Rest Area on I-89 northbound in Vermont. It was an interesting facility because they do not have an easy supply of clean water. Therefore for flushing they use water treated on site in a green housed filtration system.

The green house houses the filtration system.