Vacation picture dump (1 Viewer)

Pesta, Epirus
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80-year old pencil graffiti on stone. My late uncle's (he fell in combat in 1944) initials (ΣΝΓ) and my late father's initials (ΘΝΓ) plus the initials of the Youth of the National Republican League (ΕΔΕΕ) who fought against Nazi and Fascist occupation
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Meanwhile, I 've been on a hectic business (NOT pleasure) trip to Berlin, so no pics, sorry.
From mountainous Epirus to Brandenburg almost overnight.

First impressions is that my village is colder than Berlin this time of year, especially at night, and that we have no Turks anymore (we ousted them back in 1913):D
 
Meanwhile, I 've been on a hectic business (NOT pleasure) trip to Berlin, so no pics, sorry.
From mountainous Epirus to Brandenburg almost overnight.

First impressions is that my village is colder than Berlin this time of year, especially at night, and that we have no Turks anymore (we ousted them back in 1913):D
your posts often take an unexpected sexual or geopolitical twist that I don’t see coming and feel unsure how to react to. I am left confused and nervously chuckling to myself, wondering what cultural context or knowledge I’m missing, and generally afraid to google it.
 
I used to snowboard once or twice a week on average when I lived in the north east. Friends thought there was no way I would move to Miami and be away from the snow. And fortunately/unfortunately my business in Miami allows me to take the entire summer off and spend that time in NY but almost impossible to take time off in the winter. Add in having kids and it means I haven’t set foot on a board in 12 years. Well, I finally made room for a trip and it was just like riding a bike. And even better when my two kids who had never seen snow in their lives got hooked after a couple days in ski school. Very excited to pick this back up and will certainly continue trips every year.

Beautiful bluebird 18C/65F spring skiing in Avoriaz, FR and a little Switzerland as well…


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Not me :)
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I used to snowboard once or twice a week on average when I lived in the north east. Friends thought there was no way I would move to Miami and be away from the snow. And fortunately/unfortunately my business in Miami allows me to take the entire summer off and spend that time in NY but almost impossible to take time off in the winter. Add in having kids and it means I haven’t set foot on a board in 12 years. Well, I finally made room for a trip and it was just like riding a bike. And even better when my two kids who had never seen snow in their lives got hooked after a couple days in ski school. Very excited to pick this back up and will certainly continue trips every year.

Beautiful bluebird 18C/65F spring skiing in Avoriaz, FR and a little Switzerland as well…


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Not me :)
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Love it!!! :love: :love: :love:

Except....should've been a toblerone instead of a Savoie wine in front of that painting of Matterhorn ;)
 
Stop the presses. I ordered this meat chandelier thing soaked in whiskey and lit on fire by the server for lunch today. Where the burning whiskey meat just dripped onto more meat. A little local cheese fondu as a side. I got a minor case of the meat sweats after this lunch but it was worth it :p

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Can that be milled for a label?
If so I could definitley do a set with clears and browns. Green and blue would be high value denoms because I don’t have as many. I think the colorful pieces are easier to spot so other people find them. Clear and brown are much harder to find unless you know what to look for.
 
Swimming in those water temperatures makes you a really harsh people :p
I also felt great affection for your wife looking at the pictures (I always feel the same for all poor poker wives):) Think about what those women endure...:p
:)
 
Swimming in those water temperatures makes you a really harsh people :p
I also felt great affection for your wife looking at the pictures (I always feel the same for all poor poker wives):) Think about what those women endure...:p
:)
Haha I have put the poor woman through a lot, that much is true.

And I’d say that water was a good 18-19 degrees so not very cold by my standards. It’s an old limestone quarry. 2000 meters deep :eek:
 
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After three years, my annual trip to the Grand Canyon was finally back on. Four days of hiking and enjoying the scenery:

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That's the Colorado River way down at the bottom of the canyon!
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"The Abyss". Saw two condors using the winds swirling in this alcove to gain some altitude (I wasn't able to get a good photo of them, but they are remarkable creatures to see soaring overhead).
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But the real reason for the trip is the annual Grand Canyon Star Party at night. One week of probably 50-60 telescopes (and maybe even a bit more) all brought by and operated by dedicated amateur astronomers showing visitors to the park the beautifully dark skies in a way they are unlikely to ever see at home.

We had some afternoon clouds, but those mostly boiled off not too long after it got dark.

The upper observing field in an area nicknamed the "Red Light District". This area is typically the home to the larger telescopes.
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Three scopes up in the RLD that were all created by my good friend Scott. The foreground scope is his newest creation, a 14" aperture scope with a very wide field of view. The middle is my 20" aperture scope that I joke was built for the star party (not 100% true, but was a major contributor to actually deciding to build it). In the background, our friend Kevin's new 28" aperture monster that was partially crowdfunded and is primarily being used for public outreach purposes, like the GCSP. I decided to play with some forced perspective to make the smallest scope look like the behemoth of the trio.
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Scott's three "creations" with their happy owners.
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The last and third from last photos are all c/o Scott with a "real" camera while the rest are mine from my phone.

This event is always a re-energizer for me. I've always enjoyed interacting with the public when it comes to showing off the sky. I volunteered operating a telescope at the local planetarium when I was in high-school. During and after college, I worked for some time at an astronomy themed Bed and Breakfast an hour east of town that really made me fall in love with that type of public interaction. The Canyon is the closest to that, but with nearly 200 contacts at the telescope per night. It's just a great deal of fun showing people galaxies, nebulae and the planets through a telescope! Maybe I'm biased a bit, but I highly recommend a trip to the Canyon for the star party.
 
After three years, my annual trip to the Grand Canyon was finally back on. Four days of hiking and enjoying the scenery:

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That's the Colorado River way down at the bottom of the canyon!
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"The Abyss". Saw two condors using the winds swirling in this alcove to gain some altitude (I wasn't able to get a good photo of them, but they are remarkable creatures to see soaring overhead).
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But the real reason for the trip is the annual Grand Canyon Star Party at night. One week of probably 50-60 telescopes (and maybe even a bit more) all brought by and operated by dedicated amateur astronomers showing visitors to the park the beautifully dark skies in a way they are unlikely to ever see at home.

We had some afternoon clouds, but those mostly boiled off not too long after it got dark.

The upper observing field in an area nicknamed the "Red Light District". This area is typically the home to the larger telescopes.
View attachment 941477

Three scopes up in the RLD that were all created by my good friend Scott. The foreground scope is his newest creation, a 14" aperture scope with a very wide field of view. The middle is my 20" aperture scope that I joke was built for the star party (not 100% true, but was a major contributor to actually deciding to build it). In the background, our friend Kevin's new 28" aperture monster that was partially crowdfunded and is primarily being used for public outreach purposes, like the GCSP. I decided to play with some forced perspective to make the smallest scope look like the behemoth of the trio.
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Scott's three "creations" with their happy owners.
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The last and third from last photos are all c/o Scott with a "real" camera while the rest are mine from my phone.

This event is always a re-energizer for me. I've always enjoyed interacting with the public when it comes to showing off the sky. I volunteered operating a telescope at the local planetarium when I was in high-school. During and after college, I worked for some time at an astronomy themed Bed and Breakfast an hour east of town that really made me fall in love with that type of public interaction. The Canyon is the closest to that, but with nearly 200 contacts at the telescope per night. It's just a great deal of fun showing people galaxies, nebulae and the planets through a telescope! Maybe I'm biased a bit, but I highly recommend a trip to the Canyon for the star party.

The first time I saw the milky naked eyes was near the Grand Canyon indeed. That day, I took this pic with a (slow) lens not even purposed for astro-photography :

 
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