Happy New Year: A Look Back at 2023

 

Life in 2023 has been busy.  My wife opened her own preschool and I have been extremely busy at work with the terminal expansion project.  Then in October life threw a curve when a driver ran a red light, striking my car resulting in me needing surgery to fix a broken arm.  Needless to say, the coverage has been somewhat lacking on the site and rightfully so! But despite all of the challenges during the year, we still managed to get a few good adventures in.  We visited the Keys, took a trip back home to Pennsylvania for this first time in almost twenty years and a couple trips up to the mountains for a retreat.  

In February, I got to participate in a Mass Casualty Drill at work.  Every three years, airports are required to conduct a large scale drill that simulates the mutual aid that would be needed should a major aviation incident occur.  This was the first drill of this magnitude that I have gotten to witness since joining the airport fire department.  It was awe-inspiring to watch all these department work seamlessly in an emergency, even if it was a simulated event.  You are in good hands should the need ever arise.  

In March we found ourselves in the Florida Keys for a day trip.  This was one of those trips like my Aunt Nancy would call "getting lost".  We were originally heading to the zoo in Miami.  As we got to the exit for the zoo, there was a mileage sign that showed the distance to Key West.  We looked at each other and said we always wanted to go, and we are over half way lets do it!  So to the southernmost point we went.   

We have been to Key West before, but it was a stop on a cruise ship.  This was the first time we took the drive on the Overseas Highway to the end of the US.  When we got to Key West, we visited the Key West Butterfly Conservatory, toured the Coast Guard cutter Ingham and made a stop at Fort Zachary.  The day got away from us and there was much more we wanted to do but we made sure to get some fresh seafood for dinner and a slice of Key Lime Pie before heading north.  It was a spur of the moment trip but I am glad we went.  We will need to go again in the future as we left a lot to do still on the table.

In July we took our big trip of the year as we flew up to Pennsylvania for the week.  It was our first trip back to PA since 2004/2005 and the first time flying since our trip to NOLA in 2017.  We flew Avelo out of Fort Myers into Wilmington, Delaware.  At the time we flew, Avelo was a relative new airlines to RSW and they operate in the ultra-low cost arena.  But don't let that fool you, they provided great on-time service on both legs of our flight and the cost savings left the three of us fly for less than one ticket on a mainline carrier so I would call it a win!  

In typical fashion, we ran non-stop while in PA.  We stayed in a central location just outside Reading in Wyomissing and went on day trips from there.  The first two days we visited the Philadelphia area.  We took a double-decker bus tour, saw money being made at the US Mint, toured Eastern State Penitentiary, went on a ghost tour, crossed the river in New Jersey and went aboard the Battleship New Jersey, saw some wild animals at the zoo, explored Valley Forge and of course had a Philly Cheesesteak!  We crammed in as much as possible during the two days in Philly but still didn't scratch the surface of what we wanted to do. 

Next we headed from the southeast corner of the state to the northeast corner as we explored the Poconos region of the state.  We started the day with breakfast and a quick tour of the historic town of Bethlehem.  We then went chasing waterfalls in the Delaware Water Gap park.  Here we visited the two tallest waterfalls in the Keystone State.  Our first stop was Raymondskill Falls and then we stopped by Dingmans Falls.  We were gonna try to get to Bushkill Falls but we needed to get to Jim Thorpe as we had an afternoon train ride on the Lehigh Valley Railroad.  There were plenty of great hiking trails and waterfalls in this region of the state but we had to be selective in the limited time we had.  When we got into Jim Thorpe, we boarded our train and headed into the scenic Lehigh Valley Gorge to see the beauty of the  gorge from aboard our train car.  When the train pulled back into the station we explored the scenic historic town of Jim Thorpe to close out the day.

The next day of the trip we headed to Gettysburg.  But before getting there, we stopped at the Landis Valley Farm living history museum and Lancaster History museum which is home to President Buchanan's Wheatland mansion.  We then made it to Gettysburg to tour the battlefield that turned the tide of the Civil War.  We purchased an audio tour app which provided several different tours of the battlefield with GPS triggered audio.  We first completed the ghost tour and then the historic battlefield tour.  Each of these tours were 2-3 hours in length and we ran out of daylight to complete the walking tours.  They were very informative and helped give insight into the battle of Gettysburg.  Before leaving town, we stopped by Ghosts of Gettysburg to purchase the entire collection of ghost books by Mark Nesbitt for further reading.

The remainder of the trip, we stayed closer to town for our exploration.  We visited other historic sites like Daniel Boone's birthplace and Hopewell Furnace. We also visited a few great museums like the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum, National Museum of the Civil War and the Pennsylvania State Museum.  We toured the state capitol and spent time enjoying the outdoors around Fort Indiantown Gap with my sister and her family.  It was a whirlwind trip and we came home exhausted but it was a great trip with a lot of memories made.

For those who know me, I can't wait to retire from the fire department and relocate to Tennessee.  Florida has been fun, but I am ready to get out of this hot and humid overpopulated state.  The remaining two weekend trips we took this year were to explore a few areas as potential relocation areas for retirement.  We spent time exploring the areas of Sevierville, Crossville and Jonesborough.  But like all of our trips, we didn't just look at neighborhoods and properties, we toured parks like the Great Smoky Mountains and Cumberland Mountain and museums like the Delta Museum and the Winston Cup Museum as well as enjoyed great food.  

Towards the end of the year, I stumbled upon a rookie hockey showcase at Hertz Arena.  Sitting in the arena watching the stars of tomorrow play lit a fire in  me and reignited my love of hockey.  I enjoyed going to games with my cousin Jeff to watch the Hershey Bears play and pickup games with Jeff and my cousin Ryan both on ice and on console dating back to NHL 94 for Sega Genesis.  By the time the rookie showcase concluded, I was the owner of a 10-game ticket pack for the Florida Everblades, the ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers.  We closed out the year attending a few games with a few more planned in early 2024.

While it seems like we did a lot, there was a lot we didn't get to do.  My accident and recovery resulting in me not being able to shoot the Florida International Air Show for the first time since 2012.  The recovery has also been painful, both physically and financially.  I am learning more and more just how screwed up the laws in Florida are and just how the victim really has no rights.  It sucks that one idiot running a red light can effect your life and you have to pay the consequences both physically and financially.  The recovery has been a rollercoaster, good days and bad days but each day is a new day.  While I can not go into too much details right now, I will explain all when the time is right.  But for now I am focusing on getting as close to 100% as I can and resume as much normalcy as a I can.  

Despite the limited coverage last year, 6,598,330 visitors found their way to my photography this year.  I am grateful for the support and it gives me the drive to continue to capture and share our explorations.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and that it inspires you to get out there and explore too.

This year will depend on my recovery and how well I can travel and photograph.  For now, we are scheduled to head to San Antonio in March, other than that who knows what adventures await. On the site I hope to be a lot more active with writing and the photo of the day to continue to share adventures when we are not actively travelling.  I am also working on redesigning the photo galleries, especially the aviation one in hopes to make it easier to find photos.  Remember if you see a photo you like, you can order prints of the photo off the site.  They are pretty cheap in comparison and anything you spend helps offset the cost of the web storage as I do not monetize or charge for inclusion on the site. 

We wish everyone a great 2024!