The DipNotes

Between every assignment we get a special kind of vacation called “Home Leave“.   Home leave amounts to about 30 days of paid leave, but is not charged against our regular annual leave balance.  While the State Department will pay to fly us to/from any single address in the USA for home leave, it will not pay for meals and hotels, so many people go to their own stateside homes.  Well, Megan and I do not have a home, so we drive around and visit relatives and take in some sight seeing in America.   This year was a no different, as the map in the previous post shows.  We rented a car in Washington DC and returned it 3 weeks later with over 9,000 new miles on it.

After leaving DC, we drove to Nashville, and stopped at Graceland.  Then we continued to New Mexico to visit our daughter Nova.  While in NM, we all went down to White Sands National Monument, and then over to Carlsbad Caverns.

Nova at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Carlsbad Cavern is a great place to visit, and most nights in summer you can watch hundreds of thousands of bats fly out of the cave after sunset.  However we had a large thunderstorm approach, and the distant sound of thunder kept the bats in.

Thunderstorm over Carlsbad, New Mexico

But the next day, we went down into the cavern for about 3 hours.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

After New Mexico, Megan and I drove across Arizona to one of our favorite stops.  Best Friends!  One place we go back to every time is an amazing, little known place called “Best Friends Animal Sanctuary”.   It’s the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the world, and we volunteer there by working with care givers and helping re-socialize traumatized animals.  If you need a place to boost your Karma, this is it.

Best Friends is located in the southern Utah border just north of the Grand Canyon.  It’s also about 45 minutes from Bryce and Zion National Parks.  This place is ideally located to visit some of the most stunning scenery in America, plus you can help a lot of furry or feathered animals.  This time we worked in “Cat Village” which is composed of many houses each holding dozens of cats.  I usually work in Dog Town, which is now a TV Show on Discovery, but this year I devoted my time to the cats.  We even took one to our hotel in town, something all the local hotels allow.

Here are a few photos of Best Friends.  If you are ever in the vicinity of south central Utah / Northern Arizona, I highly recommend a visit!

Best Friends is located in Angel Canyon, in Kenab Utah.

Inside one of the kitty houses at Cat World at Best friends.

Each room in a kitty house has it's own outdoor play area.

Megan brushing a Kitty in one cat house in "Cat World"

Two of the lovely kitties we took care of at Best Friend's Cat World.

Angel's Rest is where those animals at Best Friends are laid to rest.

After Best Friends, we drove through Zion National Park to Las Vegas, spent 4 nights, and then headed across Utah to Colorodo.   There is some stunning scenery along that route!

Zion National Park, Utah

Spectacular Utah!

Looking across central Utah

Up over the Rockies, and almost hit an Elk..  Unfortunately for the car in front of me, as he totaled his car.  Then down the other side, and across Nebraska to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan.

In the UP, we headed to Mackinac Island, one of our favorite spots in Michigan.  Mackinac is unique in that no vehicles are allowed on the island, only bicycles and horses.  The whole island looks like the very early 1900′s.

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac's 19th century homes and hotels are wonderful!

Mackinac Island public transportation - horse and buggies!

We took a tour in a horse drawn carriage, and then headed south to Megan’s relatives about half-way down the state.  After a wonderful afternoon with family, we headed across Ontario to Niagara Falls, and then on to Vermont.

Normally, I would stop in at my mother’s home and tell her about my travels.  However, we had a sad end to our journey.  My mother passed away a week ago, and her committal was scheduled at the end of the month, just as our trip would be ending.  My mother loved to hear about our travels, so this trip is dedicated to her.  I love you Mom, and will miss you dearly.

My mother’s committal was emotional, as she is buried alongside my father and sister who died almost one year ago.  They are all in a wonderful Veterans Cemetery in Vermont, with a gorgeous view.

The packers came and crated up all my household items to be shipped (by sea) to Maryland and stored there until  I get to my follow-on assignment in Budapest in 2012.  I had already sorted out all the items that will be shipped by air to Baghdad so they will be there when I arrive in September.   I am entitled to ship 300 lbs to Baghdad by air, plus whatever I have in my two suitcases.  I’m tossing in my Mac, Apple TV, and Keurig coffee machine in the air freight.  They will pick that stuff up two days before I fly out.  Anything else that won’t fit in my suitcase at that time will have to be mailed.

I depart Singapore on 1 July, and fly to Washington DC, where Megan will be waiting for me.  She left her post in Fiji yesterday, as she has to attend the FACT course, like I did before I went to Pakistan.  I’m taking some classes at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) for a month, and then on August 02, Megan and I rent a car and drive around the U.S. to visit relatives and take some time to play in Las Vegas.

Map of our Home Leave Route

We’ll be in training (TDY) all of July, and on leave all of August driving around the country.  On our trip, in addition to all the family visits, we’ll visit our daughter in New Mexico (C), spend some time working with the dogs at Best Friends (D), seeing some shows in Las Vegas (E) and head up to Quebec to watch the Quebec International Military Tattoo (M).   August will be a busy, but fun month for Megan and I to catch up after being apart for three years!

I just got back from a week in Sydney, one of my favorite cities. I flew down from Singapore (a 7 hour flight) and met up with megan who flew in from Fiji.  We had a great time, took in a bunch of sights, and ate far too much good food!

But today I am going to stray from my normal Foreign Service topics and share a bit from my photography hobby.

During the week in Sydney I took a ton of photos, and learned a new photographic technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.    Here’s a sample of HDR photos I took last week:

The skyline of Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Observatory

The Blue Mountains, a few hours west of Sydney

The Entrance to the Jenolan Caves

Jenolan Caves

Government House - the oldest government building in Sydney

When you look at these photos, you may think they are painted, as the details and colors seem unnatural.  However, this is the result of HDR imaging techniques.  You start by taking multiple exposures (both over and underexposed shots) of the same subject at the same time and then use a computer to process the individual exposures into one final image.  This brings out color and details that would otherwise be washed out or too dark.

Three photos of the same subject with different exposure lengths

Here’s how it works.  I took three shots of the Sydney Observatory; the first was overexposed, the second was just right, and the third was underexposed.  If you examine the “normal” photo (middle) you see that the sky is washed out and almost colorless, the reflections in the windows are weak and dark, and the purple flowers on the ground are almost invisible.  This is what most people would have walked away with.  But the overexposed image (first)  was able to capture the window reflections and shows the purple flowers in the shade plus the trellis nicely, however the sky is totally washed out and the building and roof are too light.   The underexposed (third) captured the beautiful sky nicely, but everything else is way too dark.

Now I combine them with a program called Aperture (Macintosh application) and the result is stunning!

The Sydney Observatory