In my life I have been quite lucky to have gotten to travel and see many interesting sites.  My family has gone on vacation every year of my life.  We started out just going to the beach - Jekyll Island, Daytona, Panama City - but as I got older we went places that were both fun and educational.  I have walked the battlefields of Gettysburg, stood on the stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and seen the views from the top of the Sears Tower, Gateway Arch, Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty.  I have heard jazz in New Orleans clubs, blues in Memphis bars, and country in Nashville juke joints.

I hope to include some pictures and details of trips on this page, but I have no idea where this will end up, if it ends up anywhere at all.  If you'd like to see a full sized picture, simply click the thumbnail image.

Key West, FL, July 2000

My trip to Key West in the summer of 2000 was amazing.  We left Atlanta and drove down the east coast of Florida to Miami.  We stayed in Miami for two days, and while we were there went to Hialeah and Calder. Hialeah was a little disappointing, it has gotten run down and is no where near as pretty as I expected it to be. Calder is a modern horse racing facility, but at least I did get to see the ponies run.  We left Miami and drove the Overseas Highway into the keys, with water on both sides.  We stayed with family on Cudjoe, which is about 23 miles up the road from Key West, but went into Key West both Monday and Tuesday.  There is so much to do there, watching the sunset, the house where Ernest Hemmingway lived, and of course, the infamous Sloppy Joe's, and it is all just 90 miles from Cuba.  We spent Wednesday morning out at Looe Key exploring the reef.  We left the keys Thursday morning and came back across the Everglades and up the west coast, through Tampa and back towards Ocala and horse country.  For more pictures of the Keys, visit my online photo album.

Key West, FL, May 2001

In May of 2001 I made it back to the Keys on my scuba certification trip.  This was a very quick trip, only 4 days long and all four days were filled with diving.  Our last day of salt water dives took us to Key Largo and the Christ of the Abyss statue and reef.  During the busiest days of the summer boats can't find a place to moor over the reef, but we were lucky to be the only boat out this day.  The fish and the reef were beautiful, as was the sunset.  For more pictures of the Keys, visit my online photo album.

Daytona Beach, FL, July 2002

Summer of 2002 we took a weekend trip to Daytona Beach to soak up the sun and chase a few high horsepower dreams.  I couldn't go to Daytona without making a trip o the World Center of Speed, Daytona International Speedway.  Out front is the Dale Earnhardt statue, which has become a focal point of the track and museum.  Inside the museum is the Harley Earl trophy, with each winner of the Daytona 500 engraved on it.  On our last day at the beach, a huge storm blew in, making for this beautiful picture of the clouds over the sand.

Mooresville, NC, August 2003

August of 2003 I took a NASCAR weekend and spent a couple of days in and around Mooresville, NC, a place that calls itself Race City USA.  Home to most of the major NASCAR teams, it is a race fan's paradise.  Our first stop was Dale Earnhardt Inc. and the race shop he affectionately called the Garage Mahal.  Since it is a working race shop, not much is open to the public, but you can see a lot of memorabilia and see about a dozen of the most famous cars to hit the NASCAR track.  We also made it to the Childress museum, which is located in the old Goodwrench race shop.  They have kept the place as close as they could to the days when the #3 car ran from there, and they have 20 or 25 of the cars on display, including the 1998 Daytona winner.  Walking in there will really take your breath away.  We also went to Earnhardt's hometown of Kannapolis to see the statue and park they have built there.

Charleston, SC, March 2004

Spring break 2004 took me to South Carolina, first to Darlington and then down to Charleston.  I had been thinking about going to Myrtle Beach, but about halfway there I changed my mind and headed on down to Charleston instead.  Darlington was just a quick stop to see the racetrack before NASCAR decides to take it completely off the schedule.  When compared to the more tourist friendly tracks like Daytona and Talladega, Darlington isn't much, but it was still a nice place to stop.  Charleston is always a great place to be.  The houses down along the battery are beautiful, and there is always something going on out on the harbor.

St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, June 2005

The summer of 2005 brought another Bryce family marathon trip, covering some 2000 miles in seven days.  It was a dream come true to see St. Louis from the top of the Gateway Arch, Chicago from the top of the Hancock Tower and Sears Tower, and to see the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  On the way back to Atlanta we came through Kentucky horse country around Lexington and drove the Cumberland mountain ridge back home.  There were too many pictures to choose from to put highlights on here, so to view pictures, please visit my online photo album.

Cheyenne, Denver and the Southwest, July 2006

The summer of 2006 allowed me to make a trip and fulfill a dream I have had for many many years.  Since I was about 15 I have wanted to see Bryce Canyon, Utah.  Although we don't have documented proof of a link, Ebenezer Bryce (for whom the canyon was named) came from the same area of Scotland as my ancestors, and we believe that there is a genealogical link there.  For the past 10 years or so, I had wanted to see the rodeo of all rodeos, Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  This two week trip started with a two day drive from Atlanta to Cheyenne, and went from Cheyenne to Denver, to Bryce Canyon, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and home again.  Again, there were too many pictures to choose from to put highlights on here, so to view pictures, please visit this online photo album.

Yellowstone and Montana, May 2007

Spring of 2007 took us to western Montana to visit friends.  This also gave us an opportunity to catch the northern Great Plains and Rockies that we missed by going south during the 2006 trip.  We saw so much I can't begin to describe it - buffalo, elk, geysers, mountains everywhere you looked, it was amazing.  To view the pictures from this trip, please visit this online photo album.