My father was a Greyhound Bus driver, so some of my earliest memories are of traveling with him on the bus to different cities and states. When I was a little boy, we lived in Nashville, TN, and would travel back to North Carolina in the fall to visit family. It was an 11 hour trip, and we would usually drive through the night. I remember waking up on the morning of one trip and we were in the mountains of Tennessee or North Carolina. It must have been the peak of fall leaf season -- the colors were so beautiful that I can still see them today. Perhaps that is where my love of travel was formed. I love to travel, to go places and see new things. I haven't explored as much as I would like. I haven't even made it to Europe yet, but there's always next year.
I first visited New York City in 1985 as part of a week long school field trip. We stayed in the Times Square district right off Broadway before Times Square was the home of The Disney Store. The City was the dirtiest, loadest place I had ever been in. Mac Mitchell, the teacher who brought us there, didn't believe in rules and let us roam the streets at night. During the day, he forced marched us through every major museum on the island. In short, it was a perfect week. I fell in love with the City.
I go back to New York City every chance I get. There's a certain energy I feel in Manhattan that I don't feel anywhere else. I've tried to capture some of that energy in pictures, but I haven't had much success so far. My best images so far have been taken at night from the top of the Empire State Building and in Times Square.
Key West is another of my favorite vacation spots. Like New York City, I've been there several times. The last time I was in Key West, my wife and I took a day trip to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park. Fort Jefferson was constructed in the 1850's as part of a coastal defensive system, but it was never completed. After the Civil War, it was used as a federal prison. Its most famous prisoner was Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was convicted by military tribunal of conspiring to assasinate President Lincoln. Historians debate whether Mudd was, in fact, guitly. It is historical fact, however, that he treated John Wilkes Booth's broken leg on the night of Lincoln's assasination.
Below are some pictures from my trip to Fort Jefferson.
