chewy3326's VirtualTourist Home Page

Just returned from half a week in the Adirondacks- a short trip, but fun. Hopefully I can update those pages soon.

I've not been great on updating my pages recently; I've been busier, and I have less time to travel. I'll try and post a few things from my recent trip to Taiwan and a recent day trip to Shenandoah, but otherwise there's not too much I can write about.

Recent Pages:
Taipei: home to the tallest building in the world as well as temples and historic sites.
Taiwan: a small oft-overlooked island filled with cities and soaring mountains.
Nantou: home to the highest peaks on the island of Taiwan.
Lake Tahoe: beautiful scenery and good hiking.
Lee Vining: unearthly Mono Lake at the foot of the Sierra Nevada.

I'm back in Virginia after 33 days in Taiwan... great trip, I'll start working on my Taiwan pages soon.

Went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg on July 8.

Took a day trip to Washington DC (July 6) for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival...

Visit my new Yosemite National Park page!

I can't get out to travel quite as much as I want to, which means I really haven't gone to that many places in my lifetime. Generally, I've been limited to the United States, Canada, and Taiwan, though occasionally I'm able to visit China. Of all places I've been to so far, I probably haven't found anywhere better than Mt. Rainier National Park, though Sequoia and Olympic National Parks come close. I generally hike on all of my travels, though sometimes I visit museums, cities, etc. Glaciers and lakes have more of an alure to me than just about anything else, though.

It's a sad thought that however long you travel, you'll never manage to visit everyplace you want to. For instance, one of my wishes is to travel to South Georgia Island, in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. However, it's uninhabitated, and there's no tourist infrastructure, and basically no cost-effective way to get there.

All photos used on any of my pages (including my homepage opening shot) are by myself or members of my family. If I use a photo from another source, I'll say so. If you would like to use any of my photos, email me first about it.

Most of my photos were taken by my four digital cameras. My earliest camera was a Canon Powershot A70; my second camera, a Sony Cybershot, wasn't quite as good as the first; my third camera is a Canon Powershot A540; and my fourth is a rather bulky Canon Powershot A630.

Random Place in the World

This link takes you to some random, off-the-beaten track place in the world that I've visited. Updated every few weeks or so.

...2006
2006 was about as exciting as 2005 was, if not more. The second day of the new year, I headed to Wintergreen Ski Resort in the Blue Ridge. Half a month later, we attempted to make a trip to New York, but got bogged down in a snowstorm in New Jersey and had to turn back and go home, although we did make a stop in Baltimore, Maryland. In mid-April, we took a six-day trip to Rochester and Niagara Falls in New York state. In late May, we took a short day-trip to Shenandoah National Park to hike up Mary's Rock. Two weeks later, we flew to California for 12 days, and visited Yosemite National Park, a bit of the Eastern Sierra, Lake Tahoe, Muir Woods, and San Francisco. After returning to Virginia I made two short daytrips, one to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and the other to Washington DC. Then I departed on a 33-day trip to Taiwan where I visited the fabulous cities of Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, the historic sites at Lukang, and the natural scenery of Nantou, Alishan, and Kenting. After returning, we took a Labor Day weekend trip to Philadelphia and New York, where I saw two Chinatowns and amazing views from the Top of the Rock. A little afterwards we took another short day trip to Winchester to pick apples. In peak fall foliage season, I took two short, short trips to the Great Falls. In late December (29 and 31), I took two seperate day trips to Washington DC and Great Falls of the Potomac, which wrapped up my year in travel.

...2005
I don't really travel too much, so I can say that I've probably traveled more in 2005 than any other year. This year was relatively uneventful until late March-early April, when we took our first trip to California. After flying to Oakland, we did Pacific Grove and Big Sur. The scenery was just knokout beautiful. We also spent a day in San Francisco, which was a really great city. We liked it so much... we decided to come back in June. In late June, we spent ten days exploring Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park. The highlight of this area was the beautiful Mineral King Valley, which has some of the best hiking and scenery that I've seen so far. Later, I spent a while hiking in George Washington National Forest, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The mountains here are much gentler, and often seem much more welcoming. Then in late July, we made a two-week trip to China and Taiwan. The trip was more to visit relatives than to actually tour the area, but I still managed to cram in some sights. Our entire visit was plagued by cloudy weather, air pollution, and rain. In mid-August, I took a three-day trip to Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. I got a last word in on Christmas Eve with a day trip to Great Falls Park in Northern Virginia, where the beautiful Great Falls of the Potomac plunge into a narrow gorge.

1. Iceland
2. Tibet
3. Karakoram Highway
4. Alaska
5. Glacier National Park
6. Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia
7. South Georgia Island
8. Newfoundland and Labrador
9. Mt. Kilimanjaro
10. Valais

While it'd be nice to get ten out of ten, I'm aiming at getting to at least five of these within my life.

July 2008- Adirondack Park, NY
June 2008- Shenandoah National Park, VA
June 2008- Taiwan
May 2008- Shenandoah National Park, VA
July-August 2007- Taiwan
June 2007- Yosemite NP and the Eastern Sierra, CA
May 2007- Old Rag Mountain, Shenandoah NP, VA
April 2007- Rochester, NY
December 2006- Washington, DC and Great Falls, MD
September 2006- Winchester, VA
September 2006- Philadelphia and New York
July-August 2006- Taiwan
June 2006- Yosemite NP and Lake Tahoe
May 2006- Shenandoah NP
April 2006- New Jersey
April 2006- Rochester NY, and Niagara Falls, ON and NY
January 2006- Baltimore, MD
January 2006- Wintergreen Ski Resort, VA
December 2005- Great Falls, VA
August 2005- Virginia Beach and Williamsburg
July 2005- Northeast China and Taiwan
July 2005- Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
June 2005- Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP
April 2005- San Francisco and Big Sur
December 2004- Philadelphia
July 2004- Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
July 2004- Grottoes, VA
December 2003- Virginia Beach
August 2003- Shenandoah NP
June 2003- Olympic and Mt. Rainier NP
April 2003- New York City

I've also taken numerous trips to Washington DC, Charlottesville, and Richmond during this time.

Cities:
1. San Francisco
2. Beijing
3. Taipei
4. Washington DC
5. Philadelphia

U.S. States:
1. California
2. Virginia
3. Washington
4. New York
5. Pennsylvania

National Parks:
1. Yosemite
2. Mt. Rainier
3. Sequoia
4. Olympic
5. Shenandoah

VT Pages:
1. Sequoia National Park
2. Olympic National Park
3. Mineral King
4. Beijing
5. Great Falls

Summer 2009- Maybe Alaska?