Final Four!

April 3, 2018 / Ed Armstrong

I was so excited to attend my first Final Four and national championship college basketball games!!

I completed a multi-day bucket list item! I traveled to San Antonio, Texas and attended the Final Four and the national championship college basketball games!

It was awesome to be in San Antonio, Texas for the final three basketball games of the 2017 – 2018 season.

I was so excited to attend the games in person along with Neil. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the final games of the season.

I had fun watching all four teams practice on the Friday before two semifinal games!

On Saturday, we first watched Michigan defeat Loyola Chicago. This was followed by watching Villanova defeat Kansas. Two days later, we watched the championship game and saw Villanova beat Michigan. The Villanova Wildcats were an extremely impressive team!

Neil and I kept talking about our bucket list item of watching the Final Four in person!

Neil and I had fun standing in front of this replica of the National Championship trophy!

It was inspiring to see the flag raised!

We watching the Villanova Wildcats defeat the Michigan Wolverines to win the National Championship!

Rodeo!

February 13, 2018February 13, 2018 / Ed Armstrong

I could not believe the intensity of riding a bucking horse!

Cowboys would fly off their horses!

There were many nice smiles too!

I joined 6 other people and enjoyed the National Senior Pro rodeo in Wickenburg, Arizona. It was a beautiful day and there was lots of activity. I enjoyed all the colors and pageantry of the rodeo.

There were many rough landings!

Hang on!!

The bucking broncos were very intense!

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park!

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 / Ed Armstrong

Carlsbad Caverns is so beautiful!

The chandelier! Awesome!

We had an absolutely fabulous and fantastic day! We visited the “eighth wonder of the world” and hiked into Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. It was a phenomenal experience!

I loved this experience!

The rock formations were so beautiful!

Stand and stare in wonder and amazement!

My favorite sections were the “king’s palace” and the “big room.” It was incredible to see the size of the rooms and all the different rock formations. It was truly awesome to view such beauty.

We could not get enough of seeing these sights!

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We got a workout by walking for about five hours with only a few breaks. We were so excited to see the next formation we simply kept walking and walking. Thank goodness there was an elevator available to exit the cavern!

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Seeing Carlsbad Caverns was an amazing experience!

The park service did a great job with highlighting the amazing rock features. We did one ranger-lead tour and one tour on our own. I loved every second of the experience!

The rock formations are outstanding!

Texas Football!

October 10, 2017 / Ed Armstrong

John and I had a wonderful time together!

I had a wonderful opportunity to visit John in Austin. We had a great time talking, going on a hike, eating barbecue, and attending a football game!

Hook ‘Em Horns!

I have always wanted to attend a University of Texas at Austin football game. For decades they have been one of the top teams in the country and they have a rich football tradition. Their football stadium is the ninth largest stadium in the world!

The crowd goes wild as the team runs onto the field!

It was especially fun to watch Texas play Kansas State. The two teams were evenly matched and Texas won the game in double overtime! John and I had a wonderful time being together!

We had great seats and it was fun watching Texas drive into the end-zone for a touchdown!

My whole life, I remember this huge drum on TV at half-time of Texas games. It is enormous! It was fun to finally see it in real life and how it takes 4 people to spin it around and another person to swing the massive drum stick.

President George W. Bush Childhood Home!

October 2, 2017October 2, 2017 / Ed Armstrong

We really enjoyed our tour of President George W Bush’s childhood home!

Very nice community!

We had a nice day trip to Midland, Texas and had the opportunity to visit the childhood home of President George W. Bush. It was quite interesting to see. The house has been refurbished and is unique as it is the only house in the United States that has been the home of two presidents, two governors, and one first lady. A very amazing history indeed!

Amazing history here! The only home in the US for two presidents, two governors, and a first lady. Truly amazing history!

This is President George W Bush’s bedroom!

The classic black telephone!

It was fun to see George W. Bush’s room while growing up, the type of old telephone, and various items in the kitchen. It was also interesting to learn that President H.W. Bush was an excellent baseball player for Yale.

There was no shower (not uncommon in those days) in the only bathroom.

We had fun having our picture taken with the cut-out of President Bush.

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Don’t Bring a Pitchfork to a Gun Fight!

September 18, 2017 / Ed Armstrong

Neil and I were getting excited to watch the game!

This is the famous Red Raider. Guns Up!

I really enjoy college football. As a delayed birthday gift from Amy and Neil, I was invited to attend the football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Arizona State Sun Devils. Since I am a University of Arizona Wildcat, I was rooting against the Sun Devils! Go Red Raiders! The front of a t-shirt people were wearing at the game said “Don’t Bring a Pitchfork to a Gun Fight!”

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The game was delayed for about an hour due to lightening and 50 mile per hour winds. However, that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd. The crowd was loud and quite interested in supporting their team. The saying for Texas Tech is “Guns Up” and the crowd makes a gun symbol with their hands. It was fun to be a part of the loud Texas Tech crowd. The game largely turned into an offensive game, with Texas Tech winning 52 to 45.

The Red Raider symbol is everywhere!

It turned out that this game was designed to honor the cotton industry in the area. Many people wore white shirts to promote the cotton industry, but I wore a red Texas Tech t-shirt.

There is a large amount of cotton around Lubbock!

Sunrise!

September 7, 2017 / Ed Armstrong

The sun was gorgeous as it peaked over the landscape!

We have been enjoying some beautiful sunrises the last few days. The local news has talked about the fires in Montana and the wind that has been blowing ash into west Texas. The thickness in that atmosphere has produced a nice orange sunrise.

I switched to my telephoto lens to get a closer view of the clouds and colors.

This morning I headed from Lubbock to Brownfield, Texas and found a nice dirt road without city lights. I setup my tripod and waited to enjoy the show as the sun came up.

It was nice to see the clouds in front of the sun!

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I had fun trying a couple of lenses and different settings. It was very spectacular!

The silhouette of these weeds was nice with the sunrise in the background.