Author: Tom

Dueling GPSs

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Gear, Geocaching and Maps

New GPSs

While on our trip to Florida over the holidays my trusty Garmin eTrex Legend GPS unit decided to become less trusty.  I had been having trouble with it prior to the trip.  Any power cable I got for it never seemed to work correctly, and now I was getting weird lines on the display.  It had served me well for five years, but it was now time to replace it.

I had gotten some Best Buy gift cards as well as some cash for Christmas.  I had enough so that I could either get a really nice handheld unit or a really nice unit for my car.  I decided to split the funds and get two GPSs, a handheld Garmin eTrex Venture HC for geocaching, geotagging, and hiking, and a Garmin Nuvi 205 for car navigation.  Here’s a quick review of both units, and my reasons for going this route instead of buying a single higher grade unit.

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From Lake Fairfield to Fairfield County

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on From Lake Fairfield to Fairfield County
Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy, Photography, Travel

Monticello Store

My last Saturday before heading back to work after Winter Break, and I decided to do some geocaching and photography in Fairfield County.  I had new GPS units to test drive, I had specific locations I wanted to photograph, and I wanted to take some time to swing by my parent’s house.  I had ambitious goals for what I wanted to see and do, perhaps too ambitious.   It turned out to be a day of mixed results – delight and frustration, discovery and missed opportunities.

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An Anniversary Trip to Disney World

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on An Anniversary Trip to Disney World
Entertainment, Travel

Cinderella's castle

This being our 20th anniversary, we decided to take two trips – a short one on the actual anniversary, and one a bit later in January. For the short trip we booked a stay at one of the Disney resorts, Coronado Springs, and a day in the Magic Kingdom.

Coronado Springs is located near the Animal Kingdom in Disney World. There is plenty to do on site, with an elaborate swimming area, a lake for boating and kayaking (for a price), and lots of shopping and restaurants.

We arrive about 4:00 pm and got settled. Our rooms weren’t especially spectacular, but the convenience to Disney is what you’re paying for. We had afternoon drinks at the Laguna Bar, and a nice anniversary dinner at the Maya Grill, both on site. While the meal was excellent, it was a bit noisy.

Since we were staying at a Disney place, we could take advantage of extended park hours and transportation to the park. Each park has extended hours one day a week, and by a stroke of luck the Magic Kingdom had those hours available during our visit. If we wanted, we could stay there from 7:00 am to 3:00 am, a total of 20 hours. We came close.

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More Florida Wildlife Encounters

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on More Florida Wildlife Encounters
Paddling, Photography, Travel

Today the plan was to head up toward the Sebastian area, have lunch, and visit the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. We headed north on US 1, stopped at Hale’s Groves for some citrus, then stopped at Rock City Gardens to look at the plants. Lunch was at the Sand Bar at Captain Hiram’s. It … Read More “More Florida Wildlife Encounters” »

Family Gatherings and Family Bibles

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History and Genealogy

Saturday night was our annual Taylor Family Christmas gathering. Several were not able to make it this year, so we only had 3/4 of our family present. Even so there were still 28 of us present. This year Mom made a big pot of “grandma soup” and Dad bought some barbecue. Not exactly standard Christmas … Read More “Family Gatherings and Family Bibles” »