After a few days in Miami, I decided to head south and check out the Florida Keys… The drive to Key West… I must confess to being a little disappointed in the Keys leading up to Key West. They seemed to consist mostly of trailer parks, gas stations, fast food restaurants and boat parts dealers… … Continue reading
The National Museum bears testimony to the traumas of the last two decades. Until 1992 it contained one of the finest collections of art and cultural artifacts in Asia: 100,000 pieces from two milleniums of Afghan history. During the fight for Kabul, mujahedeen armies occupied and looted the museum; the structure was shelled in 1993 … Continue reading
This is the entrance to the massive spillway on the front side of New Bullards Bar Dam. Obviously, water levels were significantly down when this sequence was shot… These gates are just massive – the pictures don’t do them justice… We soon threw increasingly large rocks into the water – requiring the maximum efforts of … Continue reading
This is where you park to hike down to the front of the dam. Well, there are other ways, but this is the easiest way: This is the road down: The road is paved all of the way down, but it is steeper than it looks. Hiking out will give you a good cardio workout: … Continue reading
At The Velvet Rocket we feel compelled to review our failures and not just to trumpet our, ahem, frequent successes… It was with a high level of optimism that Molly, Honey and I set off for some exploring of the High Sierra above Downieville, CA. Our destination? Chimney Rock. It was a lovely day in … Continue reading
After several days stuck in Peshawar, Pakistan because of heavy fighting in the Khyber Pass, we finally got the green light to move through very early in the morning. Tensions were running quite high as the tribesmen had been killing each other only hours before and were still freely roaming around the area with twitchy … Continue reading
Next time you’re in Kabul, Afghanistan, one place I strongly suggest checking out (if you have not already done so) is the OMAR Mine Museum. OMAR is an acronym for Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation. Now, if you go by what the OMAR home page says or by what you might find online, … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 