NASA Tweetup

Thanks to NASA and Twitter I've been selected to attend the STS-135 Tweetup. Only 150 people from around the world were selected so it is a huge honor. When i opened the email from NASA and saw that i had been selected my heart skipped a beat. I really couldn't believe it.


We will be treated to lectures from NASA engineers, managers and astronauts. One of the highlights will be the tour of NASA facilities. We get to walk inside the huge Vehicle Assembly Building, watch RSS retract the day before launch and wave to the astronauts as they drive by on their way to the Shuttle. The most amazing thing is where we get to watch the launch. The NASA press site is the most desirable place to watch a launch. It's only 3 miles from the pad and provides an amazing view. I am so lucky. Just keep your fingers crossed that there are no big delays! After the launch I'll update the blog with pictures and video.

Here's a link to a story by KRTV:

http://www.krtv.com/news/great-falls-man-tweets-his-way-to-historic-nasa-shuttle-launch/

Picture courtesy of Lar DeSouza

An Evening Walk at Giant Springs

A little creek that usually isn't running
Yosh and the Mighty Mo
Giant Springs is one of the nicest places in the country for an evening walk in my opinion. This was one of the few nice evenings we've had. As I'm typing this it's raining yet again. The Sun River is the highest I've ever seen it. I think it's a hair over flood stage right now and the Missouri isn't far behind!

Ducks in the backyard

It's been a wet spring.......

Yosh's Honor Society Ceremony

Yosh didn't get anything less then an A in any class all year. Good job!

Easter 2011

We had Filipino food. Rice, noodles and Lumpia
Awesome deserts
Gram on the deck. It was a pretty nice day.
Yosh, Michael, Marley and Lilly



Sorry for the late update. I was looking through pictures and realized i hadn't put these up yet. The Filipino food was a nice change from the usual. Everything was really good.

A Few More Disney Photos

Here are a few pictures I ordered off Disney Photopass. These are the guys always asking to take your picture. Kind of annoying but also pretty handy when there are just two of you. Looking at these pics makes me want to go back.....

Pictures to Make You Hungry

BoBo Brazil Roll: seared kobe beef, avocado, kaiware, shiso, red onion, chimichurri with Eel and King Crab on the Right. This was all very tasty. The roll sounds kind of weird but everything went together really well.
Sea Bass and Miso cooked over charcoal with Peruvian Corn. This could be the best fish I've ever had. It was mild and buttery with a hint of charcoal flavor. Just thinking about it makes me hungry.

Assorted Tempura on the Left Mane Lobster Taquitos on the Right. The lobster taquitos weren't quite what i was expecting but still very good. It was kind of like a chilled lobster salad in them. The Tempura was good too.
An old favorite...Yellowtail with Jalapeno and lemongrass
Macarons from Payard's These were a bit of a disappointment. Wolfgang Puck said they were his favorite thing on the food network so we had high expectations. They were just ok though.

Those sundays are as big as their heads!
The Euphoria Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Sunday: Deep Chocolate peanut butter ice cream, dulce de leche ice cream, carmelized toffee bananas, pure chocolate chunks, milk chocolate sauce & warm peanut butter sauce garnished with whipped cream and crunchy hazelnut bits. served with extra peanut butter sauce and pure milk chocolate ganache. My mom and dad ordered this and loved it. I tried a bite and it might be what i get next time.

Dawn and I had the sharing tasting for two. This was the fondue portion of it. The black grill in the back is to roast the marshmallows over before dipping them in the white chocolate. This was awesome...so sweet but so good.

This was the other portion of the sharing plate. It was banana split waffle, milk and white chocolate bark, chocolate sponge cake, chocolate egg roll and a shot of chocolate ganache. The waffle was really good, sponge cake a little too chocolaty for us, egg roll was just ok and the chocolate bark was really good. All in all Max Brenner was a hit.

Lunch at Swish, Dawn's favorite restaurant. It was so good we went twice
Shabu Shabu, I had Sukiyaki

Pot Stickers, Dawn said they were good
Chicken Tom Yum Soup from the Thai Style Noodle House. It's off the strip in Chinatown but it's worth the drive and my favorite soup bar none. So good but so, so spicy. It will have tears running down your face...literally.

Our favorite thing about Las Vegas is the huge variety of great food. We have a few favorites we try to hit every time (Swish, Thai Noodle House, Sushi Samba, Nine Fine Irishmen) then we like to try someplace new every trip. I think Max Brenner will be moved to the favorites list. I highly recommend it for dessert. Don't forget to grab a cookie to go afterwards. Mom and Dad took us to dinner at Landry's Seafood. The pictures didn't turn out too well but the oysters I had were great. Hope you enjoyed the pictures...I can't wait for the next batch.

NASCAR Weekend in Las Vegas!

Dawn getting ready to blast some shit on the Strip
Fun times at the Carnival Court Bar

Brady and Kristy at Carnival Court

Joe Montana at Caesars. Hope his son does good for the Griz this year.
David Reutimann before the race
Getting ready to drop the green flag
The view from our seats

As usual we had a great time on our annual trip to Vegas for NASCAR weekend. We made it in time on Thursday to catch the hauler parade. It was pretty sweet. I'll have a video of it on my you tube page. Friday dawn and I drove to Chinatown to check out a few stores and a couple of our favorite restaurants. I'll do a food update next. Friday evening my mom and dad flew into town. Saturday we and lunch at the Stage Deli at the Mirage and lunch dessert at Max Brenner in the Forum Shops. Wow Max Brenner was good. For dinner Saturday we had planned on driving to Joe's Crab Shack but the gps took us to a closed location so we ended up at Landry's Seafood. I had some great Oysters there. Sunday was race day and even tho Jeff Gordon blew a tire and slammed the wall we still had a great time. We finally have some really good seats after going to the race for 10 years. Sunday night and the drive home were rather taxing but that is for another post. We can't wait for our next trip to Vegas...the best place for a quick get a way in the country. We may take the kids in July or August. They love the pool at the Mirage.

Universal Studios

Harry Potter

The castle is bigger then i thought it would be

An early morning picture before things got crowded

Let me preface this by saying I know nothing about Harry Potter. Dawn and I arrived at Islands of Adventure sometime in the afternoon and decided to go check out the new Harry Potter Land. That was a mistake. It is very cool but insanely crowded. We went during the off season so I can't imaging what it will be like in the summer. We kept seeing big lines of people everywhere and figured there must be a few more rides then we thought. Wrong...the lines were to get in the gift shops. We're talking long lines for everything. Even the butterbeer. After a brief look around we decided to come back first thing in the morning. The next day we hurried over and there was still a 40 minute wait for the forbidden journey ride. I will say the the wait goes pretty fast. The line is really neat. Talking pictures, real snow falling and Harry Potter talks to you. The ride it's self is a motion sim ride where you follow Harry Potter in a race. Defiantly worth the wait but not my all time favorite ride by any means. All in all the new land was nice. I'm sure it would appeal more to a fan of the series. I think universal should have made everything a bit bigger tho. I can see them not letting ppl in this summer when it reaches gridlock.

A Study in Beaches....Three Beaches in Five Days

Half Moon Cay....You couldn't ask for a nicer beach. Clear blue water and not too crowded.
The ship from Half Moon Cay

Megans Bay, St. Thomas A very nice beach.
Megans Bay
Governors Beach, Grand Turk, One of our favorite beaches. Nice white sand and deep blue water.

Swimming in January was something different for me. I think knowing that it was cold back home made our beach days that much better. Half Moon Cay was fabulous. Clear blue water, white sand and about 85 degrees. We really couldn't have had better weather. The only negative....we had to get back on the boat.

Dining Extravaganza 2011

Ok, I'm going to start with the appetizers and work my way to dessert...So sit back and enjoy.

Seared Scallops, Yachtsman Steakhouse

Tchoup Chop Crunchy Shrimp and Steamed Pork & Asian Vegetable Dumplings
New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp, Petite Rosemary Biscuit and Stone Crab Claws, Emeril's Orlando

These huge turkey legs are damn good!
Dragon roll and California roll, Orchid Lounge, Royal Pacific. I wish i had a plate of these right now.
Trio of Escargots Baked in Brioche, Stuffed in Fondue Potatoes, and Classic Bourguignonne. Supper Club, This may have been the best thing we ate on the whole trip. Amazingly good.

Lobster Bisque with Vintage Cognac, Fleuron and Fresh Cream, Supper Club

Shrimp Cocktail, Supper Club


Conch Fritters, St. Thomas. I can't remember the name of the bar we were in. All I remember is that Dawn was drunk off one drink and needed food. I'll explain later lol

Pot Stickers and General Tso's Chicken Dumplings, Nine Dragons, World Showcase


Fried Oysters Rockefeller, Narcoossee's...very tasty

Blue Lump Crab Cake with Potato Crust, Brown Derby

Butternut Squash Bisque with Spiced Creme Fraiche, Brown Derby. This might be the best soup I've ever had.

I don't remember the name of this appetizer but it was very interesting. On the bottom is venison pate, smoked duck sausage in the middle and very strong! blue cheese on the lower left. Behind the bread is beef tartar (raw beef) and the cheese on the right is creamy and very ripe. Overall pretty good and it was fun to try something different. Yachtsman Steakhouse

It's hard to go wrong with lobster bisque. Les Chefs de France

Cheese plate from Les Chefs de France. The cheeses I remember from top to bottom are Brie, Gruyere, Goat Cheese and something that tasted like soft Munster. I can't remember the name of it though.