OldeBenOutdoors

Paddle up Short Creek with the Huntsville Canoe Club. Become a member and come along next time. https://hccofficial256.wixsite.com/hsvcanoe/about Guntersville State Park. Short Creek put in is to the right over the bridge. https://www.alapark.com/parks/lake-guntersville-state-park Paddle notes: 3:00 minute mark: view of one of several waterfalls, observed current and this point got much stronger upstream as creek narrowed. 3:08 loss of sound (training on Go Pro needed) 3:14 raising paddle to avoid power craft, pretty easy to overlook a kayak on the water. 3:43 rocks/rapids can be seen ahead. only one experienced club member with a fast kayak got close. the rest of us gave up making headway after furious constant paddling

7 day cruise from New Orleans to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. As we have been on this trip before we just went for the ride and some beach time. I would suggest the best thing to do at each stop: Jamaica -Dunn's River Falls Grand Cayman-swim with sting rays Cozumel-scuba/snorkel or pick your own excursion. video description: 1:38 View of New Orleans St. Louis Cathedral from the river 2:20 brief view of interior hallway, approximately 900 feet long 2:23 View from our cabin on deck 8, trying to get video of flying fish. Tiny things on the wavetops at 2:33 , 4:36 and 5:05-5:09 (group) are flying fish. At 5:12 you can see one of the fish travel several hundred feet. 5:20 deck 3 under lifeboats 6:10 right under smokestack, we usually try to play one game of inebriated golf up here. with the ship swaying it gets...unusual. Endless ocean views to Portside. 6:52 Grand Cayman 7 mile beach. All developed, but accessible. We just went for a swim at a beach club.

Climbed back to the top of Monte Sano. The wind was brisk, but the day was perfect.

Yearly birthday hike up and down Monte Sano mountain in Huntsville Al on the overlook trail. January weather is usually awful, but this year clear and low 50s with a strong breeze. Monte Sano is a Huntsville Land trust property, see links for Monte Sano park and Land Trust properties below. I will be doing more of these in the future. Monte Sano link: https://www.alapark.com/parks/monte-sano-state-park Land Trust properties: https://www.landtrustnal.org/

A good place to see the night sky and the Milky Way without light pollution. Found a nice place to stargaze without the back country camping aspect the spouse hates. Sorry about the choppy videos. Film comes from 3 different places on the island on 3 different days. Struggled with Go Pro battery life and a new video editor. Unable to get good video of the Milky Way. Link to Light Pollution map: http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#4/39.00/-98.00 St. George Island link: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/dr-julian-g-bruce-st-george-island-state-park

Drove to near the top of the mountain and hiked the last quarter mile up. Beautiful 360 degree view from the observation platform.

Watching the sunrise while drinking some coffee.

Initial video retaped after technical difficulties.

Review of progress on the food forest. Plants near the greenhouse are actually "blackberries" not raspberries as I said. Winter garden looks boring and dead. Ordering seeds and hoping to get some pallets for free to build shelves in the greenhouse.

In the video I said it was January 2022, but this was actually last summer's video. Doing lots of updates and other stuff on the house, so just sporadic progress outside.

Back yard food forest beginnings.

As part of our "50 States tour" my wife and I visited North Carolina. Toured the Biltmore Estate (Vanderbilt home) in Ashville and I convinced her to try the hang gliding school on the Kitty Hawk dunes. We drove back on the Blue Ridge parkway and drove up to the observation tower at Clingman's Dome, third highest point East of the Mississippi. (following video)