When I was young, my awesome mom used to let me have pets and other things most parents would never let their little boys have. I had about a dozen different pet snakes over the years, a couple lizards and a couple carnivorous plants. My meat eating plant of choice was the Venus Fly Trap and I used to watch it for hours. If you have never seen one in action check out this video I found on Vimeo. I found some others on you tube you could search for, but they are a little to gory to share here.

I share all that to let you know of the fascination I have with strange creatures. When I saw this Pitcher Plant at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, I couldn’t resist taking a picture. If you do not know, Pitcher Plants are another form of carnivorous plant. They use the sweet nectar inside the flute you see in the picture to draw bugs in, and then they get stuck to the nectar which then slowly digests them. Sorry, a little graphic I know, but in my opinion that’s what’s makes these some of the most interesting plants in the world. Hope you enjoyed the somewhat educational descriptions. Now I want to go buy a Venus Fly Trap again:-)

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This picture was taken in Cappadocia, Turkey.  Cappadocia is home to one of the strangest landscapes I have seen in my life.  Large rock structures of may different shapes and sizes jut out of the ground throughout this interesting region with a very interesting history.  Some places remind me of the Grand Canyon while other remind me a desert, but different from any I’ve seen before.  This particular picture was taken near some of the many common rock houses in Cappadocia.

The houses in the rock are surprisingly comfortable as they keep the desert temperatures outside and give the dweller a cool temperature inside.  They were used for protection from enemies and for hiding during the ancient times and Cappadocia is even mentioned in the Bible a few times and was visited by Paul.

While staying in Cappadocia I got to experience first hand sleeping in a house carved out of the rock.  I stayed in a hostel that was carved out of rock and really enjoyed the experience.  The temperature inside was perfect and it was a very pleasant experience.  If you are in Turkey, I highly recommend taking a couple days to go explore Cappadocia.

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It’s spring time again!  I love seeing the new flowers, birds and green everywhere.  Here is a picture I took while on a visit to Callaway Gardens in Georgia.  This is a picture of one of the plant leaves there.  I love how much fine detail can be seen in the leaf and how the light shines through so nicely.  Even something as seemingly normal as a leaf can still be beautiful with a new angle or perspective.

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New York is such a busy city with so much life and excitement.  If you are only going to be in New york for a short time, but want to make sure to see one of the famous sights while at the same time experiencing the cities fast pace lifestyle – Grand Central Station.  There are always people there no matter what time you visit and if you want to see the most and don’t mind huge crowds check it out at rush hour.  It is quite a different experience from the more desolate places on earth.

This was taken on a trip to New York for new years in 2009.  My then fiance and two other friends all headed up for a couple days of sseing the sights around D.C. and New York and for the experience of being in Time Square for New Years.  It was cold, but fun and a great road trip all around.  This shot is composed of 6 HDR shots which have been merged together.

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Took this picture while on a trip sponsored by the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education. They have taken us on many great trips to see Korean culture, history and heritage. This is a picture of Bu Seok Sa Temple in Andong. We visited in the fall and the colors were so beautiful.

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I took this picture while we were stopped to check out the white desert.  The man in the picture is one of the drivers.  It was fun to talk to our driver and learn a little bit about him, his family and living in the desert.

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This picture was taken in one of my friends yards around sunset.  She was gracious enough to let me stay with her family and show me around the city.  She also took me on a hike and to an Australian Rules Football game which I actually liked more than American Football.  I hope to visit Australia again for a longer stay and visit my friends there again.

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Me and some friends I had met from Canada took a mid afternoon swim in the lagoon and enjoyed getting a massage from the powerful waterfall.  I hope to go back and visit Costa Rica soon and enjoy more of this beautiful country.

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Here is a curious mother and son Kangaroo we saw while visiting the golf course.  On the way back to Melbourne we saw one of the most amazing rainbows I have ever seen in my life and it seemed to last for hours!  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Great Ocean Road and getting to see and hang out with a relatively new friend while doing it.

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After enjoying a couple days in Sydney, I headed down the coast to the very designer friendly city of Melbourne.  I did not know before I arrived, but Melbourne is a hub for fashion, art, graphic and industrial design as well as architecture.  I really enjoyed this city full of young, vibrant and friendly people and enjoyed catching up with some old and new friends.

Melbourne has some of the most beautiful and interesting architecture I have seen in my travels as you can see in this shot of a parking garage.  That’s right!  These bright orange slats are used to cover up a parking deck.  If their parking decks look this good, you can imagine how much more architectural beauty is sprinkled throughout the city.

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One of our co-teachers took us on a trip to go see the beach and countryside near Ulsan on out way back from an EPIK training.  One of the places we stopped was Jujeon Beach.  It is famous for it’s unique smooth black pebbles that make up the beach instead of more typical sand.  While there, we noticed a man diligently hanging hundreds of fresh squid to dry for delicious snacking later and asked to take his picture.

He was very kind and allowed us to take a picture with him and then one of just himself as seen here.  He has a very warm and friendly smile just like many of the friends we have met in Korea.

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Busan is the second largest city in South Korea.  The city is full of fun things to do and see.  One of the thing we enjoy doing here is to check out the shopping in Nompodong.  It is a mix of new and expensive retail stores and, the stores we can afford, flea market type stalls with clothing, souvenirs, used equipment and nick-knacks of all types.  This is a picture of one of the numerous clothes menders there.  These menders usually buy clothes, repair them and sell the to the flea market clothing stalls, but sometimes sell the clothes they’ve repaired themselves.  They can also, for a small fee, mend any of your clothes if you wish.

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Loved the reflection of the fall colors in the nice lines of this classic car.  This was taken on the same trip as the previous picture The Beauty of Death.  I always enjoy when nature and man-made designs compliment each other’s beauty and this is no exception!

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This picture was taken while on a hike in the North Georgia Mountains in the fall.  It is great to visit in the fall because of the beautiful yellows, oranges and reds that make the mountains look like they are on fire.  It is truly breathtaking and beautiful to see.  This was taken later on in the fall when the colors are a little more muddied and turning more towards brown.  I liked the peacefulness this composition seemed to give with the mossy log and fallen leaves.  Just goes to show how God can make something as sad as death have such beauty.  The log is dead, the leaves are dying, but the beauty is unmistakable.

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Just got to go to Kyoto for the first time about a month ago.  If there is one place you can visit in Japan and you are mostly interested in history and culture, I would say make sure you go to Kyoto!  It felt like Valerie and I had stepped back in time with all the ancient Temples, Shrines, Houses and Palaces in superb condition sprinkled throughout this amazing city.  One of my favorite things to see an photograph was the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine because of the vibrant colors and unique look an feel.  But one of my favorite sights to see and check off my bucket list was The Golden Pavilion.  I found the area around the pavilion to be very picturesque and peaceful and was glad to have been able to see it in person after seeing it in so many documentaries and photographs.

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