My grandparents from Wisconsin were visiting my parents in Phoenix. They took a drive down to the Old Pueblo to visit me, so I thought we’d go check out the San Xavier del Bac Mission. This was my first trip back to the mission since I was a little, and my grandparents really enjoyed it.
Well, I worked another two weeks straight and finally took another day off. This time I got to see a real fortress: Skipton Castle. This beast withstood a three-year siege and has 6-foot thick walls!
I was on another business trip to England. I took an afternoon off and checked out Ripley Castle, which was more of a wealthy family mansion than the stereotypical medieval castle. Still, the place was beautiful and there was a rich history behind the castle.
I thought the mine smelter was so cool that I brought my old high school friend Nathan and his brother Brandon back there on New Year’s Day. We explored a little more and found some abandoned mines. We didn’t have a flashlight so I cleverly took a flash picture of my hand, resulting in an all-white photo. The white LCD screen on the camera was light enough to allow us to explore each mine, one at a time.
The Smoldts, longtime family friends, were in AZ and so we took them on a hike in the Mazatzals to see an old mine smelter.
