Bob the Builder

Volunteering for the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame

2008-02-24T15:39:00.002-05:00

I originally wrote this post for my office's blog last week and since I have not posted anything here for quite a while, I thought I would post it here as well...

Since working as a volunteer for Super Bowl XL, I periodically have had opportunities to volunteer for other events in the Detroit area. I recently had the wonderful opportunity to work as a volunteer for the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame (MSHOF) for their recent annual induction ceremony. The MSHOF has been honoring former professional and amateur athletes, coaches and members of the media since 1954.

This year’s inductees included Steve Yzerman from the Detroit Red Wings, Desmond Howard and Glen Rice from the University of Michigan, Ray Scott, a former player and coach of the Detroit Pistons and broadcaster Frank Beckman from WJR radio.

One of the best highlights of the ceremony was the presentation of the MSHOF’s Tony Filippis Courage award to Cheryl Angelelli. She is paralyzed from the chest down as the result of a diving accident during swimming practice when she was fourteen. Now competing as a Paralympic swimmer, she is a double world gold medalist and is preparing to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.

The MSHOF is presently looking for a permanent home in the Detroit area to be able to display permanent exhibits honoring athletic achievements of professional and amateur athletics at all levels in Michigan. Plaques honoring those who have been inducted are currently being displayed on walls in Cobo Cener.

Lunar Eclipse

2007-09-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

There was an early morning lunar eclipse back on August 28. I set my camera up on a tripod and took a few pictures.

More DC Pictures-Arlington National Cemetery

2007-07-04T21:25:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from Arlington National Cemetery.

John F. Kennedy's grave and the eternal flame.

This is Arlington House which was the home of Robert E. Lee and his family prior to the civil war.

The Tomb of the Unknowns.

The "Changing of the Guard" ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

These are memorial markers for the crews of the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

The first picture is the Canadian Cross of Sacrifice which honors U.S. citizens who joined the Canadian armed forces during World Wars I & II and the Korean War. The second picture is the Tomb of the Unknown Civil War Soldiers.

DC Pictures

2007-06-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Maryland, by way of Washington, DC, to attend the memorial service of my great uncle who passed away recently. Here are some pictures from some sight-seeing I was able to do.

My great uncle was a veteran of World War II and grew up in West Virginia. I took these pictures at the World War II memorial with a flag that I purchased in DC.

This is President Bush arriving is his helicopter that landed near the Washington Monument. I didn't get a very good look at him getting off because there were too many people in front of me and he got into his limousine very quickly.

More TigerTown Pictures

2007-06-04T21:10:00.000-04:00

Here are some more TigerTown statues I photographed last week.

TigerTown

2007-05-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

There are some tiger statues that are now on display around the metro Detroit area. There are around 80 tiger statues and each has been painted by a local artist. They will only be out on display until late June and then they will be auctioned off to benefit some local children's charities. Here is a lin k to more information and the locations of the tigers.

The majority of the tigers are located in Oakland County with around half of them in Birmingham but here are pictures of a few that are in Detroit.

"Wild Thing"

"Bullish on TigerTown"

"Tiger Tales"

"Astro-Paw, the Cat-Stronaut"

"Herman"

I will post more pictures as I find more of the tigers.

Play Ball!

2007-04-06T23:15:00.000-04:00

The Detroit Tigers played their season opening game on Monday at Comerica Park against the Toronto Blue Jays, and yes I was able to attend the game again this year! The weather was great (low 60s), but unfortunately the Tigers lost 3-2 in 10 innings.

Hanging out with Paws outside the stadium before the game.

Gary Sheffield and Justin Verlander

Brandon Inge and a woman who works in the Tigers' front office held up a replica 0f the 2006 American League Championship banner after which the real banner was raised on a pole behind center field.

The players are lined up on the field after the pre-game introductions and the National Anthems (Canadian and U. S.) are sung.

Even the game time temperature now has its own sponsor!

Here are some pictures of the game itself:

Go Tigers!!

Detroit's Winter Blast

2007-02-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

This is my first post with pictures from my new camera!

Last weekend I worked as a volunteer at the 2007 Detroit's Winter Blast (formerly known as the Motown Winter Blast). Here are some pictures of some of the ice sculptures that were on the street in the Greektown area.

2007 Detroit Auto Show

2007-02-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

I made my annual visit to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with my friened Randy MacLeod back on January 15. Unfortunately my camera died on me after I was there for only about 15 or 20 minutes (the viewfinder screen went black and the lens would not retract when I turned off the power).

Here are some of the few pictures I was able to get before my camera died:

The Lincoln MKR concept car and the JaguarXKR convertible.

Two versions of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

The Mazda Ryuga concept car.

The Ford Airstream concept vehicle.

Here are a couple of online pictures I got from the Dodge display with the Viper SRT 10 and the Avenger.

Good news! I just got a new camera this past week so I will back to take pictures again soon.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library

2006-12-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I went over to Ann Arbor to see the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. It is on the campus of the University of Michigan where the former president attended college and played football. I have been to the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids a couple times, but until the news coverage of President Ford's death I did not know that his library was in Ann Arbor. Most of the exhibits are at the museum but there are a few things to see at the library. The library is mainly for research and houses a collection of written documents from his presidency.

Someone left a yellow rose next to the sign in front of the library.

This is President Ford's office he kept at the library. The furniture is from his congressional office he had in Washington, DC.

Gerald Ford played football for the University of Michigan. They won the national championship two of the years he played. There was a letter on display that he received from the Green Bay Packers in 1935 asking him to play for them for $110 per game.

Back in the summer of 2005 I was in Grand Rapids and walked around on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. (I didn't go inside because it was almost closing time when I got there.) This is where he will be buried.

Hawk Mountain

2006-12-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

While visiting my brother and his family in eastern PA over the Thanksgiving weekend I took my nephew Matt up to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. It is an area in the Appalachain Mountains where migrating raptors (hawks, vultures, falcons and eagles) fly over during their fall maigration south.

Here are some views from the lookouts.

The weather was pretty good allowing for good views of a fairly decent number of raptors considering it was pretty late in the migration season. The first picture is a black vulture from behind that came very close to the main observation lookout. The second picture is a red-tailed hawk that also flew fairly close overhead.

Here are pictures of Matt and me.

WDIV Phone Bank

2006-12-02T15:30:00.000-05:00

Time to catch up a little bit.

About three weeks ago I was at the studios of WDIV (chnannel 4) in Detroit. I helped out with a phone bank that we had there to raise money for the United Way. I didn't take phone calls, but recorded pledges on a laptop computer. They put us in a back room where a camera was set up to do live shots to put us on TV during their noon, 5:00 p.m and 6:00 p.m. newscasts as well as at other times during the day. I was there from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The first picture is of the United Way employees/volunteers with Andrew Humphrey, a channel 4 weathercaster (center left) and Katie Smith, point guard for the WNBA Detroit Shock (center right). The WNBA championship trophy is on the table in front of Katie.
The second picture is of our group with former Detroit Piston basketball player Dave Bing. (He's the tall guy in the middle:). )

Channel 4 weathercaster Chuck Gaidica did the live shots for the 5:00 and 6:00 newscasts in the phone bank room. Here I am doing some work on the computer.

I had someone take my picture holding the channel 4 mic. "This Bob Jacobs reporting for Local 4..."

State Champs...Again!!

2006-11-07T23:09:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the Inter-City Baptist High School boys soccer team. This past Saturday, they won the Michigan Division 4 boys high school soccer championship the for the second year in a row!

World Series

2006-10-25T22:55:00.000-04:00

I went downtown with my friend Chris Lapan on Saturday afternoon to take some pictures and to see what was going on before the start of game #1 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Spirit of Detroit statue finally gets to wear a Tigers jersey.

We then went over to Comerica Park to walk around outside of the stadium (since we did NOT have tickets to get into the game).

This limo was parked outside Comerica Park.

I picked up free "Go Tigers" sign.

Here are some of the people we people saw who were showing their "Tiger Spirit":

Here's a picture of the scoreboard and some banners that are on many of the light posts downtown.

And finally, this just arrived in my mail today! Yes, I was able to purchase a ticket to game #7 on the day of the public sale of the World Series tickets. If there is no game seven I get my money back but I get to keep the ticket.

GO TIGERS!!!

Update - Tigers Are The American League Champions!

2006-10-14T20:35:00.000-04:00

Tigers Win! Tigers Win! The Tigers are going to the World Series!!!

Detroit Tigers-ALCS Playoffs

2006-10-14T14:10:00.000-04:00

I was able to go to yesterday's Detroit Tigers' playoff game against the Oakland A's. The Tigers won the game 3-0 and are one game away from going to the World Series for the first time since 1984!

The National Anthem was sung by the Temptations Review followed by a flyover by a pair of Air Force jets.

I had really good seat on the aisle only 5 rows up from the upper deck concourse right next to third base.

Everyone was given a Tigers Rally Towel to wave during the game.

Starting pitcher Kenny Rogers walks off the field to a standing ovation during the 8th inning after shutting down the A's, only giving up 2 hits. A fan holds up a broom at the end of the game hoping the Tigers will sweep the series with a win in the next game.

GO TIGERS!!!

Red Wings vs. Tigers

2006-09-16T23:15:00.000-04:00

Thanks to some free tickets from my office, this past Saturday a friend and I went down to Comerica Park and got to see many of the Detroit Red Wings' current players take on a team of former Detroit Tigers Alumni in a charity softball game. The old baseball players beat the young hockey players 10-5 but it was very entertaining.

Here are some of the many pictures that I took -

Former Tigers Bill Freehan and Darrell Evans.

Red Wing Tomas Holmstrom and Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay.

The new Red Wings captain Nick Lidstom. Pavel Datsyuk, Kirk Matltby and TV analyst Mickey Redmond (also a former Red Wing player).

Paws entertains the fans.

Jack Morris pitched for the Tigers Alumni. Larry Herndon also played for the Tigers Alumni.

Fomer Tiger pitcher Dave Rozema and Red Wing Chris Chelios.

Jack Morris, before and after he hit the game's only home run.

Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper.

Post-game team photos.

Peniel Bible Camp

2006-08-20T21:14:00.000-04:00

I spent the week of August 7-12 working at Peniel Bible Camp in central Ohio for their August family camp helping out in their kitchen.

Here are some pictures I took around the camp -

This was my own little cabin for the week. It did have an air conditioner so it was quite comfortable.

We had a very nice sunset on the second night.

Here's a picture of the fog on the lake early one morning. (I was up at 6:00 a.m. almost every morning in order to be at the kitchen by 7:00 to help get breakfast ready.)

Here I am in the dishwasher room where I spent a lot of time during the week.

Here is the kitchen staff I had the privilege of working with during the week. The lady who is second from the right is Melody Peeler. She is the camp's head cook and is the sister of Mark Perry, a graduate of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

Impact Class-Tigers Game

2006-07-22T21:58:00.000-04:00

Last night, a group from our ICBC Impact Class went down to Comerica Park to watch the BEST team in baseball this year win yet another game against the Oakland A's.

Me, Peter, Chris, Mike, Daniel and Matt are ready to cheer the Tigers on to victory. Dan looks for the hot dog guy but he was all the way over on the other side of the stadium.

Here are Kelley and Meredith, who were the only two ladies in the group, sitting with Kevin and Dan. Daniel and Matt are enjoying the excitement of baseball in the Motor City.

Tom and Randy doing "the wave". The scoreboard at the end of the game shows that the Tigers won 7-4!

Here are some highlights of the post-game fireworks show.

Stanley Cup at Compuware

2006-07-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon the aforementioned owner of the Carolina Hurricanes brought the Stanley Cup to Detroit and put it on display for the public at his Compuware headquarters. I went over to see it and got my picture taken with it.

Henry Ford Museum

2006-07-15T15:30:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday I went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, mainly to see the traveling exhibit from the Baseball Hall of Fame called "Baseball as America".

The exhibit had a lot of cool baseball stuff but unfortunately there was no photography allowed in that area.

Click here to see pictures from the rest of the muesum.

Compuware Banner

2006-06-29T21:50:00.000-04:00

The owner of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, Peter Karmanos, is also the chairman and CEO of Compuware in Detroit. This banner now hangs above the entrance to Compuware's headquaters in downtown Detroit.

Hot Air Balloons

2006-06-26T22:52:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday I went with some friends to the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest in Howell, MI.

Kevin and Kevin watch intently as the balloons are being launched.

Check out Kelley's blog for more pictures.

My Nephew's Graduation

2006-06-12T20:45:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I travelled to eastern Pennsylvania to see my brother's oldest son Steve graduate from high school (Upper Bucks Christian School , Sellersville, PA). My sister and her family were also there.

Here are some pictures...

Steve and his brother Matt, who will be a high school senior this fall.

My brother Larry and his wife Wendy with steve. Steve and me at the reception after the graduation.

My sister Barb, her husband Mark and their kids, Nathan and Allison.

Bird-Watching

2006-05-18T20:35:00.000-04:00

One of my hobbies is bird-watching or "birding" as it is known among those who regularly participate in the activity. This past Saturday I went to Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, which is part of Crane Creek State Park in Oak Harbor, OH - about 20 miles east of Toledo on the shore of Lake Erie. It is considered one of the best place in the midwest to see birds during their spring migration. It is an especially good spot to see warblers, which are colorful little songbirds.

The day I was there turned out to be a excellent day to see many different species of the warblers, many close enough that binoculars weren't even necesary to get a good look. However, getting good pictures of these birds can be quite challenging because usually they only stay still for a few seconds at a time, hopping from one branch to another. I did manage to get a few shots that turned out pretty well.

The first bird is a female Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (the male has a scarlet patch on his head). The second, I believe is a Eastern Wood-Pewee.

Here is a Black-Throated Green Warbler and a Magnolia Warbler.

The best bird of the day that I was able to photograph was this Golden-Winged Warbler. It is an uncommon sighting in this area and the first one I had ever seen!

National Anthem

2006-04-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a luncheon in downtown Detroit for over 1,000 people! It was the annual Celebrate Volunteers! Luncheon hosted by my employer, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. The event recognizes outstanding local volunteers. It is probably the biggest event that we put on annually for the community and draws top business leaders and local media from around the metropolitan Detroit area. I was preceded by the Detroit Pistions Drumline, and I though I sang acapella I was later told that the drumline played softly in the background. (I guess I was focusing so hard on not messing up that I didn't pay attention to anything else that was going on, besides, they were in the back of the room. :) ) I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be - it helped that there was a spotligtht in my face so I couldn't see anyone in the audience. :)

Opening Day at Comerica Park

2006-04-10T23:28:00.000-04:00

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Today was the Detroit Tigers' first home game of the season. The quote above is from Song of Solomon 2:11-12. Ernie Harwell, who was a long-time radio announcer for the Tigers before he retired a few years ago, would read this quote before the first game of every season that he broadcast for the Tigers. (Rob Howell has mentioned this on his blog the past couple of years but since I didn't see it there this year so I thought I would put it here.)

Baseball has always been my favorite professional sport to watch or listen to on the radio. However, I only went to Tiger Stadium once to see a game growing up since I lived 2 hours from Detroit. I have been to many games since I have lived in the Detroit area. I don't think there has been a year where I haven't gone to at least two games but I have gone to as many as 6 or 7 games in a few years.

All this to say that yes, I actually went to the game today as I was able to purchase a ticket through the Tigers' website the day they went on sale (I think this is the seventh opening day game I have gone to - the second in Comerica Park). The stadium was very full as opening day has always been a sellout since they moved to Comerica Park in 2000. The crowd was more hopeful than usual for this year's home opener because the Tigers record coming into this game was 5-1! However, they could not stop last year's world series champions, the Chicago White Sox, and lost 5-3. At least the weather was nice - sunny, temperature in the low 60s! I have been to cold opening day games where it was in the 30s.

Here are some pictures -

Some of the people who didn't have tickets trying to see some of the festivities through the fence along the outfield side of the stadium.

The players lined up on the foul lines as they were introduced. Two Air Force jets did a fly-over near the end of the National Anthem. (They flew in so fast I didn't have time to line up the shot. I just pointed my camera where they were flying and hit the shutter button. I think its cool that I even got them at all and they were even in focus!)

Here are a couple of shots of the play on the field looking down from my seat in the upper deck.

The fountain behind center field and the view of some of some of the downtown buildings from inside the stadium.

Here's one of the Tigers up to bat near the end of the game. The scoreboard shows some of the final stats for the game. The time it took to play the game was pretty short, only 2:13 and the attendance was a new record for Comerica Park - 44,179.

Volleyball Tournament

2006-03-26T23:25:00.000-05:00

Our ICBC Impact Class (single adults) along with the Crossroads Class (college) participated in a volleyball tournament for area church singles groups hosted by First Baptist Church of Lake Orion. We had enough people to make up 3 teams - Inter-City "A", Inter-City "B" and Inter-City "C" (such imaginative names). Our "A" was the only team to win more than one game in this triple-elimination tournament. They were the last team standing of the teams in the two loss bracket and lost to the team that won the one loss bracket, who then played the only team remaining that had not lost any games (confusing enough?). Anyway here are a few pictures I took.

"A" team members Kristen and Hector do some stretching before their first game. Peter was getting himself psyched up for the competition.

Dan is showing Peter the correct technique for hitting the ball. Randy and Kristen are taking a break between games.

Matt is ready for some hard-hitting play, and look, there is Kelley in the far right of the picture making her first apperance on the Bob the Builder blog!

Super Bowl Pictures-Downtown Detroit

2006-02-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of how downtown Detroit got "dressed up" for Super Bowl XL.

This is a banner that was hung on a building on Woodward next to the State Theater. The "people" hanging out the windows were supposed to be paparazzi photographers taking pictures of the Cadillac. There were lights flashing on them to simulate camera flashes.

Super Bowl XL banners hung on light poles all around downtown.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield building had cool "Welcome to Our Turf" banners. The Renaissance Center's Marriott Hotel was the NFL and media headquarters and had a large Super Bowl XL logo wrapper around its tower.

Even the "Spirit of Detroit" statue next to the City-County Building was wearing a football jersey. This is probably the only time it will have the opportunity to wear a football jersey as the Lions may never make it to a Super Bowl. (For those who don't know, since the 1990s when the Detroit Red Wings played in the Stanley Cup finals it has become a tradition to dress up this statue with the uniform of any Detroit professional sports team that plays in its league championship.) Hopefully it will be wearing a Pistons jersey again in June, maybe a Red Wings sweater first?!

Super Bowl Week: NFL Experience

2006-02-11T21:49:00.000-05:00

Well, Super Bowl XL and all the activities related to it is over. I think Detroit put on a pretty good show. I sure had a great time! I'm glad I had a chance to work as a volunteer.

My first shift at the NFL Experience was on Thursday evening. I assited in a game booth called the "Halfback Option". In this game a person carried a nerf football like a running back while running through a short maze of obstacles and attempted to throw the ball through a hole in a cut-out figure of a football player at the end. I was stationed at different points in the booth area during my shift retrieving the footballs or handing them to the people at the starting line.

Here I am in my volunteer uniform shirt at a game booth called "Fly for Six" where I worked during my shift on Saturday afternoon. In this game a person took off from the starting line and either had the ball thrown to him/her or had it handed off and then ran through or around some obstacles and jumped through or over the "blockers" in the left of the picture and landed on a big mat.

Here are a few other pictures I took at the NFL Experience.

Here is the Vince Lombardi trophy that goes to the winner of the Super Bowl.

Detroit Auto Show

2006-01-28T15:24:00.000-05:00

I had the day off from work for MLK Day (Jan 16) so I made my annual trek to the Detroit Auto Show, aka the North American International Auto Show with my friend Randy MacLeod. As usual there were many cool concept cars as well as new production models. If you like to look at new cars (and dream of buying one), this is definitely the place to go!

My favorite car of the show was the Chevrolet Camaro concept car. The picture to the right is the Ford Reflex concept car.

Chrysler Imperial (concept), Dodge Challenger (concept)

Here I am in one of my favorite cars, the Mini Cooper, and in a Chrysler Crossfire convertible.

Ford Super Chief (concept), Ford Shelby Mustang GT

Super Bowl XL is Coming to Detroit

2006-01-16T21:16:00.000-05:00

Super Bowl XL is being played in Detroit at Ford Field on February 5, 2006. I am working as a volunteer for the Detroit Super Bowl Host Committee. I will be assisting with the NFL Experience which will be at Cobo Center during the week leading up to the the game. On this past Saturday all 8,000 volunteers got together at Ford Field for a pep rally where we received our final volunteer information and the host committee had a program to get us ready for Super Bowl week.

Here is a picture taken of me with the Detroit Lions mascot Roary and player Dre Bly.

Here are some pictures from the pep rally program:

Channel 7 sportscaster Don Shane was the emcee. Roger Penske is the Detroit Host Committee chariman.

Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was there with his son. Former Detroit Lions player Lem Barney was the keynote speaker.

Merry Christmas from the D!

2005-12-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit.

May you have a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)

Thanksgiving Weekend - Covered Bridges

2005-12-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

I found out that Pennsylvania has many nineteenth century covered bridges that are still standing, including several in Bucks County where my brother lives. On Friday afternoon I drove around upper Bucks County, using a travel book that had a map, and found and photographed seven of them.

Knecht's Covered Bridge

Sheard's Covered Bridge

Loux Covered Bridge

Cabin Run Covered Bridge. (I saw a group of deer in a field on the other side of this bridge-one buck and several doe.)

Frankenfield Covered Bridge

Erwinna Covered Bridge

Uhlerstown Covered Bridge

Thanksgiving Weekend in PA

2005-11-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

I travelled to Richlandtown in southeastern Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving to visit my brother, sister-in-law and their two sons.

Steve is 18 and a high school senior. Matt is 16 and a high school junior.

Soccer Championship Article

2005-11-17T22:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to an article in yesterday's News-Herald. It talks about how the team dedicated their season to Terri Strong, the wife of assistant coach Al Strong who has been diagnosed with cancer and recently underwent surgery to have it removed. Her story hits especially close to home as my mother was about the same age when the Lord took her home as the result of bone cancer.

State Champs!!!

2005-11-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the Inter-City Baptist High School boy's soccer team - the 2005 Michigan High School Division 4 State Soccer Champions!

The Inter-City Baptist Chargers beat North Muskegon 1-0 in overtime to win their first state soccer title since 2000 and their fifth in school history.

Fall Colors

2005-10-29T22:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am finally posting some more pictures to my blog. Today I did one of my favorite annual fall activities. This afternoon I went to Apple Charlie's Orchards & Cider Mill to get some fresh apple cider and then I drove a few miles up the road to Lower Huron Metropark to see the fall colors on the trees.

Colorado Springs Trip - Air Force Academy, Mountains

2005-09-26T22:15:00.000-04:00

On Sunday afternoon on our way back to the Denver airport we stopped at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The campus is on the north side of Colorado Springs right next to the mountains. We were able to go into their visitor center where they have exhibits about the history of the Air Force Academy and a gift shop.

Colorado Springs is in the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains with Pike's Peak being the most prominant. The mountains are visible to the west from anywhere in the area. Here are some of the pictures I took throughout the trip.

I took these while we were out canvassing.

The view from behind our hotel.

Pike's Peak

I took these shots from the passenger seat of our rental van as we drove back to Denver on Sunday afternoon.

Praise the Lord for the beauty of his creation!

Colorado Springs Trip - Sunday Morning Service

2005-09-21T10:40:00.000-04:00

On Sunday morning September 11, 2005 High County Baptist Church held its first official service! The services are currently being held in a local charter school's cafeteria. We all pitched in to help get the room set up. Members of our group also helped in directing cars through the parking lot, greeting people as they came in , helping with the nursery and whatever else needed to be done.

For the service the total attendance was 56 which included the 13 in our group from Inter-City! Praise the Lord for a great beginning for this new church.

Here is a picture of the Parker family (all but Lydia) outside the restaurant where we had lunch.

Here's the newest member of the Parker family, Lydia, who was born on August 12.

Colorado Springs Trip - Royal Gorge

2005-09-17T22:45:00.000-04:00

On Saturday afternoon we drove about an hour south of Colorado Springs to the Royal Gorge near Canon City. Spanning the gorge is the Royal Gorge Bridge which is the world's highest suspension bridge - 1,053 high above the Arkansas River - and 1/4 mile across.

We took the incline railway to the bottom of the gorge - the incline was 45 degrees.

After coming back up from the bottom we walked across the bridge enjoying some awesome views of the gorge and the surrounding mountains.

Colorado Springs Trip - Flying W Ranch

2005-09-13T23:16:00.000-04:00

On Friday evening, after a full day of canvassing we went with the Parkers to the Flying W Ranch. They have a restored western town that we walked around. But the main attraction is their "Chuckwagon Suppers" where we were served cowboy-style food on tin plates and drank from tin cups. Following the dinner we were entertained by a cowboy music show. The evening was very enjoyable.

Colorado Springs Ministry Trip

2005-09-13T23:00:00.000-04:00

From September 8-11 I went on a ministry trip to Colorado Springs, Co with twelve other members of Inter-City Baptist Church. The purpose of the trip was to assist Jason and Monica Parker, church planters sent by ICBC, who are starting High Country Baptist Church. The first service was on Sunday, September 11th.

One of the tasks we set out to accomplish was to help the Parkers get the word out about this new church. We did this by distributing over 9,000 "door-hangers" (Thursday afternoon, all day Friday and Saturday morning) in the area near where the church services will be held. Some in the group also made many telephone calls to local residents.

Here members of the group are in our hotel lobby listening to Jason giving instructions for distributing the door-hangers.

Here is Chris Lapan at a house where he just left a door-hanger.

Labor Day Weekend

2005-09-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I traveled with my Dad to that state south of the border to visit my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece. I have to make the trek on occasion to make sure that my nephew and niece aren't being brainwashed too badly about that school that shall remain nameless, where my brother-in-law is employed (its initials are osu).

Here is a picture of the family - Mark, Nathan (5 yrs), Barb and Allison (3 yrs).

Here are Nathan and Allison eager to hear from Uncle Bob about how the University of Michigan is going to have a stellar football season this year.

Nathan enjoys making things with his K'Nex that he got from his cousin Matt (my brother's son) this summer. Barb and I put together this cool looking guitar on Sunday afternoon. It was almost as tall as Allison!

Finally, here's a picture of Nathan where he made some bracelets with "claws". Nathan said he was Wolverine (of the X-Men). I asked him, " a MICHIGAN Wolverine?" My brother-in-law didn't seem to appreciate the humor of the remark.

CA Trip: Heading Home

2005-08-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

On Friday morning I packed up and headed back to San Francisco to catch my flight out around noon.

I had a few extra minutes to stop and take some pictures of the bridge from the south side.

Here are some pictures from the airplane window.

CA Trip: Mt. Tamalpais and Point Reyes

2005-08-19T23:20:00.000-04:00

After going to the bridge I went up on Mt. Tamalpais, a mountain overlooking the San Francisco Bay to the south and east and the ocean to the west, if there were no fog. The altitude is nearly 2,600 feet at the peak. Fortunately I was able to drive most of the way up. I only had to hike up the last couple hundred feet to reach the top. On the mountain I was above the fog which made it look like you were looking down on clouds to the south and west but the views were still pretty cool.

From Mt. Tamalpais I drove north along the coast to Point Reyes National Seashore where there is a peninsula that juts out into the ocean and there is a lighthouse at the point. When the lighthouse is open you can walk down the 300 steps to it. I got there just a few minutes after they closed so I could only see it from the top of the steps. I hiked along some cliffs and stopped at one of the beaches.

CA Trip: Golden Gate Bridge, Tall Ships

2005-08-17T23:58:00.000-04:00

On Thursday I drove down to the Golden Gate Bridge getting my first good closeup views. ( I did drive over it on the day I flew into San Francisco but I went over it around 10 p.m. and I couldn't see much.) I stayed on the north side of the bridge and first stopped at Vista Point which is right next to the bridge approach. From there you can get on the bridge to walk across it. Once again there was fog from the coast but I was still able to get decent pictures.

Next, I drove up on a hill where I got a better vatage point to see the bridge. As an unexpected bonus I got to see a couple of tall ships coming in for a tall ship festival that started that day in San Francisco.

CA Trip: San Francisco-Part 2

2005-08-16T23:50:00.000-04:00

After returning from Alcatraz I walked through Fisherman's Wharf and over to Ghirardelli Square where I enjoyed a Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae.

Next I went for a ride on one of the famous cable cars. I got on at the end of the Hyde Street line where the cars are turned around by hand on a turntable. The ride was very cool as I got to ride standing on the very back of the car and look downhill as it was pulled up a very steep hill. When you get away from the waterfront you find out very quickly that many of the streets are NOT flat.

I got off the cable car, walked downhill past Chinatown to the Financial District and then up (literally!) to Coit Tower. The walk didn't look that far on the map but what the map didn't tell you is that the last 5 or 6 blocks were straight up the very steep Telegraph Hill! (I'm looking back downhill about 1/2 way up in the 3rd picture.)

After all that walking fortunately there was an elevator to the top of Coit Tower. The views from the tower were nice but were limited because of the fog. That's the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the 3rd picture.

Instead of walking back down the way I went up to the tower one of the locals pointed me toward some steps called the Filbert Steps that are wooden stairs that took me back down the side of the hill toward the waterfront.

After a long but very fun day of sightseeing in San Francisco I boarded the ferry for the trip back to Larkspur.

CA Trip: San Francisco-Part 1

2005-08-15T23:18:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday on spent the day on my own in San Francisco.

I took a ferry in from Larkspur on the north side of San Francisco Bay. That's San Quentin Prison on the right in the first picture.

Coming into the ferry dock...

After getting off the ferry I walked up the Embarcadero to Pier 39.

My next stop was the tour of Alcatraz Island. On the ferry ride over I got as good a view as I could get of the Golden Gate Bridge that day because it was in the fog all day.

More pictures later.

CA Trip: Redwoods and the Coast

2005-08-14T15:38:00.000-04:00

On Monday I went sightseeing with Mike, Kim and their two children - Josiah, 3 and Carolyn, 2.

Our first stop was at Armstrong Woods State Reserve, which is a grove of coast redwoods.

Next we drove to the coast. I was following in my rental car since there wasn't room in the Wests' car with 2 kids in car seats.

We went to a beach called Goat Rock and enjoyed a picnic lunch. This was my only time on the coast that it wasn't foggy. I dipped my feet in the ocean water but it was quite cold.

Later, we drove south along the coast to Bodega Head where we walked along some cliffs overlooking the ocean. We were back in the fog and air felt much cooler.

Next to Bodega Head is the town of Bodega Bay. For those who have seen Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds", here is the schoolhouse that was used in the movie.

Finally, here is a picture of the Wests at Bodega Bay.

California Trip

2005-08-13T22:39:00.000-04:00

As my first attempt at posting to this blog I will begin to share pictures from my trip to California...

From July 23 to July 29 I took my first ever trip to the West Coast (or the "Left Coast" as Rush Limbaugh calls it). I flew to San Francisco and stayed near Santa Rosa - about an hour north - where Mike and Kim West have started True Vine Baptist Church. They are missionaries supported by my home church. In this post (and subsequent ones) I will share some of the pictures I took on this trip.

On Sunday afternoon I did some exploring in Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa was the home of Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, for the last 30 years of his life. Here is a bronze statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

This summer, as a tribute to Charles Schulz there are 55 statues of Charlie Brown that have been painted with different themes and placed all throughout Santa Rosa. I managed to find some of them.

The last one is of course my favorite. It was in front Santa Rosa's ice arena. Who knew Charlie Brown was a Michigan fan?!