Category Archives: Travel

Belize Retreat

April 11, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

JJC_2123

The shot of Scott is no work of art, but it’s here because it makes me laugh. He’d got up at sunrise and wandered out to the beach to read, only to discover me already out there: shirtless, as I recall, and experimenting with how best to balance light from an off-camera flash unit with the natural light of the sunrise. His expression reveals his role as an unwilling model, his bemusement that I was out there doing that at that hour, and his discomfort that I was shirtless out there taking his picture. Like I said, it makes me laugh.

The couple in the other picture is Kathy Patrick and her husband Arthur. Kathy is one of my long-time G&B friends and partners — a Harvard alum who recruited me to Houston and who is thus one of the reasons life turned out the way it did.

Laughlin, NV with Ricochet

April 7, 2011 by Jeff C | 2 Comments

I got to fly out to Laughlin, NV to spend a week with Ricochet, the country band (of “Her Daddy’s Money” fame) led by two of my Vian, OK childhood buddies, Greg Cook and Heath Wright. Laughlin is a small casino town an hour outside Vegas in the pointy south tip of Nevada. They had a six-day gig at Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort and Casino, which has apparently stood on that site for 50+ years. Entering the place is a trip to the 1970s, but it was lots of fun. We met Don Laughlin himself, and even hung out with his grandson (who works there as a pit boss).

Part of Ricochet’s deal was to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the Laughlin River Stampede (rodeo) each day, so I got to see a high-quality PRCA rodeo with VIP I’m-with-the-band access. One day I took Greg and Heath aboard N3738R for a flying tour over Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and Monument Valley. It was truly great to spend a week with dear “old” friends (let’s just say that Greg is (a) “a little older” than me, and (b) a two-time grandpa).

Mardis Gras and Bacchus

March 8, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

I think this was about my seventh year joining Shane and Michele (and Shane’s enormouse Mardis Gras posse) in NOLA for the Bacchus Ball. It never disappoints. Scott and Stacy Humphries made their debut.

I always say that Mardis Gras can be great for almost anyone, because it is whatever you make it. You want wild? NOLA can surely deliver. But there’s almost literally a parallel universe — just walk down Royal Street instead of Bourbon Street (one block over) and you’re surrounded by art galleries, antique shops, and fancy restaurants (in lieu of Bourbon Street’s bars, strip clubs and bead-solicitors). It’s often surprisingly easy to get a table at the famous (civilized) restaurants (most Mardis Gras visitors go elsewhere).

Ironman Kona 2010

October 15, 2010 by Jeff C | Comments Off

My friend Shane Merz raced in the 2010 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — even for me as a spectator. I’d just bought my new camera (my first “real” camera in 20 years or so). Not bad for a first outing. Oh: Shane did great, too, as his finish-line picture suggests.