Grand Canyon

September 16, 2020

Grand Canyon National Park, Nevada

Mom and I have talked about taking a trip out west to visit my brother in Los Angeles for many years now and we finally bought the plane tickets and took the trip. We started in Atlanta and flew to Las Vegas. 2020 was an unpresented year for many reasons but the most impactful event was a global pandemic caused by COVID-19. Because of the quarantine restrictions, most of the traditional Vegas restaurants and shows were closed so we had to settle for watching the fountain show at the Bellagio and losing our change at the slot machines.

After a couple of days in Vegas, we rented a convertible Ford Mustang and made the drive east to Nevada. We made it to the Grand Canyon just in time for a short afternoon hike. The views were stunning and could have been used for the background of a post card. I'll cherish the time spent on this mother-son trip for a lifetime. We stayed in Flagstaff for the night and then drove west to LA to see my brother where we walked Hollywood Boulevard, met my brother's friends, spent time walking the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and shared food and drinks on a beachside patio.

Arcole 2020: The Third Time Wasn't the Charm

December 14-17, 2019 & January 3, 2020

Arcole, Mississippi

Arcole Hunting Club

There is always an optimism in deer camp at the beginning of a hunt and this was my 3rd year hunting at Arcole with David and Mark. Everyone is excited to get back into the woods and reconnect with your hunting partners from years before. Hunts are typically planned well ahead of time so that all of the major factors can be considered and optimized: a new moon is always preferable to a full moon because it's more difficult for the deer to be active at night, colder weather always incites daytime activity and the mating cycle of the local deer population. We started this hunt a little earlier in the year and most of the influencing factors were not in our favor. For most of the hunt we had a full moon and lots of nocturnal deer activity, warm weather and limited reports of rut activity. We saw a few deer but it was mostly during the middle of the day and the pigs on the property were more active during hunting hours than the deer. I caught a quick video of a big black boar one morning running through the woods but he never really stopped so I could get a shot. David continued the hunt in January when the weather was colder and the bucks were rutting and he was able to take a nice 8-point.