On the road: Philadelphia

The City of Brotherly Love is alway one of my favorites. I could walk around the streets of Philadelphia for days just soaking in the history and looking at all the old buildings. We stayed at a bed and breakfast just two blocks from South Street and the Italian Market. We walked through the oldest neighborhood in the United States. I took a picture of a cat that was greeting us. We saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and eat a Philly cheese steak from Jim's Steak on South Street. I've never had a sandwich so good. We even drank a Guiness in a 300-year-old pub. I love Philly.

On the road: Washington, D.C.

We arrived in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The heat and humidity made showers worthless. Just walking from the Metro station to the Mall made me sweat. I can't wait to get back to Colorado's dry climate. Never again will I complain about my feet and lips cracking from the dry air. I love the Mall and every time I visit the Vietnam Memorial I cry. We spent two days in Washington touring the capitol and visiting with my uncle, aunt, cousins and my step father's brother. Friday we left for Philly.

With help from our readers..

Our photographers cannot be everywhere all the time, so when extraordinary events happen we look to our readers to share with us. On Wednesday a tornado touched down in Woodland Park; a very rare occurence. We were fortunate that several people took photos and shared with us. Here are one from Mel Riley



and Connie Carpenter.




Thank you to all who shared. If you have photos or video of extraordinary events please feel free to share with us. You may email us at photo@gazette.com or call us at 719-636-0265.

On the road: day 8 ghost town

Monday night we took a walking ghost tour in the historic district of downtown Savannah. The town is known as the most haunted city in the United States and our tour guide had many stories to support the claim from the book and movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" to his own experiences. I was more scared of the giant bugs than ghost, but it was fun walking through the old mansions and parks. A side note: our tour guide was filling in for the normal guide who had a "bruised tongue." That's one I've never heard before. Savannah, which was founded in 1733, has some of the coolest buildings along the river and in the neighborhoods downtown. I could have spents days wondering around the city.

On the road: day 7 Murdocks meet the ocean

Savannah, Ga., is everything you imagine. Mansions, Spanish moss hanging from the old trees and hotter than hell so we did what the locals do-- hit the ocean. Unlike the Pacific Ocean on the coast of Washington and Oregon, the Atlantic here is warm. Our good friend and former Gazette intern Hunter McRae joined us for hours of fun in the water. The only thing about the ocean is the water tastes bad and being from the Northwest I relate warm water to fresh water lakes, not the ocean. I drank some salt before I had my mind retrained. We eat boiled peanuts on the way back to the city. Never heard of them before, but they were great. A southern thing Hunter, who grew up on the coast of South Carolina, told us. And since we were in the most haunted city in the United States we had to take a ghost tour. Next blog.

On the Road: day 5 and 6 Asheville

Asheville, N.C. and a Froehlich family wedding make for a great weekend. We drove from Nashville to Asheville Friday morning and arrived in the North Carolina mountain town in the early afternoon. Asheville is a large Manitou Springs in the rolling hills of the Great Smokey Mountains. I can only imagine how beautiful the area is in the fall. The town has great restaurants and shops including an old Woolworths with a soda fountain. I only wish they had the old soda fountains and milkshake maker, but then again, they probably wouldn't still be working. We went to check out the world-famous Biltmore Estates but didn't get past the visitors center because the tour takes four to five hours and cost $42 per adult. Not this time. We were in Asheville to visit family and help my cousin celebrate her wedding. And we did in Froehlich family fashion. My family is crazy like me, but some of the best people in the world. Unfortunately, I don't see them enough since the Froehlichs are spread across the country from Seattle to Portland to Montana to Las Vegas to Asheville. But this weekend in North Carolina was like every family gathering some of the best times of my life. On to Savannah, Ga.

On the road: day 4 Nashville

Nashville. Amazing. If you love live music, it's the place for you. We visited three of hundreds of bars in the area with live music. Broadway street in downtown Nashville had a dozen great places to go and one of my favorites was Tootsies. The walls were filled with signed pictures of the artists who have played there. Many would sneak in through the back door between sets at the Ryman, which was the old Grand Ole Opry. The bar had two stages. It was a gritty, cool bar and I only wish the walls could speak. Jacob Lyda was playing when we arrived shortly after lunch. No cover at any of the clubs we found and one act after the other. I could have spend a week in Nashville, but tomorrow we are off to Asheville for my cousin's wedding. I'll be back. Nashville is my kind of place.

On the road: day 3

Memphis has Graceland and we checked it out in the morning and Memphis' Beale Street has its blues and great restaurants that are a must see, but my favorite place in town was Sun Studios where so many greats have recorded like Johnny Cash, Elvis, U2, Tom Petty, Jerry Lee Lewis and the legned B.B. KIng. Our tour guide was a ham, as you can see in the picture, above and the cafe was fun too. On to Nashville.

On the road: day 2

Tuesday, June 19, we visited The Clinton Library in Little Rock, Ark., a place worth seeing. Afterward we found Little Rock Central High School where 50 years ago this September nine courageous blacks entered a white high school to break segregation. What an amazing thing to see. I looked into one of the classroom window and saw a poster of Martin Luther King, Jr., on the wall and it made me think: Can you imagine learning about the history of civil rights in the United States and studying an event that took place at your high school? Across the street is the restored gas station that stood there in 1957. It's used as the visitors’ center for the national monument to remember the event. A new visitors center is being built across the street and should be finished by the 50th anniversary this fall.

On the road: day 1

The Oklahoma City National Memorial is something everyone should see. We stopped there Monday night and spent a good hour walking around the grounds. Moving. Earlier in the day, we stopped by the Big Texas Steak House where we watched two guys attempt to eat a 72-ounce steak. My eight ounces of prime rib was too much. We stopped at the Cadillac Ranch in Amirillo, Texas. We spent the night in Shawnee, Ok., 680 miles, and will drive to Memphis today. A motel with a guitar-shaped pool is waiting for us.

Next week I'm on the road

This Monday I head east on a two-week adventure with my wife and daughter. We'll be attending my cousin's wedding in Asheville, N.C., visiting friends and family in Savannah, Ga.,and Washington, D.C. and exploring everything I can in between. I'll contribute to this blog during our journey and I'll be sharing our experiences with you in a future Gazette travel story.

Local favorites

I wanted to share with you some of the fine work my collegues at The Gazette produced this week. The photo of the dance students, above, was shot by Kirk Speer.
Below is Kevin Kreck's feature of the new fountain at America the Beautiful Park. Sadly, we didn't have room in the paper for this feature. Below that is Carol Lawrence's picture of a geese roundup. And at the bottom is our intern Mike Terry's picture of 1-year-old Mya Thegerson who survived a fall from a two-story window.

To crop or not to crop

I ran across this photo on the wire today of the Mississippi State baseball players celebrating their defeat of Clemson in the NCCA super regional baseball tournament today. Associated Press photographer Jim Lytle took the Picture. I liked the layers of the joyful players and the fans in the background. I liked the player with his arm pointing toward the sky, but I didn't like all the dead space in the top corners of the background. If you crop the photo tighter, the emphasis is stronger on the players’ faces and you can still see the fans in the background. But you lose the body language of the arm in the air. What do you think? After looking at it again I lean toward the cropped version because the facial expressions are great and the crop really enforces that.

Shadowing Joe

Anyone who follows college football knows what Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno looks like. His big nose and thick glasses are icons in the sport. And anyone who has sat through a coach's press conference knows how non visual they can be. Associated Press photographer Bardley C. Bower did a great job of capturing an interesting photo out of a boring situation. He shot the shadow of Paterno and the outline of his nose and glasses makes it clear who is doing the talking. A great example of thinking before you press the shutter.

Ships and sunsets

The German tall ship Gorch Fock lies at anchor as the sun sets and a helicopter flies by in the anchorage for tall ships in preparation for Sail Virginia 2007 as part of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, in Norfolk, Va., Thursday, June 7, 2007. Just a nice images from the wire today shot by Associated Press photographer Steve Helber. I also like the contrast between the modern mode of transportation, the helicopter, and old, the sail ship.

Talk about a demonstration

Associated Press photographer Michael Probst captured the mass chaos at a protest in Germany. Tens of thousands of people were protesting against the upcoming G-8 Summit in Rostock, northeastern Germany, Saturday, June 2. Probst's photo is one that you can stare at for a long time with it's many layers.

Eiffel fun

Here's a cool picture from today's Associated Press photo wire. AP Photographer Michael Sawyer shot the image of a professional scuba instructor taking a practice dip in a pool beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Paris. Would-be divers can take the plunge in the pool beneath the Paris landmark. A dozen professional scuba instructors offer one-on-one lessons in the heated, above-ground pool at the foot of the tower as part of an initiative to promote the sport among Parisians and visitors.

Photo exhibit showcases young photographers

The work of seven talented Pine Creek High School students is showcased Saturday, June 2, in the Life section of The Gazette and online at http://www.gazette.com/interactives/pinecreek.
The students worked on the "Community" project with digital photography teacher Tiffanie Davis and myself last school year. A photo exhibit opens Saturday at the Pikes Peak Library District's Briargate branch, 9475 Briar Village Point, Suite 100, with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. The show runs through July 31. Check it out. The picture above was taken by Nicole Pederson, who did her project on the retirement community.
Gazette designer Andy Rohrback created the main page for the online presentation. That alone is worth checking out. Thank you Andy.