Photos Page for LABenson WEB site

I'm proud to be an American! Lowell A. Benson - Engineer/Manager, retired
Please Drive Safely and Sanely!!

Updated 12/20/2009

PHOTOGRAPHY and TRAVEL are retirement hobbies!

September 2009 - We met Jeanne and Dale, touring through Portugal, Morocco, and Spain with a stop at Gibraltar. I've posted over 800 photos as *.pdf slide shows. Click on the underlined words to view them. I may have duplicated some pictures while making the slide shows.

Who slides start with 'fellow traveler' face pictures, then random sides of everyone as the tour group walked around. The 'Entertainers' and 'Natives' are additional person slides.
What slides include shopping in unique places, or enjoying the flora, gaping at the fauna, and looking at monuments. As an old engineer I've put public works items into a special slide show.
Where slides are those not shown as Who or What: Portugal, Seville, Morocco, South, La Mancha, Toledo, and Madrid environs.

If any of our fellow travelers would like to have a couple of *.jpg files for printing - send me the file name and photo description or caption. Sorry if I've misnamed anyone or anything in captions.

August 2008 - We took a 20 day tour beginning in Germany, cruising down the Danube to Bulgaria and the Black Sea. Then an extension through Romania to see Dracula's Castle, etc. This trip was with the friends from Florida whom we'd met on the Egypt tour. Photo posting postponed!

December 2007/January 2008 - We took our family to Hawaii for Christmas. Sorry, I don't put 'immediate family' pictures on the web.

March 2007 - Gloria and I enjoyed a 4-day weekend in Washington State - surprise birthday party for my sister. Pictures available as a slide show.

October/November 2006 - Gloria and I enjoyed a 24 day tour of South America. First stop was Manaus, Brazil where we took a boat ride to the Amazon beginning, then a tour of the city before flying to Rio de Janeiro. In Rio we toured the city gardens and the ocean bay. From there we flew to Iguaussu Falls followed by Buenos Aires, Argentina. While there, we took a second day side trip to Uruguay. After a third day touring a 'gaucho' ranch, we flew to Bariloche, Argentina. Two days later, we took a combination of four buses and three ferry boat rides across the Andes Mountains to Puerto Varas, Chile. After touring Puerto Montt, Chile we flew to Santiago. Two exciting optional tours went to the Undurraga Winery and the ports of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. An early morning flight from Santiago took us to Lima, Peru where we had an city tour. Then we flew to Cusco, Peru - we took a bus from there through the hidden valley for a two night stop. The next morning was the fabulous tour of Manchu Pichu! From the hidden valley another bus ride took us back to Cusco. Nice hotel, then flew back to Lima. Lima to Miami to Atlanta to Minneapolis to end our trip.

November 2005 - We toured Egypt and the Nile led by tour guide, Samy Hassaan. My first night photo taken from our hotel room balcony revealed a faintly lit pyramid in the distance. Day one - The pyramids near GIZA. Day two - an outing to Alexandria. Day three - A pyramid and statues in Sakkara and Memphis. Day four - Luxor including The Valley of Kings and Queens, the Temple of Amon Ra, and the Karnak Temple with a light show. Day five - Cruising the Nile, and the Temple of Horus and passing through a lock. Day six - On the Nile and the Temple of Isis at Kom Ombo. Day seven - Abu Simbel. Day eight - Aswan environs. Day nine - Cairo Mosque and Citadel plus the airport 'peace' globe as we left on day ten. The best tour that we've ever had!!

October 2004 - Gloria and I took a Greece and Aegean Island tour. The land tour visited Athens, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Olympia, Delphi with the temple of Apollo ruins, Kalambaka, the adjacent monasteries, then returned to Athens for a stroll around the Acropolis and Parthenon. The Plaka shopping area near our Athens' hotel was a nice exposure to local people. We then sailed to Ephesus in Turkey, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete, and Santorini. The cruise highlight was a 'shrine-cave' on Patmos where St. John created the Book of Revelations.

February 2003 - Our trip started with 2 nights in Fiji, then 8 nights in New Zealand followed by ten in Australia. The New Zealand highlight was a Rotorua area home overnight stay. Other NZ snapshots are from: Auckland, Queensland, and the Mt. Cook areas. Australia snapshots are: Melbourne area, the OUTBACK area, an Ayers Rock sunset sequence, Cairns by the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney City, a Sydney animal park, and Sydney water front. We wish that we had had another day in Melbourne and two or three more in the Sydney. One highlight of Australia was a visit to the Melbourne home of a 'now-resident' high school classmate.

Our US travels were to Alaska in August 2001 plus Chicago and the North Shore of Lake Superior in 2003. I've driven a neighbor to the Mayo clinic in Rochester Minnesota for his chemo-therapy sessions several times. I hope to get slide shows of these put together some day.

We've been to Hawaii a fourteen times since 1986, never tire of basking on the beaches nor enjoying the scenery. Our favorite site is Kihei - Maui, Hawaii. Haven't processed photos from 2007, 8 year yet.