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I’m heading home after another great National To

I’m heading home after another great National Town Builders Association (NTBA) Roundtable. This one was held in the Norfolk / Virginia Beach area. In addition to the conversations and presentations, I always enjoy the chance to see great neighborhoods that were designed and built by friends and colleagues. At this Roundtable, I especially enjoyed The Cavalier hotel and neighborhood (Images 1-5), and East Beach (Images 6-10). #NTBA #cavalier #cavalierhotel #eastbeach

I added a short one-day visit to the Virginia Beac

I added a short one-day visit to the Virginia Beach oceanfront on my way to the NTBA Roundtable. Highlights included: 1. the Neptune statue along the boardwalk, 2. the Cavalier hotel (which I would explore more in-depth at the Roundtable), 3. a restaurant called The Atlantic, 4. a classic breakfast joint called the Pocahontas Pancake House (complete with some amazing Pocahontas / John Smith / Jamestown “art”), and 5. the view from my 14th story hotel room. #virginiabeach

Scenes from a whirlwind visit to New Orleans two w

Scenes from a whirlwind visit to New Orleans two weeks ago for the Tyler Childers concert. #neworleans #nola

It’s great to be back in Port Aransas! My projec

It’s great to be back in Port Aransas! My projects here are basically giant construction sites (with the exception of the original Cinnamon Shore, which is approaching full build-out). This makes for some less-than-ideal photography, and the weather hasn’t cooperated either. So today I’ll celebrate an urban design concept known as the “terminated vista.” This is when a building, architectural feature, etc. is in the center of a distant view down a street or other corridor. Here are 10 examples from my work here. The first three are Palmilla Beach and the rest are Cinnamon Shore South. All were intentional aspects of the design. I organized the streets and lots to set this up, and then required the towers in the Design Code. Thank you to all of the architects who bring this to life in their designs. (This isn’t a new technique, by the way. See Paris, Washington DC, Seaside, etc. for more famous examples.)

#schnellurbandesign #cinnamonshore #palmillabeach #urbandesign #newurbanism #terminatedvistas #portaransas #texas #thenewtexascoast

It’s been a great week in Colorado visiting fami

It’s been a great week in Colorado visiting family and friends, watching hockey and basketball, and playing in the snow. It’s always difficult to leave, but I’m looking forward to the summer!

Thank you, Bahamas! That was FUN! #bahamas #abacos

Thank you, Bahamas! That was FUN! #bahamas #abacos

Heading home from our trip to NYC, Portugal, and M

Heading home from our trip to NYC, Portugal, and Morocco. This post covers Marrakesh, Morocco.

We only had the equivalent of two full days in Marrakesh, so we mostly walked around the Medina (old city), and enjoyed our hotel, the famous La Mamounia. It was an easy side trip from Portugal (only a 1.5 hour flight from Lisbon).

Marrakesh is a fascinating place. The streets of the Medina are chaotic, busy, and frenetic, while the courtyards are usually serene and beautiful. It seems like someone is trying to sell you something throughout every narrow passageway of the maze-like Medina. We enjoyed it, but we found that it can be a little much, too.

La Mamounia is a stunning hotel with excellent service.

We hope to visit Morocco again sometime and explore more of the country.

And this wraps up my 50th birthday trip (the actual birthday was back in November). It was a lot of fun to add two new countries and one continent (Africa) to my travels.

#marrakesh #marrakech #morocco

We are wrapping up a great trip to NYC, Portugal,

We are wrapping up a great trip to NYC, Portugal, and Morocco. This post is about Portugal. (See my previous post for NYC and the next post for Morocco if you are interested.)

We really enjoyed Portugal - It’s a beautiful and livable place, with very friendly people. We traveled the country for nine days, which is really only enough time to do a highlights tour. But we saw and experienced a lot in those nine days: Lisbon, Porto, Sintra, Algarve, and Comporta.

I could have posted a hundred photos. It’s probably best that Instagram limits me to ten!

#portugal

Closing out a quick stop in NYC (and by quick I me

Closing out a quick stop in NYC (and by quick I mean roughly 20 hours). @paigeschnell and I always have a good time in the city. Our stay at the recently renovated Hotel Chelsea was a highlight. If you are unfamiliar with the history of the place, I suggest you look it up. We stayed across the hall from a room that Bob Dylan lived in for a time.

1-4: Hotel Chelsea
5: Rockefeller Center
6: Cartier building
7: Trailer Park Lounge
8: Tacos Guey
9-10: Barcade

Happy Thanksgiving Eve from Grayton Beach! #gray

Happy Thanksgiving Eve from Grayton Beach!

#graytonbeach #30A #gulfofmexico #sunset #thanksgivingeve

What do you do if you arrive in Florence, Alabama

What do you do if you arrive in Florence, Alabama and discover that @jasonisbell is playing his own hometown music festival (ShoalsFest) that same night? That’s easy… You GO! (And I did. Fun night!) … And congrats to the little kid on his dad’s shoulders in the first video. He has mastered the concert hand motions at a young age. 😂

#jasonisbell #jasonisbellandthe400unit #shoalsfest #shoalsfest2022 #florenceal #florencealabama

Here in Auburn, Alabama (where we are in town for

Here in Auburn, Alabama (where we are in town for a football game tomorrow night), they say that you know God is an Auburn fan because sunsets are orange and blue. On a night like tonight, I can’t disagree. View from the rooftop bar of the Laurel Hotel and Spa. That’s Samford Hall on the right.

(I’m here supporting my Auburn alum wife @paigeschnell. Otherwise, go Buffs!)

#auburn #auburnuniversity #wareagle #laurelhotel

Scenes from Mackinac Island, Michigan last weekend

Scenes from Mackinac Island, Michigan last weekend… The island is known for its lack of cars, the Grand Hotel, and fudge… I loved the fact that there are no cars. Everyone gets around on foot, bike, and horse drawn carriage. (And you arrive and depart by ferry.) It was pleasant and civilized. We stayed at the Grand Hotel (first four photos), and really enjoyed it. Their restaurant called The Woods (second to last photo) was also a fun experience, in part because of the carriage rides to get there and back. And yes, I bought some fudge. Apparently it’s a Michigan thing. It seemed like every other shop sold fudge. (And it was good!)

#mackinacisland #michigan #grandhotel #grandhotelmichigan

A few more images from Ketchikan, Alaska… Unfort

A few more images from Ketchikan, Alaska… Unfortunately, the boat excursion to the Misty Fjords Wilderness was canceled, so I spent the entire (short) trip in town. But that was still a lot of fun… The first few images show the marina, and the dive called the Potlatch Bar next door. That’s where I met Kevin and Marie, a couple who do commercial fishing for a living. They gave me a tour of their boat. It’s a fascinating career and way of life. (I didn’t get a good photo of their boat, so it’s not shown.)… The last one is a video of a fish ladder. I didn’t see any salmon using it, but there were plenty of salmon in Ketchikan Creek, some of them swimming upstream in this location.

#ketchikan #alaska

I finally made it to Alaska. Cheers to 50 states i

I finally made it to Alaska. Cheers to 50 states in 50 years! (See the comments for the long winded version.)

#ketchikan #alaska

It’s been great to be back in Seabrook, Washingt

It’s been great to be back in Seabrook, Washington for a few days. I first visited five years ago in January. It’s really amazing to see the progress since then, and I enjoyed the late summer weather. The town center is especially remarkable, and it’s largely been constructed since my last visit. Congratulations to Casey, Stephen (@outatthebeach), and the entire team at Seabrook. The town is beautiful and a lot of fun. Highly recommended. #seabrook #seabrookwa

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