I returned to Kansas City this morning after the long holiday weekend in the Milwaukee area. I was born in Wisconsin so it could be said it was a homecoming of sorts, but actually I've never been in Milwaukee before, my family left LaCrosse on the other side of Wisconsin when I was age 1, and this trip represented more time in the state than any previous visit that I recall.

I wanted to accomplish three things over the weekend: Visiting Horicon National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Milwaukee, taking in a Brewers baseball game or two, and touring the legendary home of the Green Bay Packers, Lambeau Field. And that's what I did. I decided to travel light and not take binoculars or a good telephoto lens. On one hand that was a mistake because I missed having them, but on the other hand my bag was still plenty heavy.

What photos I did take were with the awful Tamron 28-300 on my Canon 1D Mark II, and my Canon S45 point-and-shoot. The Tamron is so light compared to my Canon "L" lenses, but it is not a good lens. My dilemna for next month is what to take on a baseball trip to St. Louis. The debate will go on inside my head until I have to pack. Here's one from the Tamron that at least shows what it is supposed to show, the sausage race during Sunday's baseball game. If you don't get it, there's no way to explain it.

Sausage Racing

This is the first trip where I've been able to web post brief (very brief) text updates using my cell phone. This capability is the primary reason I'm using Blogger or Blogspot or whatever they call this site. "I can see two harriers right now," demonstrates the potential of instant text updates. This would be really cool if I actually had something to say. If I had a camera phone I could also send images, but the only camera phone supported by VirginMobile is a tiny 0.3 megapixels.

If I can perform some miracles with Photoshop, I may post a few more photos in a few weeks.

Looking back: I put up the main post May 31, 2005 at 12:32 PM after I got back. These are the posts I sent directly from my phone via text message. It was a wonderous capability back in 2005.

May 31, 2005, 6:44 AM: The prospect of going back to work today almost makes me want to do something stupid and irrational like buy a lottery ticket. Almost.

May 30, 2005, 8:40 PM: Pilgrimage to Lambeau Field, Green Bay. Then interesting collection of injured raptors at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary. Back to work.

May 29, 2005, 6:38 PM: Andy Pettite with 6 shutout innings, Brewers with more wasted opportunities, Astros win 2-1. Green Bay tomorrow.

May 28, 2005, 9:30 PM: The Brewers proved solos don't measure up to 3-run shots and lost to Houston 9-6. Ben Sheets looked good just off the DL but lost.

May 28, 2005, 12:28 PM: Rain fortunely held off on mile hike back to car. Medium-distant views of soaring hawks. I can see two harriers right now.

May 28, 2005, 11:36 AM: Arrived Milwaukee yesterday. At this moment hiking Bud Cook trail Horicon NWR. Little birds, need binoculars instead of camera. Rain?

May 25, 2005, 3:34 PM: Headed to Wisconsin Friday. Watch for text message updates. Photos next week. Of what? I'm not sure yet. Something....