Journey Beginnings

Every great family adventure begins with someone saying, "Hey, I've got an idea..." In this case, the idea was to gather a dozen family and friends, load up the cars in Saratoga Springs, New York, meet one brave soul driving in from Connecticut, head to the Zoar Picnic Area in Massachusetts, and spend the afternoon floating down the Deerfield River. Simple. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out... Quite a bit. Fortunately, every single thing that went wrong made the t

Trading Sandals for Snow Boots We hit the road early on the morning of December 27, headed for Montreal, Canada, armed with a full tank of gas, questionable judgment, and a list of predetermined stops which is just a polite way of saying, “We had a plan… kind of.” This winter adventure was inspired by my grandson, who casually announced he didn’t want to go to California for Christmas because we “do the same old thing.” You know beach days, paddle boarding, sunshine, happines

The legend of AXF-620’s Six Infrastructure Protection Specialists began on an ordinary Tuesday when someone said the fateful words: “Hey, what if we went camping in Bishop?” At first, everyone laughed because IPS agents are experts in locks, alarms, and hardened perimeters, not in tents, firewood, or mosquito defense systems. But two things made the idea irresistible: 1. Bruce “The Golden Boy” Nelson was retiring in December, and rumor had it he wanted one last hurrah be