Last Updated: April 2, 2000

Charles Mitchell Charles is 57 years old, a native Texan born in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Charles is an engineer turned marketer that has worked in computer software and hardware for most of his life. He current works as a manager in Strategic Marketing for a major semiconductor company. Charles is a board member of Unity Church of Austin and considers himself a "practical Christian."  Unity churches embrace all people and most Unity ministers will perform Holy Unions for gay and lesbian church members. Previously married, Charles has two children, Laura and Kenneth who are adults living on their own.  Laura is an architect and Kenneth is a computer scientist.  Both live in Austin.

David Walker David is 45 years old and was born in El Paso, Texas. David is a school teacher and has taught from Kindergarten to High School levels. David's specialty is English as a second language although in the last three years has enjoyed working with children with physical, mental and emotional disabilities.  In the summer of 1998 David worked at Camp Jened, a camp for adults associated with United Cerebral Palsy of New York state. David is half Hispanic and went to Catholic schools.  He is the more conservative member of this happy partnership that has lasted six years. Together they live in Austin, Texas just south of downtown with Shiner, their family dog for the last 5 years.

1996 Family Pictures - The year we got Road Runner!

Travel - David and Charles work intensely through most of the year and therefore like to get away at least once a year for R&R..

1995: China - Charles traveled hear on business in November of 1995.  He had a few extra days for site seeing.

1996: Pacific Northwest - In 1996 Charles, David, Kenneth and Laura took the last big family vacation.  A  two week trek starting in the San Francisco bay area and moving up to Seattle and Victoria. 

1997: Maui - In 1997 Charles went to Maui on business (tough huh!) and when business was done David joined him for a week of fun.

1998: New York, Provincetown, Boston and Salem - It may sound like a conductor calling out the stops for an east cost express, but this was Charles and David's two week vacation for 1998.

1999: NYC, Niagara Falls and Toronto - We tried to escape the Texas heat in 1999 by heading farther north.  Unfortunately, the summer was very hot up north too.

2000: Did we go anywhere?  Neither of us can remember!  It must have been fun?!?!

2001: Playa de Carmen - We spent a week at the Iberostar resort and had a great time touring the Mayan ruins, scuba diving and chilling out by the beach.

2002: Australia - An old friend of Charles who lives in Darwin asked for some help on a project.  Charles did some consulting and they went to Sydney, Cairns and Darwin.  A couple of side trips included the Blue Mountains and the Northern Territory.

2003: 7 Weeks in Europe - We started in Scotland and left from Greece seven weeks later.  A whirlwind trip with only what fit in a backpack.  Major cities and sites included: Edinburg, Bath, Stonehenge, London, Paris, Normandy, Mount St. Michelle, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Munich, Salzburg, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Sienna, Assisi, Rome, Pompeii, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Nafplion, Delphi, Meteora, and Athens!  We used three cars, a rail pass, a few buses, three flights within Europe, a few bike rentals, three high speed boats, and a hell of a lot of walking to get around.

2004: Victoria and Alaska's Inside Passage - While in Victoria Charles and David got married.  When we got onboard the Holland America Zandam to sail the Inside Passage they found they were on the captain's list of newly weds.  The cruise line treated us like any other couple and we were greatly appreciative.

2005: New Year's Eve in Times Square - The nest was finally empty with both kids out of college and on their own, so we sold the house in the suburbs, bought a 45 year old house close to downtown.  With all the expense of buying new furniture and fixing the place up we limited our travel to celebrating David's birthday in the Big Apple. 

2006: Chicago - We started the remodeling of the house and added a pool.  Again, the budget for travel was reduced this year.  We spent a few days touring Chicago prior to arriving in Milwaukee to visit David's family.

2007: Florida - We were invited to the wedding of David's nephew in Miami so we decided to do Disney World first, then Miami and finally Key West.

2008: Ireland - We arrived in Dublin and after a couple of days drove south and followed the towns and peninsulas along the cost until we reached the Aran Island on the west coast due west of Dublin. We drove back to Dublin to return home after two weeks of pubs, potatoes, beer, and really wonderful people.

2009: Remodeled Kitchen - We gutted our kitchen down to the rafters and started over with new everything. Hence, we stayed in Austin this year.

2010: UK and Northern Wales - My skills at driving on the left side of the road continued to improve as we arrived at Heathrow and rented a car for our two weeks of touring. We started with Winsor Castle, moved on to Stow on the Wod, the Cotswolds, Stratford Upon Avon, Iron Bridge, Northern Wales and its coal mines, Liverpool (and the Beetles tour), the northern lakes region, Hadrian's Wall, York, Cambridge and back to London for three days of museums and plays. I had to think to drive on the right side of the road when we got back.

2011: China - We didn't travel this year but I did have a nice weekend at the end of a business trip to Beijing. The change in China over the years is astonishing.