the travel report

to give my body a break from sitting in front of my computer for long days, i headed up to british columbia to see roly and christine and to meet their new little ones gabriel (human) and bugaboo (dog). we had a great time catching up, cooking, hiking around, visiting with family, and watching some local hockey. i miss them all already...

pete and his sister made it back from italy safely (bags included) - they had a great time. pete really enjoys history and connecting place to knowledge, so rome was his favorite part of the trip. i think his favorite moment was when he stood on the spot where charlemagne was crowned the first holy roman emperor in 800ad. and then there was the bridge that had been in use since 62ad. stuff is OLD around there.

i'm leaving this afternoon for a return trip to belize. i have a few days to travel to the western side of the country to see some mayan sites before heading out to the atoll for the research part of the trip. pete leaves for orlando (dive conference) tomorrow. but once we both return we will be in santa cruz for a whole month together!

alaska

my parents and i had a fantastic ten days in alaska! to say the whole trip was amazing would be an understatement. we had great weather, beautiful scenery, amazing fall colors (the trees looked like they were on fire!), and good company. we started our adventure by picking up a motorhome. yes, that's right, i drove a motorhome (at least it was a small one). we headed north first to denali to try to beat the snow and the closure of the park road. the road was still open, but we did get snowed on pretty good. what would a trip to alaska be without a little snow, right? we also saw the most enormous moose i have ever seen... i could have easily fit within the span of his antlers...laying down. on our way back south we were treated to a most spectacular view of denali herself. that is one impressive mountain, by the way. our next stop was the kenai peninsula. we toured around homer and seward mainly. while in seward we went on a boat tour of the kenai fjord national park. it was amazing! we saw orcas (killer whales), stellar sea lions (endangered species), dall's porpoises, sea otters, dahl's sheep, lots of glaciers, and a nearly cloudless sky. we headed back to anchorage after the peninsula and were treated to beluga whales on our way back. it was so cool! i nearly made my dad crash the rv because i was so excited. oops. we had a couple days in anchorage before flying home. we were lucky enough to be hosted by my childhood piano teacher's daughter, which was great fun. having 10 days with my parents was one of the best parts of the trip. i have been away from minnesota for 10 years this month and not a day goes by when i don't miss having my family close.

i am going to try to hold onto this feeling of enjoyment as i go into proposal writing hell for the month of october. pete left for italy yesterday for a two week excursion with his sister. i am sad he is gone again, but i will get lots of work done without him as a distraction.

we have had a bought of high drama at the bellevue house. cassie got into a scuffle with some raccoons while i was gone and got a little scratched up; one housemate is now going through rabies vaccinations; another housemate was hit by a car on her bike yesterday. she is soooo lucky and walked away with a broken hand, sore neck, and bruises. i am hoping the drama ends there...

denali - what a sight!

holgate glacier - kenai fjords national park

orcas!

exit glacier