catching up part 2: vietnam

it seems like so long ago that pete, his sister erin, and i touched down in hanoi, vietnam after 17 hours of flying time. we arrived to our hotel quite late, so everything was dark, the shops were mostly closed up, and the streets were quiet. the next morning when we walked out onto the street, we all stopped dead in our tracks with wide eyes and dropped jaws...the streets had been converted to a cacophony of scooters, vendors, and tourists that was a bit overwhelming. but we managed to get our bearings, cross a busy street (not for the faint of heart), and find our way to the first of many, many temples. we spent eight days in vietnam and traversed the country from north to south. the hanoi highlights included our first taste of pho (delicious soup), the temple of literature, and water puppets. 

 this is a chain restaurant, but it is no kfc.
if only we could replicate it at home...

 rising dragon bridge (ngoc son temple)

 pete was a hit with the ladies at the temple of literature

 temple of literature

 an example of the stellar scooter driver skills the people of this country possess - those boxes are all filled with bottles of water!

 water puppets!

our next stop was halong bay. we hopped aboard a junk boat for about 24 hours and embarked on a journey through limestone karsts that rise straight out of the sea. the air quality was pretty bad when we were there, but it was still an amazing place to see...especially the floating fishing villages.

 our trusty boat, the dragon's pearl

 we went ashore here for a cave hike and a bit of a kayak

 smoggy sunset on halong bay

 steaming through the karsts

 early morning...pre-caffeine

 woman at one of the floating fishing villages

pete decided his head was too big for this country

next up, hue! this was my favorite stop in vietnam. hue was the impirial capitol of vietnam until recently so it had a lot of character and many sites to see. the tombs and citadel were the highlights of our short stay here. it started to rain while we were out and about, but we fortunately got out 12 hours after it started. the monsoon lasted about six days and flooded parts of the city and delayed trains for multiple days.

 on the train to hue (this photo was taken at the
beginning of the thirteen hour journey)

 the happy travelers

 i loved this guy...he was such a great sentry!

 the elephant guard at khal dinh tomb

 bouquet of incense sticks

 imperial palace

scooter mania!

after hue, we took another long train ride south to the beach town of nha trang. our sole purpose of this stop was to dive on the reef. we lucked out with good weather and had a couple of interesting dives. lots of soft coral and some fish we hadn't seen before. the most notable part of our dive, however, was the exploding dynamite. we were diving in a marine reserve so it was likely detonated some distance away, but sound travels very well under water and in our chests it felt like it exploded ten meters away. why would dynamite be exploding underwater, you might ask? unfortunately, fishers still occasionally use this method to kill or stun lots and lots of reef fish all at one time. it is a terribly destructive practice and i was pretty sad that we had heard it first hand. 

 a lovely day for a boat ride...

 and a dive or two.

 these houses are for the people who help to regulate the harvest 

of birds on these islands. the swiftlet is used for bird nest 

soup, a local delicacy (that we did not try).

 the other highlight of nha trang were the two giant buddhas. this reclining one was about half way up the hill from the pagoda

and this 27 meter high buddha at the top of the hill, overlooking the town

our final stop in vietnam was ho chi minh city (saigon). we filled ourselves up on the delicious food, enjoyed the botanic gardens, were slightly overwhelmed by the craziness at the jade pagoda, and disturbed after visiting the war remembrance museum, our only war-related stop on the whole trip. no matter the view point or the propaganda, the united states did some really terrible things to the people of that region. 

 the jade pagoda

lucky turtles at the jade pagoda (you could buy small ones at the
entrance and release them into this ridiculously overcrowded pool)

 lovely orchids at the botanic garden

after the 1400 km whirlwind visit from north to south, we bid vietnam adieu and headed north to cambodia...

catching up part 1: new zealand and minnesota

i am hopelessly behind in this blog! i am blaming lots of travel and three weeks of being sick...but here we go: catching up part 1!


new zealand - 
a week after getting back from our trip to southeast asia, i boarded the plane for another 13 hour flight across the pacific. i used to work in nz so have been there many, many times, but hadn't been back since 2006. upon touch down in auckland, i felt like i was home. i was in nz for the society for conservation biology conference as well as other various meetings with folks - which translated into FIVE talks (all different) and one panel in the course of ten days. it sounded like such a good idea a few months ago... despite the marathon of talks, i did manage to spend some time with my good friends jen and grant in auckland and with robyn and stacie in nelson. i made it out of nz just in time - it was dumping buckets of rain in nelson (sunshine capitol of nz) and they declared a state of emergency the day after i left. whew! despite not having a lot of time for getting out and about, robyn took us for a ride on her horses and we managed a hike to the geographic centre of nz in the rain. all in all a great trip, even if it was a little crazy. i'm already looking forward to my next trip back!

 robyn, katie, and kim at the centre of nz in nelson

me riding huntsman - of "lord of the rings" fame. that horse is ginormous (the top of his back is taller than me) and "spirited", but we had a nice time.

minnesota - 

a week after returning from nz, pete and i got on a plane (for a much shorter time period, thank goodness) bound for minnesota. when we arrived at the airport, the temperature was a balmy 35 degrees...above zero. typically when we arrive it is 20 degrees BELOW zero. i don't think pete has been to minnesota in the winter with temperatures above zero. my dear friends tenley and carl picked us up at the airport and took us to a yummy cambodian restaurant (yes, there is some good food to be had in minnesota). afterwards we met up with my mom and started the three hour trip to my parents' house by way of my oldest sisters house so we could see the four munchkins (and wish madeline a happy 13th birthday!). 

all of my siblings eventually arrived at the lake on christmas day. pete, my mom, and i went to church that morning, which included me song leading for the congregation while my mom played the organ. song leading was my dad's job... it was a hard year to try to "celebrate". my dad's presence was missed immensely...he brought so much love and laughter to our gatherings. there was a most spectacular sunset on christmas night - almost as if it were a sign that he was with us...somehow. 

sun setting over the frozen lake

we (okay, mostly pete) were able to get a few projects done for my mom while we were there. pete took care of a tree, which also provided some entertainment for the younger boys. the trailer for carrying logs was soon hijacked for carrying nephews! my mom's kitchen knives are once again sharp and we put in a new faucet for the kitchen sink too. i wish we were closer so we could help out more often.

pete and his expert chainsaw skills

 kieran and luke enjoying their 4-wheeler ride

it was so warm while we were there (45 F on christmas day) that we were able to spend lots of time outside. and with no snow, there were few bounds on the activities that we could do. the lake ice proved to be disastrous, though. kieran fell and ended up with five stitches in his chin. 

kieran and brian ice dancing (pre-stitches)

madeline and steph getting ready for a snowball fight

luke on his trike

i haven't been to minnesota for christmas in eight years, but it was a good year to be together. hopefully each day, each holiday gets a little easier the second go round, but there will always be a hole where my dad used to be. 

 and finally, doesn't this little one look cute? yep, she gave me a lovely case of the flu/cold that last THREE weeks. thanks, al! 

i promise to get the asia photos/trip details up soon...i'm still trying to work my way through all 4,000 photos!