Log/Pic 45 Canada/Minn/North Dakota

So I decided to take a little trip before I started work. I Heading to New Hampshire to kayak with my fun cousins.

Then through Vermont and into Ontario. I heard this red-headed woodpecker by my campsite.
I saw five moose while driving the three days in Canada.


Beautiful lakes and rivers



I photographed this fox lazing on the side of the road until I got too close and it scurried up the rocks and disappeared.



After a quick drive in Minnosota's walleye capitol of the world, I spotted this Buffalo herd in North Dakota.

Traveling on Route 66 was...well, uneventful.

...until I came across the center of North America!!

Long horn steer in the middle of nowhere!

Here was my hotel for the last week. This was my campsite on the Missouri River at the Lewis & Clark State Park. I was the only one in the entire park which made hiking boring and the howls of coyotes/wolves kinda scary.

Log/Pic 44 Back in the U.S.A.

So I'm back in the U.S. now. I arrived in Ft. Myers, Fl. and bought my old truck back from my previous study-buddy, Connie. We hung for a couple days then I hooked up with Charles to do some fossiling . We didn't find any shark teeth or other fossils, but we did spot a gator when we were canoeing the Peace River. Here we are digging in Joshua Creek.

Next stop, Tony from Tampa! Chilled in the pool/jacuzzi for a few days with his brother Nick, then Tony (Nyani) helped me buy a new Dell computer so I can play with some of the photos I took in the last year.


I headed North to Georgia to bond with my good friend Cindy. We went on some great hikes including this one called "Little Grand Canyon". The munchkin is Cora, part of Cindy's ever- multiplying family.


Next stop was North Carolina where I saw many family members. From the left is my uncle John, aunt barbara, cousin-in-law Jeff, cousin Annette, brother John, mom Glo, and me.

These are the nice neighbors, Ned (in background) and Sherry and my 2nd cousins Tyshe and Toa.

Sherry and Ned breed "Japanese Chins." They have 21 of them at this time?

Here is one of them!

Here are the rest!!!

These are my cousins from Japan: Tyler, his mom Tomoko, and you've met Toa and Tyshe.

This is the entire family including my cousin John, wife, Ricky and son Zak.

I'm back in Connecticut and connecting with family and friends. Not sure what's next!

Log/Pic 43 Antarctica

So this is the Sarpik Ittuk, one of Quark's ship. This is the boat I took on my 2nd Antarctic trip. I took this picture one morning when the bay was as quiet and still as it ever could have been. It was nicer than the Antarctic Dream and the company was much more professional. The expedition leaders were very interesting, informative, and some were kind of heroic! Below is a photo of them returning to the boat from land carrying the emergency supplies.

Here is the gang. Thi (Ice-T), Brian (King), Anita (Gentoo), Kevin (Punda) , and me (with the spider on my head).

Conversations with penguins.

Old whaling boat-Whalers Bay, Deception Island.

see photo on website

Gentoo on ice.

Petrel Base, an Argentina research station believed to be abandoned. It was not.

My favorite iceberg. Note the prince on top and the seal looking through the hole.
sorry-photo on website only
Below is my favorite iceberg photo. Which way is up?

Log/Pic 42 Antarctic Birds

So this is where it all starts. I was a couple weeks late to be able to see the chicks being born, but I sure did see a lot of regurgitation!
Below are cormorants nesting and plummaging

A graceful albatros. Many followed our boat throughout the Drake Passage. We also saw petrels, gulls, terns and shags.

This skua mistakened my head as a nest. Understandable. Note the penguins squaking at it. The skuas steal and eat the young penguins...we witnessed it!

Here, an adelae penguin freaks me out with its crazy stare

This macaroni penguin is the only one we saw. It was amongst a huge colony of chinstraps.

(sorry-this photo is on my website only)

One of two huge whale skeletons that had washed up on this beach.

Majestic mountains

Where the HELL are all the penguins?

Log/Pic 41 Antarctic Glaciers

So this photo was taken from my zodiac as we were exploring glaciers and icebergs. It was around 9:30 pm, but sunset wasn't until midnight. This is my ship, The Antarctic Dream.
Great reflections

Awesome colors

Cool sounds as we motored through the broken ice

The sky was watching us

So was Santa Claus from the other pole

Spectacular sunset on the glaciers

Totally tranquil

Wrestling with an Aussie in the Antarctic Ocean. I ended up taking the plunge five times.

33 degree water made me cry!

Log/Pic 40 Antarctic Whales/Seals

So this is from aboard my boat, the Antarctic Dream. We saw dolphins and several sightings of humpback whales. This display, which lasted about 30 minutes, included breaching, waving and tail displays. These photos were taken by the crew. I watched, camera-less.

We saw several types of seals from the shore and from the boat including Crabeaters, Southern Elephant, Leopard, Weddell and Fur.