My current read, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, is a little deeper than a laughter inducing-Bill Bryson book; as such, it requires reading in smaller doses and with an alert brain. Author Kathryn Schulz interestingly brings up how the word er meant “to move or go” in ancient Indo-European. The linguistic road led to er becoming the root for the Latin verb errare, which means to wander, go astray, or be…
In about an hour from now (around 01:00), I will have landed to visit UAF for a long weekend exactly 8 years ago. My, how the time flies. A few weeks ago I realized that – for the first time ever – I had completely forgotten that March 20th marked the anniversary of my puppy Pixie’s passing. If anyone missed my sob story about how she directly connects with my…
The time has come to finally take a healthy break from base layers, thin puffy jackets, fleeces, hiking boots, wool socks, and long pants. For the first time in years, I’m about to spend a solid month with minimal time in pants. I’m headed to Hawaii! (And if I get tired of that, I’ll be halfway to New Zealand, so I’ll just start swimming.) No longer will my brother be…
Looking at fish for most of the day, day after day, really provides plenty of thinking time. Unfortunately there’s only one place my brain seems to find itself wandering around. If you know me, you can probably guess where that might be. Really, can you blame me? Herring are fish, so therefore they look like trout. Turangi calls itself the “trout fishing capital of the world” and happens to be…
Some relatives and friends consider me crazy for taking off to the middle of nowhere to live in a tent for months, driving around NZ on my own, and wandering through Tiananmen Square during an 8 hour layover in Beijing. I’ll admit the Tiananmen adventure was something else, but everything else I’ve done pales in comparison to finding myself a job on a fishing vessel during winter in the Bering…
2014 had the proper beginning for the makings of a very good year. The 2 key components? Running and ice cream. I know that’s not how most people welcome the start of a new calendar, but I try not to do things the way most people would. This year I spent my first Christmas and New Year in Fairbanks. With the way the UAF schedule works, I was always back…
Probably my favorite thing about my travel style is the capacity for crazy random happenstances. Admittedly I’m not the most outgoing person, but I seem to bump into the right people at the right place and time. I was too busy having fun in NZ to write about it when it happened, but I ended up joining a group of internationals when I was on my hike up/down Mt. Doom….
As a resident of Alaska, it can sometimes be easy to forget how few people have the chance to see the Northern Lights. Some of my best college memories come from 1AM phone calls from Teri at the other end screeching, “Go outside! The Lights are dancing!!!” Other times our intramural broomball game would end at 12:00AM and rather than heading to bed like responsible students, we’d bundle up in…
Most people who know me have heard the story of how I ended up with a custom degree in Nature Photojournalism. For those of you who don’t know, I’ll keep the explanation short. As I progressed with wildlife biology courses at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, it seemed that lectures dealt less with wildlife and more with statistics, reports, and desk work. [Insert big yawn here.] Did I really leave…
Ahh, Banff. It’s one of those places that’s surrounded by gorgeous mountains but a little difficult to explore without your own wheels. In my opinion, Banff should have the slogan Framed by Nature as per the photo above. As much as it’s nice to try seeing as much as possible while on the road, vacation really shouldn’t be a constant go-go-go adventure. So yes, I did sleep in while staying…