I had the opportunity to head to Los Angeles for a training course for my job. I arrived the night before the class and went right to bead. The next morning and afternoon I had the class, which was a training class and nothing more. After the class I went with a classmate to Santa Monica and saw the ocean and the pier there. It was really windy, but enjoyable nonetheless. After that we took a couple of buses up to Hollywood. Hollywood was interesting, but not what I expected. It was extremely tourist oriented on the main strip (which was to be expected.) After having a nice meal in Hollywood, we made our way back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning I left back to Fargo.
Early this march I took a 2 day 2 night trip to New Jersey to drop off some mail and see a couple of friends out there. I got up bright an early and hopped on a couple of planes and made my way out east. I was told to take the train from the Newark airport to the New Brunswick station. Sounds easy, right? Nope, not if you aren’t used to mass transit. I eventually made it to that station. Side note: I love riding trains. Jon picked me up at the train station and we had a quick bite to eat then went to his place for a little relax time and a little plan the next day time… we just ended up doing the first one. For supper we got to meet up with Gennie and had some Greek food. Yum. After saying a quick hello to Amanda and Joe Fox, we dropped off Gennie and went home for bed.
The next morning we got up early (9:00 AM) and left for the train station to head to New York. The train ride was about 45 minutes. We then took the subway system up to Central Park west and started walking from there. We walked all the way to Chinatown on the south east side of Manhattan. All the while we were getting soaked through from the rain. It was cold and miserable, which means it is really unpleasant coming from someone that lives near Fargo, North Dakota. We ended up walking about 10 miles. We were sore and ready to head home, so we did.
After taking a nap I was dropped off at the train station the next morning, then went on some planes and I was back in Fargo. Short trip you say? Me too. Check out the photos if you’d like.
Well, the title pretty much sums it up. I have been itching to head out somewhere, but work, weather, and holiday gatherings seem to be hindering the whole traveling thing. After January first, things with holidays are going to be looking better, but work and weather usually get worse. As a person that flies only standby, you have to take all the considerations into account… and have a little luck on your side. Hopefully I will be able to update this blog soon with some new photos and stories of good adventures.
Yeah, so I have been keeping all of my boarding passes from my traveling since April, and I have gone 61 segments. (A segment would be Fargo to Minneapolis or Memphis to Lexington) The shortest one being Duluth to Minneapolis and the longest continuous from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. Lots of airplanes.
My latest trip brought me to the island of Maui in Hawaii. The connections weren’t the greatest so it took me 21 hours to get there not including the time changes. I got to spend some quality time in the Los Angeles airport. Let me tell you the Minneapolis is a good airport to get stuck in, LAX, not so much. I arrived in Maui at 8 PM local, walked off the plane, a took a breath of nice warm air. I had an idea of how nice it was going to be, but it far exceeded my expectations. Preston, Liz and Aaron picked me up at the airport, then we went to the Alehouse then to bed. I was exhausted by that point.
I knew that I only had 72 hours in Maui, and there was a lot to see.
The first morning I was there we woke up about 4:00 am and drove out way up to Haleakala to watch the sun rise from above the clouds. I went to Hawaii thinking that I wouldn’t need a jacket, but it was about 45 degrees and windy up there. When the sun peeked over the clouds it was instantly warm and wonderful. That was the first time I had ever experienced a sun rise from above the clouds. After that, we drove back to the hotel to finish our night of sleep. We then headed to the beach for a day in the sun and the ocean. We put our swimsuits on to go cliff jumping, snorkeling, and swimming. Wonderful. To finish the night we drove up the hill and watched the sunset into the ocean near Lahina.
Day two started with a long twisting and turning road along the south rim of Maui to our campground near Hana. We made several stop along the way to photograph and enjoy the surroundings (and to rest our gut from the roller coaster ride). There were several changes in ecosystems as we rolled around the island. It started with green grasslands, changed to a wasteland where nothing grew, then changed to more of a tropical landscape. We set camp, then set off on the Seven Sacred Pools hike. The hike is beside a channel where the rain flows down to the ocean. There were many guava trees with fresh ripe fruit to eat. It is so good fresh! Check out the photos, they can describe it better than I can in writing. We then drove to Hana for food and drinks. The night ended in the tent listening to the rain fall and the ocean roar. Wonderful.
Most of the third and final day were spent driving. We packed up camp and made our way back from camp to Kahului. As with the rest of the trip, there were plenty of places to stop along the way to explore the forests. There was one place that we stopped that had a waterfall that we could hear (and we knew that it was a good one), so we spent a good hour and a half hiking up the river to find the waterfall. Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to head back to the car so we could make our flights. Running through the woods in a swimsuit and sandals with the rain falling and still being warm and content is great. That night I hopped on a plane to make my way back to Fargo. Lets just say that I would go back again in a heartbeat! I didn’t take all the photos below, but hey, this was my vacation! Enjoy.
I had a chance to head back to the camp that I worked at in the summer of 2005. I am aware of the changes that have happened the last four years, but it is another thing to see them. After three years of wildfires in Northern Minnesota, the camp lost over eighty percent of the buildings and infrastructure in a fire in 2007. Of the main buildings on the camp, only one burned down, much of the loss was camper cabins, staff cabins, and outhouses.
The days that I was up there were dreary and cold, but in true Wilderness fashion, we did the work anyway. For the first half of the day we filled electrical runs with sand hauled from the mainland ( most of the camp is on two islands connected by a bridge – see the bridge in the photos below.) After having a great lunch, we hauled brush to piles and burned them.
The Boundary Waters is a special place where one can always find something of beauty, and it has been and will always be a special place to me. Below are a few photos from camp. Make sure that you read the captions.
