Travels and Adventures

Rather than get back to work after a fun-filled summer in California I decided to go to Alaska for a few days. Half of our time in the frozen north lands was spent in the little bush town of Gustavus on the edge of Glacier Bay National Park. We hiked, fished, hunted for mushrooms, visited Emily’s relatives and old family friends, and had all manner of fun in the bush. On the last day of our time in Gustavus the weather even cleared up!

The other half of our trip was spent in and around Juneau checking out the places Emily used to hang out as a teenager. We saw a bunch of glaciers, ate the local cuisine, hiked through an abandoned mine site, went on an overnight backpack trip to a lake tucked up in the mountains, and had some good nights in the bars. The visit to Alaskan Brewing Company and resulting free samples was also quite good. In spite of the constant flow of tourists and the resulting tourist shops we had a wonderful time in Juneau.

In the summer of 2009 I was employed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in beautiful sunny Pasadena, California. During my time at JPL I managed to sneak away for quite a few adventures. Death Valley, the Goldstone DSN Complex, Monterey where SCUBA diving awaited, San Francisco, the Sierra Nevada, and all manner of points in between served as fertile ground for mischief and fun.

At work I also ran into many an interesting sight. The killer robots that roamed the lab competed fiercely with the resident deer population for cuddliest creation. Occasional trips to the Mars Yard, the Vehicle Assembly Building, and other areas that make interns salivate filled in the gaps for the slow parts of the day.

Only a summer passed in California but I took every opportunity to push myself to see and do as much as I could with what time I had.

Between September of 2004 and September of 2005 I spent a year overseas. Nine months was spent in the small North African country of Tunisia studying Arabic, working at various odd engineering jobs, and having a wild time. Three months were spent roaming northern and central Europe while working for the University of Karlsruhe on a humanoid robotics project.

In total I visited 22 countries that year. Places as far-flung as Albania, Norway, Latvia, and Tunisia were stepping stones on the path of adventure. Whether it was drinking with Slobodan Milošević’s doppelganger in Kosovo, eating whale goulash in Norway, seeing Pope John Paul II’s body laid out in state in the Vatican, or riding camels across the Great Sand Seas of Tunisia, each time I stepped outside my door something new and exciting happened. The year overseas was an incredibly formative experience in my life.

Every summer while I was growing up my family would head to the high country of the central Sierra Nevada in California. In college I only had the chance to go a couple of times with my parents. In the summer of 2003 I decided to take a notebook and write a few notes while we went. This was also the first summer that I can remember taking a digital camera.

Over the course of eleven days we hiked through some of the most beautiful country on earth. We toured two large alpine basins and paraded down a high river valley. The llamas accompanied us the whole way, not minding the loads that they bore on their backs full of our gear. Just like humans, llamas enjoy the great outdoors, too.

Come take a walk with me through the 12,000 foot wonderland of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.