Wow, the past few weeks have gone by incredibly fast and I have just under 3 weeks left here before I move on again to my next big adventure before making my way back to Alaska (which is in itself another adventure). It's going to be a busy 3 weeks though as this weekend I take off for Wilmington, NC to see my cousin, go scuba diving on a couple wrecks *smile*, tour around the campus that I spent 5 months of my life at, and sit on the sunny beaches of North Carolina again. Then next weekend is my Advanced [View Full Entry]

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Tonight, since it was a nice day and the rain had finally stopped, my roommate Sarah and I went out walking to Columbia Hall to check on my car, over to the State House a few blocks away, around the Horseshoe, down by a little coffee and catering shop to snag a pic of Ingrid and Bogie, up to the building where we work, across to the library, and back to Rutledge Hall where we live (also on the horse shoe). I think the pictures kind of speak for themselves of the beauty of the South, but one that stood out [View Full Entry]

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It's been three weeks since we've (the REU people at USC) been in South Carolina and today, I took my first step in the Atlantic Ocean via the South Carolina shoreline. I've stepped into it from North Carolina, but South Carolina was a little different. After getting stuck in a thunderstorm last night and watching GET SMART (good movie by the way), my roommate and our neighbor (a fellow REU-er) took off to Folly Beach, SC at 8am this morning for a day of fun. Along the way, we saw these girls in Columbia that looked dressed for the beach and [View Full Entry]

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Finally, I have internet again (full-time now) and I can add some of the pictures from the last adventure of my roadtrip/my first full day in Columbia, SC. It's been about four days since I said goodbye to my sister and headed back to the university to meet the rest of my roommates and spend my first night in Rutledge Hall. I have to say that it has been four of the best days of my life. The day (Sunday) started though with my sister and I getting up and checking out of our ghetto hotel (it was ghetto because of [View Full Entry]

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Wow...five days, 2800 miles, nine tanks of gas, 7 lemonades, three nights of camping, 2 hotel check-ins, and 1 stop asking for directions later and my sister and I are finally in Columbia, SC. These past five days have gone by insanely fast, but we have seen so many new things. Day three started off with us jetting to see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. It was such an amazing building that was built entirely of ears of corn and grains freshly grown from South Dakota. Each year, they rebuild the Corn Palace to a new theme and it has [View Full Entry]

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It is now the end of the second day of my journey across the U.S. with my sister and we've already seen a lot of amazing things. The first day started out a little rough as we got a late start and ended up not leaving from Lewiston, Idaho until almost 10am. By then though, we were on the road, curving our way alongside the Clearwater River, following the Lewis and Clark trail as we made our way to Lolo Pass. After a little "road battle" with a precocious Subaru driver, we were finally in Montana - a state that I [View Full Entry]

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After spending a week being bum and doing some fishing with my friend Vicki (very exciting experience including a couple flounder and a very determined Alaskan King Crab), I boarded the M/V Taku on my trip back to Idaho to stop and see my parentals. The Taku left Juneau around 9 o'clock at night and I didn't make it in to Prince Rupert, BC until two days later at 5:30am (4:30 Alaska time). It was a lot of fun though as I explored the decks of the ship, took pictures of the foggy surroundings, talked to a couple passengers, played the [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone. So classes are finally over for the semester and even though my BioChem grade wasn't as good as I wanted, I'm glad I'm finally done with chemistry...forever!! :) Well, at least for a little while. The weekend after finals, I got the opportunity to go out on a wildlife cruise sponsored by the audobon society. We saw some amazing wildlife including eagles, oyster-catchers, sea lions, humpback whales, and a lot of other species of birds that I'm not that familiar with. When we got out to Berner's Bay, we were in for a real treat as the sea lions [View Full Entry]

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It has now been sunny and beautiful in Juneau, Alaska for 7 days. Yes, you heard me right...7 days!! I'm not sure I've even seen Juneau this beautiful (and warm already -- it was 55 degrees outside) for so many straight days in the spring for the past three years that I have been here. With the warm weather and the sun, the inhabitants of Juneau have officially come out of hiding, are frequently visiting every possible beach or lookout spot towards the end of the road, and just enjoying the beautiful orb that has graced us with its presence (and [View Full Entry]

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Now everyone knows that the weather in the Alaskan Southeast can be kind of blah! But for three days, we were finally blessed with some much needed sunshine as people broke out of their homes, raced to the beaches (rocky and muddy and some still covered in snow) with their dogs, and enjoyed being outside even though the temperature only reached a high of 48. We even got to see the Northern Lights one night (faintly)!! I managed to snap a few pictures before the sun sadly went away. They are from Echo Cove, Eagle Beach, and Auke Bay!! [View Full Entry]

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