Bangor: The Queen City! Did you know that Dorilus Morrison, the first mayor of Minneapolis, was a Bangor lumber merchant in the 1840s? It seems that Maine-Minnesota connections go back a long way. On Halloween, I pedaled through town looking for some spoooooky decorations to photograph. I found a few houses that were decked out in creepy glamour. The trend seemed to be to throw spider webbing over conveniently located shrubs and hedges. Halloween was definitely in the air; it was somewhat chilly, and several small witches with brooms kept guard of their houses, waiting for darkness to [View Full Entry]

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Over a month ago I had the pleasure of enjoying my first strange event near my new home on the Eastern Seaboard. After years of training from watching Gilmore Girls, I moved to Maine with the expectation of odd East-Coast-small-town festivals and celebrations. Not that Minnesota is oddity-less, take the Garlic Fest or the Annual International Eelpout Festival as proof. A few weeks after my arrival in Maine, I had my first shot at interesting: the Great Bangor Rubber Duck Race. The thrill of the race was [View Full Entry]

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I recently took a week-long trip with my mom to Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, where we were treated to a heavy dose of southern comfort. The food was delicious, the people were nicer than those back home in Minnesota, and the scenery was exquisite. With a rented car, we left St Paul and saw the following: Eureka Springs, AR Wiederkehr Village, AR Mt Magazine State Park, AR Little Rock, AR Hot Springs, AR DeGray Lake Resort State Park, AR Highway construction Breaux Bridge, LA Lafayette, LA Avery Island, LA Atchafalaya swamplands, LA (as seen from the road) Baton Rouge, L [View Full Entry]

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Here are pictures from my student SAF chapter's 2008 National Convention trip. This year, it was in non-descript Reno, which was somewhat disappointing. We redeemed ourselves and our trip, however, by taking a small voyage around Lake Tahoe and then onwards to Sacramento. The majority of my pictures are from the Lake Tahoe region. [View Full Entry]

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Last Wednesday at the ungodly hour of 6:30am (unsure how god relates to a time of day), I flew out to Portland, Oregon as part of the UofM student chapter of the Society of American Foresters! It sounds pretty professional, and indeed, it was a conference held at the Oregon Convention Center. Our group stayed at the illustrious INN at the Convention Center, which was conveniently practically at the convention center. I attended 11 seminars, most of which focused on ecology, and more specifically, fire. They were very interesting and educational except for one, which didn't seem to bel [View Full Entry]

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I'm trying out a new camera that Tom got for free at work. There was some difficulty in acquiring a charger, but that mission has been accomplished. These pictures are acting as a test run for my upcoming trip to Portland this week. I went on a quick camping jaunt this weekend with a fellow forester-in-the-making. The goal was twofold. First, I am trying to get some information on a certain species of grass that is considered invasive in the area. It has been widely planted for years as a way to prevent erosion, but it tends to take over and [View Full Entry]

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c'est fini! Europe » France » Languedoc Roussillon » Montpellier By montpelliEMMA May 14th 2007 emma i am done! i have finished! i ended my athletic six exam spree with an oral interview or sorts, where i talked about the sixth harry potter [View Full Entry]

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well, i chose not to go anywhere last weekend. i spent it indoors sans roommate for the most part, studying everything i have learned this past semester, watching unhealthy amounts of television, and watching the earth dry up from the torrential rains that ruled the south of france for most of last week. sure, this means my yard turned into a sticky lake, as you can see in the photos. you just need to be creative about how you walk. as the rain cleared last friday, i found myself in the stands for a beach volleyball tournament which was taking [View Full Entry]

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there isn't much to report about my weekend, it was mostly just there and enjoyable. i burnt myself up at the beach despite applying three or four coats of sunscreen, because i obviously cannot apply it correctly. i started to bake a cake last night except some hoodlums had turned off our gas and our landlady wasn't able to get it going again. the cake was relocated to the fridge, so hopefully i return to a fully gassy house. my roommate and i will be dining chez landlady tonight, so i am assuming we will have to fork over five [View Full Entry]

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this past weekend found me in barcelona, on the second trip arranged by my program. although it was a quick jaunt, we got to spend nearly a day and a half in barcelona itself, seeing the sights and tasting the tastes. we spent our nights in an unpleasant quasi-resort town that was brimming with old folks playing cards and staring suspiciously at all of the youngsters that were sitting in our hotel lobby staring at us. this town was filled with saloons, and odd amusements, and it was a good 70 minute bus ride into barcelona. barcelona, however, was wonderful. [View Full Entry]

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