I'll take you in my backpack

Up early to catch the Jeep safari into the Chitwan National Park. A quick coffee (making sure not to consume too much liquid because I was told it was four hours in the bush with no toilet. Yikes!) Sunrise was stunning this morning, granted I missed actual sunrise, but what I did catch was beautiful! To get to the jeep tour you take a small wooden boat across the river and board the jeep. The jeep safari was amazing. I was hoping to see big cats, wild elephants and basically all of the crazy shit you see on discovery. While I didn't see that, I did see an endless amount of rhinos, which is a gift because they are on the endangered species list. I was able to see many mamas with babies too, which is nice for that very reason, hopefully reproduction and their existence in a nature preserve will ultimately protect them from poachers and extinction. One can only hope. At one point during the jeep safari we were attacked by horse flies, I'm not talking a cou...

10/29/12 So finally after 3 trips to Okinawa, I finally made it to the Keramas! Last weekend for a quick little trip I ventured over to Tokashiki Island (1 hour give or take on the slow ferry and 30 minutes on the quick one). Tokashiki is beautiful. Where my hotel (Marine Village) was located was very isolated and there wasn't much to see or do other than the beach and beautiful water (tough life I know!). The hotel didn't even have wifi in the rooms (gasp) so it really forced me to disconnect and relax a little. Something that I now realize I haven't done in a really long time! I'm not much of a water person. I tend to dislike sea life, especially if it's anywhere near me...but I was hoping to see a sea turtle or two. Turns out you had to actually get into the water to see those. Damn. Perhaps next time I'll put on my big girl swim trunks and do the whole snorkeling thing (gulp). Tokashiki is beautiful and it was nice to get out and see something new...

10/22/10 So it's been a while since my last post, but this one promises to be nothing short of entertaining! I apologize in advance for the mix of information that you are about to consume. I'll refer to this post as ambrosia...no one really knows what all the ingredients are, but there sure are a lot of them...kind of what this post will be like! On to my favorite ...I don't know if that's really the best choice of words but hey AFN (Alaska Federation of Natives) is in town for the annual conference/event/hoopla which means over 4000 Natives in from various villages throughout Alaska, most of whom happen to be staying where I am so things have been loud and rowdy at night...louder and rowdier. I went to the crafts portion of AFN last night and saw some really amazing things (most of which I couldn't afford and really had no purpose for)...this brings me to the "lovely ivory carving" that a man had proudly displayed on the front of his table with oth...

9/3/10 Success! On the drive home from dinner with coworkers I finally accomplished one item on my Alaska to do list...see moose! Two ran across the road in front of me, baby mooses...which brings me to the ever so important discussion that I will have with myself for at least a paragraph about the proper terminology for multiple moose (s). I'll spare you the paragraph of rambling, this is where I ask for some audience participation...Mom, I'm sure you're not surprised to know that I choose "mooses" as my proper term, but I'd love some input from everyone else... Sorry no picture, it was dark (as dark as it gets in Alaska in the beginning of September) and I was driving...on a 4 lane road...