Torsten is excited to be an astronaut for Halloween this year. He has a costume party to go to today so we put it on for the first time. We just wanted to share with you how cute he looks. We also had fun decorating his space shuttle!
The best time to visit Fairadise! Carrie, Torsten, and Matt went up to Fairbanks in late September. We stayed with Don & Anne (thanks for the great hospitality!). We caught up with Dana, Martin (welcome back!), Curt (glad you were in town!), Gina, Harlow, Shawna, Blair, more, more, etc!). We ran a relay: Carrie leg 1 (great run, she looked ready to keep going at the end!), Matt leg 2 (he got the “Juneau weather” treatment on Ester Dome and had the best “drowned rat” look going when he finished), and Gina leg 3 (the ringer! We couldn’t get a picture of her–it was just a blur!). What a great time. Here are a few photos from the marathon. More Fairbanks pictures soon. And more marathon pictures in the gallery.
Carrie, running up the hill by the muskox farm with Peter giving support:
Gina, blazing through leg 3:
At the finish line (Gina just kept going! Not really.. 
1) wifi should be free in all airports. Juneau finally added it. Anchorage provides it. Albuquerque has it. Seattle seems to still want to force folks to pay up. More and more airports are doing it right though. And hotels! I’m shocked when hotels want to charge for networking, and totally floored when they don’t even have it as an option–I’m so used to them having it, that I don’t think to ask anymore–and about once a year I got surprised.
2) I think the airlines/rental car/frequent flier plans are getting more stingy. Not so much in the rewards (which is true), but they seem to “forget”/”lose”/”delete” the number from their records. I find this when flying airline partners, rental car companies, etc. The number goes in when I make the reservation, it isn’t there when I get the rental/boarding pass, I have them add it back, the miles never show up, I fax in receipts, boarding passes, and blood samples (as required to get the mile credit), then never hear anything… If it wasn’t in an attempt to get Carrie & Torsten along on trips, I would give up on keeping up with it. (I suppose that is the hope, eh? airlines?)
3) I noticed–and I want more impressions of this: European airport bookstores have great science (like Einstein, Darwin, etc). US airports generally don’t have a science section. If they do it is “The Physics of Reality TV shows” (I’m not kidding–I really saw this one in SEATAC today!). I hear recently that the Anchorage airport bookstore does have a science section (but I looked for it when I was there two weeks ago! I was distracted by hangin’ w/ Torsten, so I’ll stand by my premise/observation/anecdote). US airport bookstores have no reasonable science book section for the importance of science and technology to our lives. (heck–the fact that we are getting on airplanes should emphasize this!!) And my impression is that European airport bookstores (given, my main impression is from Amsterdam–a nice big airport. But Oslo as well!). I’ve recently done my survey in DFW, Seatac, ABQ, JNU (ha!). I’m gathering anecdotes and impressions–let me know what you think!
And what else do you notice about travel?
Still catching up a bit.. Up Mt. Roberts with Jono, Sara, Grandpa Bob, Nana, Carrie, Torsten, Matt and Suka. We got some good sliding down the snow in at the top. Matt ran up and down with Suka while everyone else went up the tram.
As usual, there a lots of photos in the gallery.
Torsten makes lots of great art. Here are just a few of the recent drawings to share. One of Torsten’s first pictures were of his good friends DeeDee and NeeNee (DeeDee has a peanut on his nose–can’t you see it?). Next is a picture of Torsten and Carrie (Torsten is giving Carrie a hug). Then Torsten with a Rainbow (Torsten is 4, as you can see in the signature).
To say it once again–what a weekend! We loved hanging out in Tenakee. Here’s a sunset photo:
Here’s a photo of Torsten and Adam playing down on the beach:
Torsten joined us in using binocs and spotting scopes to whale-watch all weekend:
Another classic from Torsten. I helped Beth with the REU renewal proposal, and now I’m deep (or trying to get deep) into the SEAMONSTER renewal proposal. After that the magnetometer proposal… So I’m always working on the proposal. This afternoon, Torsten stumped us for a few minutes by saying “Are you working on the proposal in the sink?” Finally we realized he was talking about the (garbage) disposal in the sink–good connection!
Carrie got to play host as the Auke Bay Coop gang went to NOAA Lena Point for their Sea Week Experience. Touch tanks rule! Here are a few picture of Torsten during the visit:
Torsten loved having his checklist of critters to find!
As always, more photos in the gallery.
Hop in the way-back/catch-up machine for a trip to May 7, 2008. Matt got to go along on the Auke Bay Coop Field Trip to the Intertidal area of Auke Rec. It was great fun as the kids explored under rocks, found fish, eels, crabs, and even a small octopus!
More photos in the gallery.
It is catch up time (Matt had his “number 14″ tooth pulled (a big one!)), so he’s in recovery–it is a good time to catch up on blogging!).. Here are some more July 4 Juneau parade highlights. The gang (except for Jaye–these are her pictures, but it does have Carrie!)
Torsten’s favorite moment of the parade (and this guy drove a good long way)
The miners were out in force (campaigning against ballot proposition 4 on the Aug 26 election), but they brought lots of big cool trucks:
This was probably the funniest float, although there were several good ones:
There was a great turnout for the annual Peace Crane march by the Veteran’s For Peace:
image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace
