Home.

Well I am home now, good old Salem, Oregon! It is so nice to be in a familiar place again with friends and family. My next assignment will be in Seattle, Washington at the University of Washington. It will be great to live in the city and explore the city for a while. More to come!

More of New York City

Those who have seen the lights of Times Square understand these two pictures better than others. Even during daylight hours the Square was impressive. On Saturday night, there was a huge line outside of Toys-R-Us to buy a new Nintendo game that went on sale at midnight! So a few roads were blocked and they had a band and news cameras at the scene.


Here is a night shot of Times Square,tons of people, cars, buses, limos...and of course, lights everywhere! It was just fabulous at night. Pictures don't give it justice. According to my guide book, Times Square is the only place in the city where businesses are required to advertise in bright lights.


Another night shot of the city and famous Radio City Music Hall decorated for Christmas.


I also enjoyed walking through Central Park, it is a huge expanse and we walked for a long time without going on the same route. Here is a fountain for your enjoyment.


Last, but not least, we took an elevator to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. What a great view from the top. It was a little cloudy, but we could easily see the surrounding region, and sights like the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Central Park. It was a great weekend in the city and I'm so glad I was able to do it before driving home to Oregon in another week. There is so much to see and do in NYC, I know I"ll be back someday.

The Big Apple!

Shauna and I headed to New York City this weekend. Shauna is an upstate New Yorker, but she has never made it to the big city. I was so excited to see the city and so many famous sites I've always heard about. Of course one stop was the Statue of Liberty. Here I am standing in front of the Lady


We also walked through Central Park for quite some time Saturday and Sunday. Some of the trees still had their fall colors! The park is huge and really beautiful. We saw ponds, fields, sports complexes, trails, bicycles, numerous people jogging, horse-drawn carriages, ducks, swans, dog walkers, and even someone riding a horse.



We waited for 45 minutes to take a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. After a security check and x-ray machines, we were crammed onto the ferries and ushered to the two islands with a grand view of the city in the background and the Lady in the foreground.

Mom and I

My mother came to visit me about a two weeks ago. It was a wonderful thing to have her here for a few days, especially over my birthday weekend! During her stay we did a few things like going to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory and enjoying a maple syrup farm near Montpeiler, which is the state capital. The above building with the golden dome is the capital building. We walked around the little town of Montpeiler and mom took many pictures of all the churches there.


We also drove up to Montreal so my mom could see the cathedrals and monuments there. It didn't rain at all and here is a good picture of the downtown skyline from a bridge. Mont Royal is in the background.


We also enjoyed walking around Burlington a bit, although it was very chilly when she was here, so we didn't stay outside very long! Here we are at the waterfront in Burlington. November is really not the best of months to come to Vermont. Some of the museums and famous mountain passes are closed due to the weather, so mom missed seeing a few things that I wanted her to see. But it was better to have her here than not at all. I guess we'll have to come again!!

I am leaving this wonderful state in a little more than a week. I have a hard time believing that my assignment is almost over. I will miss all the good people I've met here, especially Allie, but overall it was a great experience! I do have one more adventure before I head home. I'm heading to New York City for the weekend with another friend, Shaunna! I'll try and post those pictures before I start the long drive home.

Apple sauce

Tonight Allie and I made some apple sauce and carved pumpkins. Not quite as many pumpkins as I'm used to carving at home, but it was satisfying.

Here we are in the midst of peeling and coring apples. I've taught Allie how to make apple sauce and she just loves it! And a good thing too, because we made a ton!

Out for Halloween!

Last night was the big night to dress up and go out for Halloween. I went out with Allie and some friends to check out the night scene. I think dressing up is more fun now for adults than it was when we were kids. Of course, there is a sense of innocence and excitement for children that adults seem to have lost...



I wore my galabayya from Egypt, with a few added pieces although everyone thought I was a gypsy. It doesn't matter though, most costumes are completely overdone anyway. There were some crazy costumes out there and it ended up being an okay night.

Here are some random shots of Vermont during one of our days. Sarah and I next to Lake Champlain. On this day, Sarah and I did a short hike in Red Rocks Park, right in Burlington.


Many covered bridges here, all around 100 years old or so. Of course some have been rebuilt or touched up with fresh lumbar!

Ausable Canyon

This was last Friday, Sarah and I headed on a ferry over to New York to check out the Ausable Canyon. It was a very crisp but clear morning!

This is a really narrow section of the Ausable River, a little tourist attraction that stretches about two miles along the river.

More from Montreal

This is my favorite church in Montreal, the Christ Church Cathedral built in 1859. This church is right downtown, in between much more modern buildings.

It was gorgeous inside!

My wonderful friend Sarah just came and spent about a week with me here in Burlington. The first day off from work I had we drove the hour and a half drive to Montreal, Canada to check out the city. We literally walked around the whole city that day, only using the metro (subway) once. It was a cloudy day and a little chilly out, but the rain held off and we even got a nice view of the city from Mount Royal.

This building is Montreal's largest shrine, Oratoire Saint-Joseph, a massive structure with a very modern interior. Second only in height to Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. We were both excited to go here but a little disappointed when we saw the inside.

Now this building, Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, was awesome inside. It was built between 1824 and 1829 and has a huge pipe organ that was being played while we were inside. More to come on our vacation...

Finally...Fall foliage.

The peak weekend of Vermont Fall Foliage has finally arrived. The hotels are full, the sky is blue, sun is warm, crisp cold nights, and tourists all over the road, so don't be in a hurry to get anywhere! A rich array of colors from deep reds to bright, almost fluorescent yellows. The wide variety of colors can be found on almost every road, hillside and neighborhood. No chance of hiking a trail alone, other hikers are pouring out in the numbers to enjoy the fall. And of course, so am I. Just finished my work week and an extra shift to top it off, and I am tired. Today was the exhausted day, so I just drove around, found numerous country roads, trying to get the "perfect pictures" and to just enjoy the scenery.



These are the best colors to see on a tree!



The hillsides are really gorgeous all lit up in color. I feel like I took about 500 pictures, but only one or two really show the great colors. How many pictures can a person take of trees??



Here is a nice trail full of leaves and the feeling of fall.

The wonderful world of Anatomy

Today was a quick trip to Boston. My friend Allie was picking up two friends at the airport and there is an awesome exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science right now that we all wanted to go to. So after the airport we headed to the museum and entered the world of Plastination, which is the chemistry of body preservation.


Multiple skeletons, internal organs, nerves, muscles, fetus and mother, and much more on display. All bodies donated and preserved and then put on display in new, unique positions in order to see what certain muscles or joints do during things like basketball, ballet, swinging a baseball bat, sitting and more. It also had a great display of organs infested with cancer, tumors, hemmorhages, or completely healthy. There was even a huge camel on display. I really wanted to take pictures, but of course, it was against the rules. So, here is a little picture of the brocure for you all to see. All real stuff, not fake, just preserved very well and invented by a Dr. Gunther von Hagens.

Me, Kayaking?

So, yesterday I tried out kayaking for the first time. I was a little frightened of tipping the kayak over and drowning, but luckily, that did not happen. It ended up being very fun and a great workout for the upper body. I went with my enthusiastic friend, Allie, who has been so gracious to invite me to do things with her and her friends.


Here is another picture of Burlington. Kind of gives you all a clue of what the downtown looks like. Mt. Mansfield is in the background, scroll down the page and you'll see pictures of hiking that mountain.

A Day at Shelburne Farms

Shelburne Farms: A touristy, 1000 acre working farm with a small cheese factory, hiking trail, restuarant and inn, and a kid section with a lot of animals (petting zoo). It was a beautiful day and a well kept farm. Nice looking barn huh? It was huge. The hiking train, which of course I did, was a little boring, but had some great views of fields and the lake in the background.

Smuggler's Notch

Today I went with another friend to Sterling Pond. Another steep hike, 3 miles to the pond and 3 miles out. This is in a very grand section of the mountains where there is a little pass in between called Smugglers Notch. Famous for many years of smuggling liquor into the USA (1920's) and a passageway for slaves to get out of the state into Canada. Now it is a big ski resort and hiking area during the summer.

Another wonderful day in the NE, the trees are starting to change ever so slowly to oranges, yellow and red.

The Beach

Here was my day today, sitting on a nice warm (low 70's) beach next to Lake Champlain. There was a wakeboarding contest on the lake so tons of people on the North Beach. Downtown Burlington is in the far background of the picture. I'm trying to enjoy the weather as long as I can, I figure it won't last forever.

So, yesterday I went to climb Camel's Hump with a new friend, Allie. Started up on the east side of the mountain, it was a great hike and fun to be with someone else for a change. We climbed to the top, enjoyed the view for a bit and then started hiking back down. After hiking down for about an hour and 45 min, we came out to a completely different parking lot than the one we were supposed to be in. Hmmm...Obviously my map skills had failed me. After figuring out that we had completely missed the junction where we should have turned right (east) and went left (west) instead, we debated what to do next. Allie needed to be back to Burlington by 6pm, at the time it was 4:15 and we were at least 5 miles of hiking from the car. Humbly we started asking for a ride to our vehicle that was almost 30 mile drive around the small mountain. I say humbly because I don't like asking for things or admitting that I got a little turned around (in other words, LOST) I was more than willing to just turn around and hike up the mountain again before asking for a ride, but Allie had time constraints. So, as we asked some random people at the trailhead, we kept coming across people who also had time constraints and couldn't spend the time taking us back to my car. Finally three people with three white terriers graciously agreed to take us to Allie's house in Burlington. Much later in the evening when Allie was free, she took me back out to get my car. Quite an interesting end to the day.

The trail down the mountain.

Allie and I near a little pond with Camel's Hump in the far background.

So today was Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont. Anyone can drive, ride a gondola or hike to the top. I decided to hike. 3.5 miles one way, 2700 elevation gain, it was quite a climb to the top.

But the view was worth the climb, as it is every time.

My Home

Here are some great pictures of Lake Champlain I took yesterday. It was such a beautiful day, awesome blue sky and a wonderful time for me to explore downtown Burlington and the lake shore a little bit. It is already getting colder though. The temperature dips down into the 40's at night and only reaches the 70's during the day. Guess I need to get my winter clothes ready.



Here is my home for now. Two rooms, living area and kitchen and then bedroom and bath. Looks pretty homey huh? It's not bad at all, and it's free.

Mount Hunger

So, I've finished my first week of work and today I went hiking. Mount Hunger was my first conquest, elevation 3,539 ft. It was a beautiful day for a climb, and quite a steep hike. Check out the view below.



Here's a picture of me, so you all won't forget what I look like. :)

I feel like I'm in Oregon

So, it was 90 or so back home today and I enjoyed a day in the 50's and rainy. Sounds a bit like Oregon winters huh? Well here is a picture of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks in the background. It is so lush and green here and the trees are plentiful. Tomorrow is my first day of work, so I'll see what the hospital is like. Three days of orientation and then I'm on my own. More to come...

Last stop...

My good friend, Sarah, just moved to Pennsylvania with her husband. It was fun to see her new place and of course I had to go hiking somewhere...See a theme in my life guys?? So we went to Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park.



Lake Arthur. Beautiful and much different than Oregon.