Idaho to North Carolina

Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota was a great break from driving. Lots of scenery to take in and tons of bison to watch.

We drove 800+ miles one day to spend a day in Fort Wayne with family. We went to Grandma Koehlinger's house and took her out to the Acme bar for lunch. It was great!

The truck drove well and the Uhaul towed well. Those are some well traveled cabinets!

Another scenic overlook at the NP.

This bison was almost close enough to touch! The males looked like beasts!

This was the day of our departure, in McCall Idaho in front of our lunch spot at My Father's Place. We had a great roadtrip! It took 5 long days of driving and we had a day of rest and family in Indiana to break it up. Our path was the northern route across I-90/94 to Chicago, then south to Fort Wayne, and from there a straight shot south on I75. What gorgeous scenery along the way. We just had Roger and Bette visit for a few days, and are back to installing cabinets. Next week will be more hiking, mountain biking and of course coffee on the porch while staring for hours at the lake. Love and hugs to you all!!!

Raft Trip & Leaving ID

Huckleberries are ripening on our property; this was right before we left.

We took a long bike ride before leaving Idaho on Farm to Market road.

My raft was the best! Jennifer (whom we traveled with in Australia), Garth (who we worked with in Antarctica in 2003) and myself. We took the roughest line each rapid and flipped our raft! What a blast!!!

Can you spot the other rafts in this photo? We had 5 boats, 2 kayakers & a paddle board.

Dave's boat was a cataraft and had The Todd (who's not in this photo but is our friend from Antarctica and lives in McCall) and Marshell (another friend we're lucky to work with this summer in Antarctica, also lives in Idaho).

The Todd on the paddleboard. He paddled through all the whitewater!

A typical lunch/dinner/camp spot.

So lucky to have all the ladies on the trip. 14 people total, 1 dog. This was dress night. Below is Dave jumping off a log up really high.

Dave after breakfast, ready to hit the river. We had such a blast! It was 5 days and 72 miles of the Lower Salmon river. We put in at White Bird and floated to a takeout close to a Lewiston. We both cannot wait until next year as we unanimously decided that this will be an annual event. It was a lot like backpacking but in sheer luxury with 3 course meals (I was the appetizer chef), camp chairs, music and other luxuries we're not used to in the backcountry. We even slept outside one night to watch the stars. After the awesomeness of the trip, Dave worked long hours to finish up the bathroom cabinets (5 of them, knotty alder, really pretty) and I volunteered some more, packed us up and baked some more goodies for the smokejumpers. We had a goodbye dinner at the Sushi place with our friend Thaona and Emily & Brian before hitting the road. I'm writing this from Murphy, North Carolina, so we've arrived safely after 5 long hot days of scenic driving. I'll put travel pictures up next, since we got to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, have a cheese stop in Wisconsin, and a day to visit Dave's family (including his cousins!) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a wonderful stop!

Idaho & Birthdays

A stunning Ponderosa Tree in Ponderosa State Park in McCall

Grandpa's 83rd Birthday was on July 7, and we toasted it in Reno

Dave's Birthday celebration in Reno with a toast and lots of delicious food, chocolate cake, & gifts...Thanks Mom & Dad! And thanks Tibor & Dora for the doovdez that he loves.

Sweeping views on my hike to Hard Butte lake, well worth the hour and fifteen on a dirt road to get to the Clayburn trailhead.

Hard Butte Lake's cliffs still draped in snow, but lots of wildflowers nearby.

Our July 4th weekend backpacking/camping trip on the twentymile trail up to Long lake. A fire took the chill away. Sunset at 10pm!

Shooting stars cover all the trails we've been on, and they're spectacular!

Our frequent walks and bike rides in Ponderosa State Park are always picturesque.

One of many flowers on our property. I did some yardwork out there.

Our first hike was to Hum Lake and as you can see, the trail was a bit covered.

The new beach park on Lake Payette in McCall is really great.

So wonderful to be back in Idaho and seeing and doing all the things we missed while we lived here. Even got to go rafting the Cabarton stretch of the Payette river. Dave gets to mountain and road bike regularly and I get to mark hikes off my to do list. It's been awesome and the weather has been perfect, with a high of 80F! Dave's still working hard on cabinet building and wants to finish by the time our 4 day raft trip comes up at the the end of the month. We had an awesome weekend in Reno, where we celebrated Dave and Grandpa's birthdays, took a long walk on the marsh near Mom & Dad's home and watched the world cup finale. Also got to skype with Tibor & Dora and see our beautiful nieces. We're back in McCall now and feeling very lucky to have had such a wonderful summer this year. Miss and LOVE you all!!!

A Year Flashed By

Mom & Dad at the Sparks Marina in Spring of 2010
Rose at the Christchurch New Zealand Botanic Garden
Abby's Baptism in Florida with the whole Koehlinger Family
Golf in Florida with the Koehlinger Men
Baking with Grandma Koehlinger in Indiana
A Kingfisher in Sparks, Nevada


Crocodile in Adelaide River near Kakadu National Park/Darwin, Australia
Sunrise in Uluru/Kata Tjuta National Park, Central Australia
Sunset champagne camel tour of Uluru, Australia
Uluru/Ayers Rock aglow in sunset colors, Central Australia
Sunset from our beach house near Abel Tasman Nat'l Park, S. Island of New Zealand
A windy hike in the Golden Bay with our friends, New Zealand

Cormorants in NZ
California, Fall 2009 with Piroska neniek, Grandma & Parents
Beach hike in California, Fall 2009
Bodega Bay, California
Florida beach time with Isaac, Mike & Jen, and Dave's Parents in Fall 2009

Group picture, Savannah beach Fall 2009 (Tibe Island)
Leaving Antarctica, March 5th 2010 awaiting our commercial flight
Christmas hike at McMurdo Station
Ice caving during Sea Ice Training in Antarctica
Survival Training a few miles from McMurdo Station
Lovely trip through Christchurch, New Zealand on my way to Antarctica

Wow, a year has somehow flashed by and it's been a blast! After the Sierra Nevada's on the Pacific Crest Trail (755 miles) last summer, we visited Mike & Jen in Florida and my parents in Reno as well as my aunt & uncle in California. It was a gorgeous trip through New Zealand to Antarctica and as soon as I arrived, I felt immediately at home. A lot of wonderful friends I haven't seen in ages made us feel infinitely welcome. Had a very busy and a really fun and lovely season at McMurdo Station catching up with friends, touring some scenic places and of course working. We stayed for the extended season and got to see some pretty sunsets before leaving on the last flight and getting a gorgeous fly over of the Erebus crater, the southernmost volcano in the world on a commercial flight in first class! Can't beat that.

Another perfect trip in New Zealand with three long backpacking trips, a gorgeous beach house in the Golden Bay with our friends, a weekend home at Hanmer Springs with Tibor, Dora & Tia, some awesome penguin rookeries and hiking near Dunedin, and getting to see Tibor & Dora's home in Wellington, NZ. An amazing 5 weeks that flew by! Then onto 3 weeks of spellbinding sights in the central red Outback of Australia that I've always craved to see in a camper van National Park hopping, existing on barramundi fish and beers and doing some fabulous smaller hikes with our friend Jennifer. Then the last week in Australia near Sydney in a sleepy sea village called Avalon where we hiked all day and bird-watched, toured bakeries and delighted in the sunsets. Back to the U.S. to see my parents in Reno in the spring, meet Abigail in Florida, tour a whiskey distillery in Kentucky, bake with Grandma Koehlinger in Indiana and return to Reno to help my parents move. It's been a year already, a gorgeous year that I'm so lucky to have shared with family and friends! Welcome to world Hanna & Abigail!!! (Tibor, please send pictures of our visits when you can, and thanks for Skyping!)