Indiana, N. Carolina & California

I got to see my beautiful cousin Zsuzsanna for the first time in a long while since she lives in Tempeh.  She's engaged!  Mom & Dad and I watched my nieces for a couple weeks so that Tibor and Dora could take an adult vacation to Canada and Yellowstone, and so the girls got to see Zsuzsa too!

Roger took me to an Indiana University football game, and they won!  It was exciting and fun.

Blue heron at Roger & Bette's pond in Indiana.  It was great to see it up so close.  What a bird!

Roger & Bette in their backyard before their high school reunion.  It was great to spend some time with the Koehlingers.  We played a lot of cards, ate so well and even went to a harvest festival.

Dave on the John Muir trail in Tennessee by Brian's lake house.  So nice to hike on it!

Dave and Brian.  We just made a dinner for kings, bacon wrapped jalapenos, avocado salad and gorgonzola cheese and caramelized onion hamburgers!  Bloody mary's as the appetizer. And below is a lake I hiked by and Dave mountain biked in the Smoky Mountains.

Dave and I went kayaking on Lake Apalachia, and had a lot of relaxing days on the porch.

This beautiful cardinal sat on our car everyday.  He kept looking at himself in the mirror.  Funny!

After Dave went back to Alaska, I dog sat Bitsy the chihuahua and Max, a small black dog.  My friend Molly from Antarctica came up and we did a fast together and enjoyed the lake views.

We went to Auburn California with my parents to see some exotic plants and fall colors.  We actually found a regional park that wasn't shut down and it had mining exhibits as well as gardens.  Very pretty.

There were hollies and magnolia trees, as well as huge Ponderosa pines.

This was my favorite bit of fall color there.  Right now I'm packing (for Antarctica, Alaska, New Zealand, Atlanta, North Carolina........whatever comes first.)  Let's see where I end up, since politicians killed my job. 

North Dakota, Indiana, Nevada

 North Dakota sunset at the Maah Daah Hey trail head, near Teddy Roosevelt National Park

 With Grandma & Grandpa at their home in Reno in April

 Our tent on our Maah Daah Hey mountain biking trip in North Dakota

 Abigail with her cute shoes at the playground in Stanley, North Dakota

 Isaac, so tall, in Stanley.

Second annual drinks on the Gas House deck for Roger's belated birthday in Indiana and below is Dave and I at the Olive Garden in Reno with my parents, Tibor, Dora and the girls.

 Family group portrait in front of the house, with the help of the neighbor Mark.

 Caught up with Incze cousins Attila and his wife Reka, their boy Zoltan.

 Hanna's first time bowling, and she beat Tiora by a point.  We went with the whole family.

 Mountain lion yawning at the wildlife park outside of Reno that takes care of injured animals.

 Dave and I at the campground right before starting our mountain biking trip.

 Beautiful badlands in North Dakota.  It was a magical place and I'm glad we got to see more of it.

On this trip, Dave and I biked parts of the Maah Daah Hey trail, me just 40 miles of it and Dave 80.  It's in a gorgeous spot and I imagine that when they have money for trail crews (which they didn't this year), that it's absolutely perfect.  I'd like to get good at it, so I've been riding Dad's bike here in Reno.  We saw some incredible sunsets, flowers and even bison there and enjoyed the camping and food in Medora.  We visited Mike and Jen and the kids and enjoyed our time there very much.  Can't believe how tall Isaac has gotten.  Drove to Indiana and celebrated belated birthdays as well as played some great cards and then flew to Reno to see my brother, sister-in-law and kids as well as my parents and grandparents.  Another 3 weeks with Dave that just absolutely flew by too quickly!

Parents, Peru, Car & Canada

Peru was magic! And Machu Picchu is a place I've wanted to see since the 7th grade.  We spent the whole month hiking and loved the rugged scenery.  Definitely the hardest hiking we've ever done, but also the wildest scenery, most places just us two on the trail.  Not another soul sight!

This is our Colca Canyon hike, you can see some of the trail on the mountainside.  Deeper than the Grand Canyon, and check out the swimming pools and palm trees at the "oasis."  It was a lovely surprise for us.

The Ausangate trail is our favorite backpacking trip of all time.  That beautiful, again just us two, with glaciers calving, turquoise lakes, exotic plants and the most beautiful mountains.

 Sunrise on the Ausangate circuit.

Some more fun cacti on the Ausangate.  We saw the most incredible variety of cacti and other plants in Peru.  Everyday was like a walk in a botanic garden.

 Mom and Dad, dinner at the Eldorado Buffet to celebrate Mom's retirement!

Our new car.  It's a 2011 RAV-4, and I went all the way to Atlanta to buy it from Dave's friend's brother.  (The only lovable car dealer in the US.)  In doing so I got to see Tonya, Molly, DJ, Karen and Paul, long time Antarctic friends.

Bear Grass in Ranier National Park.  After visiting Tonya, Kiefer, Jay, Stacie, Cherf and Quinn (more Antarctic friends) in Portland, I went up to see the wildflowers in Rainer since I hadn't been there since Suntrek.

Picked up Dave at the Seattle airport and we went straight to North Cascades National Park for a 5 day backpacking trip that was lush and beautiful.

It was neck high ferns and wildflowers everywhere, including indian paintbrush, shooting stars and lupines.

 Here's a shooting star.  There were almost too many to photograph.

 North Cascades NP is huge, and free, and we saw a wolverine!!!

We were in the woods for the first 3 days and then saw these mountains on the last two, making the wet slog over downed trees totally worth it.

Canada!  After our hike we drove up to Canada through the Rockies and stopped at all the National Parks for day hikes.  They said it was still too covered in snow for backpacking.  Revelstoke, Banff, Glacier, Yoho, Kootenay and Waterton Lakes.

My first bighorn sheep sighting.  We saw more driving through Glacier National Park in Montana too.

Some of the wildflowers in the Canadian Rockies.  Lots in Montana too, and Idaho.  I got to stay at Polly's beautiful home in Donnelly Idaho and her yard was covered with lupines.  And in Livingston Montana there were still tons of paintbrush in bloom.  I visited a friend of 10 years there and ran into some more ice folks and ate again like a queen (what is it with Montana food being so incredibly good?)

Huckleberry on our property.  They were just getting ripe as I left Idaho.

The book says this guys is a San Francisco garter snake.  We found him on our property, another creature to add to the list.

Dave's birthday bike ride in Ponderosa State Park.  The evening of his birthday we went to sushi with our friend Todd and watched the sunset on Payette Lake.

This awesome photo is from Whitefish from Polly and Artie's photographer.  We got to see them for two nights of laughing and catching up, and Artie treated us to the alpine slide on the mountain.  We also saw a couple ice friends there too, and ate like kings.  The food there is incredible!

With Dad and then Mom in front of my favorite tree at my parents house, after Nepal.

This summer is going so fast I can't believe it!  I'm at Mike and Jen's house in Tioga North Dakota, about to pick Dave up from the airport tomorrow.  We will try a 4-5 day mountain biking trip here and then see Jen and the kids when they get in before we drive to Indiana to see Dave's parents and fly to Reno to see mine and my brother and his family.  Awesome.  Love you.