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.

Nepal Himalaya

 Sunrise on the Himalaya was always golden and worth the early start.

Baby goats, my new obsession.  I stopped and stared at each one.  Now I want goats!

Annapurna Base Camp in front of Annapurna 1.  This camp at 13,550 feet and the 17,900 foot Thorung La Pass were the highest we got and the biggest views.

 Boats on Phewa Lake in Pokhara.  Where we relaxed at the end of our trip.

Dave at Ice Lake.  This was an 8 hour acclimatization hike out of Manang that we did to get ready for the Thorung La.  Very pretty place.

 The village of Marfa from the Buddhist Monastery.  This is the apple capital of Nepal!

 Yak on Thorung La Pass.  Tired from carrying a very large tourist.

 Machapuchare (fishtail) Peak at sunrise.

Ferns and tropical plants at lower elevations.  So many mosses too!  Below is prayer flags at Annapurna Base Camp.

Dave and I had an incredible trip to Nepal!!!  We both can't wait to go back and do another tea house trek.  Nepal was a really easy country to travel through.  All we had to do was wake up and walk and everywhere we were greeted by the kindest people.  We had delicious meals cooked for us and beds and showers along the way, with the most stunning scenery.  We hiked 25 days in all, both the Annapurna Circuit and to the Annapurna Base Camp inside the Annapurna Sanctuary and then took a couple days at the end to relax on the lake in Pokhara.  I got an extra day in Kathmandu as my flight didn't leave until well past midnight, so I got to do some shopping, reading and and relaxing at cafes.  This sounds obvious, but both of us were taken by the size and beauty of the Himalaya.  And how close we got to be to the mountains themselves.  Other highlights were monkeys, baby goats, forests of rhododendron in wild red and pink bloom, yak cheese and Tibetan tea.  Love you all.  We're off to Peru!  Ildiko & David

McMurdo March, NZ and Sydney

Oddly enough, our last few days on station were the prettiest with the calmest weather.  We were stuck from the 5th until the 9th of March with mechanical and weather delays.  The great part was being able to sit outside and take in views like this with our friends, sleep in and relax on the clock.

 There were tons of Weddell seals, whales and even this lone adelie penguin at Hut Point.

 It's always great when we get to fly on planes with passenger windows!

The whole flight across Antarctica is amazing, just like this, for hours...bewitching really! And I just walked right into the flight deck and chatted up the pilots.  You don't get to do that anywhere else.

Breakfast with Tonya, my favorite eggs benedict place in Christchurch.  On our way down this season, back in August, Lindsay and I tried most of the breakfast places in Christchurch and voted for this one (we were weather delayed in Christchurch back then for a week, a great place to be.)

 So incredibly good to be back in Christchurch.  This was in the Botanic Gardens.

My shortest stay in Christchurch, just one day to get up to Wellington to see my family quickly because I had lost so many days with the weather and mechanical delays.  But I did finally ride this silly bus from the Antarctic Centre into the city.  They're so sweet and let Antarctic folks ride for free.

Wellington at last.  Tiora and I had a girls day in the city, which was wonderful.  Gelato was definitely on order, as were two museums and lots of time on the playground slides and we even met up with my Antarctic friends and one of Dave's Alaska coworkers for a ginger beer at Mac's.  So great!!!

 Went climbing with Tibor.  All three of us, Tiora, Hanna and I got try.

Beautiful fern trees.  One of my favorite things about New Zealand!  Our view from the climbing place in the park.

That's me close to the top.  It had been a long time since Tibor and I climbed together. And below is our wonderful ladies night with Dora in the city.  We went for a drink and a movie at the gorgeous downtown theater, I think it's called the Embassy.  A cold IPA!  And we had cake too.

 Back in Australia to sight see and relax for the day.  I took the ferry to Manly Beach and just loved it.  It looked a lot like the Avon Beach area where Dave and I spent a whole week a few years back, really lovely golden bays, plumeria trees and cute cafes.

I got back to Sydney from Manly right in the golden light of sunset.  Circular Quay was as gorgeous as ever.  I always love spending time in Sydney, so much to see and so relaxing and scenic.

This was the funniest thing ever, my friend Tonya and I laughed so hard we almost hurt ourselves.  While in our fancy hotel right off the Ice, the nicest place I've ever stayed in New Zealand right on the Park at a two hundred dollar place with it's own botanic gardens, we were at the front desk checking out.  The hotel's cat walked up to my bag, sniffed it, turned around and gave her opinion by pissing all over it.  The hotel clerk just said, "Oh dear, did she just?  Oh dear!"  And I was laughing so hard I had to go outside.

And after this...and a long flight to China then Nepal, I finally got to see Dave after 7 months, handsome as ever, smiling at me behind a sea of taxi drivers in the Kathmandu airport......