Kansas City Trip-One Last Time

So, I'm in town for Charla's wedding. Luckily I had an excuse to come back to Kansas, at least one more time. Of course I headed straight for Lawrence, where the party never seems to stop. Because of Danny's great disappointment in my lack of posting, I switched to the new Blogger and will be back-logging posts for the next couple of months to get everything up to date. I'm always staring at this computer wondering what to do with it, so now I have a mission...and Danny can re-bookmark my blog. This way he, and anyone else who happens by, can keep up with the fascinating world that is Brian. Unfortunately, my camera's broken and being serviced by Fuji, but I'll try to post someone else's pictures.

Key West- Pirate Museum

Who doesn't like pirates. This was a very worthwhile trip. There are so many interesting items; including an original jolly roger and the only authentic treasure chest in America.

Key West- Aquarium

The aquarium in Key West is relatively small, but contains a lot of local inhabitants. There are several sea turtles being rehabilitated. There are also a lot of Atlantic species; jacks, spiny lobsters, tarpon, octopi.

Key West-Eaton Lodge

We stayed at "The Eaton Lodge" a large, old bnb near old downtown. One night we ran into the local ghost tour outside, while going to our room. It appears that the section of the house where we stayed was an old doctor's office. It has been said that, on occassion, the nervous doctor still paces this area. We only had a few pebbles thrown at the windows.

Key West

A few of us spent my birthday in Key West. It just so happened that it was also Lina's birthday, and John's last weekend before he moved back to New York. Good luck John.

Field Work

My job requires a semi-annual survey of nearly seventy miles of South Florida coast. Here are some pics of what we do.

Miami Zoo

I went to the zoo today with co-workers John and Lina. We had a good time, although it could have been cooler. We saw the most amazing chimpanzee display; three adult males started going crazy, exciting the rest of the chimps, which then ran around full speed hissing and screaming with open mouths and teeth showing, clapping and knocking each other around. It was something to behold.

Hurricane Katrina- Update

Now that we're back I realize just how lucky we were. We returned to find the power on and just a few spoiled items in the fridge. If anyone is interested in helping the victims of Katrina, please visit www.redcross.org or just click on the link to the right.

North Van

Our perfect weather finally ran out and our excursion to North Vancouver was filled with chilly rain. The area was so picturesque that it didn't really matter. We spent the day hiking around Lynn County Park (with a 50m suspension bridge) and the harbor town of Deep Cove. The weather didn't dissuade us from our activities, nor did it affect the divers we saw coming up on the beach as we were looking for seals.

Vancouver Aquarium

The Aquarium is home to a freshwater stream that allows juvenile coho salmon to swim downstream into the ocean to mature. Most of the exhibits are of west coast Canadian waters, but several tanks are dedicated to Indo-Pacific and Amazon regions.

Vancouver Aquarium (Mammals)

We attended the beluga and dolphin shows, and watched the sea otters, stellar sea lions, and harp seals.

Vancouver- Stanley Park

The weather was perfect this afternoon, nearly 80 in the sun and in the low 70s to upper 60s in the shade. So we decided to rent a couple of bikes and ride the 10km sea wall around Stanley Park. The views were breathtaking. We saw several seals in the water, along the way.