Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Even though we spent a week on Pacific time, I realize that I need to spend a lot more to see even a fraction of what there is to do out there! I might try to spend a month out that way this summer. I left some of my heart in San Francisco, I was inspired and entranced by the beautiful landscape, and Seattle is nothing but great!

The paper was the continuation (and improvement) of a project I started long, long, ago in 2005. In fact, you can check here for some info about it. This paper was so good that it was worth a free trip for both of us to present it at the RESNA conference.
Of course, I didn’t spend too much time inside, dressed up, talking about papers. I spent most of the trip visiting with my dad and his new wife. We relaxed in the back yard, checked out the pash shopping and dining of Phoenix, and hid from the 115 degree heat!
One day we drove North to a cool town called Sedona which has lots of great hiking and rock formations. Here’s me at the end of ‘Long Canyon.’ It was a nice little 10 mile hike, and where I’m standing in this picture is one of the several “Power Vortices” in Sedona. (I certainly felt more powerful than usual!)

Read on for some stories from the trip.

Derby Reflections and Atlanta Ejections – 5/6/07

I got back from the Derby at 4am this morning. Although it was fun, and I’m glad I did it, I have no interest in ever going back… ever. It turns out (from the infield at least) the Kentucky Derby is like a big redneck fair but with gambling. Of course, that’s not all bad, I made $20 bettin’ on the ponies.

After a power nap I was up-and-at-em this morning running final errands for my Europe Trip. Immediately after pressing “publish” on this post, I’m going to go get lunch, and then I’m out of the country! Hopefully I’ll post little updates whenever I get to an internet cafes along the way.

See you tomorrow morning in Paris.

Ich Ein Berlinner – 5/9/07

The European Vacation is off to a great start. We arrived in Paris with luck and excitement. After a day playing around in the city of lights we jumped on a night train to Berlin. We slept like babies for the whole 10 hour ride.

In Berlin, we spent yesterday doing a walking tour of the city and then a pub crawl with a group called New Berlin. That was loads of fun, but today we’re sight-seeing on our own.

We have had some incredibly lucky stories and close calls… so far we’ve been blessed on this trip and we’re hoping that our luck holds out! Ok, off to see more of Berlin

Picturehausen ein Deutchland – 5/10/07

We found a computer with an SD card reader! But, more importantly… we found Elton John (the German Version) see below. Elton is in the hat, his brother Hans is wearing the brown coat. They liked this picture so much that they offered us free beer if we printed it for them!

We’ve also been getting a good chuckle from the local signage. “Loeser Projekt” was a store with incompetent people, and…

The guy working at “Schmuck” was a you-know-what.

Enough playing on das computershauzen. Time to go play with the monkeys at the Zoo.

Farewell Paris – 5/13/07

This morning we’re silently packing up trying not to wake our host, Remi. In about an hour, we’ll be on a train bound for Avignon. We’ll get lunch in this pretty (but small) town, and then continue to Marseilles. In Marseilles, we actually have a *real* hotel room! We plan to sleep a lot tonight. That’s as far as our plans go. Au revoir!

Bella Italia – 5/16/07

This morning Jimi and I arrived in Pisa. We woke up after a restful tolerable sleep on the train. In Pisa, we ran around for a couple of hours, ate some pizza, and took some pictures with the tower (what a bunch of tourists!). Then we hopped on another train to La Spezia. Here we are about to leave to visit a small group of towns called Cinque Terra. We’ve heard amazing things about this area… lots of hiking, great views, we can’t wait.

After this we’ll stop over in Milan for a day or so, then its on to Munich.

Ciao

Back to the USA – 5/21/2007

Today I woke up in Martin’s place at 12:30 am Atlanta time. Here 10:30 pm finds me writing a short post before going to bed. I made it! I’m back!

The flight back was very fine (I watched a lot of movies). It’s nice to be back home after such a long trip, but the trip was completely awesome!

Thanks to everyone who housed us and came out to meet us. It really means a lot to me to have such great friends all over the world! You are all the best!

In the next few days I’m going to make some more posts about the trip. A summary, some more pictures, and some “do’s” and “do not’s” of traveling in Europe.

Good Night, USA