Autumn on the Mississippi. Photo by jby.The camera on my iPhone (4, not even S) is really pretty lousy. But when I’m on the last long run before a marathon, it’s the camera I have with me. And it does give you some sense of how colorful things have become in the parklands that line the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to Saint Paul, my regular running route. More photos after the jump!
I like these cities.◼
Oh, my. I spent Saturday—yes, pretty much all of it—at the Minnesota State Fair with friends. I have to admit, it was impressive. The livestock barns were bio-geeky fun, and the food (sampled strategically, in moderation) was uniformly good, especially the milkshakes at the dairy barn. Deep-fried cheese curds are amazing, and I do not want any more until next year.
Anyway, I’ve finally gotten around to weeding through the photos I took, so here you go. Check out the QR code made out of seeds from the “seed art” competition (which is far from the most peculiar and specific competitive category we encountered) and the sheep in vaguely sinister protective coveralls.
Snow in the Mojave, March 2006. Photo by jby.… whatever that means. I’m doing the family travel circuit during the traditional worst time of year to travel in the U.S., and taking as much of a break as I can while doing it. Regular posting will resume with the start of the new year. In the meantime, here’s Pink Martini’s rockin’ multilingual rendition of “Auld Lang Syne.”
Male Calliope hummingbird. Photo by jby.Field Season phase I, in which I play tour guide for my parents through the sights of the California and Nevada desert, is now complete. It was a great week.
Spent most of this morning hiking Kamiak Butte with old and new friends in town for the meetings. It was a perfect day for it, and there are still wildflowers out, and good birding — Black-headed Grosbeaks, Pygmy Nuthatches, and Mountain Chickadees. For non-locals, this is well worth a half-day trip when concurrent session talks start to all sound the same.
Glacier National Park is spectacular even when it rains all day.
I’m back from time with the family in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, plus an afternoon at the New England Aquarium and a weekend visiting an old high school buddy in Chicago. It was good, at least until the flight home, which was canceled. (I got home only a day late, but my luggage still hasn’t caught up.) Highlights: climbing Dorr Mountain, whale (and bird) watching, visiting the Field Museum and the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Much bio-geeking, but nothing work-related. Although it turns out that the Field Museum has a fishbowl genetics lab in the middle of one exhibit, where you can watch actual scientists do basically what I do all day. Kinda creepy. Anyway, time for photos:
