My vacation for 2011 was a trip to Edwardsville, Illinois to see my sister, Aby, and her family. The vacation lasted three days, 16 hours of which involved driving. My passenger was my 75-year-old mother who hadn’t gone anywhere in a long time, either, and spent the drive pointing out the obvious, like, “Oh, look at that white barn.” …
When Mark wasn’t raising discus fish and hamsters this summer he spent some of his spare time watching fishing shows on TV. One show featured a fishing fanatic and guide named Doug Samsal who was filmed in a boat on a northern Michigan River catching salmon with spawn and bobbers which he flung overboard and watched float down the …
My sister, Aby, called me two weeks ago to say that when she and her daughter, Kailea came into town from Illinois there were a few things they wanted to do: 1) catch a fish; 2) see a giraffe; and 3) go to a beach on Lake Michigan. It had been averaging 90 degrees in Michigan and I told …
Catching a Fish and Seeing a Giraffe in Michigan Read More »
The problem with fishing is that when fishing goes well, fishermen are usually willing to share somewhat reliable information about their catch, but they often won’t give details about where they were fishing, exactly, and what they were using, exactly, and what color was working, exactly. Indeed, from the average fisherman you are more likely …
Blue penguins are about 16 inches tall, which makes them too large to be called foot-long penguins but small enough to be the smallest species of penguins in the world. They live in southern Australia and New Zealand, and spend their days at sea looking for small fish and squid to gulp. In the evening, they return to …
In 2006, 2008 and 2010, I was fortunate enough to be part of Alma College’s New Zealand Experience, an 18-day class in New Zealand to take in the sights, sounds, culture and critters. Mark and his coworker, Mel, set up the trip and included opportunities to see royal albatross, yellow-eyed penguins and other critters I’ll probably have …
During our second week in New Zealand I discovered that I should have brought my computer to NZ rather than “renting” time on a clunky old computer at our hotels. See, in NZ, you generally buy 10-30 minutes of time to use a NZ computer, and if you’re quick, you’ll think that 10 minutes will …
I have just a few minutes before our bus comes to take us to one of my all-time favorite spots in New Zealand, Stewart Island. Mark and I are with 22 Alma College students and another professor, and spent the first few days in the town of Dunedin doing day trips to the Royal Albatross colony and a site …