The night is getting better

One more night in Colorado with this rich and smooth scotch ale by
Oskar Blues Brewery. Good friends and good times.

Stuck in Denver

With the weather closing down some roads, I'm staying in Denver on more night before my final push home. When I get back, I'll be sure to update on all my adventures fly fishing, hiking, and climbing. Stay tuned!

Dreaming of the BWCA... or am I?

OBN's at it again with another photo prompt, this time looking at dream destinations. Just like everybody, I have so many places I want to go, making this particularly difficult. I would love to see Alaska, ride the Siberian Railway, travel Chile north to south, dine in Cambodia, hike in New Zealand, etc etc etc.

Okay, as I write this, right now in fact, I'm changing the direction of the post. I was going to tell you, whenever I dream of a place to go, I long after the quiet, summer shores of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). I have been a few times and I absolutely love it. The smell of warm, musty pines, picking blueberries, moose, bear, great fishing, northern lights, no motorized vehicles allowed.

photo by: Brandenburg, J from http://www.wildernessinquiry.org/photo.php?dest=bwcacanoe&groupsize=15&filepath=%2Fimages%2Ftrip_images%2Fgallery%2F&filenum=10

I've dreamed and dreamed of having a small cabin up there, or at least making a yearly trip for the rest of my life. But then I realized, as I was typing the list of places above, there is another dream. One more exciting and adventurous. One that, admittedly, will be difficult to pull off, because of real world commitments. But as long as we are dreaming, maybe I should shoot a little higher, eh?

I've already mentioned it. Chile. For some reason, I've been fascinated with the diversity of landscapes within the country. With national parks like Torres del Paine (pictured below, thanks national geographic), el pacha, Easter Island, Santiago, fishing galore, what is not to desire?

Photograph by Jerry Alexander/Getty Images

So there it is. It has been set. I choose Chile. The BWCA almost had it for a second, but then, like Ohio, or Kansas, or Duke, or whoever else you didn't expect to lose during March Madness, a twist out of nowhere.

I would travel the cities and the parks. Fishing when I can and eating all the street food my bowels would allow.

Winning!

Charlie Sheen couldn't have said it any better. The spoils from my correct guess of Heterodon platirhinos on The Naturalist's Angle have arrived! Jay, with your help I will hopefully become the local authority (at least among the intern residents) on the amphibians and reptiles of my new corner of the country. I'll have to take this baby on down to the Great Dissmal Swamp and see what I can see. Thanks again Jay!

The Week is Upon Us.

I can't believe this week is here. It is a beautiful Sunday morning in Omaha, Ne. I am thankful to be up and enjoying it. We ran a 10 mile run yesterday on the Keystone trail only to follow that up with 18 holes of golf with friends.... Well, Tiger Woods golf on the Wii, but still, long day.

Now my mind drifts to the West. Montana. Colorado. Utah.

On Thursday morning, after seeing Sara off to work, I'll be driving up to Fort Smith, Mt to begin our 3 day trip fishing the Big Horn River. We are staying at my brother's favorite place Cottonwood Camp. I can't wait. I know a lot of bloggers I read are able to get out and fish pretty regularly. Well, for me, it is few and far in between. I have been waiting for this trip for a long time.

On Monday, I'm driving down to Denver to visit my best bud and follow him on a few more adventures. He has planned a few days of hiking in Utah's Canyonlands National Park.

Its a good day for a poem, so let's give it a go.

Looking forward. 4/3/11

I look forward

to each footfall

each rising sun

each splash of cold water

refreshing to touch

to blazing fall leaves

biting winter mornings

sticky summer lemonade

fires on the beach

to all of your laughs

all new foods to taste

all of the smiles

shared with friends

to more responsibility

maturity with age

finding eternal optimism

keeping cynicism out of my veins

It was amazing.

Sounds so simple, I just gotta go. Right, James Taylor?

Whew. It has been a whirlwind week, but we are back home and trying to get into the swing of things.

Apparently this is the season for vacation, so what happened? Family vacation. It was amazing that everyone was able to fit it into their schedule. Playa Del Carmen, Mexico in the Yucatan was the spot. Makekal was the resort. Beach, food, and drinks, go without saying. What else happened you say?

Day 1: Harpoon fishing. Soooo intense. Not many fish. Deep water. But, I was successful. In about 30 feet of water we spotted a triggerfish. The guide said it was acceptable to shoot this guy, so I headed down. As I approached, the fish, clearly wary of the descending me, back away against a rock. I shot. Direct hit. I confirmed and swam back up. When I got up, I looked down to see an empty harpoon. Apparently the rock behind him kept the harpoon tip from moving far enough through to hold. It was a rush regardless. If he lived, that's impressive. If not, he fed the food chain. I don't think I'll make harpoon fishing a regular experience. But it was a rush. After snorkeling for an hour in wavy waters, we were all exhausted. Time to hydrate and rest.

Day 2: SCUBA. Sara and I got certified years ago in Thailand. It is such an amazing thing. To be suspended, neutrally buoyant, in the water with the ability to breathe for roughly an hour is spectacular. To be able to intimately inspect the underwater ecosystem is even better. This dive took place not on a reef, but in a Cenote. These are surface connections of underground bodies of water (so says wikipedia). There are hundreds of these pond-like openings in the Yucatan. We dove the Casa Cenote near Tulum, Mexico. It was so cool. We have small caverns to dive in an out of. Rocks covered in Grinch-like hairy algae, dangling mangrove roots, a school of tarpon, crabs below, a couple baracuda near by. This Cenote had a close connection with the ocean so the water was brash. We even found a halophyile where a layer of salt and fresh water create don't completely mix. Moving between the two was like moving between the layer of cooking oil and water with different visibilities and temperatures. Basically, this was another otherworldly experience. I would dive a Cenote again.

Day 3: Snorkel. Akumal Bay is a protected area designated to preserve some of the local habitat that is important to, most notably, sea turtles. We snorkeled for about an hour in our group of 10. This was a very busy location. Lots of people near by, but it was still very cool. My wife has been hoping to see sea turtles for some time now and she finally got her wish. We got within feet of several. They are beautiful.

All good things come to an end, so someone said. We are home now and have the real-world blues. Luckily, there are lots of good things to look forward to.

Next week is my Big Horn River fly fishing trip. I'm going to have to start preparing for that.