Y'all, my mom is so cool.

Happy Mamas Day! They rock.

Experiments, etc.

Texture and light keep this well-loved and oft-visited place new.

 

 

Escalante River & Canyons

February '13

To Cyprus, Avec Nostalgie

Muy unfortunately I'm not able to share good news about my Next Step at this juncture. İşte, things go. Instead, enjoy some pics 'o Cyprus! The Mediterranean island nation has sort of come crashing into the international spotlight in the last few months (sorry 'bout all dat cash, Greeks!) but I had my moment with Cyprus just about exactly a year ago. Four of us took advantage of a four-day weekend (thanks to the Turkish Children's Day holiday!) to jet on over to our neighbor to the south (the one that's not Syria. Or Iraq.). We bussed-->taxied-->flew ourselves from Antep to Adana to Ercan airport in Lefkoşa. A once in a lifetime opportunity it turns out because only flights from Turkey fly into Ercan. The rest of the world doesn't recognize the airport (which resides in Northern Cyprus...or, you know, areas under Turkish occupation) as an official point of entry into the country. Fun fact.

Proof of Northern Cyprus...and that it bears uncanny semblance to southeastern Turkey.

From there my buds and I bussed into the capital, Nicosia, where we walked across the border into The Republic of Cyprus (also known as Greek Cyprus, but that's not very offish since they speak Greek but are most definitely Cypriot). More fun facts, Nicosia is the last divided capital in the world. See:

Evidence of division.

"One Cyprus--No Bullshit"

And then we rented a car and cruised the coastline of the Republic (turns out ya can't take a rental across borders--even highly contested ones). And had the most fun, fated trip in [a European] paradise.

We conveniently got to double-revel in the splendor of Cyprus in proper celebration of this lovely lady's birthday!

And also a little bit in celebration of the bad-for-you food that graces European soil. (i.e. pork products, duty free whiskey, TACO BELL, and questionable bacon flavored things that were available with such frequency that you can't help but conjure up a long history of expats living in primarily Muslim countries making regular Cyprus pilgrimages to get their fixes.)

And now to close, some pretty, tryin' a be artsy shots of Cyprus streets that happened when I commandeered a friend's camera. 

And a shot of me with a lace-making lady who looks a lot like Woody Allen.

Too. Damn. Much.

One day, in three renditions

I do a lot of photo file digging. Usually to see much missed people and places, and often, in the process, I end up reliving important experiences and remembering big-stuff-things. Here are some nuggets of life on April 13th over the past three years.

Last April 13th, cruisin' around mountainside monasteries and meadows on Greek Xios. Followed by running under live, semi-friendly rocket fire in celebration of Orthodox Easter (obvi).

Spring of 2011 in Salt Lake City. Cheesin' at Westminster with my lovely fellow Honorable Mention newsletter editors.

 And from 2010, some creatures and cuties of Androy in southern Madagascar.

Crazy, this life of mine.

I'm feeling artsy and a little bit meditative.

K, y'all. I had a pretty muy importante interview today--of the big-moves-making sort. (More as things materialize, tamam'mı?) My interviewer opened with (more or less),"So, you did Fulbright until June 2012. What have you been doing since then?" I painted a decent picture of the past year of traveling and family and friends, of time outside and amongst books. But despite my best efforts, I just couldn't do it justice.

What have I been doing?

The spectacular American Southwest

 First go, Seattle

First snow, Colorado

Beloved south central UT

The Mediterranean

Albania's mountain lakes and other Balkan treasures

Istanbul and so much more of Dear Türkiye

London Olympics

Inexplicably, the Tour de France

Oh. Yeah.

The Wave

YOU GUYS!!

Holy shit.

Some rocks look like wood. They just do.

In no way could I have been expected to help myself.

Look at the dashing men!

Me, meta.

 

Sam is sporting his NPS hat. It inspired an inordinate amount of confidence (in him, from Jake and me). As Jake noted, we didn't pack a compass, we brought a ranger!

We are a lucky underemployed and uncommitted bunch.

Jake cruised in on the train from Denver.

I joined some friends on their southern Utah spring break roadtrip.

And Sam was just unassumingly studying for the GRE in a Moab coffee shop.
Next thing we know, bam! cruisin' through Goblin Valley SP, Capitol Reef NP, and Grand Staircase-Escalante NM. Jake got laid up with a nasty bug at the Escalante house for a couple days, but naturally he rallied. Meanwhile Sam and I snagged a permit for the Wave by way of the wildest lottery adventure in Kanab. Hiking madness, hoodoo camping, Wave wandering, dirt road exploring, and we had us a hell of a stateline adventure. Sometimes luck is indeed dumb.