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Yesterday, 6/8, Eileen marched in the Dartmouth class of 2008 commencement ceremony. She finished her PhD a few weeks ago, and now has diploma in hand. Congratulations Sweetie! Photos are here...

We just returned from a 12-day trip through Alaska. We spent 5 days inland, travelling on the Alaskan Railroad, visiting Talkeetna, Denali, and Fairbanks, then headed down to the coast for seven days of sailing down to Vancouver, along the way visiting Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait, and Ketchikan. Our favorite excursions were the Tundra Wildlife Tour in Denali National Park, and the Commercial Fisherman Tour, aka the Deadliest Catch trip. Both were amazing! check out the photos here...

After six long, hard-working years at Dartmouth College in NH, Eileen has just defended her thesis and is finally Dr. P. Congratulations to you, sweetie, love ya! To celebrate, we're heading off to Alaska in a few weeks. Can't wait!

Opening weekend/week 2008 was great, as always. But this year, we had SPECTACULAR weather. I don't think it rained until after most of the gang pulled out, and Mike was stuck down at the campground with a wet camper.
Here are some photos from this year's trip...

Today we went to Animal Kingdom. We were in the front row for the rope-drop ceremony, then headed right to the Safari, the best ride in the resort, if you ask me. The Giraffes were pretty active, as were the Gazelles. We also saw a baby elephant, and several gorillas.
Afterward, we wandered through the park, checked out "A bug's life", with all the screaming children, and headed over to Expedition Everest, where Eileen and her dad got a huge poster of the two of them on the coaster.
We headed back to Epcot for dinner, this time eating in Mexico, which was excellent. We even stuck around for Illuminations, Epcot's closing ceremony, a great way to end the evening.
Wednesday we're headed to the Magic Kingdom, and the Cirque Du Soliel show later on.

Well, today is our first day at Disney. We got a late start, we drove in from Grandma's in Sarasota. After we finally got checked in and settled, Eileen and I got on the shuttle and headed to Epcot for the afternoon. We took a quick demo ride on a Segway, visited the Sea, and met the rest of the crew, all 14 of em, for dinner in France. But of course, we stopped in Germany and the UK along the way for a few pints, so we were good and happy. After a great meal at Le Chef, we got back on the shuttle and headed to MGM, for their extended "Magical Hours" til 1 am. But there wasn't much open, so we caught the Fantasmia show at 9 and headed back to the hotel.

Just as I was getting used to the idea that winter was over... You know, dig out the golf clubs, take a quick weekend trip south to play a few rounds, start tying some flies for the upcoming fishing season... We get hit with some late season snow. It's been snowing and sleeting here on and off all day, and the once brown and green landscape has turned back to white. Perhaps we'll throw the boards in the car and head to the mountain one more time this weekend. We'll see what happens!

This past weekend, 8 friends landed in Pinehurst, NC, for a crash weekend of
golf. We packed in 72 holes of golf, and a 'canes hockey game, in three
days. It was everyone's first rounds of golf for the season, but for the
most part, everyone was happy with the way they played. We hit up some of
the area's most difficult courses, and were lucky enough to rent a beautiful
home right on Pinehurst's No. 6 course, from a Pinehurst Country Club member
who was generous enough to get us out on the infamous Pinehurst No. 2.
We're all looking forward to doing it again soon!

This past weekend I went on a backcountry ski trip organized by the North American Telemark Organization, or NATO.
There were 5 of us on this trip, including our guide, Paul. The trip was outstanding! We were gifted with sunshine, warm temps, and even a bit of fresh snow for our trek back out of the woods. Though I got a little banged up out there in the woods, I learned a lot about winter camping, and managed to get in some great skiing and take in the amazing views. You can view pictures from the trip here. I'm definitely looking forward to my next trip with the folks from NATO...

Just before New Years, my buddy Drew invited me on an overnight ski trek up to the Zealand Falls hut with a group of friends. There wasn't much snow, we were a little nervous about how much hiking we'd have to do with our skis on our backs, but there was enough snow for us to get up to the hut on skis. The hut is pretty amazing. There's a full-service kitchen with almost every kitchen gadget you'd ever need, and a decent bunk with a mattress and pillow waiting for you when you arrive. We got lucky and had about 6 inches of new snow overnight, to help out the conditions on the trip back the next day. Here are some pictures from the trip.

We've finally received some "real" snow here in White River. We've had a
dusting or two on occasion thusfar, but last night, we got about 4 or 5" of
the white fluffy stuff. It's only a matter of time before we can get out on
the boards!

Welcome, to the island of Jamaica!
Oct 22-27th John & Karen and Eileen & I went to Jamaica, mon! We stayed at the SuperClubs Grand Lido Negril, and had a fabulous time! The food was great, the company was awesome, and, of course, the weather was beautiful.
I got my PADI Open Water SCUBA Certification, and on my last dive (to 60 ft) we happened across an 18 ft Nurse Shark. Pretty exciting stuff!
John, Eileen and I attempted to windsurf, but that didn't go so well. John and I also snorkeled along the rocks just off the beach. We saw tons of puffer fish, lots of marine plants, and I got a quick glimpse of a 2 foot long stingray, but it swam off before John could get a shot with his waterproof camera.

We ventured off the resort for an afternoon to visit Margaritaville Negril and Ricks Cafe, home of the Jamaican Air Force (The Cliff Divers). Everyone except me, the camera guy, jumped, John even took the plunge from 30 ft.
The sunset at Ricks is magnificent as well.
Check out the pics!

Well, after waiting a loooong two years, I just picked up a new cell phone. I talked myself into getting one of those new fancy-schmancy Treo 700w's from Verizon. Of course, I'm leaving for vacation in a few days, and Verizon doesn't really support international service, as far as I know, so I won't get much use out of it for a week or so. But I'm excited!