a drive though the mountains on a fall day

yesterday Thomas, Madeleine and I went for a drive through the mountains to check out all the fall colors. it was beautiful. we drove up to Hatcher Pass and then down the back side all the way to Willow and then back to the highway. on the way home we stopped at Eklutna real quick to check that out. It was equally beautiful with bold peak hanging out all covered in snow and yellow leaves. it was a great day.

Flying to Talkeetna for Dinner

Yesterday Joe called me and told me that we were going to go to dinner... in Talkeetna. And to get there we were going to be flying up with Joe Darminio (his friend the bush pilot). It was amazing! We were flying only FEET off the water, through narrow gorges and barely above the tree tops. Madeleine had the best view from the front of the plane and took some video from the front. See the video clip below. -Nick

birthday boys

So Tuesday was my birthday and Wednesday was Joe's. To celebrate on Tuesday we went out to one of my favorite restaurants in Anchorage called Fu Du; it's a chinese restaurant and it rocks. everything is home cooked and amazing. Wednesday Joe and I went golfing for a little bit - just to the driving range and then came back and the girls cooked and set up a nice little party for us. they even had hats, buttons and a PINATA! it was awesome. I chose to go the more traditional route to beat the hell out of it; i chose the golf club and the ski pole. Joe... he went the more alaskan way - he beat the shit out of it with ice axes. It was awesome. There is also a picture of me posing like a drunk white boy trying to look like a homie. hope ya like ;)

shanghai

here are some pics of shanghai. crazy luck that we should get back one day before they should start evacuating due to a huge typhoon that is about to slam into the city.

i'm already thinking about when i can go back to china. it is really an incredible place. next time, though, i 'd like to stick to the countryside.

xi'an

these are from xi'an. we went to see the terracotta warriors and then to a great show from the tang dynasty. the warriors were amazing. more than you could ever imagine.