28 Years After the Eruption - Mount St. Helens, Washington

1980, Mount Saint Helens erupted, blowing the side off the mountain. Today, it's still steaming, and a great tourist attraction!


Here's what's left of the mountain. There's a magma dome building in the middle still.


That "stuff" in the lake below is actually trees--thousands of trees that were literally blown off the mountain and into the lake!



While I was there, I met a bear named Ted that travels the world too. We just had to get a picture together.


Oh, and I got to see the Seattle Space Needle too :-)

Rocky Mountain High - Colorado

The ski lifts in Aspen aren't much good at this time of year.


But the spring melt makes for some exciting white water rapids!


The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. You wouldn't want to fall down this canyon. Climbing back up is pretty much impossible.


The ghost town of Ashcroft.

Viva Mexico!

Here I am at Chichen Itza (accent on the "za"...it doesn't sound like "chicken pizza," or so the tour guide told us). Of course, chicken pizza would be offensive to me for other reasons...Anyway, this is the unrestored side of the famous pyramid. It was really, really, really hot there.

This is a Mayan observatory and some more ruins nearby. The area is very big. Did you know there aren't any above-ground water sources in the entire area? No lakes, streams or rivers at all! They had to go underground to get all their water.

The Wilds of Oregon

Oregon is a very pretty state. It has picturesque waterfalls and forests. This is at Multnomah Falls.



Nearby is Mt. Hood, part of the Cascades. It's over 11,000 feet high--the tallest mountain in Oregon.


There is an amazing view from the top of the mountain. You can see three other mountains from there - Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and and Mt. Ranier (if you squint).

A magical visit to Disney World

My trip to Disney World was a dream come true! Here I am in front of Cinderella's castle at the Magic Kingdom. They had just decorated the park for the holidays, so that made it even more magical :-)


Disney employees try to make your trip as magical as possible. Everywhere you turn, there's magic in the air. Even in my hotel room, they made me little washcloth friends to hang out with!


Disney is also a really fun place to "see the world" through the lands of Epcot. I got to see countries like China, Japan, Morocco, Italy, and England.


I got a "My First Visit" pin. Here I am showing it off in Morocco. The restaurant there serves really good chicken with lemon and olives. Oh wait! I can't eat that!! Oh the horror!!


This is in "Japan."


Disney's Animal Kingdom has a fantastic new roller coaster based on Mt. Everest. I was scared out of my feathers...but it was so much fun!!

Ithaca is gorges!

Get it, gorgeous gorges?! I can't get enough of that, but I hear it drives the locals crazy. This waterfall is taller than Niagara Falls--more than 200 feet!


Seriously, this isn't at all what I thought I'd see in New York...waterfalls, canyons, lakes, and beautiful fall foliage. And the food was really good too!



This is one of the famous finger lakes.


Okay, so now I'm just playing around.

Pennsylvania...and chocolate (yummy!)

Welcome to my new home--Pennsylvania! Apparently, you have to smile here. Too bad I don't have any facial muscles.


Pennsylvania is very pretty. There are lots of rolling hills and trees.


This is Penn State University, not far from where I live now. I've heard that this is a "drinking town with a football problem." They really, really like their football here. I think it's because there isn't much else to do.


A visit to central Pennsylvania would not be complete without seeing the mecca of of the cocoa bean--Hershey!


Chocolate World. Do you really need to know more than that?


Even the street lamps in town celebrate chocolate kisses.