My Dad and I left on Sat, Septeember 4, to drive to Vancouver via Glacier National Park in Montana. We spent three and a half days camping and hiking 30 miles in the high Grizzly country. It was very beautiful, but COLD!! We drove in through rain and snow. I took this picture of the rainbow from the car as we were driving through the park to our first night's campsite. The picture on the right was taken during our 15 mile hike the second full day of our trip. Dad thought that those six peaks in the back looked like Egyptian Pyramids.
	It took us awhile to get our backcountry pass from the ranger and drive all the way to the West side of the park to our campsite, so the first night we stayed in a camp from your car campsite. I was able to start a zero match fire thanks to some careless campers who didn't fully extinguish their fire and my ol' daddy windbags. We camped right along Bowman lake where I braved the cold to get some water for our dinner.
	My wonderful daddy always makes sure that I have the best equipment, so I had the newer bigger pack while he carried his 30 year old pack. He carried the heavy tent, but since I had more room I had a pretty heavy pack with things tied on in every which way. We only carried frame packs for two days, a total of about 15 miles. We hiked into our base camp at the head of Bowman Lake, set up camp, and hiked back out two days later.
	We left early Wednesday morning to head up to Hole in the Wall, about a 15 mile round trip hike. We hit Brown's Pass which is right on the Continental Divide for lunch, and then continued up to Hole in the Wall which had a beautiful view down to Bowman Lake. There were about 12 waterfalls along the mountainside as we looked out. The picture on the right was taken in the evening from our campsite on Bowman Lake.
	We left Glacier Thursday afternoon to drive to Portland to meet mom at the Anne & John Miller's home. They were such wonderful hosts, and I loved seeing Shelby and Marshall again after 3 years, they have grown up so much! Marshall and Shelby loved to watch Pokeman on the computer, and they also made a Star Wars movie which I filmed. (Shelby & Marshall - I'm still looking for a whale or dolphin for you, I think I saw one the other day, but it didn't jump out of the water far enough for me to take a picture. I'll let you know when I see one)
	On Sunday, September 12, after going to church in Lake Oswego, we all PILED in the car (it was a tight fit with all my stuff) and drove north to Vancouver, B.C.) We found a nice hotel just outside of Vancouver where we at wonderfully big breakfasts Canadian style. Monday we saw the sights in Vancouver. My favorite store was ;quot;Amy's Loonie-Toonie Town,;quot; a cheap little thingy store. In this picture mom is pretending that I'm the owner.
	Just outside the open market along the river we saw this precious little girl, handing out seed to all the pigeons that swarmed around her. On the other side of the market sat this cormorant on a rock along the river's edge. We also saw a cormorant next up on a support underneath the bridge overhead.
	Mom and I are sitting waiting for the ferry to take us across the river so we could walk down Robson street and to the park. We then had to catch a taxi and get back to our car so mom and dad could get ready for the parent's reception on the ship and I could pick up Kelly. Tuesday morning, after finishing up the last minute packing, mom and dad dropped me off at the ship where I waited in a two hour line just to board. Here I'm standing on the pier in front of the S.S.Universe Explorer before going to the first boarding station.
	Dad went to pick Kelly Wilkinson at his hotel in downtown Vancouver after he dropped me off because he had to board after I did. Kelly's room is just two doors down from mine, so we met up later on the ship and explored together. These two pictures were taken looking out from the ship over the bay before the ship took off.
	I did not meet my roommate until about 1:30 where I ran into her looking at the name/picture board. Her name is Amy Smith, it's funny that two Amy's got put in the same room. We are standing with my parents on the Promenade deck in the stern of the ship right next to the swimming pool (which won't have water in it until somewhere around Vietnam). At 5:00 that evening we had our first lifeboat drill. Kelly is in line waiting for the captain to check our station. We have to line up just like the Titanic, men in back, women and children in front.
	Mom did not miss her last chance to tell me yet one more time "Be Good . . ." Parents had to leave at 3:30 because we pushed off at 1630 (have to get used to military time because that's what we use on the ship). Mom left with tears in her eyes. Then I think she quickly changed clothes and grabbed a roll of toilet paper which she handed out to everyone on the pier to wave around and say goodbye. The picture on the right was taken as the ship was slowly moving away from the pier and everyone was still waving goodbye.
	I don't think the extent of my journey really hit me until the ship's whistle blew (which made me jump 10ft. in the air), we started to move, and I heard bagpipes begin to play. It was so cool it sent chills running down my spine. The person playing bagpipes was about 10 ft. away from me. He played for about 25 minutes until we were out of sight of the port. WOW, what an experience is all I can say. Kelly and I stood on the upper deck in the bow (I think we had the best place of anyone) and we looked around in all directions. We went under the bridge you see in the distance.
	The weather was very nice the day we left, but it got cold fast!! The third day we were in 25-30ft. waves and as you can see, Kelly almost got blown over posing for this picture. It wasn't a very pleasant experience, but it sure makes classes an exciting experience when people are falling out of chairs and the overhead goes rolling across the room. Sept. 20th we were in sight of the western most Aleutian Islands, and Kelly and I bundled up to watch the sunset and the islands. You may be able to see one island in the distance directly behind my head.
	Kelly and I have been hanging out a lot together. Our rooms are only two doors down from each other, and we're still meeting people. We have found a wonderful group of friends who we hang out with a lot at night and play cards, guitar, or just talk and laugh for a good study break while everyone else hits the bar. Sang, Kelly, Me, Melissa, Becky, and Julie all got together in Julie's room one night to study for our first Core class quiz. (Julie and Becky are sisters. Melissa is their cousin, all three are very sweet and Sang is awesome too!) I bought a map which I hung over my bed and everyday I plot our course. I do most of my studying on my bed because when it's freezing cold outside, my room is the only quiet place to study.