Ted’s (Excellent?) Adventures

“I like pigs. Cats look down on us. Dogs look up to us. Pigs treat us as equals.” — Winston Churchill.

First, to set the record straight, while Churchill is clear about his feelings about pigs, I’m not. At this point, call me undecided. Maybe by the end of this trip, I’ll have made up my mind, for now now, I’m just not sure how I feel about our daughter’s pet pig. Now, back to our trip . . .

Well, it’s still incredibly cold down south, with no let-up in sight. We’re now in Atlanta, where there’s still some snow on the ground, and more snow forecast for Monday. We’ll keep driving until it gets warm or we hit water. Why do I feel that we’ll hit water first?

This morning, we were slow out of the starting blocks. The night passed uneventfully, with the four of us in beds and Rosie on the bathroom floor. I generally get up early, and tried to get a newspaper (”We don’t have newspapers on weekends”) or an early cup of coffee (all out) at our hotel. We found a Peete’s but — in a way that can only happen in the deep South or on a Caribbean Island — it took twenty minutes to get coffee and juice.

Despite some early hassles, we were happy that we exited the Sheraton without being arrested for pig smuggling. As you can see from our luggage cart, though, we may not have been completely transparent about having a pig with us during our stay. Where’s Rosie?

We then headed southeast toward Atlanta, passing through the westernmost corner of South Carolina on the way. A couple of years ago, we lived in Charleston for four years, but never made it to this region of the state. Well, today we finally made it to Spartanburg, briefly (see left for scenery) and concluded that Spartanburg makes Scranton or Gary look good.

But we loved Greenville, a cute little town with a great downtown area. We ate lunch there, and strolled around the city. We had heard good things about Greenville, and we were really captivated by it. Funny how some out of the way places can be so appealing.

The same phenomena that happened in Roanoke was repeated in Greenville, with Rosie turning lots of heads. I’m sure the adults we meet have all seen pigs before (although many of the young children probably haven’t), but there’s something about seeing a pig in the middle of the city. It reminds me of the way people used to react on the old television show Candid Camera. At one point today, someone a half block away was yelling congratulations to us for having such a “great dog.”

Greenville, it turns out, is also hometown to Shoeless Joe Jackson. Our son is a big baseball player, and has always been interested in Shoeless Joe. So we were excited to see his statue in a city square, and to be reminded of how he was banned for fixing the World Series — a series in which he played excellent baseball and forever denied involvement in the fraud.

In Atlanta, we’re staying with our great long-term friends, the Seabrooks. They have two great boys, and a household full of pets (two dogs and a Bearded Dragon), so our gang is having a blast. We went for a river walk this afternoon, and watched some of the Olympics tonight after a fabulous dinner. Now that we’re back on the east coast, we’re able to spend time with our very best friends, and are really thankful for the proximity.

At this point, we don’t know where we’ll be tomorrow night. We’re debating heading west toward Vicksburg and New Orleans, or east toward the Okeefenokee Swamp and Jacksonville. We’ll spend a bunch of time tomorrow exploring Atlanta, and then figure something out.

Our driving trip through the Southeast got off to a terrific start, as we got in great explorations of Roanoke (left) and Lexington, VA. Weather was great, and driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains was glorious. And traveling with a pig proved to be, well, full of surprises.

Have you ever walked down a city sidewalk with a new puppy? Well, walking in downtown Roanoke with a baby pig was an eye-opener. EVERYONE wanted to see this pig. Children wanted to pet her, adults wanted to photograph her. A group of street people were all over her. Almost everyone was excited to see her, and she brought out huge smiles in everyone. It was surreal to see a pig bring out the very best in humanity.

We did encounter one couple who seemed scared to death of this “ferocious” pig. They would look at her, but always stay fifteen feet or so away. But, with this one exception, Rosie was a smile machine, bringing out great big grins and laughs along our path. Anyone single in a city looking for a way to meet people . . . well, get a miniature pot-bellied pig.

At one point, as we walked along, a cab driver stopped and honked at us. We thought he was trying to convince us to use his taxi services. But, no, he wanted to know where he could get a pig like Rosie. “Where did you get it?” “How much do they cost?” “What do they eat?” “How much bigger will she get?” I have a feeling we’ll be hearing these questions a lot on this trip.

Not that everything about Rosie in the city was all that attractive. This pig can poop. She must have launched twenty little poop balls while we walked around Roanoke. We brought a lot of Kleenex with us to clean up, but ran out. And sometimes the poop didn’t exactly get away from the body cleanly. If you look closely at the photo on the left, you’ll see the exact size of her poop balls. Also, Rosie proved to have interest in eating anything in her path. ABC gum . . . down the hatch. Old cigarette butts or bits of paper and plastic, yummmmmm. We quickly learned that we couldn’t just watch all the people gawking at her; we needed to make sure she wasn’t eating something harmful or disgusting.

We had lunch and a great visit to Lexington, Virginia, a town new to all of us. Lexington is home to two universities — Washington and Lee and Virginia Military Institute. Curiously, the colleges are located right next to each other. Pick which is which from the photos on the right.

At VMI, we toured the Marshall Museum, dedicated to the life of General George C. Marshall. Marshall commanded some 11 million troops on the European Continent during WW II, then architected the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the War. He was the first military officer to win a Nobel Prize. And he later served as Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and President of the American Red Cross.

We also managed to check out the Natural Bridge, complete with some really impressive icicles. Pigs were not welcome here, so Rosie stayed in the car as our trusted guard pig. Believe it or not, at one point in time, Thomas Jefferson bought the Natural Bridge from the King of England.

We ended the day in Charlotte, NC, a city without much charm. But, after several tries, we found a hotel that accepts guests with dogs. We figured Rosie was close enough, and we’re set for tonight. But several hotels we called said “no way,” so we’re a little concerned about hotel options as we go forward on this trip. So tonight we’re watching the Olympics, and tomorrow, on to Atlanta, with no worries on the hotel front, since we’ll be staying with our long-term and fabulous friends, Connor and Martha Seabrook.

We also got a couple of short videos of Rosie today, including one on the streets of Roanoke, and one in our car.

Tomorrow I get in a rented car and begin driving. To where, I don’t know. But I do know who will be with me. I’ll be traveling with my wife, my two children, and . . . a pig. Yep, no typo. A pig. And we’ll be traveling for three weeks — just the five of us.

Just how did I get myself in this situation? I sure as heck don’t know. It started when my eleven-year-old daughter asked for a pig for Christmas. Not just any old pig, she wanted a miniature pot-bellied pig. And she used Craig’s List to find the perfect pig (thanks, Craig!). So Rosie, born on Halloween of 2009, joined us about three weeks ago, and has quickly become an indispensable travel companion.

So the adventure begins. Three weeks on the road with a pig. Two years ago, we traveled around the world for ten months (without a pig, thankfully), and had everything planned in advance. Now, we have nothing pre-planned. My only real preparation has been buying a copy of Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley, so I can contrast pig travel with dog travel. How will hotels react to Rosie? Will she be banned from all restaurants? How will she do in a car? How will I do in a car with a pig? Pigs are supposed to be smart, but so far, Rosie hasn’t shown me much — will that change? Time will reveal. Stay tuned for daily updates on Travel With Rosie.

We just returned from a fabulous week-long trip to one of our absolute favorite countries, Costa Rica.  It took a while to get there from Seattle, but once we arrived, we made the most of it. 

Costa Rica is a wonderful country in so many ways.  It’s a very progressive place, and now generates 95% of its energy use through renewable sources.  They protect over 25% of their land, and the amount that’s forested has doubled in the past twenty years.  Also, the people are incredibly nice, and the diversity of wildlife and plant life is second to none. 

We flew into San Jose, and drove directly to La Selva, staying at the Selva Verde Lodge.  The lodge is a couple of hour drive north of San Jose, located in the middle of a rain forest.  We met a long-time family friend there, J.D. Willson (more later), who had spent a few hours exploring the area.  He immediately showed us some great reptiles, including a Satiny Parrot Snake.  Also, at the very beginning of our first hike, about 100 yards into it, I actually found a snake.  This would prove to be singularly unusual, as I never saw anything interesting after that, and relied on others to find the interesting sightings.

Selva Verde Lodge is basic, very basic.  And the rooms are a long walk from the dining area.  But it got the job done for us, and we had a great two days there.  In addition to just walking the grounds of the lodge, we went to the research station at La Selva, and got a great tour there.  Anyway, if you’re looking for plush eco-friendly accommodations, this area may not be for you.  But if you want to see some great wildlife, this is a great spot, and a must for anyone doing serious birding in Costa Rica.

While in the Selva area, we did a couple of other fun things.  One afternoon, we all went on one of Costa Rica’s top ziplines to tour the Canopy.  We went with Adventuras Sarapiqui, who did a great job for us.  Most of the legs (14 in all) were short to medium in duration, but we had a few that were long, high, and over water!  That was exciting.

We also made a night-time visit to the Tirimbina Rainforest Reserve, and got a great overview on research being done there on bats.  Bats are a very misunderstood mammal, since almost all of the more than 1,000 species of bats feed entirely on insects or fruit.  Costa Rica itself has 110 species of bats, and we got to see a few of the species close up.  They were quite tiny, and really interesting to see when they’re still.

I made my first trip to Costa Rica twenty years ago, and was amazed at the Corcovado area on the Osa Peninsula in southwest Costa Rica.  We were excited to return there, and I was thrilled to see it’s almost as undeveloped – and beautiful – today as it was twenty years ago.  Costa Rica gets high marks for conservation.

We started out stay at a lodge called Bosque del Cabo, about a half-hour drive from Puerto Jimenez.  The lodge itself is quite nice, and is run by an ex-pat couple from the U.S. with a small baby.  We did a night hike our first night there and saw a few interesting things.  And some researchers gave a very interesting talk about the cats of the Osa Peninsula – ocelots, puma, and jaguars. 

The next day was characterized more by what we missed than what we saw, including being a couple of minutes too late to see a Boa Constrictor.  After our uneventful morning hike, we labored through a bollixed up afternoon.  We started with a quick (very quick) stop at the Osa Biodiversity Center, but didn’t stay there long enough to really get a sense of the place.   We then went to a private house overlooking the Pacific, which was a spectacular home with great views.  However, we weren’t really up for spending three hours for drinks and dinner there.  After dinner, we had a real low point of our trip, as the local guide had arranged for us to go out on canoes and kayaks to catch crocodiles.  He forgot to mention, though, that they didn’t have enough room for all of us, meaning one of us got stranded on the beach at night, for two hours, under attack by sand bugs.  The others spent two hours praying that our crocodile-catching experts would finally get a lasso around a croc’s head.  They did, finally, but this was an event well worth missing.

The next morning, we flew into La Sirena Research Center in the middle of Corcovado National Park.  The flight was spectacular, and it was great being in the middle of this park.  We got a decent look at a Tapir during our hike, but some screw-ups on the part of our local guide delayed our arrival into the park enough that morning that we missed the best wildlife sighting times.  We pulled the rip cord on this guide, thankfully, and got the rest of our trip back on track.

We ended our trip with a couple of incredible nights at the Nicuesa Lodge, at Playa Nicuesa, a twenty-five minute boat ride from Puerto Jiminez.  This lodge is beautiful, and tucked into a most spectacular area of the Osa Peninsula.  Everyone we met at the lodge was incredibly nice, and we had some terrific naturalist accompanying us on our hikes.

The lodge offers lots of great options, and we all concluded it was a place we’d like to come back to.  There are lots of great hiking trails originating at the lodge.  And the beach activities (swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, sailing) are really fun.  The food there was excellent as well. 

Our last night hike was particularly exciting at Nicuesa.  Our family friend J.D. and our son Gibson were on fire in terms of finding things, and we got several great looks at really interesting wildlife.  My son’s blog post – http://gibson.dintersmith.org – will do a much better job of describing what we saw than I can do, but it was really great.

For our week in Costa Rica, we saw 20 different mammal species, over 120 bird species, and a whopping 61 herp (reptile and amphibian) species.  Between the wildlife sightings, the spectacular countryside, and the wonderful Costa Rican people, it was a great trip.

We were thrilled to have J.D. Willson with us for our stay in Costa Rica.  I’ve know J.D. since he was three years old, and even then it was clear he was going to be an outstanding naturalist.  J.D. just got his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia, and is a real expert on nature.  He’s also an incredibly nice and thoughtful young man, so we felt honored to spend a week with him.  All of us learned so much from him, and our kids in particular got a chance to observe up close how a top scientist approaches the exploration of a new area.  We couldn’t have asked for a better person to show us the wonders of this great Central American country.

After a glorious week in Costa Rica, we returned to Seattle to find . . . rain.  What a surprise!  We spent Easter Day waiting for a short window of sun for an Easter Egg hunt outside, and finally gave in and braved the elements.  With each passing hour, we couldn’t help but think of life on the trail in Costa Rica.  And as I post this on Monday, April 13th, we’re getting snow here mixed with rain!  Ugh!!

February, 2009, The Baja –  Well, I haven’t posted a single blog since our big trip, and it’s about time I start reporting on our more occasional trips. We’ve taken a few since last June, but we just got back from the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, and this is a trip worth a posting.

For our February break, we booked a trip on the Sea Lion, a ship with Lindblad/National Geographic, and explored the bottom third of the Baja Peninsula. We flew down from Seattle to Los Angeles on Friday night, Feb. 13^th, and then took the trip shuttle from LA to La Paz Mexico the next morning. We then got on our ship and departed.

We had immediate great news on this trip. There were three other terrific families with children the ages of our two children. And all five of these kids were keenly interested in nature, so they formed quick bonds. During our travel year, we rarely encountered other kids and, all too often, they were video game addicts. When we went to the Galapagos, for example, the other children almost never went out on the explorations, choosing to stay in their room! And, equally amazing, their parents seemed happy to pay a good-sized amount for a very expensive seven day video-games-at-sea adventure.

We started on the Gulf of California side, where there is a very dry desert. The Gulf of California is one of the most productive seas on the planet, supporting nearly 900 species of fish, including 90 found nowhere else.  But our focal point for the trip was whales, not fish, and we had immediate great luck. Our very first morning, we got great views of Blue Whales (the largest creature ever), Fin Whales, and Humpback Whales. We had seen all three in Antarctica a year ago, but got superb views on this particular day.

The waters on the gulf were relatively calm, and we had a couple of other fun days there. On one day, we went snorkeling at Los Islotes, although the water was pretty darn brisk. We did see some California Sea Lions quite close up, as well as all sorts of tropical fish.

A highlight of our first phase, though, was a great afternoon playing on the sand dunes of Isla Espiritu Santo. The dunes in Baja are spectacular and so inviting for kids that love to tumble. They did some of the most incredible running dives off the edge of the dunes, often ending up with sand covering every possible body part. The naturalist were great sports and came up with all sorts of contests, and several adults (not this one!) joined the fun.

We headed around the tip of the Baja, stopping for a day in Cabo San Lucas. We went on a fun bird walk, and picked up two endemic species – the Xantu Hummingbird and the Belding Yellowthroat. We also got a glimpse of a snake with its head out of the water, although no positive identification has been made as of yet.

As we rounded the cape and headed north in the Pacific, the seas got considerably rougher. We were fortunate that things were not too terrible, but we definitely noted the swells. But we knew we were headed north to Bahia Magdalena, home of the Grey Whales, and were looking forward to seeing these whales at close range. At times the whales come close enough to the zodiacs that they can be touched, but we weren’t counting our whale-touches before they hatched. As a family, we’ve had a long history of pretty dismal whale kharma, so we had no challenge managing our expectations down for the final phase of the trip.

When we reached the bay, the Gray Whales, as promised, were everywhere. Local guides estimated that some 400 whales were hanging out in the bay. These whales weren’t feeding, but had come to the Baja to mate and to nurse along the young (in some cases, only a few weeks old). We were excited to go exploring!

We went out into the Bay three different times, and the Gray Whales were all around us. We got some really good looks at many adults and baby calves. The highlight for us was a baby who came up to our Zodiac and ducked under it. We didn’t quite get to touch the baby, but came within a foot or so. While Grays aren’t the biggest whale by a longshot, it was really impressive to see these 60 ton animals at close range. They are big!  And hearing a whale blow air out its spout from less than ten feet is a sound we’ll never forget.

While we got some really nice looks at the whales, our whale kharma survived the trip intact. More often than not, we felt we had our best views of other people on Zodiacs getting amazing views of these whales. On Thursday afternoon, we went out on the early shift and didn’t see a whole lot. The late shift, though, ran into two adults and a baby calf that were breaching on a regular basis for about an hour. It was like watching Fourth of July fireworks. Carol Greenspan sent this one picture to us, which gives you an idea of what it’s like to be five yards from a whale that lifts its body 2/3rds out of the water.

On our last day, we spent several hours on what may well be the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been on, called Sand Dollar Beach. The dunes were gorgeous, there is no sign of people or buildings, and the water was at a comfortable temperature for swimming. We could have spent a few months on this beach, but just having a full afternoon was a great treat.

The trip had lots of great highlights, but one real lowlight. Our ship had 50 non-smoking passengers, and one bozo who chain-smoked foul cigars around the clock. The ship’s policy allowed smokers to smoke on deck as long as they stayed in the designated locations. On this small ship, the designated locations were a) at the back of the only area with chairs and exercise equipment, and b) a spot about five yards from our room. All too often, the cigar smoke filled our room, and was completely disgusting, and by the end of the trip, I had a headache from the second-hand smoke, and a real issue to take up with Lindblad.

All in all, this was a fabulous way to spend a week.  The Baja is just gorgeous and undeveloped.  And the chance to see such amazing whales in close proximity is a real treat.

 We went to Denver for the Democratic Convention, which proved to be the best, and the worst, of times.

The highlight was, not surprisingly, Thursday night at Mile High Stadium/Invesco Field.  The atmosphere was electric, and we got there early enough to see the 80,000 seat capacity stadium fill up with attentive and enthusiastic supporters.  Barack Obama’s speech lasted some 45 minutes, but in person it felt like just ten minutes.  My children were seated on either side of me, and they asked lots of questions, and seemed captivated as well. 

What was so impressive about Obama’s speech was that he managed to lay out the case against John McCain (something some were concerned he wouldn’t do) without being personal.  And he did a great job of describing some specifics of what his administration would focus on and achieve.  But most of all, he did an amazing job of addressing a crowd of 80,000 and another 38 million watching on television in a way that seemed personal and connected.  He is, without question, a once-in-a-generation speaker, and is now doing a great job of articulating how his values and vision will translate into governance.

Our time in Invesco was pure magic, and we will all be forever glad that we were there in person to witness history.  It was such a great experience, and I have no regrets about going there.  And I’m thrilled that my children could witness history first hand, and hope this will be an experience they can tell their children and grandchildren about.  But as for the rest of our time there . . .

We had some personal commitments and couldn’t head to Denver until Wednesday.  We spent most of the day Wednesday there and the full day Thursday.  After arriving on Wednesday we were excited to go to the Pepsi Center (home of Denver’s professional basketball team) for an evening featuring Bill Clinton and Joe Biden.  We took a cab there, or so we thought, but traffic was at a standstill.  So we got out early and walked the rest of the way.  After about a 30 minute walk (much of which was navigating through security and to the arena), we got to the security checkpoint (very tight security everywhere) and eventually entered the arena, not at all prepared for the scene inside. 

The Convention Center was jammed to capacity and then some.  Our passes said “Honored Guests” but that didn’t move the needle.  After an hour or so trying to get into the viewing area, we faced reality , gave up, and headed back to the hotel.  Easier said than done.  We walked quite a distance to get to the shuttle buses, only to learn that they wouldn’t start running for another hour!?!?  So we retraced our steps (about a half mile each way) to get back to where we started, only to walk back to the hotel (about a 45 minute walk), arriving just in time to see the last five minutes of Biden’s speech on television.  Ouch!!  This wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for by flying to Denver.

We re-grouped, determined not to make the same mistake twice.  Thursday would be better, if for no other reason than it couldn’t be much worse.

I went to a National Finance Committee meeting Thursday morning and got a chance to hear Michelle Obama (always so impressive) and Joe Biden.  It was the first time I’d heard him, and he’s an impassioned public speaker.  I was mildly positive about the initial choice of Biden (my preferred VP was Chuck Hagel), but he’s grown on me, and seems to be stepping into the role confidently and effectively.

We then had a chance to view a preview of a documentary being filmed on Barack Obama’s implausible run for President.  Two women had heard about Obama in 2004 and decided to follow him in the event he decided to run for President.  They’ve been tracking him since the very beginning, and have over 500 hours of footage already.  We got a chance to see the segment on Iowa.  I was there for the caucus, and these film-makers got it exactly right.  I can’t wait to see the film when it’s released (due sometime in 2009).

On a gorgeous Thursday, we headed to Mile High Stadium (home of the Denver Broncos football team).  Early.  Very early.  We passed through some very tight security and found our way to unreserved seats at about 2:00 p.m., a mere SIX hours before Barack Obama would begin speaking!!  After missing everything on Wednesday, we left nothing to chance, even though it meant we were some of the first people in the stadium.

On the way in, we saw a very remote area designated for protesters.  The fence was quite high, and it was actually hard to figure out what their concern or cause was.  In general, we came to Denver expecting to see lots of discord.  But there was almost no evidence of unrest, and we were struck by the widespread level of harmony and fellowship.

The schedule began at 3:00 p.m., and contained a bit of everything — entertainment, comedy, some moving speeches, some great musical performances, and some pretty dull speeches.   Highlights were Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder, Al Gore’s speech where he noted that he knew a bit about close elections, and six “everyday Americans” who shared their experiences in a very  moving and passionate way.  The one I’ll always remember is a gentleman named Barney Smith from Indiana, who had lost his job and was having a rough time with health insurance.  He concluded his remarks by saying, “I want a President who cares more about Barney Smith than Smith Barney.”

Our seats ended up being about ten rows in front of where Hillary Clinton was sitting.  I wasn’t in Denver to see her speech on Tuesday night, but was impressed with how graceful and supportive she was during the convention.  Having come so close, it’s inevitable that she would have very mixed feelings about the outcome, but she seemed radiant as she took in the proceedings, and gracious when her presence was recognized. 

After Barack’s great speech, we returned to the torture zone.  Getting back from Invesco was challenging beyond belief, and we patched together a miserable combination of waiting, walking, taking the light rail (crammed beyone belief) and a shuttle bus (even more crammed).  It took an hour and a half to get back.

We left on Friday morning, but not before another highlight.  I went down early to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee and ended up in line behind Tom Brokaw.  We talked a bit about the convention and the chaos in security and logistics.  He’s such a wonderful person, and I’ve often thought how great it would be to have him in office.

Friday’s other noteworthy event was learning of McCain’s choice for Vice President.  If his goal was to shift media attention from Obama’s great speech to the Republicans, he accomplished that.  If his goal was to manage a thorough and careful process to pick an outstanding running mate, he botched it beyond belief.  I work with tiny little start-ups and if a CEO ever told me, “I’ve just hired a VP that I’ve heard really good things about and met once for fifteen minutes,” I’d fire the CEO on the spot.  But somehow John McCain can completely fail to do his homework for his most important pre-election decision, and then blow his stack when reporters question his judgment. 

We have many people to thank for their help during this most unusual year in our lives.  Without this help, we couldn’t have pulled this off, let alone had such a great and successful year.

The original inspiration for this trip came from Dick and Patty Simon, who took their family around the world over a decade ago, and generously shared with us their experiences and perspectives.  Also, many, many others were happy to take time to provide us with advice and suggestions about places they’ve traveled.  The only way we can possibly repay such kindness is to do the same for anyone who approaches us.

Long-time family friend Kristie Jochmann, now living in Milwaukee, did so much to help us on our trip.  She managed all sorts of logistical things for us during our travels.  And she worked tirelessly to make our baseball efforts a big success — finding teams to meet, setting up the meetings, and making sure the hats and equipment we were donating made it to the recipients.  The challenges of working with customs officials throughout the world are enormous, and Kristie made everything happen flawlessly.

We could not have made this trip without the great assistance of Jacqui McCoy, Kate Bragg, Jayne Casey, and Maria Cella of Paul-McCoy Family Office Services.  Historically, they have handled all sorts of tax and financial issues for us, but went above and beyond during our year abroad.

Our travel planners, Samantha (Sam) McClure and Maggie Harshbarger of Small World Travel in Austin, Texas, took on the challenge of planning out this trip with very little lead time.  They worked tirelessly to put together our itinerary, and let us focus on our travels, instead of trying to pull together all sorts of complicated logistics from the road (generally from a third-world country).  While there were some bumps in the proverbial road during this trip, we really appreciate everything that SWT did for us.   This amazing experience would not have been possible without them.

We loved working on our blogs and website as we traveled.  We couldn’t have pulled that off without great technical help from David Cancel, Andy Payne, and Julia Holland.  Julia runs a small consulting firm in California (Blue Penguin Consulting) and really took care of so many things on the fly.  We’ll have a lasting cyber-memory of our trip, and couldn’t have possibly pulled all of this together without such great help.

All of our family members, especially our mothers, were so supportive during our travels.  Not seeing grandchildren for most of a year is not the easiest thing to be enthusiastic about, but they were so excited for us and our adventure, which made the trip a joy.  And special thanks to the Yandow’s for taking care of our fifth family member, our dog Scallop, who couldn’t make the trip with us, but had a great home in Needham for the past ten months!

Finally, we want to thank the many thousands of people we met along the way.  People everywhere were just incredibly kind and enthusiastic, and helped enrich our trip in so many ways.   It was a great privilege for us to learn so much about the lives of people throughout our great world, and we thank the people who shared so much with us.

And, now that we’re back, we will thank in advance everyone who will help us with re-entry to a normal life.  We suspect we won’t adjust all that readily to it, but our family and friends here mean so much to us, and we hope they’ll be tolerant of this wayward family returning to life in the U.S.

On a memorable Saturday night, August 16th, we were fortunate enough to be a part of the Boston Red Sox pre-game ceremonies at Fenway Park.  We had kept the Red Sox up to date on our around-the-world trip, particularly the baseball aspect.  And they had helped us initially with a set of overseas contacts that we pursued to find the right groups to meet with.

We were lucky in that the night before’s game was rained out.  Our game had one brief shower around the third inning, but otherwise had gorgeous weather.  We got there early, and were able to go down on the field to watch batting practice.  Gibson got Vernon Wells’ autograph, and we got great looks at many of the players, including David Ortiz.  And I for one was relieved to go to Fenway without the prospect of watching Manny Ramirez, and loved watching Jason Bay.

Before the game, they put a few of the photographs from our trip up on the scoreboard.  I’m not sure how many of the fans knew what the context was, but it was exciting for us to see some of the kids we had given hats and equipment to featured at Fenway Park.   I wish that the many kids we had met along the way could have been there to see their own photos in an American baseball park.

The highlight of the night for us was having Gibson throw out the first pitch.  They gave him the choice of throwing from in front of the mound, or throwing from the regulation location.  He opted to throw from where the pro baseball players pitch.  The first pitch took place just a couple of minutes before the start of the game, so the park was almost at capacity.  And with more than 30,000 people looking on, Gibson wound up and threw a strike from the same mound where many great pitchers over the year have stared down at batters.  He left the field beaming, and it was a great moment for all of us.

I got several e-mails during the game from friends who were at Fenway that night by coincidence and had watched the pre-game ceremony.  One came from Ross Garber, who was at the game with his son.  Ross lives in Austin, Texas, and I first met him when I invested in his company, Vignette, about ten years ago.  Vignette went on to be a big success, and Ross and I have stayed in good contact ever since.  He had tracked us on our trip, and it was great to have him at the game.  And they were sitting right on top of the Green Monster, and he was able to get this great picture of Gibson throwing out the first pitch.  Minutes later, Ross caught a home run hit by Alex Rios, so Ross had a great visit to Fenway.

The night at Fenway was a complete thrill for the four of us, and a great way to end the baseball phase of our trip around the world.  We thank the Red Sox organization for their enthusiasm for what we did, and we especially thank our contact, Adam Grossman, for his interest in our initiative, and his being kind enough to arrange for us to be part of August 16’s pre-game ceremonies.

Check out a video of Gibson’s first pitch or our Fenway Park picture album.

And just like that, it was over.  We hopped on a plane in London’s Heathrow, had an uneventful flight to Logan, and touched ground again in New England, more or less exactly where we left from ten months ago.  In some ways not that much had changed.  Same four people, same eight suitcases.  To the right above, we have the before photo, and below right the “after” photo.

In other respects, a lot had changed.  During this ten month journey, we did the following:

• Continents: 7
• Countries: 37
• Airplane trips: 99
• Lost luggage 0
• Late flights 2
• Air miles: 103,128
• Places stayed: 112
• Items stolen 0
• Bird species: 1204
• Mammal species: 166
• Reptiles and Amphibians: 175
• Red Sox hats given away: 760
• Continents in which Gibson lost a tooth: 5

Once on the ground, we headed out the Needham, MA, to the home of Elizabeth’s cousin Julie Hazard Yandow.  The Yandow’s were kind enough to take care of our dog Scallop during our time abroad, and gave Scallop a fabulous and loving home.  We were a bit worried that our dog wouldn’t recognize us, but she seemed to still know who we were.  Anyway, we are most grateful for the Yandow’s for taking care of Scallop, since we could have never left without being sure she was in great hands.  And Scallop will get to see her second family from time to time this summer in Rhode Island, which she very much looks forward to!

So we’re now back in Jamestown, Rhode Island, and are catching up with our friends and family.  We got back in time to see the Celtics trounce the Lakers for the NBA Championship.  And I’ve already made a trip out to Chicago, and gotten reacquainted with the misery of domestic airlines.   I wish I could say unequivocally that it’s great to be back home, but it’s not.  But if we had to pick a place to be, Jamestown is the best place we could spend the summer! 

I may be wrong, but I believe the world is in grave trouble.  I felt this way before our trip, and am more convinced now.  I fear that our nation lacks the wherewithal to make the hard decisions and sacrifices to reverse so many troubling trends.   I fear our generation will be the first in our country’s history to pass on to the next generation a future that’s impaired, not improved.

During this past year, we had a wonderful opportunity to explore the world.  We wanted our trip to be educational, not an extended vacation.  We wanted to see for ourselves the greatness in the world, but also to see its challenges, its sadness, and its horror.  And we did.

We saw nature at its most spectacular.  We saw stunning accomplishments of ancient civilizations.  We saw beautiful cities, remarkable works of art, and advanced technologies.  And we saw the joy and hope in so many people, many of whom live in poverty.  It was inspiring. 

We also saw the unmistakable signs of global warming.  Acute deforestation.   Pollution in places like Beijing, where air quality gets worse by the minute.  The oppression of Tibet.  Indescribably poor townships and villages.  Children growing up without education, struggling to find daily food and water.  Auschwitz.  And the damaged state of our country’s standing abroad.

I was born in 1952.  Elizabeth’s and my parents were part of America’s Greatest Generation.  All four parents sacrificed immensely during World War II, with both fathers in combat and both mothers working in the U.S. to support the war effort.  Their lives have been ones of dedicated sacrifice to make sure their children had a better future.  They succeeded at that goal. 

I am embarrassed that my generation may be the first in our country’s history to hand our children a degraded future.  We’ve swept a pile of dirt the size of Mount Everest under the rug, while the planet is in peril.  It’s like living in a house that’s burning down, while we bicker over whether to watch “American Idol” or “Wife Swap.” 

As I said, I may be wrong.  Why worry about global warming?  Our addiction to foreign oil, in a nation of gas-guzzling SUV’s?  The staggering U.S. debt that threatens our financial underpinning?  Increasing foreign control of our economy, jeopardizing our ability to stand up to atrocity?  The fool’s errand called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” that has poisoned the world’s view of the U.S.?  The accelerating divide between the rich and the poor?  

Sixty-four years ago,  our greatest generation led the way to saving the free world, built the U.S. economy, and re-built Europe.  Now, our government earns the scorn and enmity of people all around the world for our failed foreign policy and our lack of discipline or resolve.   We are on our way to being one of the most irresponsible generation in the world’s history.  In contrast to Saint Luke’s words, “Unto whom much is given, much shall be required,” we have been given much, but just want more. 

What will it take to reverse these trends, to pass on to our children a future better than what we inherited?   Certainly not business as usual.  Not if we continue to focus on our own narrow self interests.  And not without compelling objectives that we achieve through ingenuity, shared sacrifice, and collaboration.  We need, more than ever before, a great generation to step forward, to lead us, and the world, forward to create a better world for the future.

So we are now at end of our ten-month round-the-world journey.  But we also mark the beginning of our next, less-defined journey into the future.  I struggle today to say what impact our trip will have on each of us.  My fervent hope, though, is that it will influence each of us to stretch, to help fight immense challenges, and to begin turning back a tide that threatens to sink our future.