From Europe to Seoul Last Minute

While at the ICN airport after collecting our bags, I was sitting near the luggage cart with my feet propped up on it waiting for Sangwon to get the bus tickets into Seoul. My backpack with my laptop was rested on top of our suitcases. It was just laying there on top since I would be wearing it in a minute when we leave. Well I happened to jar the luggage cart and my backpack began to slid off. I reached out quickly, elbow down and extended my arm to grab it like you would if doing a curl...well it was heavy and it forced my elbow out of place. It wasn't dislocated, but it sure wasn't feeling normal either. Great...hurt arm...Europe trip short, unexpected flights, funeral...this is not a good start.

The arm was quite painful, so first thing the next morning Sangwon took me to an acupuncturist to try to relieve some of the inflammation. It helped, but it was to take a lot more than one session. For the few weeks we were in Seoul, I went 3-4 times a week to try to get my arm back to normal and climbable before heading back to Europe. Not exactly what I had planned...but hey, after Bird Flu, and Rabies in S.E. Asia, getting caught in hurricanes and tropical storms in Central America...and getting ran over by a drunk driver in the US, what is a little injured elbow?

The Acupuncture actually worked wonders, by the time we were ready to head back to Europe, I could climb on easy stuff again. It was sure better than nothing!

The funeral was a sad event, and I respectfully won't go into details, but I will say that loosing Mi-Sun was very difficult for everyone that knew her, and that she had such tremendous support from those around her.

While in Seoul, we made a trip to spend some time with Sangwon's family and visited a famous temple nearby Daegu. The photo's are below.

Euro Trash: Chamonix, France

After the work season ended, I flew to Geneva Switzerland where Sangwon picked me up and we drove to Chamonix, France, which is located in the French Alps. Sangwon had a Worldcup competition there a few days before, and placed 12th. It was so nice to just arrive spend time together; working really took it out of me and I needed the rest.

Sangwon knows a couple from S. Korea living in Chamonix so we met up with them and went on a day trip to an alpine lake. It was so beautiful-even as it rained!

Sadly, a good friend and mentor of Sangwon's tragically lost her life while climbing in the Himalayas. We booked tickets back to Seoul immediately and had to put the climbing on hold. Sangwon had known Go Mi-Sun, (Go Mi-Young 고미영) since he was a child, and she was a huge influence on him and his climbing career. On July 11, after reaching the top of Nanga Parbat Mi-Sun fell off the edge of a cliff while on the descent in bad weather. She was an mountaineer and was one of the only people to summit 3 8,000-meter peaks in one season-she did them in 6 weeks-Makalu, Kangchenjunga, and Dhaulagiri. She was on a quest to be the first woman to climb the world's 14 highest peaks (the eight-thousanders). I was thankful to have been able to be with Sangwon and support him during such a difficult time. So off to S. Korea we went.

Here are photos from Chamonix, France and surrounding areas.

All work and no play is not a good idea...

The following are photos from adventures I had when not working...either on rest days or after working.

The town of Thermopolis, Wyoming held a lot more surprises than originally met my eye.


Through out working we had came and gone multiple times through this town because of its location to our sites and it being the main town we could stay in to reach those sites easily. The town gets its name because of its thermal energy.

In these photos I am at the state park checking out all the thermal water. I touched my toes in this creek to see if it is actually hot or just warm it was REALLY HOT! Yikes!!

Another gem of this city is the Dinosaur Museum. My co-workers asked me about my jacket brand Arc-teryx, and what the symbol is. They apparently have never heard of that company but when I told them the story they thought it was pretty neat too. Arc-teryx is actually a shortened word of Archaeopteryx. Archaeopteryx was a primitive bird that lived during the Jurassic period and because it displays a number of features common to both birds and dinosaurs, Archaeopteryx has often been considered a link between birds and dinosaurs.

A handful of fossils have been found of this species and most of which display proto-feathers and has become a key piece of evidence for the debate over evolution. I had interest Archaeopteryx since learning about it high school, and then during all my raptor classes in university. My co-workers were aware of my interest and took me there as a surprise. I was ecstatic! I was giddy and excited to finally see one...I felt like I just won the lotto.

It was my first time seeing real dinosaur fossils. So big!!!! They are really impressive. Amazing that things grew and survived like these. It really rattles your mind about the possibilities of this world.

Another day we were able to go to a dinosaur tracks site. This place used to be a beach near the ocean a long time ago. The tracks were imprints in sand and became fossilized.

Here I am pointing out a foot-print, it is hard to see in this photo, but it was really neat to see in person!

One of the days while working in an area between Idaho and Wyoming we finished up one site early on in the morning and were making our way to the next site. It was quite a drive and I really REALLY had to pee. Finally the guys pulled over and it was in the middle of no where....sand all around.

So we decided to drive a little further up the road to where a hill was. I got out of the truck and went off to the side of the road to do my thing. We decided to check out the view on the top of the hill and take a photo. Good thing we did because the view was awesome.

Here I am goofing around in the sand.

We came upon a batholithe in an area near Montana and Wyoming and as we were trying to locate a tiny dirt road on our topo map. We hiked up to the top to get a better view since we seemed to not be on the right dirt road....aka...lost.

Regardless, the view was really great from up here.

A pretty little desert flower in the midst of a rock pile.

Some of our site were located in an all too famous national park...I was thrilled! I had never went there before!

And the most famous place of all...is Old Faithful. By the way it was freezing cold this day.

This is Old Faithful doin it's thing.

Giving Lucky a little love at Yellowstone Lake while we take a break from the long drive.

Volcanic Tablelands.

We checked out the Fountain Paint Pots as well.
Red Spouter in Yellowstone National Park

Last year while doing geo-physics work I cut my hair and donated it to Locks-of-Love. I decided to do it again. Seems this time of year is the time to do it, just in time for the warm weather!

My hair is all wavy because I took out the sea shells I had braided into my hair from Thailand and Vietnam.

So short now!