Capturing the Moment

   There are numerous waterfalls around Stowe, VT, and the expansive trail system means some of them are easily accessible. Catalina and I recently checked out the beautiful Bingham Falls trail, and today we set off again to experience Sterling Falls Gorge.   The drive took us high above the town of Stowe, off into the farmlands and forest. We had great views of the surrounding mountains layering off as far as we could see. I will need to come back up here for photography at some point. The way turns into a winding, up and down graded dirt road. There is a nice little parking lot with an informational sign. The trail seemed to go along the river here but we ended up on a network of cross country skiing trails which would be an absolute dream in winter time. We ended up doubling back and finding that we needed to go back to the road, walk across a bridge, and find our trailhead there.   The trail had a line up and a 'closed' sign, but it seemed to have been put ...

   In between long flights, guiding trips, and leading safaris I get to embark on one of life's greatest adventures, being a dad. The ability to facetime makes the time apart a little easier, but there is nothing like being there in person. The experience of watching Catalina go through the many milestones and being such an integral part of that is absolutely amazing. I started this blog as a way to help me remember all the adventures with pictures and stories, and this is one that I will never forget.   Catalina just passed the 8 month mark and is loving life. She is turning into quite the little water baby so I see fun in the ocean in Hawaii in her future. We've spent the summer in Vermont and have had some wonderful times out at Stave Island, playing in the lake, and not worrying about the need for diapers.   The juggle of a traveling career and starting a family is real, but so far we are doing it well. Most importantly Catalina is thriving, Heidi is rock...

Young black bear down the driveway, Vermont    It has been a wild couple of weeks here in Vermont with high temperatures and lots of wildlife. The snakes are out at Stave Island, fawn are running around with spots all over them, a mystery animal on the island, and both monarch butterflies and their caterpillar counterparts have been seen. But the biggest wildlife sightings of the summer have both come within the last few days.    First we had a young black bear sighting right down the driveway. It was munching away on some of the grass and flower in the meadow before crossing the road and darting off into the trees. We figured it was headed towards the berry bushes that have been prolific this summer. We were pretty excited so we grabbed the trail camera and set it up down near the woods hoping to get a shot of the bear. But when we retrieved the camera the next day we were in for shock.   We didn't get the bear, but in one night vision video we cap...

Heidi and Catalina on Stave Island  One of the big bonuses for us splitting our time between Vermont and Maui is that we give young Catalina a chance to spend some quality time out on Stave Island. June 11th, 2018 she first visited the island and from the picture here she looks pretty jazzed about it. I don't blame her, it is a pretty amazing spot for a kid to explore.

 Waking up to fresh snow on the ground is a wonderful part of spending time in Vermont during the winter. This morning was one of those mornings. And while a roaring fire, steaming coffee, and holding a newborn are powerful lures to stay inside, the winter wonderland on the other side of the glass was calling. Plus Neka the puppy just loves going outside to race around in the snow.  So Heidi and I bundled up young Catalina and headed out on a snowy adventure. Neka and I did a little photo shoot to help capture the playful mood the snow brings out.

  From Glimmer in our Eyes to Baby in our Arms Catalina at 6 days old   What an amazing thing to witness, the birth of your first child. There are so many unknowns and it seems like no matter what people tell you before hand you will still be shocked at the super power of mom to go through labor and give birth, and then again with just how much you are going to love your child. I finally realized all of this at 10:04pm, on the night of January 19th, 2008. That is the moment that our daughter came into this world. 8 months pregnant   It doesn't seem that long ago that Heidi was sharing this ultrasound picture with me. This was nine weeks in and our first visual of our future child. However, at least for me, the reality of the situation doesn't really settle in until you see a crying, breathing human come out of mom. It was also the moment we found out it was a girl.  We named her Catalina Blinn Tamarack. 'Catalina' after the island Heidi and...