Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia | ||
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In March of 2013 I did a 10-day trek of the "circuit" of Torres del Paine National Park in Patatonia, Chile. I was at least 30 years older than everyone else doing the trek, and carried a pack at least 30 pounds lighter. While this was extremely beneficial to my knees, it proved problematic in the notorious Patagonia wind. | |
Searching for Nyala in Ethiopia | ||
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In June of 2011 I taught an IDL course in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When the class was over, I spent a couple of weeks traveling in the Ethiopian countryside, mostly looking along the Awash River for some of the most colorful of the 800 species of birds seen in Ethiopia. Later, I traveled to the Bale Mountains to see if I could find the endangered Ethiopian wolf or the endemic nyala, a species of antelope that is emblematic of Ethiopia. | |
Coyote’s Excellent München Adventure | ||
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In September of 2004 I was invited to spend a couple of months with the astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Munich, Germany. My duties were to help them with their IDL programming tasks and to learn more about astronomy, generally. But, of course, I had to also learn German. This is an account of the ups and downs of living in a country where you don’t speak the language and almost everything is new to you. I am helped, in some of this, by my son, Brian, who coincidentally was in Munich for a year on a study-abroad program. | |
Arctic Ocean Cruise | ||
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In April of 2004 I was invited along on an Arctic Ocean cruise, part of a scientific party organized by oceanographer John Christensen of the Bigelow Oceanographic Laboratory in Maine. We worked too hard and for too many hours each day to make writing an electronic journal possible, but I kept an extensive diary, which I hope to turn into an essay one day soon. What you see here are slightly edited and annotated letters to the folks back home. And polar bears, of course, you will see polar bears. That’s why I went! This entire adventure is now available as an E-book entitled Ice and Wind: Standing on the Arctic Ocean. |
Creighton Grade School Reunion | ||
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In January of 2002 I got together with four of my former classmates of the Creighton Grade School in Phoenix, Arizona to visit our former 7th grade teacher, Mrs Buchanan. Most of us had not seen each other for nearly 35 years. This is an account of that trip. | |
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Copyright © 2006 David W. Fanning
Last Updated 1 May 2012