Hilton Garden Inn Ithaca

Well, today we leave the only home I have known. It is a wonderful city and I am proud to have been born in such a beautiful place and to have been welcomed to the world by the great friends here. Clearly my parents loved it here as they have been rather sad about leaving. My good friend Nadya even came by so say good ...

... of them and wanted to take my own photos and then we were back on the state road again for just a few minutes. We than made a turn at Kelly's Corner Road which took us through cornfields and on dirt roads. We had to keep a close eye on the turns because one wrong turn and we would be back in the movie Deliverance. A downpour caught us and turned the car into a little mudball from the dirt roads. However, google maps delivered ...

... limited, there must be SOME better choice than that one!
- Luckily, Buttermilk Falls was at the entrance of the campground, so we were able to see the falls without hiking, which we would not have done in the rain. The falls looked nice, and there was a natural swimming pool at the base, but the weather prevented us from having any fun there.
- It was a good thing that we had already discussed just sleeping ...

Our first evening of driving was a breeze! We made great time from Downers Grove to Grand Rapids. Saw some cute little pigmy type donkeys in the field. We stayed at Deanna's house on a lake. Deanna is Laura's sister and her home is beautiful. Enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck and watched the sun go down.

The next morning began our official road trip and the longest ...

... large firms or organizations building sustainable energy solutions. Unfortunately carbonfootprint.com's counter seemed very conservative compared to the others. Even though it was one of the most detailed, and I was liberal with my estimates, it said that I only emitted about 7 tons of CO2. And some of the other sites that made estimates purely on the mileage of my flights put that number closer to 12 to 14 tons. So I just ...

... so that I can catch the train in the morning! I'm taking Amtrak to New Haven tomorrow and really looking forward to the trip: get a little reading done, get some photo's uploaded to facebook, return a few emails... I have an article to write for the December issue of The Advisor. I've been procrastinating writing it, so hopefully I will be inspired tomorrow.

... my travels. The places the samples were taken from will correlate with the places the causes and organizations are from. Currently I'm working with 4 causes (more will be added in the future): Fiji - Tui Tai Charitable Fund India - Lok Samiti India/Tibet - Tibetan Refugees Fund New Zealand - Auckland City Mission (Christmas Dinner) In at least one case already I've pushed the creative envelope a bit to make music using solely the sample ...

    Me and my girl friend decided to take a two week adventure driving around Upstate New York. We turned to the net to find out where we might be staying each day. After countless searches we came across one Bed and Breakfast that stood out from every place that we booked, Turtle Dreams. Tepees, Drum circles, Didgeridoo wake up calls, and an organic breakfast sounded like just the place for us. We instantaneously gave them a call and ...

... has a loving home for my lengthy stay in Lesotho. THANK YOU MIKE!!! Hopefully we can work out a friendly custody arrangement when I get back. In closing of my last US-based entry I just want to say thank you to all my friends and family. As someone smart said once, "its not the destination, its the journey" that counts. For everyone that has been a part of my journey so far, I hope the next two years treat you well and I'll see ya in 2010! Wishing you peace and love Kristan

... is immense) have to work their way down to the lake level through a series of deep gorges and waterfalls. Add the immense forest cover and you have an awe-inspiring set of scenery. It also explains why, once canals were built linking the lakes to the Hudson River and thus New York, the early American Industrial Revolution based on water powered textile mills occurred here. Just like the English Midlands and Yorkshire. So an area of staggering natural beauty. Especially for ...