TOM TRAVELS AROUND THE WORLD IN 2008

Me and Vince. He's my favorite painter




Me and the Roos. Jenny thought they were going to attack. The dangers of wildlife photography



Table Mountain, Capetown South Africa



Great Trip to Paris for the symposium celebrating the 25th anniversary of the discovery of HIV.




Bad picture but the location is clear. The Ride from Delhi to Agra (home of Taj Mahal) was one of the craziest experiences of my life.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A PERFECT WEEKEND

On the Weekend of December 6&7 we got a sports extravaganza. On Saturday, we watched the Illini Basketball team pound Georgia at the United Center. Looks like they are much better this year. Hopefully another tournament run this March Madness.



Then on Sunday the Bears versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was chilly, but the Bear's victory kept us warm. The Bears in December. A classic Chicago experience.

FUN DOWN UNDER, November 08

Tom had to attend a microscopy workshop in Melbourne. Diane came along. The Hope grandparents kindly watched the boys. We started the trip with a visit to Heron Island, an Australian National Park on the Great Barrier Reef. An amazing place. Try and get there once in your life.



Here is a view of the ocean from Heron Island. You can see the depth of the water based on color. The more blue the water, the deeper it is. You can see another reef at the horizon.



The best activity when the tide was low was reef walking. The water is only knee deep at low tide. It was like one gigantic tide pool. Miles of tidepools.



They had viewing cones that eliminated glare and the movement of surface water that allowed you to better see what was going on underwater. It was a great opportunity to explore the reef.



Tou could walk between the clumps of coral and all of the sea creatures that live with the coral.



One of my favorites were the giant clams. Their lips were a variety of colors from blue to brown to black. This one is a fluorescent green color.



It was the time of year when the green turtles come on the island to lay their eggs. There were dozens of sea turtles. And the tides were perfect so that we could see them coming on the beach at sunset and laying eggs in the early morning. It was like being in a nature show.



There were green sea turtles everywhere. A student group on the Island counted more than 70 one morning on the beaches of Heron Island. The Island itself was pretty small. It too about a half-hour to walk all the way around the Island



The turtles climb above the high tide line and dig a hole.


Once they are happy with the hole they lay their eggs.



Dozens of eggs.




Once they have finished laying their eggs they cover them by using their flippers to throw sand and fill the hole.



But the best part is the snorkeling! Its like swimming in a giant aquarium.



There are hundreds of kinds of fish. Big fish and little fish. Simply amazing.



Lots of Yellow ones that were very beautiful.



Sometimes they were in big schools like these moon fish.



Tom got an underwater video camera that allowed him to take the still images above and the fish montage below.




This is an Angel Ray. It the type of ray that killed Steve Irwin (Crikee!). This one was about 5 feet long and had a stinger the size of a new pencil. I kept my distance.



Seeing the turtles in the water was amazing. On land they were very clumsy and slow. In the water they flew like birds.



There were also SHARKS! Reef sharks and nurse sharks. Sorry, no great whites. This one is a nurse shark.



It was fun to swim with the sharks. They would get quite close. Here is one I could have reached out and touched.



While Tom was swimming with the sharks Diane was on the jetty filming it. The Australians on the Pier though Tom was going to get bit. No blood, no foul, no problem. It was AWSOME!



Diane also found a Manta Ray. They way it glided through the water was just beautiful. Another part of the trip that will never be forgotten.



After 4 amazing days on Heron Island it was time to work. We were off to Melbourne and the Burnet Institute for the microscopy workshop. No more beautiful Heron Island sunsets. Until maybe 2010 with a mini sabatical in Australia.



After the workshop we went on a Drive with Jen and Daz to the coast south of Melbourne to see the Twelve Apostles. It is an Australian National Park. The Twelve Apostles are rock formations located just off the coast. It was very beautiful!



The sea carved rock stretched for miles. It reminded us of the California coast in many way.



A delightful ending to the trip was coming upon a mob of kangaroos (that what a herd of kangaroos is called). They are basically like deer in Australia.




Tom walked up to them taking pictures. A bunch of the mob headed over the hill top. I really love visiting Australia!

VISIT TO CALIFORNIA August, 2008

In August we took a trip to California to visit the National Parks and Monuments and enjoy nature. It was a bit of a homecoming because Diane and I had lived in the Bay Area for 9 years. It was also the second visit of the family to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We had a great time in San Francisco.



We had fun visiting Alcatraz



Bart thought that Alcatraz was pretty cool!





Then we went to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We took a great hike where we saw more than half of the 10 biggest trees in the world. The General Sherman tree is the biggest in the world. Its a monster.




The Sequoias were amazing!



Its hard to appreciate how big they are. Maybe this will help. Here is Diane and the boys with the President tree. The 4th biggest in the world. In the background is Chief Sequoyah. Another huge tree amgonst the 30 largest Sequoias. Its amazing to think those two trees have been growing next to each other for more than 2000 years.



Another highlight of the trip was black bears. Here is one we saw in Sequoia. In the end we saw six bears in Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks.



Then we went from Sequoia-Kings Canyon to Yosemite Valley. We started our first day with breakfast under El Capitan. An ancient tradition from the 80's.




We visited Glacier Point which looks down on the valley. Its my favorite view of Half-Dome.



Glacier Point was also the starting point for a classic Yosemite Valley hike called Four Mile Trail. It drops down 3000 feet to the valley bottom providing some spectacular vistas.



This view was our favorite and a heck of a place to have lunch.



We also visited Olmsted Point. It has a great view of the beginning of Yosemite Valley.



Alex loved climbing and hiking on the domes.



We also did a lot of fishing in Lundy Lake. One of our favorites. We always had great luck there and did again this year.



The best fishing started just after the sunlight left the lake. In the end we caught 38 trout, 2 short of our limit. They made it home fine and we are still enjoying them.



Our old friend Greg (aka Cuda) came from the Bay Area to join the fun for a couple days. We went to Bodie, a very cool Ghost Town.



Many of the buildings still have everything just as it was left when the town went bust. This is a fun picture of the old pool hall with the scene behing reflecting in the window. An interesting mix of the past and present.



We also visited Mono Lake and its tufa formations. Here is Alex with some tufa.



Finally we did a hike to 20 Lakes Basin. It easy access to 10,000 feet and not crowded. A beautiful place with golden trout. We didn't catch anything on this trip but it doesn't matter. The reason to go is the beauty and alpine environment.




Also another great opportunity to run around on some big rocks!



On the trip, Bart and Alex earned 5 Junior Ranger Badges. Alcatraz, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Mono Lake, and Manzanar. Here they are after completing a ranger led activity to learn about Tuolumne Medows.



Then we went south to the highest part of the Sierra Nevada Range. Here is a fun picture of Diane through the Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills. Also framed by the arch is Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48, 14,505 feet.



We also visited the Bristle Cone Pines, the oldest living trees (and things!) on the planet. We took and amazing hike on the Methuselah Trail where we walked among trees more than 4500 years old.



The Methuselah Tree is somewhere along the trail. They keep the individual tree a secret. Maybe this is the Methuselah Tree? It does look pretty ancient.



The Bristle Cone Pines do not have any predators because they grow at such high altitudes. We also visited the Patriarch Grove, which you can see behind Diane who is standing with the 11,000 foot elevation sign.



On the way back we stopped for one last hike at Olmsted Point. We climbed to the top of a dome above the point. A storm was coming in making the scenery very dramatic.



Another amazing Yosemite view. One last peek at the high country.



We had one last visit to the valley. It was a bit windy and the wind did amazing things to Bridal Veil Falls. As you can see the falls were blown upward in a gravity defying manner. Quite a sight!



Bart and Alex also got a chance to swim in the Merced River one last time. One of the many things they enjoyed on the trip. They have become excellent swimmers.




I think that everyone would agree that it was another wonderful Hope Family visit to the glorious wonders of the Nation Parks of the US.