Summer, 2009 Summer 2009 Keewi and I moved from California to Montreal, so we drove from coast to coast. These photos are from some of the spots we stopped at. There are a lot of them; it was a long trip! The baby prominently featured in some photos is our nephew Ivan. The "original" photos in this set are actually 1/4 of the original photo pixel count, so if you want to make a print, ask me for the real original. Vancouver Island I started the road trip by myself, doing fieldwork at Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The work involved trapping fish in some local lakes; the first photo shows a typical site. It was quite lovely working there; the weather was gorgeous, beavers and loons and other wonderful wildlife was everywhere, and it was very peaceful. The other photos in this section are from hikes on Vancouver Island. Mount Rainier I then drove down to Mount Rainier National Park, in Washington state. I had never been there before, actually. It was quite wonderful, I definitely need to go back. I want to hike the Wonderland trail around Mount Rainier! Oregon My next destination was an academic conference (Evolution 2009) in Moscow, Idaho. I took the long way there, along scenic roads through northeastern Oregon. These photos are on the road from Ukiah to Joseph, more or less. Camping in Joseph at Wallowa Lake State Park was quite nice; I'll definitely do that again the next time I'm in the area. Yellowstone National Park After my conference I picked up Keewi in Spokane and we drove to Yellowstone National Park. I've been there several times before (see previous photosets for more Yellowstone photos), but Keewi hadn't, so I took her to all my favorite spots. Camping at Mammoth was quite good, especially since Mammoth itself is one of my favorite spots in the park. Glacier National Park Next stop was Glacier National Park (which involved backtracking a bit, but we were trying to let some snow melt off before trying to hike in Glacier). Glacier is my favorite national park. Keewi had never been there either (poor deprived thing) so I again played tour guide. The east side of the park was just wonderful this year. We did some good hikes, but the really hard-core multi-day hike I had planned wasn't possible because of too much snowpack still on the trails. We stayed at Granite Park Chalet for a couple of nights, which was lovely; I want to try Sperry Chalet next time we visit! Wildlife was in great abundance, as you can see in these photos. Lots of birds too, but my lens isn't long enough to get them, generally. Rocky Mountain National Park Now we were joined by my sister, her husband, and their baby, for a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The scenery there was lovely as always, and the way that the road goes right up and over the top of the Rockies there was great since we were traveling with a baby; the gorgeous scenery is so immediately accessible in that park! Colorado These photos are from an old family hang-out spot in Colorado, near the North Platte and the Wyoming border. See if you can spot the bird in the 10th photo! Omaha, NE After Colorado, we hightailed it to Omaha, Nebraska, to visit my aunt and uncle there. The second and third photo are from a huge train switching yard in the area, which is worth a stop if you like trains; they have a viewing tower over the yard. Most of the rest of the photos are from the Omaha zoo, which was wonderful; I think I could have happily spent a week there. They had a temporary butterfly exhibit that was really good, perhaps the best such that I have been to (and I have been to quite a few butterfly exhibits!). Boston Then we drove straight to Montreal, pretty much only stopping for gas, so no photos from that stretch. The rest of the photos are from a quick visit to Boston in the fall to see my sister's family. The fall foliage at the Arnold Arboretum was amazing. That's me in the fifth photo, with my nephew! These images copyright © 2009 Ben Haller. All rights reserved.