Stop the presses............. We are now SO COOL! Jim has installed new fangled "get outta the way devices" on our truck. They're about 3 inches long and look like tiny shinny trumpets. When our truck reaches 30 + mph the wind travels through the devices so they emit a high pitched whistle only animals can hear. Moose, deer, elk, caribou, bears and other assorted fauna will now leap safely out of our way! As someone who has hit more than one deer in her life I can tell you this device will be a really good thing if it works.


For me, this trip also means a chance to add new birds to my life list. While other folks are admiring the glaciers, I will be scouring the skies, checking the rocky shores and scanning the lakes for new birds. Don't get me wrong, I intend to immerse myself in the great northwest experience. But travel has taught me it's possible to walk the Great Wall of China, sail the Nile River in a faluka, stand on the Tibetan Plateau and wander the rose colored canyons at Petra and still spot new birds. I suppose that makes me an Eco-tourist since I shoot to memorialize and not to kill. It's great when total strangers learn I am a birder and start pointing out birds to me. They've seen birds before, but never really SEEN them. Like William, our guide in China, who was amazed that the tiny energetic bird darting through the shrubs was named Japanese White-eye. William had not noticed the birds before I pointed them out to him, after that he wanted to know the name of each new bird he saw! One of the best things about travel is seeing how other folks live. In China, people take their pets for walks in city parks. We met a man who had his caged Eye-browed Thrush hanging in a tree so it could enjoy the fresh air and "talk" to the wild birds. He was so excited to find his bird in my China Field Guide!