10 DAYS in ALASKA

Here we are. Ready to fly to Anchorage, Alaska for a 10 days journey to Denali and the Kenai peninsula. Oliver drove us at LAX tonight. Our backpacks are wrapped in duffel bags ... you know we just want to avoid to start a backpacking vacation with a broken backpack ...... in a way it is a lifetime dream this Alaska vacation. At the same time 10 days are not really enough to really understand Alaska ... but I can't really complain ... I am actually very very happy and excited about it ... and I will try to put as much as possible pictures and stories of our trip ...

SEATTLE - LAX flight

If you have never been in a Seattle - LAX (LA International airport) flight, here some pictures for your enjoyment. I did it today, and I was lucky enough to have a window seat, and of course my camera with me. This is Seattle, WA ... the evergreen Seattle ...... this is the blue Lake Tahoe on the border between Nevada and California ...... and this is this the endless wildfire in the San Fernando Valley. I was told it is going on since weeks. It is very hard to get there for the firefighters, and the wind is doing the rest. Crazy ...... and this is the even more crazy city of Los Angeles, California ... really a monster ...

SEATTLE is just GREAT

Today has been an other fun day. I was in Seatte, WA for work and I spent half day for a sort of team building. We took a tour boat in the Washington Lake, one of the two major lakes around the city (the other one is Union). The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, which is always a good news up here in the North West. Here are some pictures of day, so don't trust the people who will try to convince you not to visit Seattle ... actually never trust people who will tell that it is not worth it to visit a new place ....Again this is Bill Gates's house ... I was told there are a lot of features inside ...This is the floating bridge. A marvellous construction. I believe it is the I-90 going East to West ...This is the boat that we took, seen from the inside. Pretty nice ...... this is the fast growing downtown of Bellevue, WA. Very expensive apartments up there ...... and this is the team of my colleagues. You can't find two people of the same country ... ooopppsss ... of course there is more than one Indian ...... Seattle is really a great place, and honestly ... I am really excited to move here with Tina in November ...

PLANNING the ALASKA TRIP

I read somewhere that the best part of a trip is its planning. I don't think I agree. But definitely in these days I had a high because of the planning of the Alaska trip ... I had to plan a little and I got really excited ...... we are leaving on Friday nite from LA, and thanks to these few days of planning, we have a bus from Anchorage to Denali NP. And in Denali NP we have 3 nite books in 2 different campgrounds. That is such an achievement for me! Normally I get in a new city / country and I start looking around while I am reading my Lonely Planet ... :D ... anyways after that we don't have any reservation. I still need to book a ride back from Denali NP and a car to drive around the Price William Sound.

WIKI is COOL

Not sure if you are familiar with Wiki. If you are not, I just want to warn you that it is my new passion. I love it. And I found this very cool video on youtube about it. If you have 3 minuted look at it ...

I ALMOST CRIED

Last nite I had been touched when Leif, during the party, was asked "what's the best moment of these almost 4 years here in US?". He did answer like this "probably the best moment is when I moved to live with Jake and Andrea". I almost cried.

LEIF'S LAST BBQ

Leif himself decided the name. And he decide for "Leif's Last BBQ". And this is really his last BBQ. He is leaving on August 31st. Sad to think about it, but he is going back to Germany. In the morning I won't see anymore his happy face. I won't be able anymore to complain anymore about the dirty dishes in the sink. My German brother is leaving the house. Uuuufffff. I am a little bit sad, but I guess this is what my life is. I make great friends and after a while I have to detach from them. But I never loose contact with them. Anyways, going back to the party. Leif decided to put on the walls and windows pictures of his 3.5 years here in US. Kind of cheesy, but effective, I would say ...I didn't take a lot of pics, but here some random ones ...Here is when Jason pulled out the funnel and we started funneling the beer. Leif didn't make it. Shame on him. Jason is showing his disapproval to Leif ...The party was definitely one of the best we had in our place. We had a bunch of friends coming. Everybody cheering Leif. We had a good time from 5PM till 3AM ... when finally Leif & Ming hammered by too many drinks gave up ...Difficult to describe my feelings. It is like see a brother leave. Difficult to accept. But again life goes on. And I am sure that e will come to visit us in Seattle soon ... :D

COSTCO

If you want to experience America you need to visit NYC, LA, the amazing National Parks, drive the endless desert roads. But that won't be enough. Before you will leave you have to go to COSTCO, the best and most amazing wholesale supermarket I have ever seen ...... everything here is big ... everything. Starting from the carts. This is a piece of America! And shopping here is really a lot of fun. Here are Leif, Jill and I loading the trunk of the car after the shopping for tomorrow Leif's Last BBQ (i.e. Leif's farewell party) ... we bought all we need to feed 30 angry people ...... because if you organize a party, you have to come shopping here ... but if you are not shooting a party the huge sizes of the items will either kill you ... or will make your *ss the size of an average America *ss ... :o

LA COUNTDOWN & SURFING

Today I did some math. And I concluded that between now and my November move to Seattle, I will spend probably no more than 3 weeks here in LA. So I decided that I really want to spend some time in the water. I want to go surfing as much as I can ...... and fortunately for me ... my friends Oliver, Kerry and Yama are surfing as well in these days. So I don't really risk to be in the water by myself. And it is so nice to catch a wave with a friend beside you. It is just perfect. Sometimes I really think that moving from place to place is really a blessing. It forces you to realize that you have limited time, and you need to enjoy as much as you can any minute that you have. And this is what I am trying to do in my life. And it really works ... :D

A SMALL CONTRIBUTION

Tonite I did a small thing. But I am very proud of it. I did update some information about the DENALI NP in WIKITRAVEL.COM. I think the WIKI idea is just great. And I am really happy to have the time to help to make it grow. BTW ... if you are curious to know what I did change ... I updated some information about the campgrounds ... :D

WIKITRAVEL

At the end of the month Tina and I will go to Alaska. And of course nothing is really planned. We have just a round trip ticker LAX - Anchorage ... and that's it. So today I was looking on Internet for some info about the Denali NP campgrounds. And I found a very cool web site ... a great discovery actually ... it is wikitravel ... a kind of Wikipedia for everything about travelling. It is pretty good. Here the way they describe themselves "Wikitravel is a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date, and reliable world-wide travel guide. So far we have 16,140 destination guides and other articles written and edited by Wikitravellers from around the globe. Check out the Help page to see how you can edit any page right now, or the Project page for more information about Wikitravel and getting involved." I browse thru it and I can tell you ... if you love to travel ... I suggest you to give it a try. I am also planning to get an account and update, to the best of my knowledge some info ... I see that both Hermosa Beach, CA (where I live now) and Bergamo (my home town back in Italy) need an update ... :)

LOS ANGELES SUNSET

Back to LA for 1 week. Because of incoming business trips and vacation and my end of the year relocation to Seattle, I don't really have many days to spend here. Almost a sunset for me here in LA ... and the other day I enjoyed this magnificent and sweet sunset here in LA, that made me think about my almost 4 years here. I would like to share with you ...... I hope you will like it. And if haven't visited LA yet, don't wait too much. Life is short. Try to get out the best of it. And few days in LA are definitely something you want to experience before you will die.

A CURB in CAPITOL HILL

I took this picture while I was driking a coffee in Capitol Hill a nice area in Seattle. I love it, and even if it doesn't have a great story around it, I want to share it with my friends ...... I hope you will like it.

STREET ART in SEATTLE

More days for me in Seattle. And the more I am wandering thru the city, the more I realize that I really love it. One of the things that I liked the most in these days here is the art in the street. It is really enjoyable to walk around and find pieces of art. I took also some pictures ... and the more I am looking at these pictures, the more I understand why I like the art in the streets. It becomes suddenly really accessible. To me it makes much more sense to have the art in the streets, rather in museums ... what do you think?

WHAT THE PHO`

I love Vietnamese food. In particular I love the Pho`, their noodle soups. Whenever I have the chance I am going to a Vietnamese restaurant. And the West coast is really full of them. But definitely this restaurant in Bellevue, WA wins the award for the funniest name ...... so last nite, my last nite in Seattle, I ended up here for dinner. And I loved it.

The TACOMA BRIDGE

Tacoma, WA is a town just 1 hour drive south of Seattle. I never really visited it. I always drove thru it. And I always associate it with its bridge. It is a very nice bridge. The other day we drove thru it. And while we were driving a Ferrari passed us. The red car in the picture is a Ferrari ...But what is unique about this bridge is that it is replacing a 1940 bridge, which didn't have a great designer.It lasted only 4 months. Here a very well done video that I found on youtube about it ...... this video makes me appreciate the work of the engineers ... :D

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA

Bainbridge Island is a day trip from Seattle. You can either go there by land or by water or a mix of the two. Last weekend we did a mix of the two. We left Seattle early morning and with a ferry we went there. And after a short tour we drove back. If you are in Seattle, and you want to take an exciting 1 day journey, I think this is just right for you. There is like a different world. This is view from the ferry in Seattle ...... and this the view from the same ferry is Bainbridge Island, after just 1/2 hour sailing ...And these are some pictures in the BAinbridge Island village. You can't expect the same multicultural experience of Seattle. But to me this place has something magical. If I would work in Seattle downtown I would seriously think to live here and take a ride o the ferry every day to commute to work ...But again, when I will live in Seattle I think we will come here to ride the bicycle during some weekend ... :D