Holiday laughs in Oz

Day 174 of the project,
Christmas Day in Apollo Bay, Australia

"You're sitting like you're a baller at some fancy hotel. Like this is the Ritz Carlton of Apollo Bay instead of the YHA and you are drinking a vintage champagne instead of quadruple X lager."

Her eyebrow arched and pinky shot out from the gaudy yellow can, posing for a ridiculous Instagram post. It was contagious and within seconds, we were both giggling uncontrollably. Not quite our signature silent hyena laugh, but enough to make my eyes tear up a little. It was a good release after a long meandering day on Australia's Great Ocean Road.

Pause

7 days until the project begins

It never ceases to amaze me how fast time goes. Two weeks ago I was working a full time job; seven days ago I was visiting two of the biggest and (arguably) best U.S. national parks. Today I sit on a plane back to San Francisco. In exactly one week I will board another plane bound for South America.

Yet there are clear points when just for a moment the clock seems to stop. It's as if fate is giving us a chance to appreciate the present before it rushes into the past. The last two weeks have given me a rather large dose of those pauses and it has taken a while to fully absorb them.

Close encounters

10 days until the project begins

Conspiracy theorists believe first contact happened in the middle of the New Mexico desert. After a night drive across western Kansas, I've come to the conclusion they should consider adding a new set of coordinates to their list. 

Mountains and moose

15 days until the project begins

"I think we just passed a moose."

"Are you kidding? That was a deer. They don't have moose here and that animal was too skinny to be a moose." 

"It absolutely was a moose, and they do have them in Wyoming. Didn't you see the warning signs?"

It was a rather circuitous argument about a brown blur on the side of the road going through the Teton pass. My father and I had been in the car for about sixteen hours and still had another 30 minutes before we reached our destination in Teton Village. The silver lining was that the sun did not fully set until almost 10pm.