Hello all!
It’s been a busy few months getting settled back in the U.S. after returning from Tanzania to present my Masters thesis. The biggest travel adventure since I got back has been the cross-country road trip from Boston to Seattle – 3,400 miles of open road (except for Chicago) and countless radio stations along the way. My plan had been to break in a new tent along the way in the Badlands, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks, but alas Congress decided instead that a government shutdown would be more appropriate. This is as far as I got…
Road blocked at Grand Teton National Park during the government shutdown. Photo by Gemina Garland-Lewis.
Shutdown aside, I got to spend time with friends in Cleveland and Jackson Hole, at my home farm in southwestern Wisconsin, say goodbye to my grandmother and welcome her two-day old great-granddaughter into the family in Minnesota, spend a very stormy night in the Motel 6 in Hot Springs, SD (and for only $39 – who knew such prices still existed in the U.S.??), visit the world’s only corn palace, and indeed break in the new tent at the poorly named Massacre State Park in Idaho. Idaho was my last night on the road before making it to Seattle. Even though I woke to a wet tent, the smell of sagebrush country after the night’s rains left me knowing I would miss the road dearly – even if I was excited to start a more settled life in Seattle. I would miss the autumn colors I left in New England, the sunset storm clouds I outran in South Dakota, the early snow on the mountain passes in Wyoming that my car somehow survived, the late afternoon light hitting the orange rocks in the Wind Rivers, and that intangible feeling of freedom that comes when one is driving the all-American road trip heading out west.
Somewhere, South Dakota. The smell of sunset thunderstorms keeps me pushing through to find covered lodging for the night. Photo by Gemina Garland-Lewis.
Seattle is just how I left it – a city that somehow seems to have stolen my heart (despite January-March) and left me ready for a whole new set of Pacific Northwest adventures. Although it’s been pretty busy with starting a new job at the University of Washington in the School of Public Health, here’s a few of the photo highlights of the past few months…
© Gemina Garland-Lewis and Tufts Veterinary Magazine
Last week I received a number of copies of the winter issue of Tufts Veterinary Magazine, who featured the above spread of my images and an article I wrote about my National Geographic Young Explorer Grant on Azorean ex-whalers. It’s been great to see these images in print finally and to be able to keep sharing the stories of these men.
Following the heels of my last post on the short film made with footage I shot this summer in Tanzania for Putney Student Travel – Putney has now released a longer promotional video on their programs in general. It gives a great sense of what a wonderful organization they are (and there’s a few more scenes from Tanzania mixed in!).
And finally, I finished updating my photo website just before the new year. It’s been a long process to make some of the big revisions to it, so it feels great to have it finally up and running. New albums posted from my summer in Tanzania, including my trips with National Geographic Student Expeditions, Putney Student Travel, and my post-thesis getaway to Zanzibar, as well as more images from my NG Young Explorer Grant in the Azores. Please check it out and enjoy! http://geminagarlandlewis.smugmug.com
I’ll leave you with the ABCs of my road journey!
geminagarlandlewis 