The Blog Awards

We're home again. Happily. We've reunited with family (see below) and started putting down roots (tentatively). Some pics of homecoming below, followed by The Blog Awards and some highlights.


Me with my mum, sister and her baby Abigail (7 months).

The Blog Awards (Thank you and Goodnight)

Most avid blog supporter: Jeff Brovet/ Delene Richards
Most avid blog commenter: Christine Terry
Most enthusiastic blog-writer-encourager: Nicci O'Keeffe
Most unexpected blog commenter: Duncan Smallbones/ Nickie Wallace
Most cheeky blog comments: Glen Tyler

Best meal: Salmon and moose in the Arctic (with Patrick and the Hickers)
Best view: North Slope, Alaskan Arctic (also Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica- 40 degrees 100% humidity and jungle to the horizon)
Most romantic place: Log cabin, Shenandoah (Virginia)
Scariest experience: Robyn- Bear Night, Arctic, Mark- Me, scared?
Most mileage travelled in one day: 800 miles
Worst experience: Hiking in dust storm, Grand Canyon (Robyn howling, Mark bewildered)
Best night out: New Orleans: Zydeco dancing and then dinner with Don and Jenny
Most fun experience: Riding tsunami from calving glacier in kayak on Prince William Sound, Alaska (again!)
Best musical moment: Preservation Hall, New Orleans (jazz maestros making music for your feet)
Worst campsite: Pecos, Texas (also Monument Valley and also......)
Best night's sleep: the next night at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas
Worst injury: Robyn impaling herself on multiple tree spikes in bog in Costa Rica (followed by Mark chuckling while watching pulsation as spikes removed from artery)
Favourite supermarket: Trader Joe's ("I thought we were only going in for broccoli!")
Hottest night: La Leona, Corcovado National Park.
Coldest night: Robyn- Natchez Trace, Mississippi Mark- Me, cold?
Worst fight: New Jersey Turnpike (rush hour, Robyn driving, Mark thinking he should be driving)
Most confusing moment: Lost in New York City (part of above)
Friendliest stranger: Gene, Road Worker, Dalton Highway, Arctic
Most beautiful bird: Black throated trogon (also Scarlet Macaw and Long tailed Jaeger)

Stats
Distance covered: 24 000 km (15000 miles)
Budget daily: $70-80
Highest altitude: 12000 feet (Wheeler Peak walk, Taos, New Mexico)
Coldest temperature: -8 C, Vermont
Hottest temperature: Overcountable in Costa Rica

So, we're signing out. If you're interested in hearing about life in Cape Town, email us on: mark.richards111@gmail.com and robynltyler@gmail.com.

Byeeeeeee...