Home again

A huge thanks to Scott - who drove us all the way to my house from Seattle last night. This, after having been traveling from our hotel in Bergen for 20 hours. We left Bergen about 8am (midnight west coast time) and didn't really have many problems from there. However, we had a four hour scheduled layover in Copenhagen - but then our flight was delayed for another hour and a half. We finally got into Seattle about 7:25pm. Then we went through customs and all that. We probably got on the road about 8pm and got to my house about 12:30pm.

I'm tired. And, yes, I'm feeling jet-lagged. Scott drove the whole way. I told him I'd try, but I kept nodding off to sleep, so he pushed through all by himself. I would've stopped in a hotel, for sure.

But the trip was quite successful. I engaged in a lot of networking - talking to some of the movers and shakers in Artic science circles. I met a lot of new folks and there were a few other people that I had a chance to talk to again, including some folks at NSF and someone I met through NSF, and then one of my former professor's students was there - Beth and I coauthored a paper that will come out sometime in the next year - and we had a chance to visit and get caught up.

Scott and I loved Bergen. Granted it was expensive (salmon and boiled potatoes with 2 beers each was over $100), but the people were very very nice. The taxi driver from the airport to our hotel told us about the history and then waited in the parking lot to make sure we were at the right hotel. Then, the lady at the hotel gave us a "better" room that looked out over the harbor/wharf since we were going to be there for a few days. Generally, folks were friendly and helpful and most spoke English. I loved the city - it was very "human-sized" in that we could walk where we needed to in the City Centre. We would've loved to stay longer - hmm, an idea for my next sabbatical?

Well, it's time to see about doing something with my son ... I think we're going to see Monsters vs. Aliens today!