A Visit Home After a Year Abroad

After a year on the road it's nice to be home for a while. Fall weather this year has been good to me and I've enjoyed mostly sunny and warm days so far - hopefully it'll stay like this until my departure back to South America.

Now, what do you do on a visit home after being on the road for over a year? Visiting friends and family is definitely a priority. Most of them have been following my travels through this blog or on Facebook, so showing them pictures of the trip might not be so interesting even though I only post a very limited selection of the pictures. Also, they probably read about some of the great experiences I had during this last year. Some of the highlights included:

• seeing orcas and hump back whales on Vancouver Island, Canada
• having a bear encounter near Whistler, Canada
• hiking my first two 14ers in Colorado
• encountering a wild cougar in California 
• learning to surf in Lima, Peru
• meeeting a group of Chilean congressmen in Cuzco, Peru
• hiking and kayaking beautiful Torres del Paine, Chile
• visiting the Chilean congress in Valparaiso, Chile
• rock climbing in Peru
• seeing wild horses in North Carolina

However, there are a ton of stories and anecdotes from the last 12 months that are better told in person. Personal stories, funny stories, long stories, complicated stories, you name it! It's been a good year, challenging at times but definitely a great experience. Not only have I seen some pretty incredible places but also met a lot of interesting people and made good friends wherever I went. So I'm grateful and happy and for those who've been part of this year I have two things to say: thank you and keep on traveling!

PS: I couldn't visit Switzerland without enjoying some of it's beauty - I had to get out on a hike in the alps as you can see... These pictures are from a trail from Tschiertschen to Arosa in the canton of Grisons.