The best time of my life was when I was a canoe guide for a summer in Minnesota. I'm always surprised that my favorite period of life isn't mainly about a girl. (Truthfully, all that summer I wrote letters to a fantastic girl, and she even visited for a weekend... but I think my favorite parts weren't even about that.) And sometimes I wonder that my favorite period of life has nothing at all to do with my current job and future in astronomy. But maybe this isn't a problem: maybe these sorts of experiences are all about the perfect place at the perfect time, and maybe it was simply the perfect time in my life to be a canoe guide...
The picture is actually from my last water-trekking trip, in Pumalin Parque, Chile, last January. Juanfe, the guide, took this photo as I kayaked out of one of the fjords. I remember that after I finished being a canoe guide and I returned home to PA, I told myself that I'd go on a week-long water-trekking trip at least once a year. I've fallen somewhat short, doing 2 trips in the 3.5 years since then. I'd blame my career in astronomy, but really, the only reason I was in Chile to go sea kayaking was because I was there on a NSF-paid observing trip at a Chilean telescope... so really, I can't complain. Thanks for your tax dollars.
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