If you are looking for the post on Wes Skiles, please scroll down below the Adirondack wedding post...

Adirondack wedding

Julie and Scott

Jay and I spent last weekend back on the east coast! We came back for the wedding of one of my two oldest friends (they are twins, so I can't say I've known one longer than another). Julie Lockman got hitched to a great man, Scott Geiger, at the Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks. It was lovely to be in the Adirondacks again, I grew up going here with the Barber and Lockman families. I think we all dreamed of getting married in the Adirondacks and Julie did it! Yeah!

The Main Lodge

Jay arrived earlier than me and spent a few days with his family on the Cape and in Boston doing some coral research. I came later and went straight to Christina and Sara's house so I could spend a little time with Henry and Jackson because they were not coming to the wedding. I played with trucks and trains and built some coral reefs in their sand box for them (the coral was promptly destroyed by John Deere tractors). =) We even went to Puffer's Pond for a little swim. And hey! It was summer! Back in WA I had been bundling up and freezing my bum off. Summer seemed like a distant dream. But back east it was hot, humid, and lovely. I could walk around in shorts. So, I blinded the world with my pasty white legs and went for a dip in the lake.

Here we are with our bouncy nephews - Jackson and Jay and Julie and Henry

Jay and I left for the Adirondacks on Thursday and arrived in time to head out to a pub on Fourth Lake with the Lockmans and friends. We got to stay in the cabins we have stayed in for years and years (Willis Lodges). They are crappy little cabins (rustic is one way to describe it) on a gorgeous lake (Seventh Lake), so we keep coming back to them. In an odd way, we love those cabins. Every year we say we are going to switch and then we never do. The Willis cabin spell? Who knows.

Dad - looking like he belongs in the Adirondacks

It poured Friday morning and we spent the morning ferrying wedding stuff from one cabin, to another cabin, to a car, in an attempt to keep things dry. It was actually quite fun because it was pouring out, there was thunder to make things even better, and lots of soaked Lockmans, Barbers, and one Dimond. No one wanted it to rain on the BBQ that night, but typical of these thunderstorms, it had to pour and get it out of its system - it was gorgeous the rest of the weekend. The rain couldn't have had better timing! Plus - I have no idea when I've been in a thunderstorm last. It was awesome.

We all checked into the Sagamore in the afternoon (in the sun). What a place! I've toured Great Camp Sagamore a number of times as a kid with the Lockman and Barber families. But we had never slept there! I felt so lucky to be able to sleep in this historic place. We shared a room in the main lodge with Christina and Sara that turned out to be the old master bedroom for the Vanderbilts. Neat! The camp had a swimming spot, complete with a floating dock, and canoes that we could take out on the lake. Sagamore Lake is totally undeveloped minus the camp, so it was lovely to look out over the lake and see nothing but trees, loons, lake, and the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. The BBQ was lovely that night - I had never seen so many bottles of beer in my life and the best part about it - none of the beer was from huge companies! Yeah for the little microbreweries! The evening ended with a bonfire and then star gazing in Adirondack chairs outside this old historic lodge. Lovely.


On Saturday morning Jay, Christina, Sara, and I headed out on a walk around the lake. This ended with a big dip into the lake and lounging on the dock with Katie (Julie's twin sister) and Julie and friends. Jay and I got to help out with decorating the barn for the reception. I love decorating and I loved Julie's friends that helped decorate too. So that was fun and, if I do say so myself, it looked awesome when we were finished. Their wedding was lovely! I'll let the pictures speak for the ceremony and reception. We loved every minute of it.

Around Sagamore Lake

Lounging with Katie (Julie's sister)

Lockman parents - Bob and Bobbie

Julie, looking gorgeous

Sunday was a great day, but sad too. I had to say goodbye to Christina and Sara early in the day. Because of my deployment dates to Antarctica, I'm not sure when I'll see them again. I may or may not be back in time for the holidays.... thus, this was a tough goodbye. Once they left, Jay and I took off in a canoe with Mom and Dad in another canoe next to us. We had a lovely paddle down Sagamore Lake and up a little inlet. It was a true Adirondack paddle, complete with a loon at the end. My Dad attempted his best imitation at a loon call. The loon didn't respond.

Mom and Dad in an Adirondack moment

We left on Monday after enough time for a quick dip in my parent's wonderful pool and some time to relax in summertime weather. I miss everyone already....

Pictures of the weekend can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/globalscents/July_August_2010#
You need to scroll down through July 4th photos to get to the wedding photos that are below the first round of pictures.

YEAH!

Wes Skiles

The diving community received some incredibly sad news this week. Wes Skiles died during a dive off of Florida. I was pretty lucky to have met and played with Wes during my time as the Our World-Underwater Scholar, and multiple times after that year at Boston Sea Rovers. If you don't know who Wes is, look at the latest cover of National Geographic. He shot the cover image of two divers in a cave in the Bahamas. But he did so much more than that! He was this crazy, funny, smart, witty, goofy, passionate man. Did I mention he was goofy? I remember a little boogie with him on a dance floor at one of the many dive shows I've attended. At one point he grinned at me and I did a double-take - fake bad teeth! What a nut. My other memory of Wes consists of wiffle ball in the hotel basement in Chicago (late after an evening film festival with other Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society folks). I'm not sure where the sombreros appeared from, but everyone was playing wiffle ball in sombreros and Wes was having a blast. Wes provided me with one of my first impressions of the scholarship society and the family I was becoming a part of. Sombrero wiffle ball, dancing, laughing, and fun. I think Wes was also involved in late night frisbee games inside the hotel in Chicago......but I'm a frisbee wimp and didn't partake.


I certainly didn't know Wes well, but he was the kind of guy that made you feel like you were his best friend. He cared deeply about Florida, Florida's aquifers, cave diving, science, exploration, and life. You didn't need to know him well to know that much about him. I was pretty lucky to know the man behind the amazing videoography and photography. I am so deeply saddened by his death. So take a moment, grab the August 2010 issue of National Geographic, and look at the work of this amazing guy. Then have a shot of tequila or rum. That would be Wes, at least through my short time knowing him.

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/07/national-geographic-photographer-wes-skiles-dies.html

Olympic National Park

We had a great 4th of July weekend with our friend Erik on the Olympic Peninsula. Not sure why we decided to go to one of the rainiest spots in the lower 48. Perhaps we had given up on finding summer? Well, we had summer for a day! We went paddling down the Bogachiel River in one kayak and a canoe. It was sunny and there were HUGE rapids. Daring Julie, Erik, and Jay defeated the angry river and brought it under control! Man wins again over nature! Well, there were some Class 2 rapids. I laughed through them all, even as we hit a rock, and then another rock. More laughter. I also gave Erik great directions! "Left, no right, no left!"

Anyway - here are some pictures of big trees, big water (not), and good friends having a good time.

Erik and Julie stuck on a rock and laughing.

The boyz

Lake Crescent

Big leaf maples are huge!

The Hoh Rainforest