January 21, 2011

Apparently the fall and the first month of 2011 flew by. Immediately following our wedding, I had a number of conferences and guest lectures and was literally traveling every other week. This included a visit New York City and Vassar, and a very brief excursion to Montreal. We hosted a very successful Halloween party and spent Thanksgiving with Matt’s family in cold but cozy Pennsylvania. I successfully wrapped up the fall half of my course with what I consider to be a fair but challenging exam. Then Matt and I enjoyed a bit of down time visiting my mom in Michigan and my dad and brother in Colorado. Our holiday was really nice. Although I continued to work, I really appreciated the change of scenery. We played some piano, baked cookies, played some silly board games that I love (mostly for those aged 4 years or older), and visited with old family friends whom I have not seen in years. While in Colorado, we made a point of visiting Casa Bonita, a “restaurant experience” that I haven’t had since I was 11 or so but remember with incredible fondness. Aside from the food (which was an experience itself) the expedition did not disappoint and we had a great evening. During our trip our friends Keriann and Travis took care of Lou. We were worried that he would have trouble adjusting to a new house and that he might give them grief, but apparently everyone got along smashingly. They even sent us a video of a new trick that they taught him. If you would like to see his trick, check it out here: http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/wQ1K3yqD81YjUNxH. You can also see some other unedited videos of Lou on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af1ATRX1H1o, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXwWY8nGcyM.

We only briefly returned to Toronto before heading off on a “true” vacation to St. John, a beautiful island in the US Virgin Islands. Gail, Matt’s aunt, generously gave us a week to stay at her absolutely beautiful condo in Cruz Bay, on the west side of St. John. Usually when I plan a vacation I know exactly where I am going and I have done some background research so I know what I want to do. Such was not the case for this trip. I had been so busy that I actually didn’t even know where St. John was until the night before we left. I had no idea what I was in for. Gail and Matt’s uncle, Greg, overlapped with us our first night. Matt and I arrived after 9 pm, and it was great to have someone meet us at the ferry and show us around. What a magical and pleasant place! How refreshing to have a week of complete down time away from city life and computers. Every morning Matt and I would enjoy our coffee sitting on the Gail’s porch that overlooks Cruz Bay. We would watch the ferries scuttle to and from St. Thomas and we would gaze at the large cruise ships anchored offshore. A little Antilles hummingbird or two would make his daily rounds and I would marvel at how peaceful everything was. I had completely forgotten how to relax and it took a bit of getting used to.

We spent our days exploring the terrestrial and marine nooks and crannies of St. John. We started off small by investigating the town of Cruz Bay and planning the rest of our week. We discovered that it is legal to walk around the streets with open alcoholic containers after 5 pm, so we made a point of getting a couple drinks during happy hour and then wandering around taking in the various evening sites and festivities. On Day 2 we took the dollar bus (which makes a regular loop around the island and costs $1 USD) up onto the central ridge of the island. The bus let us off at a meandering trailhead and we hiked down to Cinnamon Bay. Here are a number of old sugar plantations scattered across St. John and their ruins rise up out of the tropical vegetation with regularity. The majority of the ruins are on hills and they boast panoramic vistas. Each ruin is unique and we tried to explore as many of the ruins as we could.

Snorkeling in St. John is fantastic. After my stint in South Caicos in 2005 I have missed tropical water with nothing short of a painful longing. The water was a bit cool but I had planned ahead and brought a wetsuit with me. It was so welcoming to enter the water and recognize so many of my fish, coral and gorgonian friends. It was as if they had thrown me a homecoming party. Amongst the more amazing things that Matt and I saw were a pair of squid and a pair of giant porcupine fish. There was also a very large barracuda that might be the biggest I have ever seen.

We spent the middle of our vacation week splurging a bit and taking a catamaran day trip to a number of the British Virgin Islands. We saw the granite Baths (short for batholiths) of Virgin Gorda and some small caves Normon Cay, the island that apparently inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. We ended our journey with an hour at the magnificent sandy beach on Jost Van Dyke. I guess that there is a relatively famous bar here but I didn’t see it. I fell asleep more or less immediately upon our arrival. I was exhausted after a day of sun, hiking and snorkeling combined with an open bar.

I would never have forgiven myself had I not gone diving during our visit. I have been more than a bit ashamed by my prolonged hiatus from the underwater world. Accordingly, I booked myself a spot on the “Hey Now” and joined a small group of divers on a very memorable trip to the wreck of the Rhone. This is a ship that tragically sank in 1867 during a hurricane. The crew was attempting to escape to open sea. They almost made it but the hull caught an offshore boulder. Water flooded the engine room and the resulting steam explosion broke the ship in half. The bow is relatively intact and it lies in just 60 feet of water. The hull is more scattered, but is also relatively well preserved. Together the two make excellent dives. I did not see much sea life, but I did very much enjoy swimming amongst the remains of the ship. It is eerie swimming underwater, picturing the intact ship on the ocean’s surface and the moments leading up to its permanent retirement. Among the more poignant artifacts is a single glass portal on the ocean floor. Apparently there is also a silver spoon that has been encrusted by coral. I didn’t actually get to see this. I had some trouble clearing one of my ears and I suspect that it would have been difficult to spot from my vantage point 40 feet above everybody else. I am very pleased that my camera behaved well and let me take some nice photos of the wreck.

We finished our trip by renting a car for two days and exploring some of the harder to access parts of the island. We took a rather substantial hike that led us to some ca. 1000 year old petroglyphs. It was here that I experienced the only unfortunate part of my trip. Sitting next to a natural spring, I managed to dump my backpack in the water and get stung by a bee all in the course of 1 second. The worst part of this was that I had spent the past five minutes rescuing said bee from drowning. Go figure.

We were sad to bid our vacation adieu. St. John is spectacular and has a lot of nature to offer; despite our best efforts there is much that we did not see. We did, however, have a marvelous vacation and we are truly grateful to Gail for giving us such a thoughtful and much-needed gift.

The return to Toronto was a bit harsh. It was cold and snowy and we had to hit the ground running in order to catch up from our week away. In addition to my first few lectures of the term I madly prepared for an interview for an assistant professor position at the University of Cincinnati. Fortunately a bit of the tranquility from St. John remained with me. The interview went well and I have just returned to a snowy Toronto. The next few weeks will be full but things are definitely a bit less stressful now. I await the final decision from Cincinnati with some anxiety. The job is exciting but it would certainly require a few life changes. Cincinnati has decided to move towards truly multidisciplinary learning. My position would be joint between Geology and Anthropology, and I would be encouraged to have students in both departments. Everyone I met seems genuinely happy in Cincinnati, and I would like to think that I would be happy there too. That said, moving to Cincinnati would certainly be a bit of a leap of faith. I know that I must make the plunge into real academic life at some point, but am I ready? I don’t think that another job such as this will come along in the near future.

Anyway, these are the thoughts that sit with me on this grey and wintery Saturday in Toronto. I imagine that the next few weeks will be big ones for me. I will make sure I let you know what comes to pass. For now, know that I am happy, and proud of my accomplishments. I think of many of you frequently and I hope that 2011 is treating everyone well.