Iditarod Sled Dogs

When I was 20, I made my first solo journey. A road trip through Alaska. I was supposed to be going to Kodiak Island, but due to weather, the flight was cancelled. So I booked a last min helicopter ride up to a glacier to see an Iditarod sled dog team for the same price as the flights. 

Coming up on the "village" of dogs.

I got to drive the sled dogs all over the glacier :)

It was amazing, I'm very glad I had the chance to experience this. Ever since I was little, I had an interest in the Iditarod. When I was 8, I followed the races and wrote to one of the men while he was competing. He actually wrote me back, and were penpals during the whole race. He thanked me for the support and ended up coming in 6th, which I thought was the greatest! 

Mt. Everest Base Camp

During our road trip through Tibet, we stopped at Mt. Everest Base Camp. 

The drive leading to Mt. Everest

We passed a few small villages 

The weather completely changed when we reached the camp

This building is what is considered the base camp. 

Mt. Everest on a cloudy day

Buddha's cave home at Mt. Everest Base Camp. My husband always manages to stand out :)

It is considered the highest temple on Earth

The outside. One direction was clear and sunny.

The other was cloudy and gray.

Leaving the temple. Can you see the little deer in this photo ^ Masters of disguise! 

Katsuoji Shrine, Japan

Katsuoji Shrine is located north of Osaka, Japan. In Mino City.

This was the first statue I saw, it was at the entrance behind a wooden gate.

Mist gliding across the entrance bridge.

Surrounded in nature.

I started seeing these little dolls in random places, so neat!

They were everywhere! (They are called Daruma Dolls, and these little ones were unique to this temple) 

People wrote down their goals and hung them up at the temple

The gardens were amazing! 

I bought 2 dolls and discovered not that every doll has a "good" fortune. If you get a bad one, you should leave it at the shrine for blessings. 

Everywhere!

Beautiful!

Greeeeen!

The traditional style dolls. You buy the head with its eyes blank. Once you have created a goal, you color in one eye. Upon completing the goal, you fill in the other eye. Some people bring their dolls back to the temple for blessing.

Bullets

High speed photography capturing bullets going through random objects.

I should have put blood packets in the heads...

Bullet through water (actually, its called a Shadowgraph)

A Shadowgraph is an optical method that reveals non-uniformities in transparent media like air, water, or glass.  

Bullet through a shadowgraph with a divider  :D