Santa Cruz Island. We spent our first day in Galápagos at Santa Cruz Island. We walked among the giant tortoises, learned the fascinating story of the Scalesia tree and start understanding the unique natural history about the archipelago.
Located deep in the Andes, Quito has the best preserved 16th and 17th century Spanish-style churches. The following hundreds of years saw the bloodshed and conquest that accompanied the clash of civilizations, as well as the culture exchange and symbiosis. It is in itself a very intriguing thing.
Quito is located at the foot of Pichincha Volcano. Overlook the city panorama at altitude of 13000 feet on the mountain, the variety of the city's landscape, just like its rich culture and history, is much beyond my expectations.
The trip to Jackson Hole is special to us in that it made us realize that in cruelness and desolation there's always warmth and romance. They together make here such a magical place.
This is our first time doing dog sledding. It's such an exciting experience. Although the conditions are harsh, sled dog are enduring by nature. We hope that they are taken good care of by their mushers.
We didn't see any live animal during the snowshoeing activity, but the guide pointed us animal tracks every step along the way. A seemingly boring wilderness, life somehow prevails.
Although we didn't see many animals in the wildlife tour, within a few hours, we experienced the weather transformation from the dark fog and heavy snow to the brilliance when the snow stopped. The cruel winter is a great challenge to both animals and human being.
A short flight from San Francisco to Jackson Hole, we were welcomed by the open valleys and grand Teton mountain range, totally different from the narrow and confined city space.
We spent the Labor Day weekend in San Francisco, visited museums and dined at some good restaurants.