I’m back in Montana for a few days!

We were graciously invited by Jack Horner up to northern Montana to join him on a dinosaur dig, My 7-year-old son (and the 7-year-old in me) is excited as can be by this once in a lifetime experience. We are not sure yet, but we think there is a special kind of Tyrannosaurus Rex that has been uncovered near Rudyard, Montana. Jack has his dig team out there, so we are going to camp out with them for a while and help with the dig… we are mega excited.

For a few nights before the dig, I took the family unit here to nearby Glacier National Park. We stayed at the Many Glacier Inn, which is this 1930’s Swiss-style chalet on a beautiful lake looking out at Mount Grinnell and several glaciers.

I woke up early in the morning to get this shot, while the rest of my family and the inn was still asleep. As usual, I had my ipod on full blast while I took in the scene and snapped away.

If you look down at the bottom, you can see all the rocks through the crystal-clear glacial lake.

It’s a great city! I always have a good time there… I wish I could get back more often, and I’ve been about 7 times! I’m always surprised how I much I enjoy the times over there even though I should be getting tired of it by now.

This was taken in the Chinese area of Malacca along the southern coast of Malaysia. All of the buildings in these streets are lit up with red lights as night falls and families gather for dinner.

This is the top floor of the Hilton in Kuala Lumpur.

The club floor lounge area has all this really cool furniture and decor. They serve breakfast in the morning and drinks in the evening. The view is amazing too (as you can tell)!

Hiltons in Asia are typically 100x nicer than most others for some reason. Why this is, I have no idea.

This was one of the most intricate burial sites on a remote hill outside of Kuala Lumpur. Janus and I stopped there on the taxi ride down to Malacca for some exploration and photography. You can look at the large version of this to see all the details of this single family’s grave.

Here is what greets me and several close friends many times a year upon entry into Malaysia.

While walking around the city of Melaka on Saturday afternoon, I was getting lost on purpose through the back streets. I came across a Buddhist sanctuary and temple. As I came around the outer wall, I found this old guy meditating and begging. I gave him a few Malaysian Ringits and he said thank you while I took this quick shot.

He didn’t speak any English but continued to give thanks and bow to me while sitting calmly.

I hiked through the Batu Caves just outside of Kuala Lumpur and afterwards, I found myself surrounded by monkeys. They were a little more than “friendly”, and ventured into a word that is better described as “vicious”.

They were all over the place, at my feet, above me, jousting through nearby bars. All of these monkeys were utterly wild and in your face.

Melacca lights up at night. Throughout Chinatown and the surrounding area, every single building has these moody red lights that illuminate the exterior. No matter which way you look, you see glowing red alleys, swinging paper red lights, incense, little stores, little carts, food on the streets, and a lot of activity that goes well past midnight.

From all of these travels and eating in random places, I’ve built up a GI tract that is robot-like in strength. I now will stop and eat almost anything, anywhere, from any little cart. One great one I found was this little family that was making homemade mini-pancakes that were filled with peanut butter. I think I ate about 25 of them!

I’ve spent a nice weekend in Malacca and found some wonderful out of the way places. Most of these places are not at all obvious from the streets, but you just have to go through some doors and strange alleyways to find them.

This place is one of many throughout Malacca where the Chinese come to honor their dead and meditate. Behind this chamber are several more where tiny statuettes and tombstones are erected for passed relatives. My friend Janus took that second shot of me in front of a bunch of the tiny tombstones. I’m not sure it’s the best picture of me, but my sister and mom say I should post more of myself!