Alaska - Day 3 - Merry Christmas!

Now I know why Cookie wouldn't let me in the craft room, she was making me a blanket! Yea!

I have my own little Christmas tree under the big family tree. 

Will Santa find me so far away from home?

I set out a plate of cookies for Santa and pulled my new blankie over me and tried to get some sleep but I'm so excited about Christmas morning!

Santa did come! And he brought me a puppy! A husky puppy. I feel VERY Alaskan now.

What should I name him?

Here we are eating Christmas dinner.  Cookie and her family baked and cooked all day.

I think my new puppy is trying to take a bite while no one is looking at him!

Off to Oregon soon.

~Later, Zeph

Alaska - Day 2 - More Snow!

Today we had a very busy day.  More snow fell so there was more shoveling to be done. 

I helped this time.

 

I came in for a little while to warm up against Mr. Cookie's husky.  She's very warm!

 I wanna ride the snow machines!  Can I drive one all by myself? No, I'm too little.

I ride with Cookie's son.

 Then, when we were all done playing in the snow, we went out for Chinese buffet.

That's Mr. Cookie.  I want his sushi.

 

After dinner, we saw the movie Avatar.  Those people are blue.  Does that mean they're cold?

For dessert, we had Moose Tracks ice cream!  I have my spoon and I'm going to dive right in!

~Later, Zeph

Alaska - Day 1 - Snow!

Hello from Alaska!  I arrived just as the snow started falling. Snow fell for three days!  I stayed inside most of the time because Cookie wanted me to get used to the snow and cold gradually, even with my sweater on!  But when she let me go outside...  I made a snow angel!

And I looked out over the frozen lake behind Cookie's house and felt the snow falling on my head.

When I came back inside, I hung a snowflake on the Christmas tree.

That will help me remember playing in the snow!

For dinner, we ate baked macaroni and cheese, brussels sprouts and reindeer sausage.  I made Cookie PROMISE that was NOT one of Santa's reindeer.  She says it isn't.   I told her brown bears don't eat brussels sprouts, we only eat meat.  *Black* bears eat veggies.  But she says no, brown bears eat veggies sometimes.  So I ate them.

~Later, Zeph

Maine - Missing Pics

Next up I went to Maine.  Nobody is sure where all the pictures went,

maybe they'll show up someday....

~Later, Zeph

Washington D.C. - Day 5 - Anime USA

For this weekend we went to Anime USA in Arlington, Virginia, where melydia and her husband Shaggy were manning a table in the Artist Alley.  Shaggy is a musician and webcomic artist, and they were selling merchandise related to his website, Binary Souls / Other Dimensions (bsodcomic.net).  

 

 I sat on the table the whole time and met all kinds of neat people,

and even got my picture taken with some of them! 

 

 

 I also hung out in the box of buttons they were selling.  It was comfy, what can I say?

This is also the end of my time here so until next time!

~Later, Zeph

Washington D.C. - Day 4 - Bookcrossing

On our way out to Maryland for another get-together, melydia "snarfed" some landmarks - that is, she took pictures of historical markers to log on Markeroni.com.  Usually she photographs her mascot, Peep, on the markers, but it was still too wet out.  

After lunch we went to Starbucks in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to meet up with melydia's friends from BookCrossing.com.  The idea behind the website is to be able to track your books as they travel around the world, but at this meet-up they just shared books and laughed a lot. I got to meet KateKintail's Markeroni mascot (Eeyore) and her writing mascot (a My Little Pony named StarSong).

Us three:

Me and Eeyore :

~Later, Zeph

Washington D.C. - Day 3 - Write-in

This evening we drove to Panera Bread in Old Town Fairfax for a write-in.  melydia's friend KateKintail (who was very excited to meet me) is participating in National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org) and is hosting write-ins around the area throughout the month.  Though melydia's not doing it this year, she worked on some character designs for a comic book she's making.  I got to meet her writing mascot, Swag, an orange teddy who hopes to one day become a world traveler like me.  He says his job is

to stare at her until she meets her writing goal for the day, but he wasn't very effective tonight: melydia and KateKintail spent most of the time gabbing and laughing.  That's okay - KateKintail often paused to "awww" at me. :)

~Later, Zeph

Washington D.C. - Day 2 - National Mall

After a short day at work, melydia and I headed into Washington

for a whirlwind tour of the National Mall.

 First we hit the Old Post Office (the second tallest structure in town

- after the Washington Monument - but never crowded). Here's me at the top!

 Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

 And the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Then the Freer Art Gallery.

Look, me storming the National Mall like Godzilla! Rawr!

Then off to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Museum (melydia's favorite!)  Several of the guards thought I was very cute, and one of them even was extra careful when searching melydia's bag (as they do at all the museums now) so as not to "wake up the teddy."  

From there we breezed by the war memorials (World War II, Korean, and Vietnam).

So much history in so little time!

One last stop by the Lincoln Memorial.

~Later, Zeph

Washington D.C. - Day 1 - Arrival

What a trip! I FINALLY arrived in Washington, DC last night to stay with melydia. (Well, technically she's in Virginia, but it's a suburb.)  I am soooo jet lagged after the long trip from South Africa.  All I want to do is sleep!  Luckily, melydia had a bed all made up for me.

I went to work with melydia today but it was kind of boring.  She just stares at a computer all day, and she's not allowed to take pictures, so I just hung out, played with her stapler, and bugged her coworkers.  They just stare at computers all day too.  This evening was more fun though, we did a little shopping, then took melydia's cats, Echo and Roy-ohki to the vet for their annual checkup. 

I had to calm down Ryo-ohki, who was too stressed to get off the scale, but otherwise it was fine.

~Later, Zeph

South Africa

 Here I am, in South Africa!

A Stellenbosch wine vineyard.

Which way should we go? Wellington? Stellenbosch?

These statues are found all around Stellenbosch and were made by a famous artist (but I don't remember the name).

I got to help this lady spin fabric using an old spinner.

 All of these wooden sculptures are made by Xhosa and Zulu tribesmen.

Traditional Xhosa beads are still worn today on the people who choose to still live like their ancestors, especially the ones with multiple colors (bottom, second from the right).

Port Elizabeth.  Tribesmen greeting us in the baggage terminal.  I hear they usually wear a lot less!  You can see a reflection of police in the window but they refused to take a picture with me.

What a neat trip to a unique place! Now I'm off again!

~Later, Zeph

Australia - Day 3 - Meeting Simon

Today I met Simon.  Princessotako's oldest bear.

Waiting for Simon:

Hi, I'm Simon!

Time to eat.

Waiting for the train home.

On the train ride home.  I'm glad I made a new friend.

~Later, Zeph