This is getting to be old hat for me - although this visit will be the first time in the summer. Yeah, that's right, I've visited in the middle of winter all the other times. Crazy, huh?

I'm not quite sure what got me interested in Russia, other than the fact that most Americans don't vacation there. I like going places where most other people don't. Also, I suppose, it's probably tied to the fact that I grew up in the cold war era and remember learning as a kid that the "russians" were our enemy. It didn't get any better when I was in the Army in Alaska in the early 80s - all we did was sit around and wait for the Russians to come over the pole to get us. How stupid was that? It's great to know that we've all survived and didn't blow up the planet.

I have photos of the January 2004 trip posted to my smugmug account http://danbrew.smugmug.com/gallery/2252365/1/117546107). There's some details on how to do it yourself if you feel like taking the same kind of trip.

This is getting to be old hat for me - although this visit will be the first time in the summer. Yeah, that's right, I've visited in the middle of winter all the other times. Crazy, huh?

I'm not quite sure what got me interested in Russia, other than the fact that most Americans don't vacation there. I like going places where most other people don't. Also, I suppose, it's probably tied to the fact that I grew up in the cold war era and remember learning as a kid that the "russians" were our enemy. It didn't get any better when I was in the Army in Alaska in the early 80s - all we did was sit around and wait for the Russians to come over the pole to get us. How stupid was that? It's great to know that we've all survived and didn't blow up the planet.

I have photos of the January 2004 trip posted to my smugmug account http://danbrew.smugmug.com/gallery/2252365/1/117546107). There's some details on how to do it yourself if you feel like taking the same kind of trip.