hey everyone! this is the first of hopefully many thrilling entries to my journal. today i left columbus at 7 am and had a decent plane ride. it was nearly 5 hours long and i drifted in and out of consciousness for most of the trip. i sat next to an older christian couple on the plane and they were very nice. the food and drink costed an arm and a leg however. my small bottle of water was 2 bucks. needless to say i savored every sip. arrival time in bellingham, WA was 8:42 am and it was around 50 degrees but the swift wind off the coast chilled my bare legs. my uncle john and i had an exciting conversation about salmon fishing and im envisioning myself holding a hard earned 15 pound coho in the very near future. going salmon fishing has the spotlight right now. also my months of stomach stretching, jaw toning meals have prepared me to destroy hoards of lobster, crab, salmon and whatever else the sea has to offer me. one of my goals in the great state of washington is to photograph a black bear. my uncle said they are abundant out here and maybe i could even wrangle one and bring him home, who knows? then you can have a WHOLE bear emily! i will probably be headed into the cosmos soon via the space needle if i feel like paying for it. apparently i will be doing some island hopping off the coast too. more on that later. well, college football is calling my attention. then off to a BBQ. ill will post more soon along with photos hopefully. later