Queen Victoria Agave

At the Baltimore Botanical Gardens.

Banana Trees

Up close at the Baltimore Botanical Gardens.

Sawtooth IHC

Alex Williams, Lance Eacret, Pete Skrief and yours truly, somewhere on the Payette National Forest, July, 2004.


I spent four summers on the Sawtooth Hotshots, four of the best summers of my life. During that time I worked harder than I ever had before, watched my body break down only to heal and break down again, saw places in this country that few people have ever seen, learned about myself, made a good amount of money, grew up, and made some of the best friends on the planet.

This is my first summer since 2000 that I will not be involved in fighting forest fires in some way, and I miss it tremendously. I don't miss the heavy gear, the crappy food, or my feet rotting off. I miss my friends, plain and simple. Right now some of them are in Utah on a fire, some are in Idaho, some Montana, some Alaska, and some (like me) have left the fire business altogether.

This picture is for them, and for me.

Thinking

Up close with Rodin's "The Thinker" at the Baltimore Museum of Art.