The Kamchatka

The Kamchatka is a lovely place. Here I'm going to write a little bit about it for those of you who don't know much about it.

All following photos are linked from their originals on the Internet; if it's my own photo, I'll specify.

If you don't exactly know where it is, it's across the Pacific Ocean from the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska. It's a 5.5 hour flight from Anchorage, for those Michiganders who measure distance as time. (NB: I'll be letting you know if you can see Alaska from Russia.) It is here:

Usually if someone asks where the Kamchatka is, I ask if they've played RISK. I then tell'em it's how you invade Russian from Alaska. Works every time.

The temperature band for the Kamchatka is very similar to Michigan, actually, since it's a peninsula too. (Makes sense, right?) It just gets colder earlier in the year

The Kamchatka is extremely volcanically/tectonically active. It has bazillions of volcanos:

Two of them are right outside my window! Here's a picture of mine:

The plants here are extremely similar to plants in Michigan. They've got native rhododendrons, pines, crabgrass, and tons of tiny flowers. I'll post pictures soon - I don't have a great internet connection, or else I'd be here all day uploading stuff.

It's really beautiful here, to say the least. The weather has been very Santa-Barbara-like - about 75, clear, low humidity. The sun isn't as strong of course, but I seem to be maintaining my tan. That being said, I'm still much darker than most people here.

More to come!