Introduction and trip plan

Hello all,

So this is our first foray into the world of blogs - please forgive us any faux pas we happen to make. We decided to create this blog to keep our family and friends up to date on our upcoming travels. For various reasons, both Julie and I decided to quit our jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our last day of work was September 7th.

So here's the grand plan we hatched over the summer. Julie would go down to part time in August and start the process of applying to graduate programs in organizational behavior (aka Industrial Organizational Psychology). Both of us would then quit our jobs on September 7th (just after my one year work anniversary). We would throw our stuff into storage, give up our apartment, and travel for several months. Our rough plan is below - our general principle was to focus on either wine or hiking though we threw some other crazy things in as well.

Homebase 1: Fresno, CA (where Julie's mom lives) through September
Destination 1: Napa, CA
Destination 2: Yosemite National Park
Destination 3: Sequoia National Park OR Mt. Shasta/Redwoods National Park

Homebase 2: Lake Sebago, ME through October
Destination 4: Acadia National Park
Destination 5: Bates College
Destination 6: Boothbay Harbor and Freeport
Destination 7: Boston

International trip 1: Australia and New Zealand, End of October through the beginning of December
Australia:
Destination 8: Sydney, Australia
Destination 9: Hunter Valley Wine Region
Destination 10: Blue Mountains
Destination 11: tbd
New Zealand:
Destination 12: Christchurch, Kaikoura, and the Marlborough Wine Region
Destination 13: The Queen Charlotte Track (a three day trek on the north end of the South Island)
Destination 14: The Nelson region
Destination 15: Mt. Cook
Destination 16: Queenstown
Destination 17: The Routeburn Track (a three day trek)
Destination 18: Doubtful Sound
Destination 19: The Milford Track (a four day trek)
Destination 20: Milford Sound
Destination 21: Auckland

Homebase 3: Fresno, CA, through much of December
Destination 22: tbd

Homebase 4: Minnetonka, Minnesota (where Dan's parents live), late December until Julie finds out what school she has gotten into.
Destination 23: tbd

International trip 2: tbd, likely Italy, sometime between January and April.

Ok so that is the general idea. This rough outline will almost certainly change - hopefully because we've added destinations (Denver, D.C.) The plan for the blog is to do a new post for each new destination...we'll see how long that lasts. :)

Cheers all
Dan