Luke Fostvedt

Simply put, the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum is my favorite museum in the world. Recently I made it out to visit the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center which is the companion facility to the air and space museum on the national mall. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center was built to house the thousands of aviation and space artifacts that do not fit into the building on the national mall. Unfortunately, since the center is inconveniently located outside of DC next to the Dulles Airport, many people miss this facility which houses some of the best exhibits. Many engines, helicopters, ultra-lights, and experimental flying machines are on display in a museum setting, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, for the first time. The variety of aircraft at the site ranges from decrepit world war II fighter jets to the Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird, to the Space Shuttle Discovery. …

Adan and I went up to Minneapolis for the weekend to run in the Minnesota Tough Mudder being hosted in nearby Winterset. Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day with a slight breeze; perfect for running 12 miles with 25 obstacles. We had an early afternoon start time and a goal of finishing around 3 hours. Our final time was closer to 4 hours, but the important part was that we both finished the race and finished together. Two thumbs up for teamwork! A video highlighting the Adan and I running the course and conquering all the obstacles is provided below along with before and after photos. My shirt will never be white again.

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Unfortunately the only time Curling gets mainstream exposure is during the Olympics. However this fun, and at times intense, sport should not be overlooked. Our intramural team full of first time curlers who didn’t know the rules, nor the vernacular was able to make to the semi-finals of the tournament. In the process we beat many formidable teams full of first time curlers.

Our expert sweepers, Ian and Mykal, made sure all our stones made it to the house and all the opponent’s stone slid right on through the house. Nick and Dan were our expert leads and I was the expert skip. When push came to shove, our biggest adversary was actually not our opponents but the slope of the ice which was usually poorly pebbled. Nonetheless we persevered and had a fun and successful tournament.…

In August 2011, I was in South Africa on holiday. My friend Andrea Gero and I headed up to the Cango Ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn where unknown adventure awaited. The highlight of the day was the Ostrich massage which is the least relaxing massage one will ever get. The picture explains it all.…

Welcome to Ethiopia! I am sitting in the terminal waiting to get on the plane from Addis Ababa to the Kilimanjaro Airport and this terminal is something else. The walls are made of a mud-like plaster and are a desert sand color. People are openly smoking in the halls throughout the terminal and the bathrooms have signs saying “Passengers Only”. The array of people in the boarding area is quite impressive. I think south America is the only continent that doesn’t have a representative.

A large Kenyan man is sitting in my assigned aisle seat as I am boarding the flight to Kilimanjaro; he insists that I take the middle seat. It’s only a 2 hour 20 minute flight so I oblige. 20 minutes before we land we fly right by Mt Kilimanjaro and there is a rare, clear view of the mountain and the summit. Since I am in …