how to prepare to fully understand the galapagos before you go there ...

.... i started studying all things galapagos on the world wide web in september of 2010 ... right after summer vacation ended .... i started slowly at first ... not telling the family what i was doing by october i was talking it up with the family ... i was alternately sending them links to the galapagos, costa rica, and a rafting trip with camping out west ....

here's a diversionary story ... when my twins were tiny, i used to make a big deal about giving them choices ... but i usually knew which choice i wanted them to choose so i'd just sell it .... in a dull lifeless voice ... do you want to go eat shriveled chicken nuggets at a fast food restaurant on our way or ... in a lively dynamic voice ... should we make a happy picnic sandwich and put it in your teletubby lunchbox with some grapes AND apples and you can eat it at your leisure while you you count red trucks on the highway .... of course they chose the same old sandwich they had every day for lunch ... har .... i still do it ... make MY choice sound fab ...

so ... costa rica was where everyone else wanted to go ... but i didn't .... so i kept talking ... and there you go ..... WE chose the galapagos ... and now we are all fully on board ...

as soon as we got the plane tickets, i got on amazon.com and started browsing galapagos books .. i already had a couple from my planning time (i'm sure i'll use the costa rica one eventually, right? and hawaii? i really love travel guides ... especially the ones with maps inside ... ) ....

so ... once you have the tickets, buy books .... i needed darwin books and galapagos books ...
i already had darwin's origin of species (dry reading) and voyage of the beagle (not as dry, but not moist) .... but i also got darwin slept here ... and my father's island ... and floreanna ....

on my other blog, i have a "books i've read this year" post ... that i sporadically update .... you can read about my galapagos book reading there ..... i think i've read nine books to prepare me for my trip ...

do you study up for a trip? do you take trips to study for? last summer we went to washington dc ... it was fabulous ... i did the same sort of studying up before we went .... i think it helps you appreciate things more .... i'm also occasionally worried that my mind is rotting (i'm currently reading a vampire series of books ... go google sookie stackhouse and you too might be worried about my brain rotting...)... so by trying to read for the occasional trip, maybe i'll prevent some rot ... maybe?

in 1985 i went to italy on a eurail pass ... i read the agony and the ecstacy by irving stone .... it was his story of michelangelo ... when i saw michelangelo's works, they were SO much more meaningful to me ... and that was when i was young and not worried about brain rot even ....

plane tix... check ....
galapagos reading ... check ...
almost ready ...