Vacation - Week 2

Week two of my vacation involved less photography.  Susan did not disappoint, however, and managed to fill my camera with photos of "The Face" when I was not around but my camera was.  The Face refers to a certain expression that Susan assumes before tilting the camera this way and that to capture The Face in all its glory.  This time she also took pictures of Dineo the cat making The Face.

To protect the innocence and beauty of my sister when not making The Face, I shall refrain from posting any of these pictures.  Although, she is kind of asking for it by commandeering the camera . . .

In other news, I have created another new blog; this one has more aesthetic appeal to me than You Need an Editor, which has seen a dearth of good poorly written material over the last couple months.  I used tumblr to create the new blog, which will feature one photo each day from my travels:


www.laurasphotosphere.tumblr.com

Shout out to sister Carly for designing the gorgeous watermark for the photos!  Right now we still need to make the watermark consistent in size, shade, etc., but I just love what she did.

I seem to be unintentionally making a gang symbol in this picture.  And yes, those are vuvuzelas featured on my World Cup t-shirt!

Feed us.

April and I take the MG convertible out for a spin.

Come on down to Cleveland town, everyone! Come and look at both of our buildings! (See YouTube's Cleveland Tourism video for more, if you haven't already.)

Sailboats on Lake Erie and a pretty yellow bird.

Vacation - Week 1

Fenwick Island, Delaware

Lagoon view from the back deck

Cousins! Allison (just returned from London and on her way to Wake Law School), Tim (surfer and artist extraordinaire and on his way to high school), and Cori (former Junior Miss Delaware and studying pre-pharmacy at Auburn). Love them and so proud of them all.

Aunt Marlene and me!

New dune grass growing after the dunes were damaged by bad weather

Mmmm. The beach. I was reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Not as impressive as her second collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, but delightful nonetheless. I will wear a sari someday soon . . .

The Atlantic Ocean on the Delaware shore is 64 degrees in June.  I still went in and it was wonderful.

State College, Pennsylvania

Yay! Kristen and Mike time!

Stones at the new arboretum on campus

Liz and baby Mae!

Joe and baby Mae!

Me and baby Mae!

A Perfect Day

My friend Ashley and her 6-month-old Griffin met me in Fort Collins for a hike today.  We did Arthur's Rock Trail in Lory State Park and it was gorgeous -- wildflowers bursting all along our path.  In addition to being captivated by the mountainside, I was also captivated by Ashley's "five finger shoes":

Five Finger Shoes (www.sunandski.com)

I guess they are pretty amazing.  Have you seen people wearing these out and about?  They make running and hiking easier and more akin to being barefoot, but with protection and support.

I admit that part of the reason today was so great was all the attention Griff gave me.  Every time I caught his eye he would grin at me.  It was so incredibly endearing.

Griff and Ashley

Arthur's Rock Trailhead

After our hike we ate at a lovely little cafe in Old Town Fort Collins called Cafe Ardour.  

This evening I attended a BBQ for international students at CSU.  The vet at the Cat Rescue encouraged me to come; every summer they have these on Friday evenings.  Well, I expected to find 10 or 12 people . . . little did I know I would be eating among 150.  And it was awesome!  Remember the It's a Small World ride at Disney?  Well, I guess it wasn't entirely like that, but in a way it was.  I suppose it was like being back at the American International School of Luxembourg.  A handful of Americans and then a whole lot of people from other countries.  I met some really sweet people hailing from China, Hong Kong, Denmark, and India.  I also found myself some hiking partners, which I know will please my mom and sister.

After the international extravaganza, I headed to Old Town for the art walk that takes place the first Friday of every month.  I'd never been before but it was great.  I saw some amazing (and disturbing, as always) artwork.

Tomorrow morning I get up early to volunteer at the Fort Collins Cat Rescue booth at the Linnea Memorial Pet Walk and Adopt-a-thon.  Meow!

More Hiking Photos

Yesterday I hiked in Soapstone Prairie, which is about 45 minutes north of Fort Collins.  Today I hiked the Hewlett Gulch trail in Poudre Canyon, about 30 minutes northwest of Fort Collins.  The latter turned out to be a 7.6 mile hike.  I ran out of water on my way up but thankfully there was a cool breeze and lots of streams intersecting the trail.  No, no, I didn't drink this water, I just got my feet wet sloshing through it.


Soapstone Prairie

Hewlett Gulch

Um, this is Harley.  I think he belonged to the person who lived at the trailhead.  But he was running all along the start of the trail, following people along for awhile if they had a dog.

Overdue Entry

I suddenly got very busy and began to neglect this blog.  Oops.  There are many updates I could provide here but I'd rather just post some pictures from yesterday and today.  I'm overjoyed at the arrival of spring and summer and all the outdoor opportunities that the warm weather offers.  Yesterday I drove about 1 hour and 45 minutes east of Fort Collins to the Pawnee National Grassland.  These first photos are from that hike.  The second batch of photos were taken today at a local park in Fort Collins.  The temperature hit 90 today!  That's what I'm taking about!

Pawnee National Grassland – Pawnee Buttes Trail

Edora Park – The Coterie