New Zealand was a wonderful honeymoon and well worth the year long wait.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Friday, January 01, 2010
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
That's right folks, I'm in LOVE...
... with a metal dinosaur
... no wait, with Colorado!
... no wait, with Colorado!
My mom always says that when she travels to that area of the country, she feels like she's going home. She's from Nebraska, but traveled/lived in Colorado and surrounding states during summers, as my grandfather was a biology teacher/eventual professor. The west is an ideal place for summer science camps. I traveled in this area as a young child, but I have never lived out west. Whenever I visit though, I feel like I'm going home, much like my mom.
Jon lives in Ft. Collins, which is north of Denver. It is super accessible to many cool places. This visit, along with Jon's awesome best friend Ashley, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park (again), and drove thorough a minor snow storm to get to Vedauwoo Recreation area in Medicine Bow National Forrest, Wyoming. The park was even better this time than in February, mainly because everything is thawing out. We hiked around a frozen lake, saw more elk, climbed into the alluvial fan, and saw many scenic outlooks. Jon and I plan on hiking (an easy trail for my sake) next month in the park. I am luckily now well equipped now that I have a brand new pair of hiking shoes. I've never been to Vedauwoo in the winter before. Driving into the park was impossible, but we managed to walk over the snow drifts that were taller than us to enter. After a lot of memory jogging, I was finally able to find the picnic table where my mother celebrated her 9th birthday (the one under the huge rock up there). If you ever get the chance to travel through southern Wyoming, go to Vedauwoo. It will change your mind about Wyoming forever.
Sadly, Ashley had to leave us on Sunday (after a very nice visit with some puppies). On Monday, Jon and I ventured to a junk-turned-art farm called Swetsville Zoo in Ft. Collins. If you have facebook, see all of my pictures. The art is amazing, and I especially enjoyed getting fresh with a metal dinosaur/hungarian horntail. I also had fun meeting another of Jon's friends, Michael. I'm excited about getting to know him better as well as meeting his fiancé eventually.
I love being in a place where there is so much to see, so close. I'm not much of a bar/club person, so this outdoors stuff is quickly becoming an obsession of mine (don't worry, I'm too big of a wimp to take it too far). It's fair to say that I've officially fallen in love with Colorado though. It's no longer that place where I hiked a mountain at the age of 8. It's now another place to call home.
A year ago, heck six months ago, I would have never suspected that my life would be so different. On the surface it's the same, but my mentality is completely different. I feel truly blessed to be living my life.
On a bookish note, don't ever read cheesy teeny-bopper books about a girl who practices magic to solve murder and obsession in a prep school setting. I'm a huge YA fan and this was just rough.
Jon lives in Ft. Collins, which is north of Denver. It is super accessible to many cool places. This visit, along with Jon's awesome best friend Ashley, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park (again), and drove thorough a minor snow storm to get to Vedauwoo Recreation area in Medicine Bow National Forrest, Wyoming. The park was even better this time than in February, mainly because everything is thawing out. We hiked around a frozen lake, saw more elk, climbed into the alluvial fan, and saw many scenic outlooks. Jon and I plan on hiking (an easy trail for my sake) next month in the park. I am luckily now well equipped now that I have a brand new pair of hiking shoes. I've never been to Vedauwoo in the winter before. Driving into the park was impossible, but we managed to walk over the snow drifts that were taller than us to enter. After a lot of memory jogging, I was finally able to find the picnic table where my mother celebrated her 9th birthday (the one under the huge rock up there). If you ever get the chance to travel through southern Wyoming, go to Vedauwoo. It will change your mind about Wyoming forever.
Sadly, Ashley had to leave us on Sunday (after a very nice visit with some puppies). On Monday, Jon and I ventured to a junk-turned-art farm called Swetsville Zoo in Ft. Collins. If you have facebook, see all of my pictures. The art is amazing, and I especially enjoyed getting fresh with a metal dinosaur/hungarian horntail. I also had fun meeting another of Jon's friends, Michael. I'm excited about getting to know him better as well as meeting his fiancé eventually.
I love being in a place where there is so much to see, so close. I'm not much of a bar/club person, so this outdoors stuff is quickly becoming an obsession of mine (don't worry, I'm too big of a wimp to take it too far). It's fair to say that I've officially fallen in love with Colorado though. It's no longer that place where I hiked a mountain at the age of 8. It's now another place to call home.
A year ago, heck six months ago, I would have never suspected that my life would be so different. On the surface it's the same, but my mentality is completely different. I feel truly blessed to be living my life.
On a bookish note, don't ever read cheesy teeny-bopper books about a girl who practices magic to solve murder and obsession in a prep school setting. I'm a huge YA fan and this was just rough.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
On the Road Again...
Hello readers (I really hate the word blogosphere, or well, blog in general).
I hope everybody is surviving winter, from my friends in snowy Colorado and New Hampshire, to my friends in sunny Florida and Southern California.
Georgia has been quite agreeable. If we do ever get anything bad, it's usually an ice storm. Luckily the ice has avoided the area thus far, making me very happy. Humidity mixed in with cold temperatures, however, are not pleasant. People think that Indiana is humid, when I'd take 20 degree weather in Indiana over 40 degree weather in Georgia any day. Alright, enough about the weather.
I'm invading the mid west (it's been almost 7 months) this weekend. I know I talk/write about it wayyy too much, but I love the annual Chicago trip and hanging out with my aunts and cousin. My mom is joining us this year, so that should be a nice addition. I have to keep telling myself that I have way too many things to save for, and to NOT buy shoes and clothes. Only chocolate.
The weekend of the 10th, I'm going to Colorado to visit Jon. I haven't been to Colorado in 2 and 1/2 years, and never during the winter, so I am super excited (in addition to seeing Jon of course). I should be out there monthly from now on, and I'm looking forward to exploring the amazing nature (no mountain lions please) out there. I was so skeptical about the whole long distance thing because I've had really horrible experiences with guys in the past. Luckily, Jon lives somewhere really cool (not to mention that Jon is just a great guy in general), so I am enjoying the long distance much more than originally thought. Please don't snow!
My grandparents are coming to visit the weekend after that, mainly to see their great grandson, but to also see us. I love my grandparents, but it's difficult to watch them age. My grandmother just experienced some crazy eye surgery. She's lucky that she can still see. My grandfather got a case of gout a few years ago, and it's affecting his movement. Despite all of this, they are still very healthy (my grandmother is 81 and my grandfather turns 80 this year). I'm more worried about their minds (my grandmother has her master's in Education and my grandfather has his doctorate in biology) and dementia and such (particularly with my grandmother). That is far more heartbreaking than watching them physically degrade.
All of this is occurring in my least favorite month, February. I thought that I was going to beat February's ass last year, but it definitely took me down with vengeance mid-month. This year, I'm going to try to go with the flow and try not to remember that my only deceased grandparent died during this month, that any sort of break up, spat, whatever with a guy happened during this month, that multiple friends had different personal break-downs during this month, that it's so freaking cold and dreary during this month, etc. I hope to gain some sort of positive feeling towards February this year, not only for myself, but for others as well.
I've been reading a string of teen-y novels (besides the fact that I really like YA lit., we just moved our teen books out of the children's collection into a collection of it's own, so I've been doing "research") lately, only to start my classics promise when I finish the last traveling pants novel on which I am currently reading. More on that later.
It might be a while before I update again (maybe not), so everybody have a safe, and hopefully joyous start to February!
I hope everybody is surviving winter, from my friends in snowy Colorado and New Hampshire, to my friends in sunny Florida and Southern California.
Georgia has been quite agreeable. If we do ever get anything bad, it's usually an ice storm. Luckily the ice has avoided the area thus far, making me very happy. Humidity mixed in with cold temperatures, however, are not pleasant. People think that Indiana is humid, when I'd take 20 degree weather in Indiana over 40 degree weather in Georgia any day. Alright, enough about the weather.
I'm invading the mid west (it's been almost 7 months) this weekend. I know I talk/write about it wayyy too much, but I love the annual Chicago trip and hanging out with my aunts and cousin. My mom is joining us this year, so that should be a nice addition. I have to keep telling myself that I have way too many things to save for, and to NOT buy shoes and clothes. Only chocolate.
The weekend of the 10th, I'm going to Colorado to visit Jon. I haven't been to Colorado in 2 and 1/2 years, and never during the winter, so I am super excited (in addition to seeing Jon of course). I should be out there monthly from now on, and I'm looking forward to exploring the amazing nature (no mountain lions please) out there. I was so skeptical about the whole long distance thing because I've had really horrible experiences with guys in the past. Luckily, Jon lives somewhere really cool (not to mention that Jon is just a great guy in general), so I am enjoying the long distance much more than originally thought. Please don't snow!
My grandparents are coming to visit the weekend after that, mainly to see their great grandson, but to also see us. I love my grandparents, but it's difficult to watch them age. My grandmother just experienced some crazy eye surgery. She's lucky that she can still see. My grandfather got a case of gout a few years ago, and it's affecting his movement. Despite all of this, they are still very healthy (my grandmother is 81 and my grandfather turns 80 this year). I'm more worried about their minds (my grandmother has her master's in Education and my grandfather has his doctorate in biology) and dementia and such (particularly with my grandmother). That is far more heartbreaking than watching them physically degrade.
All of this is occurring in my least favorite month, February. I thought that I was going to beat February's ass last year, but it definitely took me down with vengeance mid-month. This year, I'm going to try to go with the flow and try not to remember that my only deceased grandparent died during this month, that any sort of break up, spat, whatever with a guy happened during this month, that multiple friends had different personal break-downs during this month, that it's so freaking cold and dreary during this month, etc. I hope to gain some sort of positive feeling towards February this year, not only for myself, but for others as well.
I've been reading a string of teen-y novels (besides the fact that I really like YA lit., we just moved our teen books out of the children's collection into a collection of it's own, so I've been doing "research") lately, only to start my classics promise when I finish the last traveling pants novel on which I am currently reading. More on that later.
It might be a while before I update again (maybe not), so everybody have a safe, and hopefully joyous start to February!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Choose Your Own Adventure
Does anybody remember those books as a kid? I used to read my brother's collection obsessively. My favorite book was one about Stonehenge. I think it was instrumental in launching my obsession with that place actually, so seeing it and actually being able to put my arms around the stone a couple of years ago was fantastic.
Anyways, I feel like my life is becoming one of those books... not that I'm going to die around the next corner (although I suppose that's always possible), but I get that same excited feeling about it as when I read the books as a kid. For once though, I feel like I am making good choices and not warping myself into something that I'm not to fit onto some other path. We are ultimately, the choices that we make, so why not make good ones (after you've learned from the bad of course).
With the exception of a brief trip in December, I really haven't left Georgia. This has felt incredibly confining as I am used to travel. Even as a college student, I would get away a lot for various color guard events. My last semester I drove/flew out of state every single weekend for four months. Even in graduate school, I would go visit my relatives in Illinois or travel again with color guard, or go home to Georgia. I love being home (I am a major homebody) but sometimes I need a change of scenery to appreciate home more. Luckily, I am out once a month, every month until August this year, starting in a couple of weeks. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to it all.
So what have I been reading lately? Right now I'm into a book called The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: traitor to the nation (young adult). It's a two volume series about this African American boy in the Revolutionary War period dealing with slavery and experimentation (experimentation at first meaning education on both his and his mother's parts, then cruelty). It's an interesting read because you can tell that the author is trying to incorporate key revolutionary events into the story. They also have an interesting thing called a Pox party, where guests come for weeks and they infect themselves with small pox and all get sick together. yum. It kind of reminds me of some Edgar Allan Poe story with colored rooms (okay it's been about ten years) and people being sick... anybody? Oh and as I was posting the link, I found out that this book won the National Book Award (EDIT: also named a Printz honor book today).
I'm so excited to hear about the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz winners... coming soon!
Well, I am going to go enjoy sitting in bed (as my dog sleeps at its foot) for a few more minutes before getting ready to go out to lunch with friends. Have a great week!
Anyways, I feel like my life is becoming one of those books... not that I'm going to die around the next corner (although I suppose that's always possible), but I get that same excited feeling about it as when I read the books as a kid. For once though, I feel like I am making good choices and not warping myself into something that I'm not to fit onto some other path. We are ultimately, the choices that we make, so why not make good ones (after you've learned from the bad of course).
With the exception of a brief trip in December, I really haven't left Georgia. This has felt incredibly confining as I am used to travel. Even as a college student, I would get away a lot for various color guard events. My last semester I drove/flew out of state every single weekend for four months. Even in graduate school, I would go visit my relatives in Illinois or travel again with color guard, or go home to Georgia. I love being home (I am a major homebody) but sometimes I need a change of scenery to appreciate home more. Luckily, I am out once a month, every month until August this year, starting in a couple of weeks. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to it all.
So what have I been reading lately? Right now I'm into a book called The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: traitor to the nation (young adult). It's a two volume series about this African American boy in the Revolutionary War period dealing with slavery and experimentation (experimentation at first meaning education on both his and his mother's parts, then cruelty). It's an interesting read because you can tell that the author is trying to incorporate key revolutionary events into the story. They also have an interesting thing called a Pox party, where guests come for weeks and they infect themselves with small pox and all get sick together. yum. It kind of reminds me of some Edgar Allan Poe story with colored rooms (okay it's been about ten years) and people being sick... anybody? Oh and as I was posting the link, I found out that this book won the National Book Award (EDIT: also named a Printz honor book today).
I'm so excited to hear about the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz winners... coming soon!
Well, I am going to go enjoy sitting in bed (as my dog sleeps at its foot) for a few more minutes before getting ready to go out to lunch with friends. Have a great week!
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