Magnifico

Posted on | October 6, 2013 | 1 Comment

A quick note to say we made it to Italy!  The plane rides went smooth, & we're kind of sort of getting over jet lag (not counting Hazel - she magically wakes up around 12 am every night for 2-3 hours despite how tired she is from a full day). H slept for about 5 hours of the long flight from Utah to Paris, and there was only one meltdown (from mama - hah!) at the Paris airport.  I've decided being up for 27 hours, pregnant, and way too much nursing to keep a flying baby happy makes me nuts.  It's the hormones, right?

 

Here we are in front of my sister-in-laws apartment.  It's pretty darn magical here.  I hope you are all well, will try to post more photos.  Hazel's odd sleep schedule actually gives me some online downtime while on vacation, funny enough.

Ciao!

Upper Peninsula

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | No Comments

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.  It included six am flights, conversations with my grandmother, and layovers nearly resulting in a night spent in San Franciso with our poor boy Gus at home awaiting a potty break.  Since getting back on Friday  I've worked so much barely I could catch a potty break.  Until today.


Where've I been?  Home.  The upper peninsula of Michigan, well she's a crafty one.  She welcomed us with sleet and a balmy 29 degrees as we pulled into my mother's parking lot.  The chill throughout the week reminded me of mornings spent with just lake Michigan and a cup of coffee, marching band with fresh frost on the grass.  It felt odd, like forgetting the words to your favorite song.

Her colors were changing, a whole season ahead of us.  I spent a lot of time behind the lens, capturing the UP I once knew so well.  She was foreign, with her wind howling and her wildlife greeting me at every milepost.  I visited an island I once knew as a child, the beach I caught my first fish at.   I witnessed a couple say their vows under a cherry tree in an apple orchard; the only wedding I've been to that nearly matched my own.  One of my favorite moments was spent at a two hundred year old cemetery with my sister and our other halves, somehow calmed by graves that have seen far more than any of us.  


Looking back, I am grateful for my trip.  There were lessons learned regarding many of my family members; arguments lost and hugs that may be the last.  But mother UP does not judge or envy, she simply cools the air and conjures up nostalgia I didn't know I had.  

She will always be home.  

Glacier, day 1:

Posted on | September 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

Can I tell you about our Glacier trip?  Pretty please?

See, I loved the way I told you about Yellowstone last September.  Of course, that would require four posts all about Glacier - can you handle it?  If not, at least pause to check out the photographic grandeur. Here we go!

Day 1, arriving to Glacier:

We get up at 5:30 in the morning at B's folks house - see, they only live five hours from Glacier and have generously offered to watch our dogs (dogs + national parks don't mix).  We leave by about 6 am and travel through Idaho and Montana, defying our Tom Tom's horrible navigational skills by paving our own path.  We drive through the blackfoot Indian reservation where it's open hills and grass, grass, grass.  

We get to the park around noon (hey, we lost an hour - darn time zone!).  You see, the park is first come, first serve camping and most fill up by 2, if not by noon.  We'd be camping five nights and wanted to find a campground with less RV's and more nature.  Alas, we make it to Sprague Creek (my first choice), a no generator/no RV campground, with only 20'ish sites and many along Lake Mcdonald.  There are three sites left (surprisingly!) - all three small and near the bathrooms - but it'll do, for the first night at least.  

Checking out the new digs!

Just a 30 second walk from our campsite!

We hung around camp for an hour or two, simply enjoying the nature there.  B of course took a dip in the glacier fed lake... brrr!



Later we decided to drive part of the going to the sun road!  We got stopped in the never-ending road construction that the park service must provide due to the nature of this teeny road along a mountain ridge - so I took advantage and snapped some photos.  


After about an hour we made it to the top o' the mountain range - Logan Pass.  After having a quick snack and hitting up a port-a-potty we happened to spot a herd of bighorn sheep grazing away.  Of course I went nuts with my telephoto lens.


  

After my love affair with the bighorn sheep, we started up a widely traveled trail to Hidden Lake, still at Logan Pass.  There was a boardwalk that is used, however it was a bit hidden under snow.  Little did I know this when I set off in my Keane sandals (great hiking shoes, just not in snow!) and shorts.  Either way, it was an epic hike.  Some mountain goats even joined in on the fun.







The views from hidden lake were outstanding!




Cute guy with a broken horn


Of course you must sneak a belly photo in, seeing that we haven't missed a week yet!  16 weeks exactly!


We arrived back to camp shortly before sunset.  I boiled myself up a bit of hot chocolate (being my only caffeine source these days - I didn't think I could stay up for dinner!).  For dinner we made some local pasta and soy burgers (mmm - you can imagine who's choice that was).  

   

We ended the night with a small campfire, reminiscing about our adventures and the many to come in this breathtaking wilderness.  

On remember what's real

Posted on | October 1, 2010 | 3 Comments

I'm sitting here with my purring cat and morning cup o joe that I just cannot shake.  You see, I am a creature of habit.  Yet for some odd reason I sit here, only thinking of escape.


I've wanted to write a post about our escape to Yellowstone for nearly two weeks now, but I feel as if my words don't give the experience justice.  I've been carefully planning posts out in this science-trained brain of mine, only to discover there is too much & it may just bore you to pieces. 

& then I realized I can do it for me, a day by day journal of sorts.  So here I go.

Day 1, Monday, September 13th:

First and foremost, it's our anniversary.  We entered the park at 9 pm the night before & set up camp in the dark after a fourteen hour drive.  We slept in until 8 am, when it is still unfortunately only 24 degrees out.  We decide that today will be a sight-see and relax day, considering the big plans we have the rest of the week.  The morning consists of checking out major geyser basins & reliving "what I was doing two years ago at this exact time" moments.




(love this picture - captured my feeling of peace at that moment)

Lunch came around and we snacked on home-made guacamole, pico de gallo from my garden, & chips.  Upon honoring tradition, we then went to the beloved 'Old Faithful' & shared an ice cream cone (ice cream & old faithful go together - didn't you know that?).

2005

2010

(did I mention this time around my oreo ice cream fell into the astonishingly oreo-eque dirt, yet we still ate it?)


Next we checked out the famed Old Faithful Lodge, and the architecture was absolutely breathtaking.  After meandering around the lodge & gift shop (a true 'touron' move), we trekked to yellowstone lake.  A beautiful storm then decided to show it's face & toy with me and my lens (b got sick of standing in the rain while I shot photos).







(contemplative b, my muse)

The late afternoon and evening were spent on the banks of the Firehole River, a warm, geyser-fed river famous for it's trout fishing.  & you guessed it - we fly fished (but not before having brots & beer, a chosen anniversary dinner by the two of us).



 A tagged elk just downstream from us

View from camp, Madison River

The night ended with a campfire & conversation, elk bugling our background music.  We were asleep by 10 pm, ready for a epic hike in the morning - summiting Avalanche Peak.

I'm baaaaack

Posted on | September 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

I'd like to say we just got back from
our astonishing & therapeutic trip.
But it's been 9 days & 12 hours.
We've already ripped up our deck
made a blueprint for a new one,
and tried to get pregnant,
[the un-old fashioned way]
all while working 7 of these 9 days.
So I'll just blame my neglected blog on
our rockstar of a schedule.

More to come very, very soon.

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