Drawn to nature - Campin' instead of workin'.

Camped this weekend at Willow River State park. Barely an hour away from the Twin Cities, this was a beautiful place to get away for the weekend (and good for a group camping trip, too.)

We arrived late Friday night and woke up early on Saturday. The deer checked out of the campsite next to us a few hours into the morning, well in time for Britt and Sarah to safely set up their tents.

Later that morning we took a really long morning hike to the falls and all around the park.

The falls were crazy from all the rain we had last week.

We walked up the Many Stairs to get a view from the top.

Wisconsin = gorgeous.

As we walked through the fields in the park, tons of these little guys were fluttering around by the flowers.

Beautiful wildflowers...

super cute caterpillars...

chipmunks...

and we also found Tim Burton's garden. :) (I still have no idea what this is. Any help?)

Here is the view from behind the damn. The water is much higher than it usually is.

When the others arrived, they set up tent and we walked back to the falls.

You can see the overlook deck nestled in the trees at the top.

Elusive froggie hopped away quickly before I could get a very good shot.

I'm not good at taking random pictures over my shoulder while walking... but I'm not bad, either.

Later that night we all shared dinners then hung out by the fire eating marshmallows, telling ghost stories and singing songs. Yes - we those people... but it was so much fun... and at least we had good songs, none of that kumbayah nonsense. ;)

Danno and Kevin in the "Featured Artists Sitting Pose..."

The park ranger came by and said we were being too awesome and had to tone it down.

The weekend away was fantastic and very needed. I am sore and tired from hiking all day yesterday, but I feel great. Up early tomorrow for Caribou and an evening board meeting tomorrow night... Too much work lately and not enough posting, I know. It will get better soon.

Forgotten Road Trip Part VI - The End, Mt Rainier

While visiting friends in Washington during the last few days of our trip, we decided to head to Mt. Rainier. It was unbelievably crowded compared to Glacier. At certain points, we weren't even able to find a space to park the car. We hiked as much as we could, but spent a little less time there than we would have otherwise. Perhaps there is something about vehicle traffic that isn't really synonymous with "quiet awe." Once we got deeper into the park, though, there were other opportunities for quiet awe.

More Carmen Stars here, too.

Interesting.

Elements of Mt. Rainier park reminded me of Muir Woods, and I'd love to go back there again.

We only spent a short day in Mt. Rainier, and a Stellar's Jay bid us adieu as we left.

Bid us adieu... or quickly scampered away as I tried to take a picture... not quite sure.

______

Well, that's it for the Forgotten Road Trip blog series. It was heavy on the pictures, less writing, but I suppose it was more of a visual trip anyway.

I'm itching to get back to Glacier, and see more of the  other National Parks I've never been to. I might get to go with my family to the Channel Islands this summer, so hopefully I'll be able to share more posts like this soon. Thanks for reading. :)

Forgotten Road Trip Part V - From Montana to Washington

After Glacier, we spent a night at Finley Point in Montana. Another breathtakingly gorgeous glacial lake.

Room with a view.

We spent a few days in Missoula - which is now one of my new favorite places. (and Montana one of my new favorite states.)  After Missoula we drove on to Washington and visited the Grand Coulee Dam. We continued our drive, which took us past Banks Lake.

At the shore of Banks Lake... not naturally occurring, but still quite stunning.

We visited Leavenworth, Washington on our way to our camping destination. A neat place - reminded me of Solvang - but I think it might seem more magical in the winter.

This crazy guy was on our tent...

so I carefully moved him to the bushes before we packed up.

Tumwater camp was beautiful, but there were more mosquitos than I've ever seen anywhere else in my entire life. Seriously.

This little robin flew in while I was snapping a picture of the river, and gave me a Twin Peaks-style pose.

Forgotten Road Trip Part IV - Last Day at Glacier

Our last day in Glacier. We woke up early to go on one last hike, having narrowly survived a massive storm the night before. We arrived before the crowds, and hiking in the quiet of the morning was not without benefit...

Majestic ...

The morning hike was fantastic.

Nya.

Nom nom.

Tell me he isn't posing.

A recent graduate of the Handsome Goat Modeling School.

Behind us: the critic emerges. He told me exactly what he thought of my early morning picture taking.

Nom.

Baby noms.

The hike was well worth the view.

On our way back down. Some people even decided to go sliding.

The hills were alive with the Sound of Music...

If I look unbelievably happy, the pictures above pretty much explain why.

MacDonald River

Lake MacDonald

Existential self portrait.

Forgotten Road Trip Part III - More Glacier (Adorable Nature)

You could spend a lifetime in Glacier and never see everything there is to see in the park. We had about three days. The second day we hit Going to the Sun road again, but from the other direction. Apparently this was animal day.

Deer butt! That's what he thought of my photography skills.

Incredible.

The free parking was a big attraction.

This fox was playing with a mouse before he looked up.

Nom. The brutality of nature has never been so adorable.

Goat Lick, a natural salt lick by the Izaak Walton Inn.

Yes, we saw a bear.

Amazing.

Many Glacier Hotel

Osprey.

I would like to get off my computer and drive back to Glacier - right now.

Forgotten Road Trip Part II - Glacier

On our first night in Glacier we stayed at the Izaak Walton Inn.

For my birthday I got to wake up in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Incredible.

Above you can see the Izaak Walton Inn, as seen from the pedestrian overpass.

We spent my birthday wandering around Glacier. We drove Going to the Sun road, hiking a number of trails along the way. We saw tons of these beautiful little white star-shaped flowers I affectionately dubbed "Carmen Stars," as they reminded me of a floral incarnation of my friend.

This little guy was on Nick's jacket until we rescued him. Do I blog too much about cute worms? Just wait until I get my next pet...

Sometimes it's hard to believe places like this exist...

Forgotten Road Trip Part I

Over the past week I have been watching the Ken Burn's National Parks documentary series. I highly recommend it. It's an excellent blend of beautiful imagery and history, and was simultaneously inspirational and humbling. After finishing an episode today and going through my own photos, I realized that I never finished blogging about my trip to Glacier last summer. Without further delay... here is a series of gratuitous picture filled posts from our not-so-recent adventure.

Our first destination was Glendive, Montana.

On the way to Glendive we stopped by the Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I remember feeling like I was standing in an exhibit... it was hard to believe beauty could exist in such seemingly endless expanse. (Clearly I had no real idea of what awaited me in Glacier.)

We camped for an evening in Glendive.

Nick is braver than I. He also has better hiking shoes.

We watched the sun set... the beauty of the landscape shifting around us, even as everything stood hot and still.

Breathtaking.

When I was younger I didn't go camping much, perhaps only one or two trips... but I remember in high school, upon first discovering colored pastels, I would take them and dutifully duplicate the landscapes in my mother's National Parks of America book. Not a huge surprise that they still leave me with the same captivating inspiration.

Chicago, Niagara Falls, Earwax and Dead Animals

Nick and I left for Chicago on Friday, June 12th. This was to be my first time in Chicago (for more than a layover) and I was pretty excited. We rolled into Chicago traffic around 5:30 or so, making it to the Double Door on time for load-in. Rather than try to make a story about every little thing and bore you with the details, here's a quick summary of what I remember about my trip to Chicago:

• Sleeping in the car in an alley while the L rolled overhead, the sound of the rain on the moonroof
• the Earwax Cafe (and wishing we could have gone)
• A not-so-great Chicago Dog from the Underdog across from the venue
• Melanie treating us to a midnight snack: The Best Burrito, consumed at 3am in a parking lot, huge enough to share with Daryl and us both to be full
• mmmmm deep-dish pizza from Pizzeria Uno
• The basement green-room of the Double Door and the hallway that smelled like a mixture of water, urine and fruit spray
• Super awesome breakfast and family time with John, Jocelyn and the kids
• "Washing" and changing in the Village Starbucks bathroom
• The copy center in the Village -and a picture of the owners with President Obama
• A ginormous lake of some sort
• Guitar stores actually worthy of visiting
• Dropping my cell phone on a busy Chicago street, in a puddle, and my cell phone no longer functioning
• Driving and scrambling from Tmobile to Tmobile in an attempt to get a loaner phone for the rest of my trip
• Traffic to rival Los Angeles (but not quite)
• Public Transportation and People On Bikes (yes, these still excite me.)
• and of course - two awesome nights of two awesome shows.

In a nutshell: Chicago was awesome and I hope to go back - with more time to spend doing some of the arty business I so enjoy. (And also - to consume foody goodness at the Earwax Cafe.)

We left Chicago late Saturday night. Nick decided to accompany me on my mini-adventure to Niagara Falls, as he had never been there either. We rolled into the Niagara Falls area Sunday evening... the weather was perfect, the area was not-too-crowded, and we were both ready to Not Be Driving.

Niagara Falls is definitely one a tourist attraction WORTHY of being a tourist attraction. (No offense, Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.) Niagara Falls, Canada is a beautiful town. As we drove through on our way to the falls, we passed through storybook neighborhoods and (I kid you not) we saw ladies tending to gardens and men mowing lawns with cute little lawn-mowers. It was kind of surreal - I half expected Steve Martin to step out and say "What a day for a mow eh?"

We did all the touristy Niagara Falls things we rightly should have done. (See obligatory by-the-falls picture below.) We also did the Behind-The-Falls tour, which I really recommend for anybody that goes. Why bother going if you can't witness the immense, crushing, pulverizing power of the falls from every angle? (I'm not being sarcastic. It is pretty incredible and makes one feel quite tiny and squishable.)

Insert "awww" here.

The falls were beautiful, I heart rainbows, yadda yadda. ;)

I have a soft spot in my heart for buildings covered in moss that look line ruins. I heart them even more than rainbows.

We left the falls and the pleasant cityscape in the early evening, both of us in good spirits. As we drove from the Canadian side of the falls to the American side, the picture quickly changed. The first 7 buildings we saw were boarded up. The streets were strewn with litter and walls were plagued with graffiti, some covered, some not-so-covered. (And no, not mural art - this was graffiti-graffiti.) Later I learned that Niagara, NY has been not-so-affectionately (but somewhat appropriately) nicknamed "Little Detroit." I hope this struggling city can make its way out of this and recover some of what it has lost. Maybe if jerks like me stop recommending the Canadian side of the falls a little bit of tourist dough can make the way to the Niagara Falls, NY economy.

We drove through the night, and into the rain. We couldn't believe the amount of deer we saw on the first part of the drive - we stopped counting at 20. (Both dead and alive, unfortunately.) As we headed towards Massachusetts we hit turnpike after dark and forest-y turnpike. The rain was relentless and so were the long stretches with no services. After what seemed like forever and a day, the rain finally tapered off to a drizzle and we exited to the first Motel we could.

Canaan, NY.

In the middle of the night we navigated up a tiny road through the forest towards a creepy and eerily welcoming glowing red sign... "MOTEL... vacancy."

Setting up the story

There I was getting ready to write about my trip to Glacier when I realized I hadn't written much about the first trip I made this summer, or mostly the decisions that preceded it and the turbulence that ensued. So before I write about my more recent trip, I probably need to do a little bit of explaining. My last day of work at Bicycle Theory was June 10th, 2009. Long story short: As many of you know, I'm in graduate school full time (in addition to running the gallery.) Things have been going really well, but time was getting tighter and tighter. Though most of my classes up until this point took place on evenings and weekends, several of the classes I need to take this fall are right in the middle of the workday. On top of that, I'm also planning/hoping to take a double load and begin the application process for PhD programs. In order to make all of that feasible, I need(ed) the work/school/gallery balance to shift in favor of school's direction pretty tremendously. So I made the difficult decision to give up a good job with people I love and focus on school. Not necessarily the most "responsible" decision in this economy, but I felt as though it was the right one. Little did I realize that decision was going to give me the time to focus on even more than school as the summer progressed.

With all of this, (and partially because of all this) there were still a few things I still needed to figure out next. Traveling has always been really helpful for me both creatively and philosophically speaking. The second leg of Nick's tour was taking him eastward, the first stop was in Boston. After playing in Boston the band would tour additional cities along the east coast. Not having seen my Boston cousins in five years, I decided to take my own trip while he was gone. I planned to tag along for the first part of the tour until they hit Boston and spend a week with my cousins while he finished out the remainder of the tour.

Preparations for the trip were not seamless. On Monday afternoon we had a little hiccup, car accident style. As we turned left to enter the freeway, a car ran a red light, racing straight towards us. As Nick speed up and tried to avoid the collision, the car in question accelerated towards us, and I was fairly certain it was going to smash right into my side of the car. But every second counts in an accident, and instead of smashing into me the car swerved, smashed past the back of the car and raced away - only to run yet another red light and speed off onto the freeway, headed in the opposite direction.

Nick, with a surprising amount of calm, pulled over to the side of the onramp and began a discussion with a few witnesses to the accident. A little shook-up, I came outside a few minutes later. Bumpers working as they should, there was only a little damage to the car. A report needed to be filed and somebody had already called the police, so we waited. While we waited, I thought.

I think more or less sometimes the inhabitants of the world shake themselves out into many "kinds" of people... and we probably shift categories from time to time. Sometimes after an accident, tragedy, or significant event people show some of their "categories" with a bit more color.

The helpers: A woman who witnessed the accident immediately pulled to our section of the road, gave us what information she recollected of the other car. She gave us her information as well, in case we needed witnesses. Here's what else she did, which for some reason stands out to me more than the rest. As I exited the car and stood by the side of the road, clearly dazed, she looked at me, looked me in the eyes and with complete sincerity asked me "are you okay, sweetie?"

A gentleman on a bike managed to get the license number of the car. An Awesome Dude in a beat-up pickup truck pulled over to ask if "ya'll need any help?" A woman in a responsible car pulled carefully over to the side and, clearly nervous to walk out in a somewhat traffic-y area, asked us if she could help in any way. A young lady and her friend saw the accident as they entered the freeway, exited, and drove all the way back around to give us their information - "just in case."

This may sound like an overstatement, but I want to say it anyway: The Helpers help redeem my faith in the human race. Sometimes the world is so crazy that you can start to think everybody is selfish and in their own little world, oblivious to the others around them. Then something happens and The Helpers emerge, reminding you that there are enough people out there that random acts of good and kindness do still happen, often when you least expect it and most need it.

The Important Person: Then there are the Important People. The world revolves around them, you know. We encountered Important People on both legs of our trip, pretty much everywhere we went. Texting while going 90 on the NY interstate (no, seriously.) Speeding past construction workers on the side of the road (70 in a 40.) The list could go on. During our accident the Important People made themselves known by: honking at us and telling us to "get off the road" (we were off the road, pulled over to the side until the cops came), speeding past us and burning rubber once past to get in the freeway, and I suppose I should also include our Hit and Run friends in this category too. Important People are everywhere.

The Extras: While our world stopped, theirs didn't. That's okay - they are our extras, and we are theirs. The Other People on the freeway, the Other People on the road, the People walking on the other side... "We each play a starring role in the story of our life..." Sometimes we have smaller and larger roles in the cast of Another Person's Life... and sometimes we are just an extra.

Sometimes hours go by quickly, sometimes they take forever to pass. While we waited for the cops to arrive, I contemplated these things, the accident, my situation, the upcoming trip. When the cops arrived (over an hour after the accident) they gathered information quickly and sent us on our way.

As we left the scene of the accident, I couldn't help but feel a little bit anxious. Driving had all of a sudden become a little bit scarier and less-fun, and I was about to take the longest road trip I've taken since the move to Minneapolis itself.

Camping in Banning

Nick and I had an awesome weekend camping in Banning, Minnesota.

Some of the ruins in the area. It is amazing how fast nature can take over.

Kettle River is awesome.

We're getting pretty good at that one-armed picture taking thing.

There were beautiful flowers everywhere.

one, two, three...

four... five...

... ten gazillion trillium. They were EVERYWHERE!

More flowers...

This cute little purple guy stood out in a sea of white snowy trillium.

We don't want weeds in our bed... (but dandelions can be cute too!)

This butterfly stopped in the path right in front of us, sat long enough for me to take a picture, then flew away.  He was going to show me his magnum pose, but then realized he shouldn't even be talking about it right now.

Mr. Toad says hi.

A robin visited our campsite in the morning before we left for the day.

yay!

The best parts about the weekend: flowers, the river, hanging out by the campfire.  The worst part: TICKS!  omg. So. Many. Ticks. In the woods, on our pants, ick ick ick. Unbelievable. ::shiver::

Trip to Washington

We arrived in Tacoma late Thursday night, and headed over to Peter and Carmen's.  It was too late to go out, so we sat out on the porch of "Plum Cottage" and caught up. It was nighttime when we arrived, but here's a view from Plum Cottage for your reference. View of Puget Sound=awesome.

The next morning, after an awesome breakfast of Pumpkin Pancakes (thanks Carmen!) we picked Peter up from PLU and headed to Olympia for the evening. (After a brief stop for coffee and food). After a failed attempt to investigate the old Olympia brewery, we headed into town for drinks and a show. We discovered my camera was broken but Carmen was kind enough to share her camera with me so I could be touristy and take lots of pics.

After wandering around Olympia for awhile, we headed to McMenamins. (mmm.) The leaves were turning and most of the streets looked like this: Colorful, beautiful, and kind of fuzzy. Maybe that was the beer. ;)

We had dinner at a yummy fish place and then we went to a place called Le Voyuer. The band we went to see failed to show up, but instead we were treated to an awesome performance by Quinn Deveaux.

The night was magical.

Awww.

The next morning we woke up relatively early, enjoyed a continental breakfast (with an awesome waffle maker), got some coffee and wandered down to the Farmer's Market and walked along the water.

Nick is really mastering the "hold the camera out and take a picture of us both" trick."

I think this is the only picture we have of all four of us from the weekend. Aww... BFF.

Carmen thought these were interesting and took a pic. I'm not sure what kind of berries they are...

Otters are cute. Even Denis Leary thinks so.

After our day in Olympia we headed to Seattle. Mmmmm more coffee. We went to the EMP and checked out the art galleries and book stores in the area. Notice how it is hardly raining in any of the pics? The weather was incredible while we were there.

Sunday was all about me and my dorkdom;)

We drove up to Snoqualmie, where they filmed a good deal of the "Twin Peaks" series. Before our tour of Snoqualmie, we stopped for coffee. No kidding!

Our first stop was to Snoqualmie Falls.

I got nice shot of the falls before we hiked down to the bottom. breathtaking!

here's a pic from the show for your reference:

After viewing the falls from the platform we hiked down to the water.

As we hiked through the woods we encountered.. A FUZZY CATERPILLAR!!!

A FUZZY TREE BRANCH!

...and a Tree on a Tree! among other things.

We hiked down to the water and I scrambled out on to the rocks. The scenery was awesome. "Ahhhhhh!"

Don't ask me how I got back to the shore.

More scrambling to an awesome (but slippery) rock at the bottom of the falls.

Nick did not join me on the slippery rock, but he captured the moment. Thanks!

Nick=awesome.

Perfecting that shot again. you can even see the lodge in this one!

Much has changed about the town since the show was filmed, unfortunately some for the worse. Much of the woods were torn down to make way for condos. Ronette's bridge, however, was turned into a bike path. This change isn't as bad as some of the other changes (IMO.)

Bike path:

The R&R Diner (Twede's Cafe) was damaged by arsonists a few years ago. When they rebuilt the diner unfortunately they decided to go for a "newer" theme... so instead of the awesome retro classic diner inside, you have a generic diner with walls covered in Tweety Birds. (I'm not kidding. COVERED.) The pie is still awesome, however the coffee is "damn fine," and the back area has lots of memorabilia and pictures.  They are definitely cashing in on the link to the series... as you can see from the sign.

On Monday we spent the day actually in Tacoma, where they are living now.

We checked out the Dale Chihuly works downtown - fantastic!

We got some coffee and went to the bookstore. More coffee, seriously? Ya! Srsly!

We drove around Tacoma and drove through the national park. It was absolutely gorgeous - quite bog-like in fact and not a huge amount different than some of the areas in upstate Minnesota. While driving through the woods, we saw some racoons.  OH HOW CUTE! - so I rolled down the window to take a picture.  Two racoons quickly turned into four as more approached... 5... 6... 7...

We started rolling up the windows and by the time we drove quickly and carefully away, we counted over 15 raccoons following us. This is the only clearish picture I got, of the first two we saw.

We went to the Hub for dinner (and Peter's Birthday) after getting more coffee and stopped at the Harmon Pub after dinner. I guess that was kind of the running theme for the weekend: food, coffee, beer, coffee, pictures, more food, pictures, beer.

One, two, three - Aww.

All in all it was an awesome vacation... productive (sights-wise) and relaxing all at the same time. I was able to turn my brain off for a little while, so to speak. We got to see lots of places and spend a lot of time with Peter and Carmen. We saw the new place they will be moving to and toured Peter's office at PLU as well. I was a little weepy on the way back to the airport and now I'm I've got a little bit of the post-vacation blues... fortunately I've got a lot to keep myself busy over the next few weeks. (surprise surprise.)

I'm keeping my chin up though.... we're already planning our next trip.

Trip to Stillwater

My parents and I took a day-trip to Stillwater, Minnesota.  Now I can say that I've been. :) The awesome lift-bridge:

Limestone brewery...

Downtown Stillwater...

Sealed in its purity package, the flavor lasts!!!

I love these buildings...

Lowell park, by the water...

The Hudson River:

My parents :)