Oh, go eat a book...

 Take a look, its in a book, a reading rainbow!

Ah, reading rainbow, I loved that show.  Hell, who didn't!  You lucky I won't link to the you tube video of the theme song.  If I did it would get stuck in my head all day!



I've been in a poetry mood lately.  Well, kind of... I've been wanting to read poetry, but haven't really had the opportunity to.  And I have to say, I've been very picky about it too.  I am in an Edgar Allan Poe mood.  Yep, you'd think it was Halloween or something.  But seriously, he has some awesome poems and short stories.

Hockey Night in St. Paul

So hockey season has almost arrived.  Sweet!  I went to a MN Wild preseason game the other night with my sister and a super awesome Y'stone friend.  We had some awesome seats, well, they might not have been the ones we were supposed to have, but hey, no one else was sitting there.  And we started the night right where we were supposed to be, in the upper levels.  I actually like sitting up there, I like have the bird's eye view of the rink and the play.  The Wild played the Flyers.

Petals: Antelope Valley

Spring of 2008 I went on a desert trip with my parents.  One of the major highlights of the trip was the California poppies.  There is a poppy preserve in Antelope Valley California.  The spring we were there was a record year.  They had hundreds of poppies, and the year before they only had 50.

Waterfalls, Waterfalls

  So I mentioned in a previous post, that Niagara Falls is on the top of my waterfall list.  In my travels I have seen many of them, I seek them out, there is something awesome about the sheer volume of power they harness.  Something primal, some connection with something greater than I.

Canada Travels!

Sunset overlooking the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario

 So I have this love affair with Canada.  And I truly do not get to go there often.  You'd think living in Minnesota and having my passport would mean I'd get up there more often.  But I don't. And that is damn shame.  But hopefully that will change in the future, near or far.  Until then I will just have to keep on lovin' Canada from afar.  This love affair might be the reason I am a Canucks fan, or Markus Naslund may be the reason I'm a Canucks fan,  Or am I a Nazzy fan because of the Canucks...the chicken and the egg... but hey, it really doesn't matter, does it.  Didn't think so.

Randomness: About Me

So, I was going to blog last night, but had forgotten that I'd already blogged.  I was having a bit of trouble thinking of a subject.  So the reprieve was nice.  As I was thinking of something to write, I started looking at all the random pics that I have.  So I figured I could post some of them, cause when else could I. So it is a post of random information about me.

Petals: Holland MI

This is going to be the start of an ongoing series of posts about gasp flowers.  As I might have mentioned in the Monterrey Gardens post I love flowers.  And I love taking pictures of them even more.  I was planning on starting this with a closer to home post, but I can't seem to find those pictures.  These is going to be a weekly series for the foreseeable future.  It should be out on Monday or Tuesday of each week (but don't quote me on this).

Wild Hockey Scrimmage at the X

Warming up before the scrimmage

So I was gone this weekend, well Saturday only, which is why there was a lack of blogging.  My sis and I went up to the Twin Cities to watch us some hockey.  The Minnesota Wild had an open scrimmage that we attended.  It was a good time, and hockey season is just that much closer.  We met up with some of her friends, missed one of mine and have a super time.

Oh Bemidji

So I got some time on my hands.  About a half an hour, anyways, class (yes, my super exciting intro to microcomputers) is going to start late... Not that that would have stopped my blogging.  I can multitask like nobody’s business!  So as I have alluded to I have returned to school.  I am now an accounting student!  This is exciting for me.  But I am still in my heart a Bemidji State Alum.  I studied poli sci there.  It was a glorious five years and the city of Bemijdi has one gorgeous lake to call its own.

Butterflies!

I like butterflies.  Of all the winged bugs-like things out they they are my favorites.  In part because they are not creepy like ladybugs or Satan's beetles as I like to call them.  But I digress and back to the point at hand.  The sheer amazingness of the butterfly.  I have been to two butterfly gardens in my life.  One was in Kuala Lampur Malaysia and the other in Niagara Falls Canada.  Both were spectacularly awesome

Down River to Iowa

Dubuque Iowa

So while I avoid studying for business law and accounting principles 1, I thought I'd blog a bit.  It's ok, the test is not for a few days...  So I have two started blog posts, but I am not sure it is the time for them. Or the lack of inspiration.  Maybe I will continue on the walk through the fall, by heading back a few years...

                                                ...Picture it, Iowa, Fall 2008...The Mississippi River Museum!  Sadly, I don't have an of the pictures from the Field of Dreams.  Those are with my sister, but I might be able to get my hands of a copy or two for a future post!

Yippie! Casino Boats!

 Dubuque is awesome, probably my favorite place in Iowa.  It is an awesome little city.  They have some wonderful casinos, and museums.  Oh, and the field of dreams is only about a half an hour away.

albino 'gater

Spent a lot of time at the Mississippi River Aquarium.  It is a wonderful place.  I am a big fan of aquariums in the sense that there is so much about the world that can be learned in them.  They are a great place and the things you see there are totally awesome.  And things that you don't see anywhere else!  But don't mind me, I am a nerd...

Not only was it cool for the river life, but the boat museum was kinda cool too.  It was a dredger, and if you live on a river and see them in action or grew up with my father, you'd probably find that cool. (apparently I like the word cool right now...)

And this was just cool!

I Think I Like the World Better in the Fall

Fall comes early in the Tetons

Apparently it is fall.  I think it snuck up on me.  Just last week it was ridiculously hot here in southern Minnesota and then one day it rained and it has been lovely ever since.  I am a fan of fall.  It is a great season.  The leaves are achangin' and it is jeans and long-sleeve shirt weather.  That and fall means hockey season is just around the corner and that means winter is in the coming.  Winter means skiing!  And this year, if we get the snow we should, I plan on doing lots of skiing -of both varieties.

Moose Falls YNP

I think autumn is as lovely as the spring.  It is just a different loveliness.  Spring is green and bright colors, new life.  Fall is rich, and bold colors, crisp weather.  I think I have some waiting to do before the leaves start turning, but it is always worth the wait.  If I am lucky, I might be able to head north for a few days in the fall, and catch the color up there first and then down here in my corner of the state.

North Ridge overlooking The Mississippi

Having worked seasonally for several years, until I returned home and eventually found myself back in school, I gained an appreciation for the month of October.  It is the best month to travel in.  You lose the crowds, the weather is usually pleasant.  Yeah, sometimes things are not open or the hours are shortened.  But in the grand scheme of things, you still can travel well.   No place is ever the same, it is true that you can't go back.  But if you go somewhere in the spring and then some later fall, you are going to two different places. 

Wolf Pass Colorado

 The world changes in the fall.  And I fall in love with it every year.  Big fan of blustery days, it reminds me of Winnie the Pooh.  Maybe it is the kid in me, the one that likes puddle jumping and leaf piles, and dancing in the rain.

Red Rock Canyon Kentucky

 Autumn rocks!  It is time for pumpkin flavored cheesecakes!  Icky pumpkin flavored cappuccino-not a fan!  Seriously it is gross, you do not need pumpkin flavored everything.  But heck it comes with the season!  With sunset happening earlier, you get way more time to look at the stars.  Which is probably one  of the things I miss the most from living in Yellowstone.  You can see a ridiculous amount of stars, especially in the winter! 

Sunset at the bus barn house, La Crescent

 So YAY for fall.  I am going to celebrate the heck out of you.  I got plans for you.  So let me know when the color changes.  And hell, if I remember my camera someday at school, I might use my ungodly long break between classes to walk to the park.  I look forward to your best blustery day!  After all they are my favorite!!!

Into The Garden...

Old Monterrey Custom House

So, I think I am on a Monterrey kick.  I am really okay with that.  I loved Monterrey and spent a wonderful week there.  It exposed me to a part of Cali that I could totally live in.  And the city was unbelievably charming.  You could tell that it had been laid out before roads had cars.
Gardens, I think I mentioned in a previous post that there were gardens everywhere.  And there were.  I think that my friend was a block away from 2, and there were plenty more less than 10 minutes away.  Sweet.  Some days I wish I could garden, but alas I have a black thumb, kinda.  I do have a lavender plant that my dearest friend Ken gave me a year and a half ago, that is still alive.  It was tense for a few months after the initial re-potting.  But so far so good.  And now I digress....


This one wasn't in a garden, but it was a tree alongside the road as I headed to Cannery Row.  Everything is right with the world when it all comes back to Steinbeck.   I thought this was the coolest flower and having never seen one like it before I took a picture.  In hopes that someone could tell me what it is.

Fuchsia

Pink Hydrangea

So the garden I think I spent the most time in was at the old Custom House, which is a visitor center/museum but it was not open when I was in town.  Drat it all.  This garden was awesome.  There were actually two parts, a front path with cacti and other desert plants and then a back courtyard.  This had hydrangeas, fuchsia, lilies, and orange trees in it.  As well as a wide variety of other flowers. 

There is something special about green spaces.  I don't know if they are calming or something else.  But I am drawn to them like nothing else, except maybe for waterfalls.  Maybe it is the vibrancy or the life around but I could get lost in a garden.

The one on the right another that I fell in love with, but had no clue what it was.  The of course there is the rose, always a favorite.  And that one seems like a good one to leave you with.

John Steinbeck and the Artichoke Queen

And since I got my home work all caught up, I don't feel bad about blogging and wasting my productive time one something so much more fun!


Cannery Row once was actually a place filled with Sardine Canneries.  Now it is filled with cheesy gift shops.  And yet I still loved it.






But they do still celebrate John Steinbeck and his books.  This map of Cannery Row, shows everything would have been.




At the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas it would have been much cooler if they had big books of John Steinbeck books, that I actually enjoyed.  I never actually finished reading this one.



 


 
Then there was the Pearl.  The book that nearly ruined Steinbeck for high school students every where.  Yeah, not my favorite, but I did see the building where he wrote it.  That was cool.



And I blame Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday for the romantic delusion that I have that it would be cool to live in an old boiler.  And yes, there would be curtains, regardless of the fact there are no windows.









And did I mention that Marlyn Monroe was once the Artichoke Queen?  Yep, true story.  Miss California Artichoke Queen 1947.

All Things Steinbeck

So, I am going to try different styles for these first few posts.  I need to see what works with what, as with the Y'Stone post, that lends itself well to wordy posts.  Some that I have might just be more picture based.  I am letting the posts do what they want.

Beach in Monterrey CA

So, since I left Yellowstone, I have gone on to major trips.  The first one was a year ago this Halloween.  I went to visit my dear friend Ashley out in Monterrey California.  Ashley and I have been friends for years, since our Waldsee days.  And she know of my deep love of John Steinbeck, especially of Cannery Row which coincidentally enough is in Monterrey.  So armed with my vacation pay, I hoped on a plane and headed for the coast and headed to Monterrey the Mecca for my Steinbeck lovin' heart.

Oooh look a courtyard, California is chalk full of them, and they are pretty with gardens.  So the first thing I did was walk to the harbour just to get my bearings, and of course to call my bestest friend.

 Yep, a harbor, boats, pretty much a standard view from my trip.  This was by Fisherman's Wharf.  I spent a quite a bit of time here, it was a wonderful spot to drink coffee, read, write or enjoy the gorgeous weather.

John Steinbeck

The best thing was that everything that I wanted to see was in walking distance. So that meant I could walk to Cannery Row.  Now, I was expecting a commercialized Cannery Row, I had no delusions that it would not be a tourist destination.  And it delivered, but it still had a feel about it, too me at least, that reminded me of the book and what it must have been like back in the days of sardine canning. 

Old Cannery Boilers

At the very end of Cannery Row, in an old cannery building is the Monterrey bay Aquarium.  It is a wonderful place, very open, and designed well, that and they have programs and speakers there all day.  I watched on sharks, it was very interesting.  The rest of the row is lined with shops and restaurants.  There are some museums and the old buildings are fixed up and are part of a walking tour.  

The other thing about Monterrey that was awesome was not only was there a city wide "path of history", but on almost every block in Old Monterrey, there were public gardens.  And I love gardens, so of course I went though each one at least twice.  Taking pictures of flowers is one of my favorite things to do.  Ashley and I also went to Carmel-by-the-Sea (did you know that Clint Eastwood used to be mayor there?), Salinas-to the Steinbeck Museum, and Pacific Grove.  Carmel-by-the-Sea, was a little tourist, boutique, ridiculously expensive town.  Had a great beach.  The Steinbeck museum in Salinas will probably have its own post dedicated to it.  

Full Moon Rise, seen while whale watching

While in Monterrey I went whale watching.  It was an amazing few hours on a boat.  We didn't see much, but we did see 2 whales and several dolphins.  And if you look in the water when the boat is leaving the harbor, you can see hundreds of jelly fish, now what could be cooler than that?

Surrounded by Beauty

Home sweet Lake Lodge

Since my mom has my camera and she is on her way back from Alaska it will be a while before I can take pictures of new things and post them.  But part of what I want to do is showcase some of my older pictures.  Just so you know, I don't do a lot of editing the pictures.  Usually I just crop them, sometimes I play around a bit more.  But mostly they are as me and my camera saw them. 

 I have spent the better part of the last 6 years in Yellowstone National Park.  To be surrounded by so much beauty is indescribable.

Enjoying the isolated spring

 And the beauty of the park is so many things, from the people who live there, to the wild, free animals, and the endless array of backdrops.  Yellowstone gives you an appreciation of life that is hard to find elsewhere.  It is the beauty of simplicity.  And at the same time, it is a place of personal discovery. 

The desire to be in Yellowstone is a magnetic pull.  Even when you know you are finished, there is a part of Yellowstone that remains with you.  Maybe it is the memories, the friends, the pictures, whatever it is... It is a tie that binds people together.  

Yellowstone is a place of beauty from the tallest water falls to the tiniest flowers.  Always changing, and never quite the same.  But never that different from year to year.

It was Yellowstone where I first realized that anyone can take beautiful pictures.  When you are surrounded by beauty on all sides it is difficult to screw it up.