We took a Boat

After a 4 hour drive to Georgia from South Carolina, and a two day flying expedition including an unplanned stay in Atlanta, my vacation has come to a close. Though a bit different than expected (more polos and plaid shorts than overalls and cowboy hats), it was great. One day we took a boat to an island that is a habitat preservation and simply beautiful. Unfortunately they had us leaving right at sunset, so I was shooting photos like a crazy person to capture all the beauty.

Fried Gator and Mason Jars

I am in the South! Yesterday I landed in Georgia to see my brother before coming up to South Carolina for family vacation. There are a lot of things on my list of southern experiences to have, and I have already been able to enjoy many of them. Last night we went to Old McDonalds Fish Farm for dinner. Fried gator, frogs legs, fried catfish, hushpuppies, grits, sweet tea in mason jars. .









There was a thunderstorm that blew through right after we left, which accomplished one of my goals (along with sweet tea in a mason jar), and gave a beautiful cloudy sky for sunset. Cracker Barrel was this morning, riding bikes tomorrow, and hopefully fireflies very soon, too. So good.

Great Outdoors.

A Great Gift

These girls are fantastic. One day at the end of class Hollie asked me if I wanted to have breakfast with her and our friend Shannon. It turns out it was the beginning of a weekly breakfast club that I was kindly welcomed into. Hollie would often make homemade bread or granola, and Shannon and Ro would provide a place to meet with their yogurt, fruit, and french press Peet's coffee. For a few weeks we traded bringing homemade cinnamon roll's and had a four week long bake-off. So fun! I loved the way we all worked together, and I hope that we will reunite over breakfast again someday.

Since You Asked

Blythe, you just made me realize how long it has been since I last blogged! It has been a crazy month. Just the other day I FINALLY cleaned my room and put clothes away that had been clean since Easter! Crazy!

So my last post I said that I would like to camp again. This weekend I DID. Not only that, I backpacked. It was so fantastic.









We climbed 1,000 feet in the first hour, which was the most significant portion of the hike. The steepness made us feel silly about our pace up when we went so quickly back down.





After getting to the site we set up camp. Alexia and I were cast off by ourselves because there wasn't enough room at the girls camp, and boys had to keep a safe distance. We concluded that this was more for their sake when night came and we were telling bedtime stories, then for the sake of modesty. Our instructor was kind and set up camp within shouting distance.



I kept running off into the woods, overjoyed with the presence of trees, streams, and an abundance of pine-cones. I LOVE pine-cones. They hang in front of my fireplace, and on the wall at the head of my bed.




Plastic makes us sad. LEAVE NO TRACE.



John (our instructor) told us some scary stories at night. I boastfully disregarded them with my intelligence ("What did the 'ghost' LOOK like? . . A Light? Well, how did he give matches to a LIGHT?").








The next morning Alexia and I woke up to John throwing sticks and rocks at our tent and snickering, at which time we got up, packed up camp, ate some oatmeal and climbed back down.


"We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us. Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle seems transparent as glass to the beauty about us" - John Muir, "My First Summer in the Sierra"

I would like this again soon.

Photo Shoot: Done

My friend Dustin and I collaborated recently to do a project recreating old portraits. We found models (including ourselves), locations, wardrobe, etc. and got to work shooting with a large format (4X5 if you know the lingo) camera. It turned out really well! We printed the images 4"X4" and handed them to our class like old pictures.