Sunday, December 30, 2007

Random photos of places I've been

I'm up late tonight and thought it might be fun to post some fun photos of places I've been since getting a digital camera... They are in no particular order -- either chronologically or of importance... just some really cool landscapes or other photos that represent the places to me..



This is a fun photo of D1 and D2 (both still debating and doing very well!!) -- I'm pretty sure this was in Southern California (maybe Huntington Beach or elsewhere in the OC??) two years ago. We had a day to play, as we'd spent New Year's Eve in flight -- arriving at our hotel about 3 AM PST. This may have been the first time one or both of them encountered the Pacific Ocean....

This is the Badlands in South Dakota... it is very weird, because there is little warning that this is here -- Imagine just driving along in the prairie, and suddenly, there is a huge hole in the earth...

This is Arlington -- Hubby and I have been to DC twice, and I want to go back!! There's something I really like about the place... I'm not sure why, but I suspect the West Wing has something to do with it... sigh.

We've been to the Grand Canyon twice -- the first time a long time ago (before Hubby'd even proposed... we've been married 17 years...). This time was different, no fences, no walls, plenty of places to fall off the edge.

And, Mt. Rushmore. Pretty impressive --- although, I see no reason to go back....

yes, that's a wolf. He's in the pack the public is allowed to see at the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN. If you get a chance to go -- you must. It really is the only way you are likely to see wolves in the north woods. There are plenty of them up there, but they are shy.


This is the Oregon Coast. I've got to get back there -- in fact, I'm scheming about how to take a long-weekend to go there with Hubby in February... hmmmm..... I'll work it out when we get to Red State next week.


Looking down Lake Meade, from Hoover dam. You can see how low the water is -- makes me wonder how Vegas is going to support itself....


This summer we went to Chicago on the "Ferris Bueler's Day Off" tour...


Two summers ago we went to Carhenge -- Stonehenge recreated out of cars. It is a pretty cool place, although if I had the choice between Carhenge and the real thing, I'd take rocks over Buicks every time. And no, Hubby isn't peeing on the car -- although it kind of looks like he is...


I've now seen the the cow sculpted out of butter at the Iowa state fair... and I decided the Minnesota State fair is better -- although this was fun to do with my city-slicker cousins.... from NYC :). I found out last week that my cousin Chris is going to marry the girlfriend we took to the fair, her name is Sunshine -- and we love her (even if we call her "Angie 3").


This is San Diego -- I've been there several times, but in less than a month (oh crap... it is coming up soon!) I'll be giving a paper at a conference there -- instead of coaching a debate team!!!


This is a photo I took on our two-week trip to Arizona last January. Hubby was there for a schoolish-type thing, I was there to be there. I fell in love with the cacti...


These are some random stranger's kids -- playing in the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca... It was a perfect summer day and they were doing what kids do when they see water and rocks!

This is from one of our many trips to Colorado. I really am not sure where this is, and the snow isn't much of a help in terms of time of year, as I usually see snow when I go to the Rocky Mountains :).


This is Lake Superior in winter -- doesn't it look cold? I love the blue of this photo -- although it looks like I'm on an ice burg, I'm really on the shore, taking the photo from near the JEEP. I suspect it was one of those bright and very cold days, as the photo makes my fingers cold just looking at it!


This is the Old Market in Omaha. On warm summer nights performers come out of the woodwork.... this is also where some of my favorite restaurants are, as well as the best farmer's market in the Midwest, horse-drawn carriages, emo-kids and guys in tinfoil hats...


A few years ago we went to Florida in January. We found a great hotel on Daytona beach, for cheap!!! This was sunrise over the ocean -- we then went back to sleep....


This is Bugaboo glacier in Canada... very cool. People hiking and camping up here needed to put lumber and chicken wire around their cars to prevent the porkupines from eating their tires!

This is Palisade Head overlooking Lake Superior. This view prompted Sunshine to say "damm, that is a big lake" -- yep, it is!

This is the California coast near San Francisco. I took this when we had NPTEkqrz at Berkeley... This is another place we might run away to.... hmmm....


From our recent trip to Vegas -- which was unlike anyplace I've EVER been... in a good, but weird way.

Wherever we go, we still have our set of freaky-cats to punish us when we come home....
Extra-toes, in a photo where you can actually see his freakishly large feet.... if you like kitty toes, you'll LOVE him!


Extra-toes and New Kitty, when they could still share the top of the cat post... she's gained some weight since then and I doubt she could squeeze her fat ass in there today....


Blind kitty... looking rather angelic. No doubt it didn't last long --- he looks like he's brewing a major league freak out....


and the hellion herself, New Kitty -- this is a rather old photo of her, but the attitude hasn't changed a bit!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

that oregon coast picture is so familiar. that was totally the family road trip vacation when I was a kid. I remember wondering why or how in the heck anybody would want to go to the ocean and swim and/or sit around on the beach. :)

and the cow made of butter....I totally love that. That's truly something.

Inside the Philosophy Factory said...

The butter cow is an annual Iowa State fair tradition.... In MN they do a life-sized sculpture of the winner of the the fair beauty pageant...

julie said...

Actually, at the Minnesota Fair, ALL the Princess Kay of the Milky Way candidates are sculpted - so you can see about 10 life-sized butter heads. I took a grad school friend to see them in about 1982 - she's from New Delhi, India, and she's *still* amazed by that memory of pounds and pounds of ghee.