Over the hills and through the woods

Occasionally, I like to post travel pics, to prove to you that I don’t just sit in my apartment thinking about crafts all the time.

I only do that 50% of the time.

The other 50% of the time I’m thinking about puppies.

Earlier in August, I went to New Hampshire for family reunion. Two flights and a four hour drive. Yay. But I woke up to this view every morning, so I suppose it was worth it.

 

My sister and I were sleeping in a screened-in, second floor porch. There were no window panes or curtains. So essentially…we were camping. But the view was worth it. Also, I like camping. She doesn’t.

The state motto of New Hampshire is “Live Free or Die.” It’s never been changed since they became a state and they take it seriously. They guard their property very intensely, with dogs and guns and “No Trespassing” signs and barbed wire. It should probably be mentioned at this point that we were staying in a small town in the middle of nowhere. As we were driving up and down gravel roads, trying to find the house we were renting, we kept seeing these signs.

 

This prompted a lot of jokes about what “bear dogs” might look like and why you can’t trespass with them. Later my sister and I looked at the signs up close and in the small print it says “Black Bear Conservation Society.” I googled bear dogs when we got home. They are a real breed that hunts bears. I think they’re super cute, but they sound pretty mean to be honest.

I got that image off google, we didn’t actually see any bear dogs while we were there. And it wasn’t winter, ha. We did see a black bear, though!

 

Bear photo taken from the screened in porch around 6 am. Black bear in the backyard, no big deal.

And I’ll leave you with one last scenic shot.

 

Belated travel documentation

I’ve been slacking. This blog is supposed to be about my trips, the trials and tribulations of figuring out where I want to end up, and life in general. Instead…well, I just haven’t posted. So here’s a little catch-up post.

August – I visited Erin in Colorado. It was awesome.

September – Becca and I went to see Betsy at the South Dakota State fair. It was awesome.

Okay, done!

Just kidding.

When I visited in August, Erin and Matt took me on a lovely hike (see photo above). The weather was gorgeous – sunny but not too hot, and the mountains were rocky, as mountains should be. It felt to me like it had been forever since Erin and I had hung out (a mere two months, in actuality), so seeing her was a high point. Erin came to visit me in Omaha this month (she drew the short straw in destinations, right?), and it was just like old times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found an O! that we hadn’t found last summer on our quest and some refrigerator art from the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). It’s part of their refrigerator recycling program and designed to promote energy efficiency awareness.

While at the South Dakota State Fair, Becca and I were lucky enough to taste the culinary delicacy that is…deep-fat-fried Nutter Butter.

 

 

Try to contain your jealousy. Actually, it was pretty delicious. I would rank it above the deep-fat-fried s’mores and milky ways.

What a like most about the fair (besides seeing Betsy and her family), is what a complete break from reality it is. For the weekend I barely check my phone, I don’t check my email, or Facebook, or Twitter and I just focus on the moment. You can be anyone at the fair, because no one knows you (last year we convinced some guy my name was Payton), and you can eat whatever you want, do whatever you want. Plus, there are tons of baby animals to “oooooh” over.

 

Folded up in Nature

It’s 85 degrees, sunny, and humid in Omaha today. So I thought, “Hey, today would be a great day for a hike!”

My brilliance amazes even me sometimes. But I was bored and had no plans for July 4th. I haven’t really been working out (thanks to a busy schedule + mono), but I figured I could handle a “nature trail.” Erin and I had talked about going to Schramm Park last summer, but never made it there. Today I decided I would make it there. And I did (thanks Google Maps!).

The very nice park worker at the Aksarben Aquarium gave me a map of the trails and suggested a route for me. It took me through the woods, up and down a little bit, and across three bridges over a creek. I love woods, bridges, and creeks, so it was basically awesome. In the shade of the trees the sun wasn’t so hot and I remembered to wear bug spray today, so that worked out well for me. It wasn’t a very long hike, maybe 2.5 miles, but it was peaceful and refreshing.

I love that moment when you’re deep enough into the trail that you can’t hear traffic anymore, when there’s no one else on the path and you just feel folded up in nature…absolutely enveloped by it.

I discovered this on the trail. Almost every state park trail has benches sprinkled along the way for people to rest, but meditation shelters? That’s a new one. I thought it was pretty cool.