Home and Away: Bronson Caves

One definite perk of living just over the hills from Hollywood is that there are really neat landmarks everywhere you look! One of my favorites is Griffith Park. When you visit the park there are so many different areas to explore--it's home to the Hollywood sign, the inspiration for Disneyland, the Griffith Observatory, the old LA Zoo, and the Bronson Caves, just to name a few. So, in honor of the month that channels all thing spooky I think it's a great time to visit the caves... 

Home & Away: Back to the Future, the house.

On occasion my Ben loves to surprise me by sweeping me off to fun places on the scooter. Well, on this occasion we headed to Pasadena: our final destination was the Gamble House (built in 1908 by Charles and Henry Greene, for David and Mary Gamble, of the Proctor and Gamble Co.). Most famous for being an ingenious architectural delight, this national historic landmark was featured in the Back to the Future movies as the home of Dr. Emmett Brown...

The wind smelled of wildflowers...

I went up to Mt. Rainier on a week ago with my mom. The wildflowers were all in bloom, and being neither of us
 had been hiking at this particular time, we decided to go for it. We hiked all around Paradise. Every breath you
 took smelled of sweet wild flowers. It was truly magical...

GNP is awesome!

No silly, I'm not talking about Gross National Product. I'm talking about Glacier National Park and how awesome it is. Nicholas and I were there last week for a speedy day trip through the park. We could have easily spent a few days there, but even in just the one day we saw some spectacular creatures--take a look...

Juno. Gold. Omaha. Utah. Sword.

When Dawn was visiting, we discovered that we had oh-so-many things in common. One unexpected delight was
 that we both have an extreme love of miniatures. So, when Dawn suggested we buy a large bag of toy soldiers
 I was not only supportive, I was giddy.

Just so happens we decided to head to the beach to play war. Thus leading to a post which bears the code names of
the beaches of Normandy as a title. Also, it reminds me of We Have Always Lived in the Castle: Melody. Gloucester. Pegasus. If you haven't read that book yet, you should. It's not about WWII--I may have created that misdirection. Anyway, you can learn more about it on Christine's post highlighted above (which by the way really cracks her up).

There and Back Again, a roadtrip tale part 1

Recently Ben and I went to Austin Texas, road trip style. We left on Wednesday at midnight and arrived at our destination at 11 pm on Thursday. Non-stop, it was awesome.

This could have been Arizona or New Mexico, we drove through both.

Ben was in charge of taking most of the photographs, there were a lot of me driving. Ugh.

These Saguaro Cacti in Arizona reminded me of wedding cake toppers.

More than once did I think there were people trying to run up on freeway traffic.

Look at this island of capitalism in a barren desert.

Loan Cholla standing in a field, at dusk these also looked like people. Freaky.

Birthplace of middle sister (me) and youngest sister (Catherine)

This was at a gas station, we didn't buy gas from them. I bought gas across the street.

Rock on rocks on rocks.

Texas wild flowers, formally known as Mexican Hat Flowers.

Rest stop romance.

Patiently watching a grasshopper with one leg. Sad.

More things to scare me while driving in low light.

This Little Mermaid blanket that my girl Jenny made me comforted Ben and I while away from home.

Of course we saw plenty of these, but can you see the windmills in the distance?

Scenery.

Fire Ants!!

This thing!

And that was a summary of the trip to Austin. There aren't any night pictures because Ben took that driving shift on the way there, but don't worry if you love the desert in the dark we have plenty of pictures from the drive home when I took the late shift. The best part is why we went to Austin...stay tuned for part two to find out.

zoobilee zoo

We went to Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium tonight. It was so much more awesome than the last time I went to Zoolights, which was probably in the 8th grade. Kudos to you, Point Defiance Zoo, for the stellar display.

If you're in the Tacoma area before 1 January, we definitely recommend it. Magical!

Sisterland!

Monika and Catherine in the Badlands circa 1993

Monika and I spent this last weekend making memories. Every time something unfortunate happened, Monika would say, "whatever, we're making memories!" It wasn't in a sweet way, it was sort of a shut up we're having fun kind of way. Our first set of memories were made when we decided we would walk 7 miles to the mall. Memories!

Here are some of my memories from this last weekend.
Scroll down to make my memories your memories!

Olive (or "Crispy" as Monika has started calling her) was a big part of this weekend.

These are Monika's leaf garlands. She made them with Christine.

There are so many damn leaves around her house. 

I'm jealous and it's definitely a part of a memory I made.

We made lots of memories at Disneyland.

Including this one that involved a Disneyland opossum.

The opossum kind of freaked us out. That picture isn't zoomed in. It was just hanging out next to the Nemo submarine ride. I guess if I were an opossum, I would live in Disneyland too. Do you ever think about how if you were a bird where you would live? I used to do this all the time. I would pick someplace cool like the White House, Buckingham Palace, or Woody Allen's penthouse balcony.

Thanks, sister, for all the memories!

Markedly, flea market

While in California (oh, how many post will begin like this?), Monika and I made a Sunday morning trip to the Pasadena Flea Market at the Rose Bowl. 

They gave us $2 bills as change!!!! We were majorly stoked. 

We spent several hours looking through bins filled with all sorts of bits and bobs. 

And came home with stuff like this:

Much, I believe, to Ben and Olive's consternation. 

I took some vacation home with me!

I tried not to go crazy on vacation, but I did bring home several things that will always remind me of my trip. Most of these things were purchased, but I did find several free nature treasures that will go on bookshelves and in shadowboxes.

Bird key chain holders from Stockholm!

You take the bird out but the house stays put. The bird turns into an "R-Whistle".

Barnacle vase!

Cat coin purse from my favorite museum--The Zoological Museum in Copenhagen.

Succulent candle from the Botanical Gardens in Copenhagen.

These are little expandable spoons that come with your Icelandic Skyre (yogurt).
I took all of them home with me. We ate lots of Skyre (we used real spoons though).

I had an amazing vacation, but I was ready to come home.
Plus this little terror was ready for us to come home too.