Good thing I finally got around to putting up this post as the temperature dropped to 30 degrees, eh friends?! Excuse my seasonal lateness here, but I figured I needed to get leaf pics out there before Thanksgiving or else I’d have to wait until next year to show you everything!
Walking around in DC in the Fall is THE BEST. As professed in my previous post, I usually hate fall, but I am down with Fall, at least a little bit, in this grand old city. One thing that makes me sad is that lots of people are not into DC. I just think everyone should come visit and I will change hearts and minds. I will feed them good food, I will take them to bike the monuments at night, we will drink coffee at Union Market, and minds will be BLOWN. I just like liking it here. I think lots of people would. And do!
Events these pictures are from: Going to Eastern Market with Bridget. Going to Union Market with the TAMily. Going to the National Gallery. Fall seems to be all about going places and seeing people and neglecting the blog even though I’m doing plenty of beautiful things. Life’s pretty good.
Know what happened at Halloween? We got tons of trick-or-treaters and gave out bunches and bunches of candy and the whole neighborhood gang of children showed up in one fell swoop. It was like a hostile child takeover of our front porch, and I loved it. Everyone is a princess or a superhero and spiderman makes just one too many appearances, but it’s great. I like living somewhere with more than one generation around. It keeps things fresh.
Let’s just all take a second and take a deep breath.
Does anyone else feel like they need that today? No, seriously. Drop your bag right there on the floor, take off your work shoes, go wash your face, and just breathe.
….
Sometimes, living in the city, and walking through the streets, and rooting around in its mysteries and work and speed, I get overwhelmed by all the urgency.
“Now wait just a second!” I want to shout, right as I get squished into the metro car during my morning commute.
“Hold your horses!” I would mutter under my breath, as I write email after email after email after email to people whose names all blur together.
“Everyone just calm down!” I wish I could exclaim while I wait in line at the grocery store on a Sunday evening.
Usually I don’t say anything. I just move a little faster myself.
….
Even though DC isn’t a very big city, I do miss the outdoors something fierce sometimes. I think there are a lot of people here who do.
Sometimes you just need to go sit on a rock and poke around in some dirt and walk around on a hill where nobody has ever poured a concrete slab and hopefully nobody ever will.
Somewhere where the metro doesn’t run. You know that place?
….
How long has it been since you thought about milkweed? It’s funny how some things are distinctly from your childhood. Milkweed is one of those for me. I felt a little guilty every time I carefully peeled apart a pod and let the fluffy, soft seeds drift on the wind, further propagating a weed.
At least a monarch might eat it, someday. Right?
….
In Shenandoah last weekend you could see that Fall is here. Fall, in fact, is nearly over. On the tip tops of the hills all the leaves were gone, and the wind whips through the trees with nothing to block it now. I probably already told you, but I usually hate Fall. I find it depressing. In general I’m not into endings, and Fall feels like everything in nature is ending.
It was sunny and beautiful out, though. The sun sure feels good when you get to sit in it for a while. And I like the yellows. The yellows of Fall are the one part I like.
….
Not much more to say. Just a pretty sunset, and a deep breath today.
Okay, so maybe “Bath Skyline Walk” doesn’t sound a lot like Luke Skywalker. I thought putting “sky” and “walk” in the same sentence seemed like it was close enough. I was going to spend today writing about London, and how adventurous and fun and urban and hip it was. London is a cool city. World class. Obvi. But we went on a really pretty hike yesterday, and given my general affinity for leafy wilderness pictures, I’ve decided that priority #1 is bringing a very British November hike to the blog. For science.
Bath has gotten cold. I can see my breath outside sometimes now, which is the official indicator of winter. The Brits tell me snow should be on its way, but I’ve yet to see a hint of anything besides rain as far as precipitation goes. Ali and I got lucky with the weather for our lovely walk- it was sunny the whole time, which made for some great views and pictures. We were lucky we got an early start- as the day wore on, all the mud that had frozen the previous night started to thaw, which lead to a few slippery hills and one harmless fall on the last leg of our journey.
The Bath Skyline Walk is very pretty- it’s an easy way to get a good look at the surrounding countryside without having a car or traveling outside of town using anything but your own two feet. It broadly loops around the university, crossing fields and going along fences, until you return to your starting point on Bathwick Hill. Conveniently, the National Trust had set up a little trailer where they were passing out maps and selling memberships right at the start of the walk, and we got lost only a few times very briefly, mostly because of road crossings. England tends to fulfill stereotypes- the long and winding stone walls, the fluffy sheep dotting hillsides, a touch of fog in the morning- that sometimes it’s hard to remember that I’m actually here and not in a movie or something. Visitors are always good for reminding you how cool stuff is, so thanks for reminding me about England, Ali. 🙂
I have more pictures to share from the rest of our trip- we were in London for a while and I finally went to the Roman baths- so those will trickle out over the next couple of days. Now that Ali’s headed home, it’s the home stretch for me here in Britain- 3 papers, 1 thesis proposal, and 26 more days left. Mix in a few job applications and planning a Thanksgiving extravaganza and you’ve got a pretty good feel for my life right now. Luckily I’ve got plenty of disco hits to get me through (thank Mama Mia! for introducing that guilty pleasure) and I think I’ll survive. Have a great week!
Happy Tuesday-after-Thanksgiving-Break! I just got back from Colorado this morning at 2 or something. It was crazy. My flight got delayed by about an hour so I didn’t get home until very late. I may or may not have been wearing my shirt on backwards for most of the day. And by may or may not I mean definitely was. Darn it.
While I was at the airport last night, I decided that I can probably pinpoint my affinity for travelling to visiting the airport as a kid. There is nothing not cool about the airport under the age of 14: big, loud machines that can fly, picking up parents who you missed terribly, probably getting to get a milkshake, and the feeling of being solely responsible for someone’s checked bag getting past you on the carousel. Plus window seats! I’m still a window seat kind of girl. My apologies to my future children, who will definitely have to fight me for those.
Over Thanksgiving break, I didn’t do too much- the majority of my Colorado buddies were out of town, so I spent a lot of time watching Netflix and trying to find my watercolors in all my boxed up stuff. I would say I was successful in both activities! I also went on a tour of New Belgium Brewery (headquartered in Fort Collins, although they’re opening up an East Coast brewery in North Carolina. Woo! It’s like a little Heidi’s-places-of-residence brewery. Awesome.) with Dustin. It was cool!
Look, they even have things decked out for Christmas (and their seasonal brew, Snow Day).
New Belgium does a really good tour. You taste a pretty good number of beers (at least 4) and they’ve decorated most of the rooms that you visit, which are usually both whimsical and bike-related.
My favorite beer (at least of the ones that we tried on this tour) was called Brett’s beer. They said something about it involving tropical flavors. Basically it was a slightly girly beer, aka drinkable, light in color, and named something non-threatening.
New Belgium also ages some of their beers in gigantic barrels like wine. I don’t quite understand exactly what makes that better, but one of the cooler facts about barrels full of heavy liquids is that the wood swells and seals any cracks that could leak. It’s self-leak-regulation! Pretty cool, eh?
I also went on the tour once before I was 21 (maybe 2 years ago?) and they have expanded production significantly since then. There’s an entire building dedicated to bottling now.
Their beer-related art is seriously awesome. Bottle lights!
And a chandelier:
We wrapped up our tour evening with dinner in Old Town. And the next day was Thanksgiving! The baking/cooking abounded. I made a few pumpkin pies, Swedish visiting cakes, and a cranberry-apple pie. Nom nom nom!
Karl got out the accordion after dinner, because apparently no family gathering of ours is complete without a tip of the hat to the Bavarian roots.
Karl’s German (and Germanic activity participation) is WAY better than mine. He’s more German than most Germans.
Plus the Bavarian flag in the background? Wow. Just wow. (Maybe I can’t say that… I have one too.)
We also ate some delicious stuffed squash- such a winter food!
And some asparagus and gravy, served with a cute little spoon…
The next few days were filled with essentially nothing. Erik returned from California on Saturday, so we went over to our old high school and I learned how to ride his motorcycle, which I have been meaning to do for quite a while. It was so much fun! There were 3 or 4 other cars circling the building that definitely contained kids learning to drive stick, so I had some company haha! I’m going to try and get my motorcycle license before I head abroad again. I have to get the permit first and then take a test where you have to do all sorts of stuff, like a right-handed U-turn. Consider that for a minute… it was actually really difficult to practice! No one ever makes a right-handed U-turn!
I was still in the Centennial state until about 7 pm on Monday, so I got to see a few people who were back. Emily and I went to the Market in Denver and ate about half of an insanely-rich-yet-delicious German Chocolate Brownie, which was fun. It’s a cute place!
And that about rounds up my Thanksgiving break! Not too eventful; I probably should have done more schoolwork since I’ve got visitors coming this weekend (and it’s my last in Chapel Hill) and one more big paper (also my last in Chapel Hill). How was your break? Bake/cook anything delightful? Or, if we’re feeling negative today, terrible? Have a nice remainder of your Tuesday night!
1. To find my Kindle charging cord. It vanished as soon as I got to Chapel Hill. Or maybe I just didn’t bring it. Who knows! Point is, the seemingly limitless battery life of my Kindle has dissipated and I am left with nothing to distract me from paper-writing but Netflix and scarf knitting.
2. A lifetime of unlimited New York Times AND Wall Street Journal subscriptions, for even news coverage. A girl needs both the NYT style section and the WSJ’s comprehensive business news coverage to stay up-to-date.
3. A letterpress and the ability to make plates for it. Nerdiest Best wish of all time! I just want to be a paper product designer. Time to switch majors. Is it too late for that? I’ve been lusting after this print on Etsy for a while. And wish I had visited this print shop in Nashville in August:
I’m still thinking of ordering one from them via the interwebs. I keep accumulating all these prints/postcards/art pieces and keep moving so that I never see them for more than a few months. It’s a problem.
4. More time to explore the parts of the South I haven’t seen- namely Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta, and the Outer Banks. I thought I was going to hit all of those while I was living here, but alas, no such luck. I want to see Spanish Moss hanging from trees. That was a major Southern goal for me!
5. An iPhone, or really any kind of phone that will gracefully transition from continent to continent and keep pace with my super chic international lifestyle (aka, living out of a few suitcases worth of stuff for 6-month stretches). I also wouldn’t say no to having a maps app with me- in Munich I had to re-adjust to planning ahead and writing down where I was going instead of just looking it up when I was close. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
6. More time around animals, like cute little Kaya here:
7. A cool mini internship for next August/September somewhere. I was thinking about trying to find something in marketing or another field outside of the political realm, just to switch things up a bit. I also would not mind getting paid- did you see this article about unpaid internships?
8. Some of those tall, comfy-looking knitted socks that everyone seems to be folding over their boots so stylishly these days.
9. Two feet of fresh powder and the first chair up of the day.
10. A book about the history of Berlin, so that I can learn about my future place of residence. T-minus a little over 2 months!
11. Roommates who will eat what I bake and cook.
12. The ability to knit mittens. Think of the possibilities!
13. A pint of lavender and a pint of Earl Grey ice creams from Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. I just bought their cook book (which is very informative and fun to read), but they also have an ice cream recipe book, so I suppose I could just make this one myself.
14. At that, actually, a trip to San Francisco wouldn’t be half bad.
15. Amazing handwriting. I told you, I’m on a paper kick. Just go with it.
17. A herd of kangaroos. Because of course that is a great idea.
Anyway, that’s enough distraction for me on this crisp autumn Saturday (I recently decided to start referring to fall as autumn- it sounds so fancy, and apparently in some countries they only say autumn. How weird is that?). How have the first 12 hours of your weekend been? Any awesome things that should be included on a currently-lusting-after list for late fall autumn?
1. How dangerous is it to drive under the influence of marijuana? Colorado just passed a bill approving the sale of marijuana for recreational use, and the implications aren’t very well known since it’s one of the first states to do so. However… it’s still against federal law. My bet is that this one won’t stand against the Fed, but we’ll see how things play out.
2. How can I fit in knitting time with schoolwork? It’s finally getting cold here and all my winter stuff is hidden away in some other state. Hence, I actually need to finish knitting a scarf that I started in like… March. Okay, early March. It’s going to be awesome when I’m done, but for some reason whenever I get about 6/7 of the way done with a knitting project (read: a scarf, because I never knit anything else) I experience a major lose in motivation.
3. What am I going to do without gebrannte Mandeln this Christmas season?
4. Why isn’t there a decent coffee shop in the main UNC library? This is really cramping my style.
5. What should I wear for the wedding that I’m going to in December? So exciting! I really like this dress at Anthro, but I think I’ll wait and see if it goes on extreme sale or something.
6. I’m going to need more wax for my seal soon. I have just been letter writing up a storm!
7. Departure for Berlin! It’s coming up! I’m out of class on December 5th and heading to Germany January 11th.
8. What else can I use this ripe avocado for besides guacamole?
Anyway. that’s the latest in my brain. Now for one of the last chunks of my D.C. pictures!
These ones aren’t as carefree and exciting as the others, but still captured an important part of our trip- a stop on our way home at Arlington National Cemetery.
The leaves were so pretty during our entire trip. There’s still a few clinging to life in Chapel Hill now, but quite a few are totally gone. Sandy’s slight winds that came our way did quite a number on the only orange leaves I could see from my balcony. Darn it!
Anyway, back to Arlington. I had never been before and was very surprised at how huge the place is. I did not realize that it was that big- from media pictures I always thought it was a really large field, but it’s actually a very hilly area and has headstones dating wayyy back. As you can see in the picture above, not all of the headstones are the matching white ones; some are towering masses of stone, especially in the older parts of the cemetery.
JFK is buried at Arlington, and his memorial/gravesite is really well-decorated with huge slabs in a semi-circle covered in some of his most famous quotes. One of my all-time favorites- “And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” So inspirational.
We also stopped by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but I didn’t take any pictures. I’m not really sure it’s the kind of thing that needs to be photographed. The memorial building/seating area next to it is gorgeous.
It was quite a blustery day and the first time we’d really needed jackets over the course of the trip, but the sun was shining and the views of Washington were really nice.
And that’s our visit to the cemetery. It was a very humbling experience, especially after talking so broadly about security policy in class. I think it’s important to remember that lots of those numbers represent actual people and political science isn’t just theory- it’s actually applicable and political decisions have major impacts on people’s lives. Nowhere is that more evident than in the vast stretches of white tombstones at Arlington.
Once our site visits were over, our group had another few days to explore the city! I was on a mission to find the art museum that appears in Night at the Museum II (a fantastic movie, by the way… you should check it out. It is hilarious. Actually, let’s watch the preview right now! …
… wasn’t that great?) “You’re evil, you’re asthmatic, and what’s with the cape, are we going to the opera? I don’t think so.” Go rent it! Guaranteed laughs.
Anyway, our search for the art was somehow unsuccessful! I had figured that it would be pretty easy to find, but no such luck.
We started off the day by catching the metro. It was actually pretty nice! I was impressed. It definitely made me miss the U-bahn in Munich- subways are fun.
I was surprised to see that most of the metro stops looked the same- I guess I got spoiled by the variety in Germany. Oh well! The industrial look was actually very clean and crisp. And very “Washington,” if that can be a design style.
We had amazing weather once we got to the national mall. Perfect! We walked through the Smithsonian’s sculpture garden on our way, where we saw this really neat tree sculpture constructed out of steel.
It was so intricate for being so large- it was the size of an actual tree. What a cool idea! I think it would be really fun to learn how to weld sometime. You could make so much random stuff! I don’t have a project in mind, but if I ever want a custom wrought iron gate or something I’ll have to figure out how to do it.
I also enjoyed the Paris Metro posts that were in the garden- they really are iconic pieces of sculpture. Plus they’re so art nouveau-y- I dig it!
After our jaunt through the sculpture garden, we arrived at the Mall! Heyyyyy Mall!
The Washington Monument was key to our my navigation throughout the trip. I always like having something tall around to figure out directions by.
I don’t remember a whole lot of my last trip to D.C. as a child, but I did remember the Smithsonian castle and the open spaces of the National Mall. Actual museum contents? Not much, besides astronaut ice cream at Air and Space.
The Smithsonian castle really is a beautiful building. I’d be interested in learning more about why they built it- was it the original museum? Answers would be appreciated.
On our search for the art museum I wanted to visit, we walked through the courtyard of a museum that displayed contemporary/modern art, including this fountain/sculpture combination of the Chinese Zodiac by Ai Weiwei, who is very popular in Germany. I went to see an exhibition of his work in Bregenz, near my family’s home and Lake Constance in Austria.
After an unsuccessful art search and some wandering of the Mall, we dove into the Museum of American History.
I have to say that in general, I was somewhat disappointed with the curation of the Smithsonian Museums that we visited. American History could be an epic museum, and you know that they must have all kinds of great artifacts and memorabilia stashed away- so why isn’t it all displayed?! We first went to the arts and entertainment section, which turned out to be 3 or 4 small rooms, including one full of old violins. What?! I thought this was supposed to be America’s ultimate collection of our country’s history and culture! Given, the star spangled banner exhibit was very nice (having been recently redone; I didn’t get to see the flag when I was there last in 2000 because of rennovations) but the rest of the museum seemed like a sad shadow of what it should be. There was only one exhibit on “American Wars”, including both World Wars and presumably all the other wars we’ve been in. That could (and potentially should) be an entire museum on its own that could be extremely interesting and informative.
I understand that the Smithsonians are (and probably should) be free to the general public, but I don’t think I’d be opposed to paying for the exhibits if it drastically improved the quality of the museums. I don’t mean to put down the Smithsonian Institution (let’s be honest, at least they’re trying), but a little extra effort could go a long way. I believe in you, Smithsonian! Anyway….
The American History Museum actually does have a wonderful exhibit on the presidents and first ladies. Here’s Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown- how neat to see so many dresses from the first ladies! You also get a sense of how tall (or short) they all were, which is a strange feeling. These people… they all actually existed at one point! Haha. Fun Fact: First ladies don’t have to be the president’s wife- sometimes they were a daughter or niece of the POTUS. Cool!
Another cool (and temporary, if I remember correctly) exhibit was the stools from the Greensboro Sit-ins! What a great idea. This was basically the kind of stuff I wanted the entire museum to contain.
Since most of us had been to the Smithsonian before, we also visited a smaller gallery that had lots of ancient Turkish and Islamic tiles and art. It was very quiet and made for a good break in the middle of our day. The building had a lovely courtyard. This trip made me realize how much I miss having art museums to go to! That’s definitely a big city livin’ benefit.
Last of all, we visited the Natural History Museum. I always enjoy a good exhibit on early hominids, so I had a good time checking that out. Some of these buildings are just gorgeous.
There was also a little exhibit about the history of pachyderms. What a weird group of creatures- they’re so intelligent!
That about does it for our trip to the Smithsonian- it was fun to revisit somewhere I hadn’t been for over 10 years! I still feel like I’m too young to be able to say something like that. What are your thoughts on the Smithsonian? Think they should charge an admission fee? What is your favorite museum on the National Mall?
D.C. was an instagram-filled time in my life. It’s just one of those things where you get to a new place and everything is cool enough to warrant some interesting filters. Some fun facts I learned while wandering the nation’s capital are that the First Lady does not have to be the President’s wife (sometimes she was a daughter or niece of the Commander-in-chief) and that you only refer to D.C. as “the District” if you’re asking someone if they’re cool enough to actually live inside its boundaries and not in one of its plentiful suburbs in Virginia or Maryland.
Anyway, here’s a peek at the District.
The White House. [Washington, D.C.]
Hotel Helix, stomping grounds for TAM. [Washington, D.C.]
Home away from home. [Washington, D.C.]
At the National Portrait Gallery. [Washington, D.C.]
The World Bank’s beautiful, beautiful building. [Washington, D.C.]
After lunch at World Bank, where several stories of terraces look over a fountain pool. [Washington, D.C.]
The think tank that publishes Foreign Affairs. [Washington, D.C.]
Near the EU Delegation, the streets abuzz. [Washington, D.C.]
27 member states. [Washington, D.C.]
My favorite site visit. [Washington, D.C.]
Then we got down to a little exploring. [Washington, D.C.]
Metro. [Washington, D.C.]
Chinatown. [Washington, D.C.]
Waving cats. [Washington, D.C.]
The Smithsonian Castle. [Washington, D.C.]
All natural. [Washington, D.C.]
Carousel. [Washington, D.C.]
Waiting for dinner at Georgia Brown’s. [Washington, D.C.]
Monument walk at night. [Washington, D.C.]
Our good friend Abe. [Washington, D.C.]
A stop at Arlington National Cemetery on our way home. [Washington, D.C.]
Here’s a strange fact: I have never really spent a lot of time in Denver. I grew up in Colorado, but Denver was kind of this mysterious land where the zoo was that you could see on the way to the airport. I may or may not have taken my first ride on the light rail this year. That’s a super Denver-y thing to do, if you’re not from there. And I definitely hadn’t done it before. I was more nervous buying that ticket than I ever was trying to figure out transport in Europe! Hehe. Situational awkwardness is the greatest.
Denver, Colorado
Denver is one of the places I’m thinking about moving to after grad school. That’s the first time I’ve actually put that thought into words on a screen, but it’s a pretty predictable one. Now if only there were a bazillion international jobs in Colorado! At least there are a bazillion international restaurants, which is sort of the same thing, right? Anyway, when I finally arrived via Light Rail to Emily, we got some delicious Syrian food. Here’s some Baba Ganoush, which I don’t remember liking before, but loved at this place. Mmmmm! Eggplant.
Denver, Colorado
We got hummus too, of course. Hummus always reminds me of this really funny mini web series I watched freshman year called Dorm Life. There’s an episode at the beginning where one of the students at the first floor meeting says something like, “Who’s going to have some fun tonight?! Hummmm… us? Hummus!” And then they eat hummus and pita bread to get to know each other. It’s delightfully cheesy. So I think of it every time I eat hummus. And then I found five dollars. Moving on.
Denver, Colorado
After that we went exploring around southish Denver. I’m being terribly unspecific, and I’m sorry. I’ll try and do better next time. We were near this theater with a cool sign, if that helps any? It’s an up-and-coming area, according to Emily, who is a total Denver expert. I’d listen to her.
Denver, Colorado
We stopped into this really cute and indie craft store on our way to ice cream called Fancy Tiger, which was a total inspiration to finish the scarf I’ve been working on since I was in Ireland in March. New goal: Have it done by the time it’s actually winter. I think I can do it. Anyway, they had tons of great fabric and yarn all over and they do crafty classes! I will definitely be returning.
Denver, Colorado
After that we stopped in to Sweet Action Ice Cream, which had been hyped up to me for ages by Emily. This place is on lists of top ten ice cream shops in America. ALL OF AMERICA people. That means that it beats like half the fancy ice cream shops in San Francisco and New York, where there’s a WAY higher concentration of hipsters who want some ice cream. That’s super impressive! Guys, I would venture to say it was as good as my all-time favorite ice cream shop, Bi-rite in SF. This is serious business.
Denver, Colorado
It was also the weekend of Great American Beer Festival in Denver, so some of my flightmates on the way out were headed to the brewski-themed convention and Sweet Action had a bunch of beer-themed/flavored ice creams that were surprisingly awesome. I got a scoop of sweet action ale and a scoop of Em’s favorite, salted butterscotch. So. Good.
Denver, Colorado
We browsed the craft class menu for Fancy Tiger while we were chowing down on our ice cream. There’s a ton of neat stuff- even a craft night for men! Hehe.
Denver, Colorado
The next morning we got breakfast at a delightful pancake joint near Highlands Ranch. Sometimes it is just awesome to get breakfast somewhere where the coffee refills are endless and it’s so American your freedom bone hurts. We even got pumpkin and chocolate chip pancakes. Life is good.
Denver, Colorado
The next day we had completely free, so we decorated Emily’s house for Halloween. What can I say? We’re cool like that. Full cobweb coverage is important at this time of year, people!
Denver, Colorado
Emily, in addition to her extensive Denver knowledge, is also a master cobwebber. It’s a little known fact! Even little Max got in on the action. He was maybe, possibly slightly less amused than we were.
Denver, Colorado
So there’s Part I of my Denver adventures! It was tons of fun to explore a new place in my home state, and to connect a few more Denver dots in my mental map. Have you eaten any yummy ice cream lately? What about hummus? Am I missing some other amazing ice cream in Colorado? Have a happy happy rest of your Thursday!
Boy, did it feel good to type that title! What a great bunch of words to string together… fall… hiking… and… Boulder!!!
Boulder, Colorado
I got back last night from a fantastic weekend in Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins. It was so Colorado-y: full of friends, sunshine, high altitude, and delicious eats. Plus the mountains! Woohoo!
Boulder, Colorado
I’ve got lots of food and baking pictures to share later, but here’s a few shots from a hike that Dustin and I went on on Sunday at the South Boulder Peak trailhead. All of the trees are super colorful this year (much brighter than I ever remember them being) and still had most of their leaves. It was gorgeous!
Boulder, Colorado
Everything is, however, definitely drying up for winter too. There were lots of interesting plants along our hike that were all done for the year. I think that I will probably someday get interested in being a naturalist and learning about what all of these things are actually called- at least in Colorado I know some from elementary school science class, but in North Carolina I am completely clueless. That moment of realization came when I was on a hike and walking through some tall grass and thought, “Hmmm… I wonder if there’s big snakes in North Carolina?” Luckily I didn’t find out the hard way, but the answer is yes. Blehhhh!
Boulder, Colorado
Here’s Dustin taking some of the best pictures of all: the ones in your memory. D’awwww! Hehe.
Boulder, Colorado
And here’s some more leaves on our way down:
Boulder, Colorado
And those are Cottonwoods too, not even Aspen trees! I am very impressed. I’ve got lots more to share from the trip, including baking a delightful Swedish visiting cake and some Denver-y adventures. Tomorrow I leave for Washington, D.C. with the TAM crew, which will include visits to the World Bank and the Europe/Eurasia desk at the State Department! I’m really looking forward to it. Thank you so much to everyone who I got to see while I was home- it was a wonderful visit! 🙂
I want to see 
Sapere Aude! 