Old McDaniel had a Farm

Last weekend, it was a little cooler out than it had been for a while, so I wanted to do something outside on Saturday. Travis and I decided to grab a sandwich and to take Bailey to the park. Since I hadn't been to McDaniel Farm Park, which is nearby, I decided that it might be a good spot. I had read on-line that it was a subsistence farm, and that it still had its original barn, well shed, blacksmith shed, and house. I was especially happy to read that it was mainly walking trails (with woods, streams, and meadows) and that it did not have a playground. I like kids, but it's nice to get away from them on the weekend when you're a teacher. The park turned out to be really nice and we spent almost three hours exploring the trails (marked and unmarked). Bailey enjoyed the barn and the stream the most. I wish I had remembered my camera so I would have pictures of us... maybe next time, but I was able to get some pics off of the Internet.

Idaho

Several weeks ago, Travis and I got back from visiting his friends and family in Idaho. I would have written about it during the summer, but we left soon after that to go to a conference that he had for work in St. Simons. Obviously, I chose to go on the trip with him, since I'm so supportive and all! Then, school started and I didn't want to spend any free time "working" - which this felt like at the time (since I had to type and plan what I would post). Anyway, back to Idaho:

We flew there on July 3rd, so we were there to hang out on the 4th. For the 4th, we went to a party with his parents, dropped by a party at his sister's house, then went to climb Best Hill with his friends Jason and Korrei to see the fireworks. Here is the view from Best Hill... it was really neat to be able to see all of the fireworks that everyone in the entire town was setting off.

We spent the next day hanging out with Jason and Korrei. We walked around Tubbs Hill, which is right on a lake... and I particularly enjoyed climbing around on the rocks.

We also played with their mini four-wheeler and learned how to play the drums on Rock Band.

Later that week, I learned how to wake board while out on the boat with his parents. I wasn't very good at it, but I was able to get up on the board for a little while (as long as I didn't hit a big wave or anything). Travis was much better at it than me! We also played on the jet skis and he went tubing.

My favorite activity on the water was when Travis and I took the rowboat out for a sunset row on the river - look at him being a good sport about having to row!

We also went on a bike ride with his parents down the Hiawatha Trail. This was a lot of fun (and easy) because you can ride down the mountain on a gentle slope (a 2% grade or less because it was once used for trains), then drive back up it to instead of pedaling if you take two cars. The views were amazing and we got to ride through really long tunnels and over trestles!

One of the most interesting parts of the trip was staying in a lookout tower that was once used to watch for fires. It was a long drive to get there (and back); and it took much longer than it should have because Google maps and my GPS kept sending us to roads that were actually trails. The upside was that during the drive, I saw two moose, two elk, several deer, and other smaller wildlife. Anyway, the tower that we stayed in was on top of Sex Peak. Yes, that's the real name - here's a website for it: Sex Peak Lookout

Even though there were a lot of rocks and it was difficult to walk around, it was neat to have them there because many of the people that had stayed in the past decorated a small rock and left it near the lookout. While we were there, Travis carved our names into a rock (we didn't have any markers or paint).

Here's Travis cooking dinner with the wood stove in the lookout tower. I'm glad we had the stove because it got cold at night, even in July. There's also a picture of me with a snow ball (there was a little bit of snow left).

The best part about the lookout was the view, particularly the sunrise... even though it was really early.

As we were leaving, I went to take a picture of the outhouse and I got more than I bargained for... there was a big deer nearby!

There were so many other things that we did while there, but I just can't blog about all of them... so here's a list of some of them: the tassel (from a pillow) attacking me in my sleep, riding in David's boat, Travis' cousin's birthday, attempting to sing karaoke, and brunch at the casino.

Viva Las Vegas

Heather and I went to Vegas last week and had a blast – but our feet and calves were killing us from all of the walking. They really make it hard to get in and out of a casino without walking a lot… and we wanted to see as many of them as possible. Then, Travis joined us for the weekend and I got to enjoy the walking tour with him all over again. Fortunately, I talked him into using the monorail… since it would save him some time (and me some walking). I don’t really have time to blog much about the trip now, since I am leaving for Idaho tomorrow and still need to unpack and repack my suitcase (I'm traveling a lot more than usual this summer)… but here are some of my favorite pictures of the trip: