Last year’s goal of one trip a month was carried over to this year and has been going well. Tampa & New Orleans in January (albeit for work mostly), Oregon & Washington in February, Charlotte, Savannah, and then the ever-adventurous-roadtrip in March. All have been a great time, for the most part. :)

As for April, this past weekend we traveled to the Atlanta area (Alpharetta) for JordanCon and the Admin meeting, and really had a fantastic weekend spent with friends. We arrived on Thursday evening and Cassie was nice enough to pick us up at the airport. We drove up north and ended up meeting with Serenla, Eni, Ayendra, Doll and later Melissa for dinner at Steak & Shake. Had a great time just getting to chat that I wish we could see more often.

Friday we were able to meet up with a friend I work with who is based in Atlanta for lunch before the con really got started. When opening ceremonies did get underway though, Ben and I were both in the opening skit which was a stage recap of the entire WoT series to this point. Jason (Dragonmount) wrote it and it was actually really fun. I was Sorilea and Ben was Mazrim Taim.

We also got to visit with some of my favorite Atlanta friends for dinner and then a fun charity poker tournament. I went all in early in the night with Ace, Nine of hearts. I got called by the chip leader who had king of clubs, six of diamonds. The flop on the board when I went all in was three of hearts, seven of spades, six of hearts. Chip lead guy had the pair of sixes, and all I had was the flush draw, but with two cards to go and four hearts in my hand at this point I was feeling pretty good.

Here comes the flop… King of Hearts! I make my flush! Ace high! Sure, chip lead paired his kings and now has kings & sixes, but I’ve got him. :D “Only king I didn’t want to see,” he says.

Cursory river card is put on the table… King of Spades. King. My brain has a bit of trouble figuring out what this means, but eventually realizes ole’ chip lead across the table now has a full house. I’m out of the game.

It was a fun tournament though, and going out early let me play WoT Scrabble with Azrael and Green Shirt Guy. That was fun too.

--End Part I of JordanCon Weekend recap. Stay tuned for Part II--

So I have a story to tell. I’ll try to keep it short, but I’m going to use some pictures and there’s a bit to say, so it might be long. I’d cut it for you, but really, how often do I post? You might miss it all together :P

The great news is, Ben has moved home! He was offered a really exciting job here in Cincy a few weeks ago and starts on Monday. We’re both really happy and enjoying being back home together.

This is the story of moving Ben from Los Angeles to Ohio.

I flew out to California last Thursday, and we packed up the Sentra and started driving Friday morning. Really we have packing that car down to a science at this point, and everything fits perfectly, all nice and snug. We stopped at target to pick up the essentials for our drive – baked Ruffles and gummy bears!

Back in the car we headed north. We had decided to take the opportunity of the drive to visit friends along the way, and so instead of taking the most direct path, we took five days to make our way east. Day One was our trip from Southern California to Northern California where we helped zdefenestrator and trueaeval move into their new place in Mountain View. We also got to meet Caerwyn’s sons, which was a great surprise. We had a great time and I’m glad the timing worked out so well.

Saturday we were back in the car and headed east. Saturday was also the day I remembered we had Ben’s camera and started taking pictures of the stunning countryside. I’d never been in that part of Cali/Nevada before, and it really was incredibly beautiful.

Ben driving through Cali:


Me as we drive into the mountains:


Beautiful:


I couldn’t believe it when I saw one of my favorite characters ever, Ferdinand!


Mountain with rustic waterfall:


While in Nevada I made some quick cash on the video poker machine:


Refueling stop:



We stayed Saturday night at a Residence Inn type place, in the heart of Salt Lake City. It had a kitchen and a fireplace and a big bathroom and was really nice. When we woke up on Sunday morning I looked outside and saw that it was incredibly windy. Weather.com confirmed that there was a big storm on the way, and we hurried to get the car packed as the rain started to come down.

Salt Lake as we drive toward the freeway:


Driving through the mountains:


From Salt Lake, it was a day driving east on I-80 through Wyoming – another part of the country I’d not seen before. The whole day we were rushing to stay in front of the storm that was trying to catch up to us, and fighting the wind and tumbleweeds on the road. Made it into Denver around six I think, and met up with musickris (Viv), cold_as_iceeeee, coloradoholly, thelordduke, sunrithegreat, marlinya, and later enochxarr joined us too. We went to a great Mexican place, downtown, even though it wasn’t the place we were aiming for. Played hold’em afterward, and then valorian and I stayed at Viv’s place for the night.



Woke up Monday morning and pulled the curtains back to see a horrific site – snow. Not just a little, not just a drizzle, but real Denver snow. Ugh. And we were trying to get to Kansas City that day to visit friends and were hoping to arrive decently early. Double Ugh.

We packed up and headed to the highway. I-70 was shut down and we were on the south side of Denver anyway, so the GPS told us to take Highway 86 out of town and join back up with I-70 in a little town called Limon. It was only a small highway, but we were basically the only ones out there, so we figured we were making better time than we would have in bumper-to-bumper on the freeway.

Let me pause the story here to say that Ben and I are both fine. But, well, here are the pictures:

Highway 86 as we start out:







In short, we were almost to the end of 86 (so close! less than 2 miles until I-70) when we came to a bridge that was iced over, and had a bank of snow in our lane due to the guard rails preventing it from blowing across the road. We hit the snow bank, spun into the grass on the side of the road, and when the car hit the field started to roll. We rolled over twice, coming to rest with the wheels in the air. I was hanging upside down in the car, still buckled into the seat. Ben, who you might realize is a bit taller than me, was upside down as well, but the top of his head was resting on the caved-in ceiling of the car, which was covered with snow coming in the broken windows and the glass that had shattered.

I got myself out of my belt after a few seconds of trying, and fell to the roof of the car. I flipped around so I was sitting on the roof. Ben couldn’t reach his buckle, and somehow I ended up behind him, and he asked me to unlatch it for him, which I did. At the same time, he said, "I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I am bleeding." It really wasn’t a bad injury at all, but there were a few cuts on his scalp, and since he’s obviously bald they end up bleeding a lot. I couldn’t see him at the time though, since I was trapped behind him so I was, in fact, "alarmed." I could reach my cell, which had flown around during the crash, and tried to dial 911. No signal. Again. Again no signal. Ben was partially trapped by the caved in roof, and couldn’t reach his phone. I got into his pocket, got his phone, and dialed 911. No signal. Again. No signal.

We knew there wasn’t much traffic on the road, but there were plows out and it was decently traveled so we hoped someone might stop soon. I was worried because I didn’t know how far off the road we had traveled and how deeply we might be buried in snow. Maybe we looked like we’d been there a while. Plus the snow had come in through the broken windows like I’d said, and though I was fine, Ben was partially in the snow, and it was getting cold. I found some napkins we had in the car for him to hold on the bleeding cuts on his head, and we thought we heard someone stopping near by. In a few seconds we heard a voice call out, "Is anyone alive in there!?" We called out "YES!"

A plow had stopped and used his radio to call the highway patrol. He tried to get the back door open, but of course it was full of all the stuff we were moving, and a few boxes fell out but there was no possibility we were ever going to get out that way. I told him I thought if he could get to my door that it might work. With a little muscle, he got it open far enough for us to climb out.

We really are fine. I have a small line of bruises from where I was hanging by my seat belt, and Ben has the cuts on his head, but it’s nothing significant at all. We were very, very lucky.


We spent about the next 15 minutes or so with the plow driver in his truck. Then I decided to go back and try to salvage what I could before it got buried in snow or thrown when the tow had to reflip the car. It was a mess. A very funny mess. Gummy bears where everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Four pounds of gummies. In the snow. Becoming a frozen, sticky mess. And starting to fuse themselves to just about any surface they could find.





Eventually the Highway Patrolman arrived and took our information and filed the report and all that. An ambulance also came by, because the original call from the plow had reported people trapped in the vehicle, and they hadn’t been able to cancel it before they were already on their way. We told them it was just a couple cuts and nothing major at all. One of the EMT ladies (it was a pair of women) pointed at the side of Ben’s head and said, "What about that bump." I laughed and said, "Oh that’s always there! There’s a matching one on the other side too." :P

About an hour after the crash the "wrecker" arrived and flipped the car right side up again. We didn’t lose too much really. Broken glass and plastic in the snow, but not much else. Then he (his name was Tharin actually), loaded it on the bed of the tow and took us to the town we had been aiming at in the first place, Limon.





We really had almost made it to the freeway. We were *so close.* Tharin asked us where we wanted to go and we were really at a loss. We had been trying to reach AAA but had been on hold, and told that there were no car-rental places in Limon. We eventually ended up at the U-Hall rental center, but they were out of trucks.

We spent the next 30 minutes or so trying to figure out what to do. Eventually we found that there were U-Halls available in a town called Flagler, 30 miles east of Limon. Tharin found a ride for us with a guy from the towing company (we think – that part is a little confusing) named Dick. Dick was a great guy and picked us up and helped us find the U-Hall "rental office."

Why the "" you ask? Well, because the U-Hall "rental office" turned out to be a single-wide trailer inhabited by an elderly couple with a yappy puppy, a lethargic cat, and some fish. They really were very nice, but they struggled to figure out how to use the computer to make a record of the rental. Eventually I asked if I could help and took over at the keyboard. We got back on the road maybe 40 minutes later and headed back to Limon where the Sentra was resting peacefully in the wrecker’s lot.

A 30 minute drive later, we found the Sentra and started loading all the cargo into the truck. Took some pictures and got back on the road heading east toward Kansas City. We knew we wouldn’t be able to meet with al_morgan and jadirablue as we planned, and I sent them texts.







We eventually got into KC around 1AM. And though we had missed our dinner plans, we were still able to meet up with penryn and pylar since we were staying in Lawrence and they are up nights for work and stuff. We grabbed some food at IHOP, though I still wasn’t really feeling calm enough for real food and so had some saltines and a salad. Ben, who you may know has been through this sort of thing before, had pancakes, sausage, and deviled eggs. :P

We had made arrangements to change to a rental car in Lawrence, and so woke up Tuesday morning and started the process of picking up the new car, refueling the U-Hall, moving all the cargo, sweeping the dislodged glass shards out of the truck, and turning it in at the (real) office. We met Penny & Py again for a quick lunch right next to the U-Hall place which happened to be basically within walking distance of their house, and then we were on our way again. East.

There were thunderstorms in the area, but we mostly avoided them. We saw a beautiful sunset reflecting off the storm clouds, but by this time the camera was completely full of accident pictures so we don’t have any images of that. It was a blessedly uneventful drive though.

We arrived home around midnight. We unloaded the car and then dropped it off at the rental place down the street, dropping the keys in the after-hours box.

Ben went in to his new office the next day. His new company seems great, and we’ve started looking for a new car. Things really are going very well. We’re very, very lucky.

Fall Ball at Walt Disney World, Florida, was great. It was a full week of vacation. Not exactly relaxing, but definitely fun. I’ll try to give a very brief account, and attempt to avoid rambling on as I usually do in these posts.

Thursday
Awoke very early for my flight out of Dayton. Found a hospitality area that I had access to and stocked up on hot chocolate. \o/ Flight went as scheduled (miracle of miracles!) and Ben had arrived from LAX and was waiting at my gate in Orlando. Took Disney’s Magical Express shuttle to hotel, room wasn’t ready, so we stashed our bags and headed to Magic Kingdom. Met up with Brian (Emp) & Miriam (Yveva), grabbed some lunch in Tomorrowland, and hit the rides. Mickey’s Philharmagic was fun, as was Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and the Tomorrowland Transit Authoritay. While on the TTA Valo decided it was his mission to high five one of the people movers going in the opposite direction. It didn’t happen.

Had the welcome reception back at the hotel. Got to meet all the new peeps – some great new folks! Had some gold, told the story (“…As the first Aes Sedai…”), hung out and gave the game plan for the weekend. Had some cheeseburgers with the group in the food court.

Friday
Group met for food in the food court and headed to Epcot. Here’s the group:

We split up a bit once we got there though, and found more of our friends too. Valo and I ended up with Yele, Kari, Jyneave & Bo (the people in red in the picture) for most of the day, and had an awesome time. We stuck to Future World in the morning and did Spaceship Earth, and The Land (Soarin’ is amazing!) and then headed to the Coral Reef for lunch with the big group. Lots of fun (and fun pictures later).
World showcase was great. Went to Mexico for a boat ride. Went to Norway, took a boat ride. Followed by an obnoxiously out of date filmstrip. Um, other countries after that and then got to the reception site around 6:30. It officially started at 7 and went well. Ceremonies were fun, food was yummy, drinks included brandy. :D
Epcot closed earlier than originally scheduled so we walked over to the Boardwalk. Explored the Disney Vacation Club, looked in on the Dance Hall and piano bar and decided to go to Downtown Disney. Ended up at the Irish Pub for some late drinks & food.

Saturday
Decided to skip Animal Kingdom for the time being and proceeded directly to Disney Studios. Went straight to Rock’n’Roller coaster, which we rode twice. Ben & Brian rode Tower of Terror while Miriam and I took a different elevator. We were at the new Toy Story carnival ride by 10:30 I think, but all of the fastpasses for the day were already handed out. Stand-by wait time was 70-90 minutes, so we skipped it. Saw Muppet Vision 3-D, the Great Movie Ride, Magic of Disney Animation and had some lunch at the ABC Commissary since the nicer restaurants were full. Walt Disney’s One Man’s Dream was closed early, which I was disappointed by. We then went to the group meeting point (Sorcerer Mickey Hat) at 3pm and had the fun surprise of a parade. Found Kari but she was with family, so we (Emp, Yveva, Valo & myself) decided to go to Downtown Disney early. Did a bit of shopping and had supper at Rain Forrest Café, and then went over to DisneyQuest. DQ was a lot of fun, more than expected actually, even though I have minimal gaming skilz.

Sunday
After a nice extra hour of sleep due to the time change, we went to the farewell breakfast in the hotel café. Lots of catching up with those who we hadn’t seen, and then we were off to Magic Kingdom. Big group rendezvoused at the Philharmagic store and even with a mighty effort we couldn’t manage to stay together to get to the Haunted Mansion. Eventually the group fractured and Valo, myself, Andra and Yele covered the park for most of the rest of the day. Avoided a bit of rain at Snow White’s Scary Adventure, and had a great time on the Tea Cups (video to follow :) ), Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch’s Great Escape, the Monster’s Inc. Laughfloor, Space Mountain, and the TTA – And Ben got his high-five from the car in the opposite direction! I was sadly disappointed to find that the Hall of Presidents had been closed to refurbish the exhibit following the election. I had been especially excited to talk to the host on election day or the day after, so was majorly bummed that it wasn’t going to happen, but at least we got to stop in on Thursday.
In the evening we had a great time on the Jungle Cruise and of course searching for Pin Trading Opportunities, and then had a lovely dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern. It was a fantastic finish to the Fall Ball part of the trip.


Monday
While touring through the castle on Sunday I had made an off-hand comment to the guest relations desk asking if they had any breakfast openings for Cinderella’s Royal Table. It was really a facetious comment because I had called the WDW Dining line dozens of times asking for reservations and everything was full. A nice man there found a way though and we had reservations for breakfast Monday morning!
When we arrived (which wasn’t easy because the park wasn’t open yet and we didn’t have instructions of how to get to the castle) we took pictures with Cinderella and then were escorted to our table. The best table in the whole place. Right in the center of the room, up against the stained glass windows overlooking Fantasyland. It was absolutely lovely. We had some food and took pictures with the princesses. I’m glad to have been able to show Ben one of my favorite spots. It really is geared toward kids though, and I don’t think I feel the need to go back in the future, this visit was enough.
I’m starting to ramble on like I was trying not to do. Back on track!
After a few pics in MK, we took the monorail to Epcot and really took aim at completing the whole park. Did all the Seas exhibits including the new Nemo ride, Turtle (tur-Tul) Talk with Crush, and some quality time with dolphins & manatees. Over to the land for another ride on Soarin’ (gifted to us by a benevolent man with extra fasspasses!), and then over through Innoventions to ride Test Track and Ellen’s Energy Adventure. The first half of the Energy Adventure was great, but sadly I can’t tell any more than that because the ride locked up and we had to all be escorted from the building. :( Ben rode Mission Space, but I didn’t think I could handle the motion (looking back this was the correct decision), and then we took another spin on Spaceship Earth and then visited with Figment.
Next on to the World Showcase! The new 360 film in the Canada pavilion is super fun (though they really need better signage!), and really makes Norway look even more pitiful. The highlight of the World Showcase though was the American Pavilion. We were there about a half hour before the “American Experience” show was scheduled to start, so we watched the David Cassidy concert which was part of the Food & Wine festival. Then we went back to the US pavilion and into the theatre. The show repeatedly wowed me and Ben. By the end we were laughing about how ridiculously good the show was.
We enjoyed some international cheeses and popcorn (after a lot of walking to find them) and then got a good spot for IllumiNations. Great show as always, and a great ending to the day.

Tuesday
We started election day with Animal Kingdom. Got a fastpass to Kilimanjaro Safaris, and did Rafiki’s environmental watch. Then back to Safaris to get another fastpass and use our first one for the ride. Saw some fun animals, pictures later. Also did the walking trails, the Flights of Wonder show, It’s Tough to be a Bug, and had a nice lunch outside the Yak & Yeti. We tried twice to see the Finding Nemo show, but both times it was full well before showtime.
Best ride at AK though was the new Expedition Everest. I was a little apprehensive because of the size of the drop that was visible, but I’d heard really good things. It turned out to be very very fun – and very surprising! They should really tell you ahead of time if you’re going to be traveling backwards for a fair part of the trip!
After AK we took the shuttle to Disney Studios, with three goals in mind. 1 – the Toy Story carnival ride 2 – Fantasmic 3 – Star Wars Pins. Toy Story ride was of course out of fastpasses again, but we waited the 60+ minutes and eventually made it on. Great ride! They really need to figure out how to get people through the line faster, but other than that, two thumbs up! (And I beat Ben’s score at the game! :) )
We didn’t find any pins we especially liked at Star Tours, but got some good pictures. And we also got some popcorn and hot chocolate before Fantasmic.
After the final show we busted over to the busses and got right on a shuttle back to the hotel. Then it was to the café to get a pizza and some soda and to the room to watch the election results! \o/

Wednesday
Our last day in Florida started with packing up our bags and having some leftover pizza for breakfast. We were happy with everything we had seen in the parks and felt content. But we had a few hours before we had to be back for the airport shuttle and so headed to Epcot (via a shuttle to MK, and then riding in the front car of the monorail to Epcot) to explore more of Innoventions. Turns out we’d seen most of Innoventions already so we went back to The Land and went on the Living with the Land boat ride, which was one of my favorites. On our way out we got some food and I decided to have an ice cream novelty which were quite good. I couldn’t decide if I should have the premium Mickey bar or the ice cream sandwich, and when I told the ice cream girl that it was my last thing I was getting before we went to the airport, she said I should have the premium for sure, and I agreed and she gave me it for free! =D

It was a great trip and there was so much more that I’d love to talk about but I know I’ll just never be able to say it all. We loved pin trading and got some really great pins, and we got wetter than desired on an indoor jungle cruise ride, and rode the real jungle cruise late at night which was lots of fun. Most of all though it was the people that made it such a fantastic trip. Love you guys!

You are a Social Liberal (83% permissive) and an... Economic Moderate (43% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

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Date:	2008-04-05 23:26
Subject:	Maps
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative

Stolen from Serenla

My countries visited:


create your own visited country map

It feels like more than it looks. I really need to do something about Canada though. << >>


My states visited:


create your own personalized map of the USA

Have I been to Connecticut? I really have no recollection.

Especially for those who read the whole account of our trip, here are some pictures of Ben and I in NYC. :) (Evidently we decided to remember to take pictures on Monday only << >> )


We went to Belvedere Castle on Monday…


Here’s Ben at the Castle…


And then both of us…


Me at the reservoir…


At Shakespeare’s Garden…


And then on to Grand Central. Here’s Track 29 – where the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo started out (which we learned during January’s adventure). Ben is taking a look around…


Both of us at Grand Central. You can see the famous clock behind us…


And then it was on to the NY Public Library. Here’s Ben with one of the famous lions out front…


And then both of us in one of the atriums…



That’s basically the decent ones. Next time we’ll have someone else take a few of them so that you can see the background better. :)

We now bring you the exciting conclusion of “Ben & Shannan take NYC – Part II”!

Saturday:
- Grabbed some doughnuts (a Ben & Shannan flight tradition) and headed to the Dayton airport
- Broken parking ticket system yielded some tense moments in Dayton, but were overcome
- Ben talks Shannan out of getting pizza in the airport :(
- Quick change of planes in the NWA terminal in Detroit. Seriously - The prettiest part of the whole city. It's sad.
- Grabbed the best Taco Bell tacos I've had in years on our way through the airport and onto the plane. Ben had a blue cheese steak sandwich he was impressed with as well. He doesn't feel this note is journal-worthy, but I tell you, if I found such tacos in Cincinnati there might be a whole post about it.
- Flight arrives at JFK, we make our way into the city and find our hotel. Along the way we make dinner plans with Kariada & Hillary (airspaniel).
- Meet said Kari & Hillary at our hotel and proceed to explore Manhattan in search of dinner. End up at a lovely Italian place Hillary knew called Ciro. I had pasta with pesto & tomato sauce - yum!
- Dinner was wonderful because of the company. I had never had the chance to meet Kari in person (*shakes fist at last March's NYC weather*) and I'm so glad I got to before Anni! And Hillary was a friend of Ben's from when they both lived in Tulsa and I didn't really know much about her. But man! If I lived in NYC I fear I may become her stalker. A girl who is not only a fan of "How I Met Your Mother" but also Curling? Surely we're MFEO.
- Nice walk back to the hotel. Got to chat with Kari a bit more before she had to head back home and we collapsed in pure exhaustion.

Sunday:
- Walked to the corner deli/bakery/cafe place for a slice of pizza for... we'll call it brunch. Yum NY Pizza.
- Our focus for Sunday was to explore south of our hotel. First Stop: Hells Kitchen Flea Market. Outdoors on a cold day, but still some fun stuff to look at. And after we'd gone up and down all of the booths on the street, we took the shuttle to the "Antiques Garage" for more of the same.
- From here we made the decently long walk toward Times Square. As we approached we started to encounter some traffic, both auto traffic on the streets, and foot traffic on the sidewalks. And they were all waiving these medieval looking banners of red with a black phoenix looking thing. Turned out to be a celebration of the newly established independence of Kosovo. Lemme tell you, Kosovians are a happy group. At least over this past weekend. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718J1R1uGYU – a bit long and repetitive, but captures the atmosphere)
- Unable to reach the heart of Time Square through the throng of Kosovian dancing, we turned east and headed to Grand Central. If I’ve been there before I was distracted didn't absorb much so I got to see the famous ceiling and clock and where my beloved Hackers rollerbladed right before hacking the Gibson. << >>
- From there it was another quick walk to the NY Public Library (the one with the lions out front) who was having a Jack Kerouac exhibit. We wandered for a bit and saw some of the history of the city and a lot about baseball, and then it was off to our next destination!
- We took the train down to 14th (by now it was raining more than a little) and walked to a place called City Bakery. They’re famous for their hot chocolate and homemade marshmallow. It was divine. Highly recommend visiting if you’re into that sort of thing.
- City Bakery was where we met up with one of my dearest friends, Victoria (http://www.howlingvic.com/), who has lived in NYC since leaving Columbus in 1998. It was so wonderful to see her again, and we all got to the chance to catch up and talk about the important and not-so-important stuff of life.
- It continued to rain as we left City Bakery, but we walked east and through Union Square and down through the east village. It was a nice tour, but it was pretty late on a Sunday night, so nothing much was going on. Walked all the way down 2nd Ave to 1st street, then came back up north on 1st Ave.
- We went back up toward the hotel, and the rain really started to come down. It was still warm though, so things could have been much worse. We looked for dinner spots and ended up at a little Greek café on 9th. The person who tended our table instantly adopted us and treated us as if we were a niece & nephew and he was going to serve us what he knew was best. Friendly older guy, really cute place.
- After an exhausting day of fun, we ran back through the storm to the hotel and crashed.


Monday:
- Today's focus: all points north of our hotel. Central Park and beyond.
- Start off walking due north along Central Park West. While lovely, not too much breakfast to be had. Eventually we wander a little wester and find first a bakery called Magnolia Bakery that seems to specialize in cupcakes (I wonder if this is related to HIMYM's Buttercup bakery), but eventually find a breakfast of quiche & bagel with lox & cream cheese for Ben, and pancakes with fruit for me.
- Continue back into the park and just enjoy the day. It's warm and the rain held off for us for most of the afternoon. We walked around Belvedere Castle and Shakespeare's Garden and The Jackie O Reservoir and back down to the obelisk. It was a highlight of the trip.
- We debated visiting the Met, but decided to walk back over to the west side of the park and go to the Planetarium instead. We got tickets to see a show, "Cosmic Collisions," and then walked around the facility. In short, we learned that the Universe is a big place. We also learned that the moon hit the earth a long time ago and that's why we wobble. And we had fun recreating the jokes that Colbert had done on his show during his recent visit to the same place.
- After the planetarium we decided to wander around the Museum of Natural History for a bit, which is considered the same admission as the planetarium. I'd been there when I was in NYC for work a few months ago, but the place is huge, and we ended up exploring rooms I hadn't had time to see. Much fun. What we learned there.... Quartz is very cool and seems to want to be a square all the time. Um, and Gold is twice as dense as lead. And all the gold ever mined throughout history if combined would be a cube about 19 yards per side. It's really not that much.
- It was raining when we left the museum so we decided to take the train back down to 14th and visit a bookstore Kari & Hillary had recommended - The Strand. We each found a book we're excited about. Ben has Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and I got Ken Jennings' (of Jeopardy fame) trivia almanac.
- On our way out of the bookstore we asked the cashiers if there might be any Indian food nearby, and they recommended we walk over to 6th ave and head south. Which is what we did. We ended up finding a place called "Sammy's Noodles and More" which was basically Cantonese, with red paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling advertizing Tsingtao beer. Ben had one and decided he liked Jimmy's namesake. I had some of the best fried rice this side of Moy's in Columbus, and Ben had some impressive wonton soup with crispy chicken. Triumphant last night in NYC dinner. \o/
- As a lovely end to our evening, we decided to head back up to the hotel and grab some desert at the EuroPan that we had visited the day before. So, back up to the 14th street subway we went and then changed to the blue A-C-E line. After a, er, brief unplanned tour of a subway station in Queens, we were back on the right train and eventually made it back to where we wanted to go. << >> At EuroPan I got an apple tart and Ben got a piece of chocolate cake.

Tuesday:
- Packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel. Stopped at Starbucks for breakfast and we’re back on our way to Queens on the subway – but this time on purpose.
- We took the V train to Astoria (where Victoria used to live) and used our last day in NYC to visit the Museum of the Moving Image. It’s a smaller museum and we were able to see the whole thing in just a couple of hours, and they had some really interesting film memorabilia. The museum is in a building that was once the largest production studio between London and Hollywood, and they just had a really comprehensive display of the entire industry. (And Ben and I *might* have touched Richard Gere’s suit from the “Razzle Dazzle” number of Chiago << >>)
- From there it was a quick taxi ride to LaGuardia where we had some food and eventually flew out to Detroit and back home.

It was a fantastic trip and has definitely served as encouragement to take similar trips to other cities. We’re thinking we might do something comparable for a trip to Vegas soon. Let us know if you all are going anywhere fun in the near future, and maybe we’ll meet you there!

Commercial Break:

February - check!

Operation "every month of 2008 must include at least one exciting adventure" is on track. January was the somewhat impromptu trip to Chattanooga for Chattacon and visiting Jenn & Jimmy as well as Sela & Dralyn (+ Fam) in Alabama. February wasn't looking "hopeless" but I really didn't have many ideas for what we might do that would look good on a Christmas card. << >>

But inspiration hit his past Monday! I was sitting with someone I work with at my desk, when Delta's "Weekly Web Fares" e-mail popped into my inbox. Ah! Presidents Day! When I was in high school, Presidents Day meant the Arts & Music program's trip to New York City. So even though I was in a meeting (albeit an informal one) at my desk, I had to open the email just to see if NYC was listed. And there it was. Cincy to JFK - $109 each way.

Well, that was completely doable. And NYC was a trip that we had been meaning to make since Ben and I started dating. I think we were both surprised that we hadn't made it to the city yet - at least together. It took us a few days to get organized, but on Wednesday afternoon I bought the flights (ended up using NWA, since the Delta flights sold out super fast) and then was on my way to hotwire.com to find a hotel.

We don't really have an allegiance to any specific hotel brand, and just had a general idea of where we'd like to stay - ideally, Midtown. This is usually when hotwire comes in very handy. It's a bit of a leap of faith since you don't know where you're staying until you've already paid for the stay in full, but we've never been stuck in a really bad spot, and it's always cheaper than the prices "off the rack” - usually significantly so.

And this time, hotwire really came through. It put us at "The Hudson" very near Columbus Circle, right in at the top of Midtown on 58th. It was lovely. It was actually so lovely that I really don't feel like I belonged there. Everyone was obviously wealthy, and I'm convinced a lot of them were famous, though I'm not in-tune enough to recognize most of them.

The room was super-small, but that's to be expected. And it was fun. Funky lamps with faces seemingly kissing... or maybe eating?... live sparrows, that you could spin around for a blue or green light. Dark wood paneling with large mirrors on both sides to make the space feel larger. Tiny bathroom with an exposed bowl sink and floating faucet. And the wall that separated the bathroom from the bedroom was plexiglas, so you could look right through the shower into the sleeping area. It was just cool.

Though, of course, the hotel was not the focus of our trip. We had a great, great time. Here's a recap, in brief:



End of “Ben & Shannan take NYC – Part I”
Please stay tuned to this LJ channel for the exciting conclusion!

(it turned out the “brief” recap was not so brief, so I’ve decided to split this post into two parts so it looks like I’m more LJ-active << >> )

Hello all my LJ friends!

I know I said I would try to give more mundane updates via LJ, and so this is one of those. Why today? Well, I’m in training for work today. So, as I sit here in conference room TE8-5, I thought I might take a few minutes to say hello.

About a month ago Ben and I started receiving holiday cards from around the country, and around the world in some cases. Some were from family and old friends, but most were from tower people. It was great fun to see each card come in and our favorite game became trying to guess who each was from before opening the envelope. Some of you spoiled the surprise by putting your tower names on the outside of the envelope. :P

One of those cards was from an old friend of mine though - Laura. Actually, I think she’s read WoT, but she’s not a Tower or DM person as far as I know. We were best friends in high school, and our parents are still very close, so I get regular updates on what she’s up to. Laura lives out in San Francisco now, and she’s married to a nice guy named Anand Swaminathan. (Jewish fellah, eh? :P ) She’s a genetic councilor, and they have a nice pit bull dog and are now expecting their first child. All very exciting. Their holiday card though really got me thinking. It had a collage of pictures of them – one with the dog, one a sonogram of the kid, and the rest of them on their adventures. Laura and Anand on top of a bridge in Sydney next to the opera house, Laura and Anand in Trafalgar Square in London, Laura and Anand on the beach in Thailand. And on the back, a note describing their year. It seemed like they did something exciting every month. “In June we went to Sydney, in July we drove down to Baja, in August we visited with friends on the east coast, in September we both got promotions at work…”

This is the kind of year I want to have. Next year, I want to send out a holiday card that says “In <'insert month here'> Ben and I <'insert exciting thing here'>. It doesn’t have to be an expensive thing, but at least one exciting thing. I think it’s a pretty good goal. So here’s my plan so far…

January – We went to visit Dralyn & Sela in Huntsville, then met Jenn & Jimmy for the weekend at Chatta*con.
February –
March – Anni of course!
April – Possibly a wedding in Hershey, PA. Hey Emp & Y – can we crash with you? :)
May – Mar*Con in Columbus
June –
July –
August –
September – Uh. Dragon*Con. :P
October –
November – Fall Ball at Disney World! (Actually starts 10/30, but mostly in November)
December –

We’re also hoping to take one international trip sometime this year. I still have some vacation left from last year, so hopefully we can fit it in before it expires this spring. Visiting the UK is our first choice, but we’re still putting ideas together.

Well, lots of other things are going on, but I think maybe this is enough of a rant as it is. I’ll post this now so I can stop fiddling with it and get to work on posting at the tower and maybe even some e-mail.

Oh, and finally, the thing that actually got me starting thinking about posting here…. I took that tarot meme thing, and was amused by the result:

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Date:	2007-12-09 12:20
Subject:	A post for no reason at all
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

I don’t write entries for LJ as often as I’d like… and usually when I do it’s to post about something significant that’s happened. I love reading though about my friends’ daily lives, and so I thought I’d post a more mundane entry and just give a general update on what’s going on in my world.

Work is going well. And, I post here so infrequently, it’s completely possible that a lot of the people reading might not know what my work is. I still work at Procter & Gamble, but I changed jobs in August and I’m now the Digital Marketing Manager for Actonel (www.actonel.com), the osteoporosis medication. So, mostly, that means I do all the advertising for Actonel that’s on the web – our website, WebMD, Google ads, and all of that. I’ve only been at it a couple months, but I like it so much more than my old role. Lots more interactions with people, and more high-level work instead of field-level design. I like it a lot – now I want to feel like I’m actually good at it.

Home and family are wonderful as always. Ben and I are happy, though I suppose we could be happier if we lived somewhere other than Cincinnati. But P&G is a great gig, and makes it difficult to leave. We put up our Christmas tree this week… it’s all blue and white… and it even has a few presents under it, so that’s nice. We also will be visiting my family this upcoming weekend for our annual Cookie Day – which, really, we should rename Four, maybe Five, Days of Cookies. Ben and I started making the candied buckeyes yesterday, and we’ll continue today. Friday will be form cookies with my mom, and then Saturday (and maybe a little bit of Sunday) will be the rest of the cookies (probably about 10-15 different kinds) with my mom, Ember & Matt (sister & bro-in-law). With my dad randomly mocking us throughout the day. Good times.

Tower work is going well too. Registration for Anni couldn’t have gone better. There are some really fun people on the waitlist, and that makes me sad, but the process worked just as planned. Committee chairs are almost solidified, and then we’ll be able to get down to the real planning. \o/ Fall Ball is good too, thrilled with the contract, just need to get my signed copy back and then I’ll be able to start posting details. Then we’ll start with registration and all of that after we get back from Anni.

Hm. Cat is happy. House is doing pretty good. My mom & dad came down the Saturday after thanksgiving to help me fix a leak in the basement. It was a comedy of errors as almost all plumbing jobs are, but in the end my dad and I were extremely happy with the results, and consider what we’ve learned may result in a new day of plumbing. I’m stupidly excited about it, and I really think I might be able to fix plumbing stuff in the house on my own in the future. Someone else can handle electrical problems though. I might be an engineer, but I just don’t dig current.

Let’s see. Friends. I miss my WoT friends so much. I know we’ll never live all in the same city or anything, but it’s hard to see the people you like most only two or three times a year. I know you can all relate.

I’ll try to post more frequently. Maybe I’ll do some of those little quizzes or personality inventories. I love hearing about your lives, so I’ll try to do better at sharing the interesting parts of mine.

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful notes of support over the last few days – it’s really meant a lot. My family and I are doing well, though there have of course been some very rough times, and are sure to be more ahead. We’re starting to be able to laugh again though, and I’m happy knowing that’s what my grandmother (“Gr” when we wrote back and forth) would’ve wanted.

We started working on her obituary on Sunday, and I think it turned out well. Here’s what it said:
“A Funeral Mass Celebrating the life of Ruth Alice Watson Lieb, 84, of Thornville, will be held at 10:00 am Thursday, August 2, 2007 at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Buckeye Lake with Msgr. Frank J Meagher celebrant. Entombment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, Pataskala.
Ruth died suddenly Saturday evening. She was born in Columbus, on March 26, 1923, the daughter of the late William Russell and Rhea Harris Watson Oberholtzer. Ruth, a graduate of Holy Rosary High School, was a former member of Christ the King Catholic Church in Columbus.
A lifelong homemaker, she was described as "the glue that held her extended family together”. She was young at heart and in attitude, with a kind and loving manner. She enjoyed playing dominoes and cards with her friends.
She was an active member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Buckeye Lake where she participated in: RCIA, served as a lector, home and hospital Communion Lay Minister, Buckeye Lake Food Pantry, Vacation Bible School, and Summer Lunch Program in Buckeye Lake. She was also a member of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Kissimmee, Florida where she was active with Meals on Wheels, Give Kids the World and the Good Samaritan Thrift Shop.
Ruth was preceded in death by her loving husband of 55 years, George Lieb, her Sister Joanne Brown-Koch, her brother Bill and son-in-law William Markle.
Ruth leaves her loving children: Bill(Sharon) Lieb and Mark (Roxie) Lieb of Thornville, Tom (Marilyn) Lieb of Reynoldsburg, Laurel Lieb Markle of Roaming Shores, Ohio, Karl Lieb of Merritt Island, Florida and Tony Lieb of Columbus. She will also be deeply missed by her grandchildren: Annette (Aaron) Roach, Amy Lieb, Shannan Lieb, Aaron (Kariel) Lieb, Ember (Matt) Hobbs, Evan Markle, Jessica (Jonathan) Pokorny, Nolan Markle, Andrew Lieb and Elizabeth Lieb. The loss of Mimi is also felt by her great-grandchildren :Michael (Marsha) Lieb, Heather Lieb, Samantha Lieb, and her great-great grandchildren, Alexis Lieb and Luke Kerber; and by her many nieces and nephews. She will be greatly missed by her numerous relatives and friends who cherished her.
Ruth’s family will receive friends on Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. and Wednesday from 2-4 and 6-8 pm at the Hoskinson Funeral Home, 285 East Main St in Kirkersville, where DeColores services will be held at 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday and a Christian Wake Service will be held at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday. An on-line guest register and video tribute of Ruth’s life is available at www.hoskinsonfuneral.com.
The family has requested that expressions of sympathy in the form of Memorial contributions be made to ALS of Northeast Ohio 2500 E. 22nd. Street Suite 102, Cleveland, Ohio 44115.”

Here’s a pic of my Grandma:


Here’s my Grandma & Grandpa:


Here’s me and my Gr:


There’s a slideshow too if anyone is interested: http://www.keepsakenetwork.com/video.aspx?Film=561

I don’t use LJ as much as I’d like, and I hate to come back and make my first post after so long one of sad news. But I wanted to let people know why I’m going to be unavailable for a little while – especially with D*Con and MoR duties picking up.

I’m going to be going up to Columbus for a week of bereavement for my Grandmother, who passed away this past Saturday evening. She was 84, but in very good health, and it’s an unexpected accident that has rocked my family. She was leaving dinner with friends after church and was struck by a car while crossing the street – we really think it was just very bad luck, but we don’t have the police report back yet.

She was truly the matriarch of my family, and adored by every single one of us. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with her, and we’ve been very close for the past ten years. I’m not really ready to talk about how much of a loss this is quite yet, but I want to come back later to talk a bit about how amazing she was.

Some things are going very well though, and I want to come back and talk more about those too. Ben and I are very happy with life, we got to spend a great weekend with Ban and Karassa camping in northern Ohio, we’ve gotten to travel a lot, and I have a new job. Lots of things are going well, and I’ll plan to come back and post more about them after this week.

I really had a good time with everyone’s personal quizzes last week, and was very interested in the answers, and also in the questions everyone chose to ask. I was disappointed though that the quiz generator didn’t show the correct answers for the ones that were missed. I thought I’d post a little about the questions and answers I used in my quiz, and I would love for others to post a little about why they included everything that they did in theirs. :)

My quiz –

My least favorite course in college, by far, was…
- Yoga – possibly my favorite class, I’m sad I haven’t kept up with it, I miss breathing well
- Physics – eh, not my favorite, but not evil
- Engineering Mechanics – bane of my existence for a year; seriously didn’t think I’d make it through
- Calculus – I had the best calc teacher ever! Loved all my calculus classes!

I consider this my hometown
- Cincinnati, Ohio – Um, no. I live here, but I don’t like it.
- Maineville, Ohio – Technically this is my address right now, but it doesn’t actually mean anything.
- Reynoldsburg, Ohio – My address growing up, but not the town I went to school in or my friends were from.
- Pataskala, Ohio – This is it. Though technically I never lived within the city, it’s where my school and friends were. If you ask me where I’m from, Pataskala is my answer. :)

I am currently an Aes Sedai of this Ajah
- Green - Nope
- Gray – Yep, I’ve been a Gray Sedai at Dragonmount since 1998
- White - Nope
- Black – Though there are black sisters at DM, I’m not one of them.

My company makes
- Pringles – yep :) my company, P&G, makes Pringles
- Lay’s
- Rold Gold
- Pop Secret

In high school I was
- a cheerleader - nope
- a glee club member – I don’t think my school had a glee club actually
- an actor – nope, I worked behind the scenes for drama productions
- a field commander – yep, I conducted the marching band on the field and when marching

Someday I want to live
- on a farm/ranch in northern Kentucky – nope, I like horses, but would not like the maintenance of a ranch
- in a brand new 4 bed/3 bath suburban house – this is my least favorite option. The suburbs just kill me. Sadly, it’s where I live right now, but for purely financial reasons.
- in a high-rise condo in Columbus – not a bad choice, but not my ideal
- in an old Victorian house in German Village, Ohio – this is the goal. Someday I want a 100 year old Victorian with original hard wood and an attic.

I have not visited
- Ireland – I’ve been to England, but never Ireland
- The Philippines – I’ve been to Manila a couple times.
- Belgium – last year I got to go to Brussels and was very impressed
- Thailand – still my favorite place I’ve been in Asia

I consider myself
- a moderate republican – Um, no.
- a liberal democrat – absolutely.
- an independent – see, that was to throw you off. Most people these days think of themselves as independents I think. Or at least, most of my friends. I’m squarely in the democratic camp though.
- non-political – I am very political. I work with local dem groups, and actually ran for office last year.

My cat’s name is
- Cassiopeia – no, but it was on the short list
- Hydra – nah, just a random constellation
- Andromeda – yep. She’s a Ragdoll breed, and so my sister suggested Ann for Raggedy Ann. I wanted something astronomical, and always liked Andromeda. So she’s registered as Buckeye Andromeda (buckeye for the cattery she came from), but usually goes by Annie.
- Libra – another random constellation

My middle name is due to
- an error on my birth certificate – My mom says the spelling of my first name was a mistake because she didn’t know how to spell “Shannon.” My dad says he did it on purpose. I tend to believe my dad since my sister’s name is Ember.
- my mom’s maiden name – My mom’s maiden name is Gassman. I love my family, but I’m glad I don’t have the name.
- my birthday – Yep, I was born on December 28th, and my middle name is Noelle.
- my parents thinking I was going to be a boy – If I would have been a boy my name would have been Ryan. Just in case you were wondering.

I have not worked
- as a waitress – I worked as a waitress at Bob Evans and at Don Pablo’s. I still recommend both.
- at a YMCA – I worked at the pool for the Pickerington Y for a summer.
- for my family’s construction company – Though my dad’s side of my family does own a construction company called major builders, and I grew up around it, I never worked there.
- in a planetarium – I did the shows in a planetarium all through high school. I miss it terribly.

My favorite author is
- Robert Jordan – Yep, obvious was correct in this case. He’s not perfect, but I love reading the WoT.
- Dean Koontz – Haven’t tried him yet.
- George R.R. Martin – Have read the first Song of Ice and Fire or whatever it’s called, I’ll get back to it someday.
- Neil Gaiman – Ben’s favorite

I love this baseball team above all others:
- New York Yankees – I like them a lot, but not my passion
- Columbus Clippers – Definitely my favorite minor league team, but not my passion
- Cleveland Indians – I don’t hate them as much as most Cincinnatians, and my mom likes them, kind of.
- Cincinnati Reds – This is my team. I’m very excited spring training is right around the corner, and would love to tell you all about why we’re going to have a good year. Go Redlegs!

I am a
- Hawkeye – I like Iowa, but I’m not from there. They’re always very nice when we play them though.
- Buckeye – I am a Buckeye through and through. In the sense that I’m from Ohio and in the sense that I’m an alumna from The Ohio State University.
- Hoosier – Nope, not from Indiana
- Sooner – I’m not from Oklahoma, nor do I like University of Oklahoma very much.

Right now I most wish I was in
- California – yes. This is where Ben is.
- London – I visited London last week. I had a very nice time, but it’s not where Ben is.
- Vegas – I love Vegas. Not where Ben is.
- France – I’d love to go here some day. But, you know, Ben’s not there right now. :P

Date:	2007-01-30 17:14
Subject:	Friends quiz
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

I loved taking everyone else's so far, so here's mine!

Create your own Friend Quiz here

I actually wrote this yesterday, but didn’t have time to post it until today. :)

( 2006 Survey )

( My Stocking of Fun )

Date:	2006-11-16 00:51
Subject:	Everybody's doing it...
Security:	Public
Mood:	listless

You are the World

Completion, Good Reward.

The World is the final card of the Major Arcana, and as such represents saturnian energies, time, and completion.

The World card pictures a dancer in a Yoni (sometimes made of laurel leaves). The Yoni symbolizes the great Mother, the cervix through which everything is born, and also the doorway to the next life after death. It is indicative of a complete circle. Everything is finally coming together, successfully and at last. You will get that Ph.D. you've been working for years to complete, graduate at long last, marry after a long engagement, or finish that huge project. This card is not for little ends, but for big ones, important ones, ones that come with well earned cheers and acknowledgements. Your hard work, knowledge, wisdom, patience, etc, will absolutely pay-off; you've done everything right.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Date:	2006-10-17 10:01
Subject:	My 8th Naming Day
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful

Eight years ago today I sat in my college dorm room and did a web search for “Wheel of Time,” the name of a series of books I’d picked up earlier that year. I found that there was a WoT community just getting started, and I signed up and quickly made fast friends with so many kindred spirits.

On that day eight years ago, when I chose Serinia to be my name, I had no idea of where the path would lead me. To my best friends. Some of them I found right away, others I’ve only recently discovered.

Most of you here are my friends because of the journey I started that day. And I guess I just wanted to share my joy at finding the right happenstance that led me to all of you! *HUGS*

Subject: Behind the Boathouse

(Quick apology to start – I’m new to LJ and this is my first post including pics. I hope it doesn’t bog down your friends page or produce any formatting troubles.)

Cincinnati may not be my favorite place, but for the most part I do enjoy where I actually live. My neighborhood is named “Woodfield” and it’s in a little planned community called Landen. I have very nice neighbors, an impressive pool and tennis courts just down the road, and tree lined streets that turn golden in the autumn and then light up with little twinkle lights for the holidays.

But possibly my favorite part of my neighborhood is the winding walking paths that connect all of the cul-de-sacs and housing areas. There are sidewalks next to most of the streets too, but the walking paths live in the “green space” between and behind the houses and connect us to the pools, the other neighborhoods, and each other. It also connects all of us to the centerpiece of the area, Landen Lake.

The paths are one of my favorite places to quite literally “unplug.” I get away from the computer and usually don’t take my phone with me. Me, my running shoes, sometimes my iPod, and some time to just think. It’s a wonderful treat when I have enough flexibility to get out there and enjoy a nice long walk or run. As usual in most of my life, I am almost always alone on these walks, which isn’t bad… but I wanted to share at least part of the experience with all of you. :)

Starting out from my house, the first thing that caught my eye was the maple tree in my front yard next to the mailbox. It was at peak foliage at the beginning of the week, and was making a brilliant transition from healthy bright green to a burst of vibrant ruby.



From my street, the path branches off and wanders into the woods before joining with the main creek that runs behind my house.



That creek that winds behind my house is the best part of my yard. It’s a great natural border that separates the houses around me, and it also leads little animals to visit me through the year. Occasionally a deer will wander through and this week I had my first visit from a fox. The creek continues on and eventually empties into Landen Lake, but on the way, it looks like this.



As the path winds around the border of the lake it has little docks and benches and places to stop and watch the wildlife and enjoy the falling leaves.



And speaking of wildlife, when I first noticed this little turtle happily floating along, I took a quick shot. I zoomed in when I got home and found out that there was actually two turtles and they were probably a little happier than I had realized at the time.



As I continued around the weather turned a little ominous as the clouds rolled in. It was still a beautiful day, and the sky was striking.



One of my favorite parts of the trail is on the far side of the lake as the path comes right to the edge of the water. It winds around sharp turns and little hills and you frequently turn a corner to meet a duck or squirrel or some unexpected inhabitant.



Really this is just skimming the surface of how pretty it is in person. If you’d like to see more pictures from my walk they are posted here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/71229474@N00/