These two pictures were taken from the top of a really old lookout tower :-) Great view!
Down on the wharf:
Seattle WA, oh how I love you! Seriously! I love that city. I really can't put a finger on why either, I just really enjoy it there. It felt kind of like a whirlwind though because we were only there for a few days - which is not enough! We went to the Seattle Art Museum which was TOTALLY awesome! I didn't have my camera and I regret it. They had a few really cool installations going on. One was a $1 photo booth! Everyone that came through got to become part of the installation. Really cool! Here's our little addition - I totally look like I've been fake bakin' it. I promise I haven't!
We also got to eat really yummy seafood right on the wharf on the trips budget. Love that! Anyway, we had a great time, went shopping, saw the sights, went and saw Letters to Juliet and did a LOT of walking. It's always fun to visit a bigger city. On one night we went up to a hillside park to take pictures of the skyline:
These are a few pics I snapped right before we headed out of Seattle. The Green Tortoise was a great little hostel - and it was SO close to the market! Couldn't have asked for anything better!
4 bunks to a room
A full industrial kitchen which we could use whenever.They provided everything we needed to make breakfast for ourselves.
They also made dinner each night - the cost of both meals is included
in the price of your room, which is ridiculously cheap already!
Big common area - say hello to Karisa, she was one of the girls on the trip
Those neon lights across the street mark the start of Pike Street market.It was SO CLOSE!
Before I move on I have to tell you about August. Hahaha! So on our last night in Seattle I was working on my last blog post (wow that's embarrassing!) out in the common area. A whole bunch of the other students were still out there too and it got really late. Let me tell you, the weirdies are the ones that stay up late. Michelle's directed studies project was a used novel that she had random people draw portraits of her in all along the way. She got a few choice entries that night. Amy was frantically trying to make a ton of her friendship bracelets for her project... anyway, before we knew it August had proclaimed himself our new best friend. It started out normal but we're pretty sure that at some... or maybe a few points during the night he took some drugs because he just got crazier and more jittery. It was kind of weird/funny/terrifying at the same time. Hahaha! Amy had me be her pretend boyfriend because he was coming on to her pretty strong by the end of the night. Around 2 in the morning we decided we'd had enough so we went to bed. 5 AM came REALLY fast the next morning.
So these few shots are on the ferry from the mainland to Vancouver Island. It goes right through part of the San Juan islands. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! My camera doesn't do it justice! I would not mind having a vacation home out there at all!
This would be a nice little getaway home...
...or this... especially with that plane!
The clouds were really low and it was pretty cold out there on the water.
Not long after this picture was taken I went down to the van and dug out my heave coat. I need both to keep me warm enough when I was outside!
Left to right: Elise, Jenna, Alex, Stephanie, me Karisa
This is my photo professor, John Telford. :-)
Victoria BC - that's in CANADA! Sooooo... i really didn't enjoy Victoria all that much. Hahaha! No really, it was my least favorite place of the whole trip. That may or may not be due to the fact that a) I was super tired - remember how I stayed up super late pretending to be Amy's boyfriend the night before to keep August off of her??..... b) Our hostel was SUPER cramped. I very rarely feel claustrophobic. That place did it for me. We had about 1 square foot of floor space in our room. I was miserable and felt like I couldn't relax which meant I didn't sleep well.... c) China town - or rather the less than stellar Chinese restaurant we ate at in china town. I think I had food poisoning, along with probably 1/3 of the other students. And the food was more oil than food. Not a very pleasant welcome to Canada if you ask me..... and d) it felt like an overgrown suburb.....
Now, having got that off my chest I'm sure that when I go back I'll enjoy it very much thank you.
I went out to photograph on morning with our professor and a small group of students; the dedicated ones. That was pretty fun and I got some good shots of the 2 most beautiful buildings in Victoria:
My professors super neat camera... someday I will own one...
The film for this guy is 4x6 inches.
The pictures it makes look like the real scene! They're UNBELIEVABLE!
In the gardens behind the government building:
I am actually really proud of the following picture.
I took about 30 before I got the exposure right.
It was tricky because in by the doors was SO dark,
but I didn't want the stone on the outside to be super washed out....
Mission Accomplished!
This is the Empress Hotel - its right across the street from the government building.
Its old and beautiful. I tried to go into the lobby
but the snooty staff and classy dressed patrons scared me away. :-)
So these few shots are on the ferry from the mainland to Vancouver Island. It goes right through part of the San Juan islands. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! My camera doesn't do it justice! I would not mind having a vacation home out there at all!
This would be a nice little getaway home...
...or this... especially with that plane!
The clouds were really low and it was pretty cold out there on the water.
Not long after this picture was taken I went down to the van and dug out my heave coat. I need both to keep me warm enough when I was outside!
Left to right: Elise, Jenna, Alex, Stephanie, me Karisa
This is my photo professor, John Telford. :-)
Victoria BC - that's in CANADA! Sooooo... i really didn't enjoy Victoria all that much. Hahaha! No really, it was my least favorite place of the whole trip. That may or may not be due to the fact that a) I was super tired - remember how I stayed up super late pretending to be Amy's boyfriend the night before to keep August off of her??..... b) Our hostel was SUPER cramped. I very rarely feel claustrophobic. That place did it for me. We had about 1 square foot of floor space in our room. I was miserable and felt like I couldn't relax which meant I didn't sleep well.... c) China town - or rather the less than stellar Chinese restaurant we ate at in china town. I think I had food poisoning, along with probably 1/3 of the other students. And the food was more oil than food. Not a very pleasant welcome to Canada if you ask me..... and d) it felt like an overgrown suburb.....
Now, having got that off my chest I'm sure that when I go back I'll enjoy it very much thank you.
I went out to photograph on morning with our professor and a small group of students; the dedicated ones. That was pretty fun and I got some good shots of the 2 most beautiful buildings in Victoria:
Some government building:
The film for this guy is 4x6 inches.
The pictures it makes look like the real scene! They're UNBELIEVABLE!
In the gardens behind the government building:
I am actually really proud of the following picture.I took about 30 before I got the exposure right.
It was tricky because in by the doors was SO dark,
but I didn't want the stone on the outside to be super washed out....
Mission Accomplished!
This is the Empress Hotel - its right across the street from the government building.Its old and beautiful. I tried to go into the lobby
but the snooty staff and classy dressed patrons scared me away. :-)
While in Victoria a group of us went out to a park... can't remember the name of it but it's the ruins of a super old military fort. This is where I discovered that I really like sketching out in detail using pencil before I paint. I sat on the top of a hill and sketched this for about an hour:
I had my paints, but it was super windy and we can all remember what happened when I painted in the wind in Coos Bay.... I don't want to talk about it! So I snapped this and added the paint later in the safety of cabin at our next stop :-) The photographers that came that day were super bummed because of the scaffolding on the lighthouse. The painters didn't mind cause we can choose to just ignore it. Ha! Painting is great!
After that we drove down to this marina where we fed some seals. They were fun! Each of them had a different personality - that was very apparent! One was super shy, one was really aggressive and one was just weird. Haha! It was pretty fun.
Look at this guys eyes! They're HUGE!
He was the shy one:
What else did we do in Victoria...? We went to a community rec center - just like the Y, ya know? That was super fun! We spent like 4 hours there and ended by jumping off the 4o foot platform dive tower. That's always a rush! We wanted to go to Butchart Gardens but they wouldn't give us a deal - the jerks! They wanted almost $60 bucks a pop. Definitely not in the budget and WAY to much for all of us to pay on our own.
I have to say, I wasn't too sad to leave Victoria in my rear view mirror.
Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, BC
Ok, first of all, the drive from the east side of the island over to the west is one of the most beautiful / pristine places I have ever experienced. I almost felt bad they put a road through it. It was that beautiful! And it was rainy/misty so it just looked great! It winds up and over a mountain range through incredible old growth forest, and then it follows a river from the beginning way up in the mountain all the way out the coast. I saw 3 black bear and at one point a bald eagle flew across the road right in front of one of our vans. I thought they were going to hit it! Those things are BIG! Anyway, I loved the drive over to Ucluelet.
Ucluelet is a tiny little fishing town. Emphasis on tiny. You don't go out there unless you have a reason to. There was like 1/2 a grocery store, a couple of restaurants, several churches and small schools, plenty of bars, a used clothing store.... And then there was the wharf. The life blood of the town.
Our place was super awesome! They owner looked like a surf chic straight off the beach in California. We rented out their whole property: a 2 story house for the girls, a duplex cabin for the guys (room to spread out! YES!), and a cabin for the professors and their families.
I had my paints, but it was super windy and we can all remember what happened when I painted in the wind in Coos Bay.... I don't want to talk about it! So I snapped this and added the paint later in the safety of cabin at our next stop :-) The photographers that came that day were super bummed because of the scaffolding on the lighthouse. The painters didn't mind cause we can choose to just ignore it. Ha! Painting is great!After that we drove down to this marina where we fed some seals. They were fun! Each of them had a different personality - that was very apparent! One was super shy, one was really aggressive and one was just weird. Haha! It was pretty fun.
Look at this guys eyes! They're HUGE!He was the shy one:
What else did we do in Victoria...? We went to a community rec center - just like the Y, ya know? That was super fun! We spent like 4 hours there and ended by jumping off the 4o foot platform dive tower. That's always a rush! We wanted to go to Butchart Gardens but they wouldn't give us a deal - the jerks! They wanted almost $60 bucks a pop. Definitely not in the budget and WAY to much for all of us to pay on our own.I have to say, I wasn't too sad to leave Victoria in my rear view mirror.
Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, BC
Ok, first of all, the drive from the east side of the island over to the west is one of the most beautiful / pristine places I have ever experienced. I almost felt bad they put a road through it. It was that beautiful! And it was rainy/misty so it just looked great! It winds up and over a mountain range through incredible old growth forest, and then it follows a river from the beginning way up in the mountain all the way out the coast. I saw 3 black bear and at one point a bald eagle flew across the road right in front of one of our vans. I thought they were going to hit it! Those things are BIG! Anyway, I loved the drive over to Ucluelet.
Ucluelet is a tiny little fishing town. Emphasis on tiny. You don't go out there unless you have a reason to. There was like 1/2 a grocery store, a couple of restaurants, several churches and small schools, plenty of bars, a used clothing store.... And then there was the wharf. The life blood of the town.
I painted these 2 boats:
It was really slow paced and friendly - which was a nice change after Seattle and Victoria. Tourism is starting to pick up there a little bit so there are a lot of bed and breakfasts, hostels, and things. 60 km up the coast there is another town called Tofino. Between these two towns is long beach, which just so happens to be the surfing capitol of Canada. Who knew!?
Our place was super awesome! They owner looked like a surf chic straight off the beach in California. We rented out their whole property: a 2 story house for the girls, a duplex cabin for the guys (room to spread out! YES!), and a cabin for the professors and their families.
Here are the 2 cabins:
The view from the window in my kitchen door
I did a painting of this scene.
I was heading out the door and I just liked it- the 1 chair, the wood....
This was the view at the end of the trail I ran on each morning we were there:
The waves crashed SO big on these rocks!
The owner of our hostel also owned a surf shop in town. You better believe I went surfing! That was super fun! I was terrible at it, but I had a great time. There were 6 or 7 of us that got a group lesson. It was fun! We were wearing 8 mm dry suits - which made the temp just about perfect. I think I would've froze to death without it! See facebook for surfing pictures, I didn't have my camera.... obviously....
For one evening we drove over to the next town over, Tofino, to take pictures and watch the sunset. It wasn't what I thought it would be like, but it was super pretty!
Underneath one of the docks - LOVE the hammock at the end!
I painted this plane:
I want to paint this plane:
Met some people crabbing for their dinner.
They had more luck catching starfish that night:
Then the sunset started. WOW!
Love how I got the boat right in the light there!
The view from the window in my kitchen doorI did a painting of this scene.
I was heading out the door and I just liked it- the 1 chair, the wood....
This was the view at the end of the trail I ran on each morning we were there:
The waves crashed SO big on these rocks!
For one evening we drove over to the next town over, Tofino, to take pictures and watch the sunset. It wasn't what I thought it would be like, but it was super pretty!
Underneath one of the docks - LOVE the hammock at the end!
I painted this plane:
I want to paint this plane:
Met some people crabbing for their dinner.They had more luck catching starfish that night:
Then the sunset started. WOW!
Love how I got the boat right in the light there!
The following pictures were taken at Long Beach, just a couple miles down the coast from where we surfed. It was really misty the day we were there. Made for difficult lighting to take pictures in, but it was still really pretty. Two people in the group had oil paints which they got out while we were here. I want to try that. They made some beautiful paintings!
Ucluelet has a really awesome aquarium too, of all things. The place looked like a dumpy double wide from the outside so I wasn't too excited to visit it. But it was really awesome! They take animals in in the spring and release all of them in the fall. So they do a lot of rehabilitation work too. I can't believe how much they packed into that tiny building. A lot of it was hands on too so that was fun. Sea things are really squishy and slimy. Hahaha! There was also a SUPER cool glass galery - kind of like the one in Cannon Beach, but different kinds of pieces and techniques. And nexlt door was a painting gallery with great watercolors and oil paintings. The owner also showed us some really old Japanese Art he had just found in some obscure warehouse somewhere. He was really excited about it. Ya gotta love artists!
The night before we left Ucluelet the owner of the hostel and her family hosted a sushi and salmon feast for all of us. Oh! I forgot, our professors went salmon fishing. Had I had the money to pay for it AND to pay to ship the fish home I would've done it. But alas, no money. Anyway, the food was GREAT that night! We also showed a slide show of the trip. Each of us submitted 10 pictures. That was super fun! However, it kind of set us in a panic because at that point we realized we REALLY were almost done with the trip. SAD DAY!
On the way back across the island we stopped at an old grove to take pictures. It was SUPER pretty! I can never get enough of these mossy forests!
On to Vancouver, BC
They ferry ride back to the mainland was relaxing. It wasn't nearly long as the other one so all of us were surprised when we got there so fast! It took the vans a while to meet up after we unloaded because we got put on different decks, but once we got together it was pretty much smooth sailing into Vancouver. Sometimes I wish I could drive and take pictures at the same time. Vancouver is super pretty! AND we got to go over a HUGE suspension bridge on the way in. I really like how the majority of the buildings have glass facades. The whole city reflects the color of the sky, which is always changing. Very beautiful! The hostel was 1/2 a step better than the one in Victoria. It was nice and spacious, however, the people were..... interesting. I think most of them were pretty much permanent residents. It takes a special person to be a permanent resident at a hostel. But, they were friendly for the most part so I didn't mind 'em. We were just a short walk away from the Metro station, and the budget covered transit passes for us while we were there. Vancouver mass transit runs like clockwork. It was great - and SO nice to not have to be a taxi driver while we were there! I really like how pedestrian and bicycle friendly Vancouver is too. It just made it seem nice and clean. I dunno, I liked it! They had a GREAT path that winds all the way along the waterfront, which starts at one end of the city, goes into a park at the end of the peninsula, and then comes out on the other side of the city. Needless to say we did a LOT of walking. Sarah and I also ran together both mornings we were there. It felt great! Running at sea level is SO easy!
I didn't get many pictures of Vancouver, probably because I was just enjoying myself so much! We ate at a REALLY good Israeli restaurant, visited the sweet market place, walked through the now deserted Olympic Village, rented bikes and rode around the park at the tip of the peninsula, and visited the Vancouver Art Museum. This place had a LOT of stuff packed into it. I think I spent 5 or 6 hours in there! My favorite installation was a whole bunch of videos. They were very thought provoking. I really like art museums! Here's what I did get with my camera:
We tried to hit the sunset up but we didn't know
how long it would take to get to the spot using the transit system.
Obviously we guessed wrong. Oh well, it was still pretty:
I'd love to go back and spend more time in Vancouver - especially during ski season. I hear Whistler is great!
The first thing we came to after leaving Vancouver was the border. HOORAY for the USA. Getting across the boarder was slightly inconvenient. They decided they wanted to inspect ALL of our luggage, in all 4 vans. So all 28 of us went inside where there was nowhere to seat... except the floor... for like an hour! It got a little old. But people watching was great. There was one wanna be thug with his jeans all the way down around his need, and there was a 3 generation Asian family. The grandpa had no clue what the customs officer wanted him to do. Haha! It was great.
At mile marker 244 we stopped on the side of the road to make art. Why mile marker 44? Because John told Laura to choose a random number and that's what it was. Here's what I did. I wish we would've stopped 50 miles earlier. It was much prettier!
Not long after we stopped we crossed from the east side of the Cascades to the west side. That was a sad moment because the world went from green and wet to brown and very dry. That's always a hard transition to make. The clouds were really pretty though so that made it more bearable. I'm sure we looked like a big group of crazies out there!
I did a watercolor of this scene:
We stayed the night in Wenatchee Washington which so happens to be the apple growing capitol of the USA. You know Treetop Apple Juice? Guess where almost ALL of their apples come from... Our hotel was right across the street from a strip mall with Target and Old Navy and a few other stores. They all happened to be having ridiculous sales... we were all sick of the clothing we had been wearing for a month. As you can imagine, we all went nuts - and it was well worth it! That night we had the conference room rented out for a painting party. Joe, our watercolor prof, had each of us lay out all of our work and he went through each of our pieces and suggested which ones we should turn in and pointed out what we were doing right, etc. At that point, I had 8 paintings to go and only 3 nights left on the trip. YIKES! Fortunately the rest of the bunch was pretty much in the same boat so Joe knocked our assignment down from 20 paintings to 16. What a relief! I should have done several paintings that night but I had kind of a rough night and I just wasn't in the mood. It was nice to have a night in a legit and comfortable hotel - with a queen size bed all to myself! Hooray!
From Wenatchee we drove through northern Idaho, stopping in Coeur'd'Alene for lunch. That's a place I'd like to spend more time in. It's quaint, and quiet and the scenery is very pretty. That night we stayed in Missoula Montana. My good friend and former roommate Lee McCready is living there right now so he came and showed us a few places in the city. They have a "hippy fest" in a park downtown on every 1st Thursday so we headed down there. There was lots of good food and live bands going on. Pretty fun!
In the morning it was off to Yellowstone. I love Yellowstone! I've gone many times with my family. We camp in Eastern Idaho every August. We came in through Mammoth Hotsprings, which is a place I hadn't been yet. It was started as a military outpost, set up to protect the crazy features of the Yellowstone area. Mammoth is really pretty cool! They've still got all the old military buildings up and everything too. And there were elk right there on the lawn. One cow had a calf that had to be less than 2 days old. I think she gave birth to it right there in the middle of all the buildings! Pretty neat!
We also stopped at Artist Point to get pictures of the falls. That canyon is SO pretty! Laura let me borrow her super awesome zoom lens to get a few really zoomed shots of it. I like em!
We also stopped at a few geyser basins... perhaps the Norris Gyser Basin? Serves me right for waiting so long to post all of this!
On our way in for the night we saw a few buffalo.
We were originally planning on camping while we were in Yellowstone. But then we saw the weather forecast: blizzards. YIKES! Lucky for us our trip mom's were able to find us room in a Best Western in West Yellowstone. That was SUCH a relief!
The next day we went into the park for the 1st half of the day.
There were TONS of little babies!
We also stopped at more geyser basins:
and Grand Prismatic.
It was SUPER pretty that day!
The steam was reflecting the colors of the pool!
I really like the juxtaposition of death and life.
Lastly we stopped at the Old Faithful Lodge.
We had just enough time for lunch before the eruption.
Couldn't have planned it better!
The night before we left Ucluelet the owner of the hostel and her family hosted a sushi and salmon feast for all of us. Oh! I forgot, our professors went salmon fishing. Had I had the money to pay for it AND to pay to ship the fish home I would've done it. But alas, no money. Anyway, the food was GREAT that night! We also showed a slide show of the trip. Each of us submitted 10 pictures. That was super fun! However, it kind of set us in a panic because at that point we realized we REALLY were almost done with the trip. SAD DAY!
On the way back across the island we stopped at an old grove to take pictures. It was SUPER pretty! I can never get enough of these mossy forests!
On to Vancouver, BC
They ferry ride back to the mainland was relaxing. It wasn't nearly long as the other one so all of us were surprised when we got there so fast! It took the vans a while to meet up after we unloaded because we got put on different decks, but once we got together it was pretty much smooth sailing into Vancouver. Sometimes I wish I could drive and take pictures at the same time. Vancouver is super pretty! AND we got to go over a HUGE suspension bridge on the way in. I really like how the majority of the buildings have glass facades. The whole city reflects the color of the sky, which is always changing. Very beautiful! The hostel was 1/2 a step better than the one in Victoria. It was nice and spacious, however, the people were..... interesting. I think most of them were pretty much permanent residents. It takes a special person to be a permanent resident at a hostel. But, they were friendly for the most part so I didn't mind 'em. We were just a short walk away from the Metro station, and the budget covered transit passes for us while we were there. Vancouver mass transit runs like clockwork. It was great - and SO nice to not have to be a taxi driver while we were there! I really like how pedestrian and bicycle friendly Vancouver is too. It just made it seem nice and clean. I dunno, I liked it! They had a GREAT path that winds all the way along the waterfront, which starts at one end of the city, goes into a park at the end of the peninsula, and then comes out on the other side of the city. Needless to say we did a LOT of walking. Sarah and I also ran together both mornings we were there. It felt great! Running at sea level is SO easy!
I didn't get many pictures of Vancouver, probably because I was just enjoying myself so much! We ate at a REALLY good Israeli restaurant, visited the sweet market place, walked through the now deserted Olympic Village, rented bikes and rode around the park at the tip of the peninsula, and visited the Vancouver Art Museum. This place had a LOT of stuff packed into it. I think I spent 5 or 6 hours in there! My favorite installation was a whole bunch of videos. They were very thought provoking. I really like art museums! Here's what I did get with my camera:
We tried to hit the sunset up but we didn't know
how long it would take to get to the spot using the transit system.
Obviously we guessed wrong. Oh well, it was still pretty:
I'd love to go back and spend more time in Vancouver - especially during ski season. I hear Whistler is great!The first thing we came to after leaving Vancouver was the border. HOORAY for the USA. Getting across the boarder was slightly inconvenient. They decided they wanted to inspect ALL of our luggage, in all 4 vans. So all 28 of us went inside where there was nowhere to seat... except the floor... for like an hour! It got a little old. But people watching was great. There was one wanna be thug with his jeans all the way down around his need, and there was a 3 generation Asian family. The grandpa had no clue what the customs officer wanted him to do. Haha! It was great.
At mile marker 244 we stopped on the side of the road to make art. Why mile marker 44? Because John told Laura to choose a random number and that's what it was. Here's what I did. I wish we would've stopped 50 miles earlier. It was much prettier!
Not long after we stopped we crossed from the east side of the Cascades to the west side. That was a sad moment because the world went from green and wet to brown and very dry. That's always a hard transition to make. The clouds were really pretty though so that made it more bearable. I'm sure we looked like a big group of crazies out there!
I did a watercolor of this scene:
We stayed the night in Wenatchee Washington which so happens to be the apple growing capitol of the USA. You know Treetop Apple Juice? Guess where almost ALL of their apples come from... Our hotel was right across the street from a strip mall with Target and Old Navy and a few other stores. They all happened to be having ridiculous sales... we were all sick of the clothing we had been wearing for a month. As you can imagine, we all went nuts - and it was well worth it! That night we had the conference room rented out for a painting party. Joe, our watercolor prof, had each of us lay out all of our work and he went through each of our pieces and suggested which ones we should turn in and pointed out what we were doing right, etc. At that point, I had 8 paintings to go and only 3 nights left on the trip. YIKES! Fortunately the rest of the bunch was pretty much in the same boat so Joe knocked our assignment down from 20 paintings to 16. What a relief! I should have done several paintings that night but I had kind of a rough night and I just wasn't in the mood. It was nice to have a night in a legit and comfortable hotel - with a queen size bed all to myself! Hooray!
From Wenatchee we drove through northern Idaho, stopping in Coeur'd'Alene for lunch. That's a place I'd like to spend more time in. It's quaint, and quiet and the scenery is very pretty. That night we stayed in Missoula Montana. My good friend and former roommate Lee McCready is living there right now so he came and showed us a few places in the city. They have a "hippy fest" in a park downtown on every 1st Thursday so we headed down there. There was lots of good food and live bands going on. Pretty fun!
In the morning it was off to Yellowstone. I love Yellowstone! I've gone many times with my family. We camp in Eastern Idaho every August. We came in through Mammoth Hotsprings, which is a place I hadn't been yet. It was started as a military outpost, set up to protect the crazy features of the Yellowstone area. Mammoth is really pretty cool! They've still got all the old military buildings up and everything too. And there were elk right there on the lawn. One cow had a calf that had to be less than 2 days old. I think she gave birth to it right there in the middle of all the buildings! Pretty neat!
We also stopped at Artist Point to get pictures of the falls. That canyon is SO pretty! Laura let me borrow her super awesome zoom lens to get a few really zoomed shots of it. I like em!
We also stopped at a few geyser basins... perhaps the Norris Gyser Basin? Serves me right for waiting so long to post all of this!
On our way in for the night we saw a few buffalo.
We were originally planning on camping while we were in Yellowstone. But then we saw the weather forecast: blizzards. YIKES! Lucky for us our trip mom's were able to find us room in a Best Western in West Yellowstone. That was SUCH a relief!The next day we went into the park for the 1st half of the day.
We ran into a BIG herd of buffalo not far into the park:
There were TONS of little babies!
We also stopped at more geyser basins:
and Grand Prismatic.
It was SUPER pretty that day!
The steam was reflecting the colors of the pool!
I really like the juxtaposition of death and life.
Lastly we stopped at the Old Faithful Lodge.We had just enough time for lunch before the eruption.
Couldn't have planned it better!
The rest of that day was spent down in the lounge of the hotel painting away. I had 4 paintings to do in one night! That was pretty stressful but I got er done! What a relief!
People were pretty sad that it was our last night! I was just tired! I can't believe I drove the entire way! That's probably why I was so exausted. The plan when we went to bed that night was to have half the vans go straight home and half go through the Tetons and Jackson Hole, but when we woke up in the morning no one felt good about splitting up so we all decided to head for home. I was especially happy because all my girls were going to go straight home and I was the drive of the van that was going the long route. I was happy to have my completely dysfunctional yet totally awesome family back. Hahaha!
The drive seemed to go pretty quick. Finally I was back in familiar country. Before we knew it we were back in front of the HFAC where we'd started 1 month previously. Hard to believe. Hard to believe that 1 month ago I didn't really know anyone I was setting out with. Hard to believe that that day I said goodbye to 28 great friends. It was complete mayhem as everyone unpacked and separated their stuff. See exhibit A:
People were pretty sad that it was our last night! I was just tired! I can't believe I drove the entire way! That's probably why I was so exausted. The plan when we went to bed that night was to have half the vans go straight home and half go through the Tetons and Jackson Hole, but when we woke up in the morning no one felt good about splitting up so we all decided to head for home. I was especially happy because all my girls were going to go straight home and I was the drive of the van that was going the long route. I was happy to have my completely dysfunctional yet totally awesome family back. Hahaha!
The drive seemed to go pretty quick. Finally I was back in familiar country. Before we knew it we were back in front of the HFAC where we'd started 1 month previously. Hard to believe. Hard to believe that 1 month ago I didn't really know anyone I was setting out with. Hard to believe that that day I said goodbye to 28 great friends. It was complete mayhem as everyone unpacked and separated their stuff. See exhibit A:
Laura's shorts got stuck on the handle as she jumped out of the van.
I wish I could have caught it because she was hanging in the air wondering why in the heck she hadn't landed yet. Funniest moment EVER!
One by one everyone left until it was just the 4 drivers of the vans. Talk about anti climactic! I don't know what I was expecting but that wasn't it. What a crazy, fun, grand adventure it was!
I wish I could have caught it because she was hanging in the air wondering why in the heck she hadn't landed yet. Funniest moment EVER!
One by one everyone left until it was just the 4 drivers of the vans. Talk about anti climactic! I don't know what I was expecting but that wasn't it. What a crazy, fun, grand adventure it was!