Views from the top!

The climb was well worth it. I love the giant boulders in the first picture! And it was a beautiful day.

Day 2: Leaving Camp

This is where the color pallet of the photos begins to be all the same for a bit, but it was a really gorgeous day, so there are lots of good photos. Plus, the hike out of a camp required a lot of breaks, so that means lots of pictures! Here we are looking off beyond where we camped (there is another lake up by that snow) and then down the trail from where we came the day before.

Day 1: Camp!

Camp! A lovely lake. A strange large group of youngish campers who seemed to be doing a lot of solitary contemplation joined us, but it was a big area, so we didn't actually talk to them. (Yes, we are antisocial, at least on the first day. On the last day, we were dying to talk to other people!) We enjoyed the break and the sunset!

Day 1 Part 2

Day 1 was relatively light, but the altitude required some heavy breathing. There were amazing wild flowers, but for some reason I only successfully photographed the orange ones....Check out the moon in the last photo! [Also I'm experimenting with a new method of putting the photos in the blog, which seems to take up less storage space, but makes them a bit larger! Excellent!]

Summer Mountains! Day 1

We now begin another trip series. I'll try to keep it short, since basically there are just a ton of mountain pictures (I tried to throw in a few flowers and people though...). In August, I went backpacking in the Southern part of Sequoia National Park around Mineral King. It was awesome, challenging, beautiful, everything you want in a backpacking trip. Some of the pictures were sort of disappointing and I have a new UV filter that was not working as well as I would like. Or more precisely, was causing more problems than I would like. (I still have no idea what the problem is/was...) Still, out of the 500+ photos I took, there are a few worth posting I'm sure :). I have very good intentions of getting out to take some fall pictures before it is too late as well, but we'll see if it happens. I may have already waited too long and I still have to write and apply for jobs before any such thing can happen! In the meantime, I'll dream of hiking in the mountains with no computer!

Winston!

 

Away with the travel photos, it's been too long since I've posted a cat picture!! Winston is enjoying freshly cleaned sheets as a result of a new washing machine. A very exciting event in the ongoing series of I'm inching depressingly closer to (gasp!) middle age.

So Long Aruba

 

This is our last evening of swimming. (Post-national park). [I didn't take this one, credit to Becky]. The very last day we had a lovely spa experience, but no pictures of that. There is nothing more bizarre, but also sort of satisfying, than having a full body "wrap" which invovles not only the mud/chocolate/aloe, but also actually being wrapped in plastic essentially. All in all, a wonderful trip.

Day 5 (still): Driving Back. Big Rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

That's right, it is still the same day, but we have now left the national park! We are stopping at some giant rock formations in the middle of the island. My understanding is their origins are hazy. I also really wanted to capture more of the local architecture and such things. I didn't get a great chance, since most of the time I was driving, but I did take a few pictures from atop the rocks. And one last lizard!

The 'Other' Side of the Island

 

 

 

 

The Southwest side of the island has wonderful protected beaches of the white sand sort already displayed. The Northeast coast is exposed to the waves from the Atlantic and instead has giant rock formations. Not too inviting, but they still look pretty cool.

Caves!!

 

 

There were some excellent caves. Including early 19th century graffiti. The pictures of that weren't so great though.

Flower!

 

Not as exciting as the Lizard, but you can't have lizards every day people.

LIZARD!!!

 

I've been waiting for the day when it was time to post the lizard. He is pretty and it took forever to get this photo. My all time favorite arbua picture(s) (there are several pictures of this lizard and others in fact. They are very quick movers). I don't think (s)he needs more explanation than that.

Day 5: National Park! Part 2...Plants!

 

I'm going to ignore the month absence. I was busy, teaching summer school, etc. But now I'm back. And I have a backpacking trip coming up, so I must finish the spring break trip asap! Yes, yes, the Cacti were plants too, but here are some other plants. Aloe above. Aruba has lots of it for sale. And Tequila plants below?? I think. These weren't the exact plants the guy pointed out as Tequila plants, so who knows, but they look like them.

 

 

Day 5: National Park! Part 1...Cacti

The next day we drove to the National Park on other side of the island. There are tons of photos, so first off, the Cacti.