More Things I Did in Bloomington

I ate as many Indiana tomatoes as I wanted (which was a ton).

I saw a flock of egrets on the mud flats at Lake Griffy.

I went to the Farmer House Museum in downtown Bloomington, which was so cool!

And saw their amazing collection of hats.

My friends TammyJo and Emilie invited me to a burlesque show, and I tried to find something vaguely retro-looking to wear.

Mom and I hiked along the bluffs overlooking "Lake" Griffy.

We saw gorgeous green moss.

Amazing shelf fungus.

And this mysterious blob, which I thought might be a bryozoan colony or a jelly fungus. Mom didn't think it looked like either of those things. Someone needs to go back to investigate further!

We had a wonderful time seeing Brenda, Will, and Chacko.

And we had fun just hanging out at my parents' house.

Creatures Past and Present

This weekend David and I went to the Museum of Florida History. We saw the massive skeleton of the mastodon ...

... and the model of the giant prehistoric armadillo, and lots of other fascinating things.

I also went kayaking this weekend on the Wakulla, near the place where the mastodon's bones were found. I was surrounded by a cloud of blue-tailed damselflies (you can see a few of them on the kayak in this picture).

 I saw this small alligator, and also a million turtles, and a pair of blue crabs scuttling along the river bed.

I saw this little blue heron, and also great blue herons, snowy egrets, great egrets, black vultures, a solitary sandpiper, and a prothonotary warbler.

And I watched this manatee and her baby swim around my kayak, and then dive down and pass directly underneath me. 

The Hills Are Alive

With the sound of me celebrating my 37th birthday.

David's birthday present to me was a day exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went to Mabry Mill, which is a neat old mill built around 1910.

Now it's the most photographed spot on the Parkway. It's so picturesque that other states have stolen its image for their postcards.

You can go inside and see the massive millwheel turning under the force of the water.

It's a lovely cool place to spend a warm summer day.

We drove over Groundhog Mountain -- where I saw two groundhogs! -- and then to Rocky Knob.

It was a perfect day with a cloudless sky, and the view went on forever.

I love the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We walked around in the mountain meadows.

Which were full of wildflowers.

And butterflies.

My birthday celebration lasted several days, and we did lots of other things besides the drive on the Parkway. Ann took me and David to this mountaintop garden shop, for example.

We admired their gardens.

And took more pictures.

And then we had lunch at a little deli nearby.

And we sat outside in their garden, which was covered with these butterflies.

And it was gloriously sunny, but not too hot, and a refreshing breeze was blowing the whole time, because that's what it's like up in the mountains.

Then Ann made me this delicious blackberry pie for my birthday dessert.

Day at the Museum

On Monday David and I went to Indianapolis and visited the Children's Museum.

We met up with (from right to left) Rowan, Jennifer, Ed, Adrienne, John, and Maggie (not pictured because she was so busy running around the dinosaur exhibit and looking at everything).

Adrienne, Maggie, and Ed had made a detour to Indianapolis on their summer trip.

So that the three Oberlin friends could have a mini-reunion.

The Dinosphere at the Children's Museum is so cool. I thought it was very appropriate for us to take our Florida friends to see a giant prehistoric alligator.

It was hard to get a picture of Maggie, because the museum is so full of amazing things for kids to play with that she was in constant motion. Here she is at the Chihuly exhibit, where you could change around the glass sculptures. She also got to sort dinosaur bones, dig at an archeological site for Chinese terra-cotta warriors, and x-ray the mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh.

But the Chihuly sculpture was definitely a high point of the trip. Literally. It's Dale Chihuly's largest permanent installation, a 43-foot tall tower of glass pieces. You can look up through all the different shapes and colors and see the sun coming through the windows at the very top of the museum.

It even looks cool when you look down and see it reflected in the floor.

But I have a feeling that a lot of the popularity of this exhibit is due to this rotating couch. Parents can lie down while their kids play with the interactive sculptures. That is genius.

Next we rode the wonderful turn-of-the-century carousel.

The museum is vastly different since the last time I was there -- when I was a kid. But some things never change.

Then we went through the Hall of Mirrors, which Rowan enjoyed. His other favorite thing in the museum was the miniature train that runs on a track overhead.

That evening, David and I went to dinner with Jennifer and John in Broad Ripple. We walked along the canal and admired the ducks.

We ate at the Three Sisters Cafe, which was on that show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, even though it is none of those things. None of the vegetarian items on the menu made it onto the show, but this incredible eggplant sandwich should have.

At the cafe, we sat outside in the perfect 70-degree evening, thought about what temperature it was at this very moment in Tallahassee, and felt smug.