The Philadelphia Story

Last Wednesday afternoon, my mom, my daughter Anne, and I left on a road trip.  The occasion: our son's graduation from Villanova Law School.  After three long, difficult years, he walked across the stage and received his Juris Doctor degree.

CONGRATULATIONS DAVE!

My husband, who is already working in Charlotte, NC, met us in Philly.  We had a great weekend with Dave and his girlfriend, Danielle.  We had incredible weather (sunny with highs in the mid 70's and lows in the 50's), great food, and stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast just down the street from Dave's apartment.

The highlights:

 We had dinner at a great seafood restaurant Thursday evening.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of it.

On Friday morning, we took the train from the city to Villanova--about a 30 minute ride.

 Dave, waiting to cross the stage to receive his diploma

The whole gang (minus our youngest daughter, Katie) 

 There was a reception for the graduates and families 

after the ceremony.

Dave and I went for a run Saturday morning. 

 We ran up the steps of the museum, just like Rockie.

 Philadelphia has a great running/biking path along the river.

 We went to the Italian Market after our run.

 A great cheese shop in the Italian Market

The Magic Garden is a museum that has created things 

with various junk (bottles, bike tires, plates, etc.).

 Independence Hall

 Elfreth Alley-the longest continually inhabited residential

street in the United States.

My husband has been living in a hotel for a month now.

He packed rather quickly to drive up to Philly, and halfway 

through the weekend, he realized he had two different shoes on.

The weekend went way too quickly.  It's back to reality now--sorting, packing, pricing things for the upcoming garage sale, and everything else that goes along with moving.  Waaaah.

ArtPrize

The city of Grand Rapids is the stage right now for an international art contest called ArtPrize.  The general public decides who the winner will be.  The prize--$250,000.  This is the third year for the contest and it's quite amazing.  My husband and I, along with a group of friends, went yesterday afternoon.  There were over 2000 pieces of art, of which we only saw about a quarter of, if that.  It amazes me how many talented people there are.  Here is just a sampling of what we saw.  

The amazing thing with this collage is that you can't see

the eye until you look at it in a photograph. 

  This was not done with a cast but was sculpted by hand.

I don't remember it being so blurry.

Amazing when you look at it up close. 

I wonder when my husband posed for this?
These are truly abs of steel.  Or maybe bronze.

 I'm going to get out my son's Legos and work on something for next year.

 This is a single sheet of hand-cut black paper.

The artist cut 20,000 holes to make this.

 Now that's a big bird.

I thought this should have been in the top ten.

This was done with duct tape. 

These are monkeys hanging from a bridge. 

One of the nice things about ArtPrize is that the museums 

are open to the public for free, since they are venues for 

much of the art.

The following pieces were voted in as the top ten.

This is entitled "Rain".

I'm sure it was more difficult than it looks.

"Rusty" was made from old junk.

Note the old bicycle seat on it's nose, 

the tire with hubcaps for the collar, and the trees for legs.

"Mantis Dreaming" 

"Ocean Exodus" is carved from driftwood.  

You have to look closely at it to see all the intricacies.

There are dolphin, a sea turtle, jelly fish, an octopus 

and more carved into this.

 "Under Construction" was interesting.  The man on the left is real.

He would start hammering and moving around every now and then.

"President Ford Visits ArtPrize"  

The artist was there demonstrating how he sculpts.  

He formed a finger while we were standing there. 

"Grizzlies on the Ford"

These wood carvings were in the fountain

outside the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum.

If you live anywhere near Grand Rapids, this is definitely worth going to.  It's free and they have shuttle buses to bring you to the different neighborhoods that are venues.  The pictures don't do justice.  Especially these pictures with my little point and shoot camera.

Backpacking: Part 2

We awoke the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed.  I was ravenous and could hardly wait for the water to heat up for my instant oatmeal.  Jim and Jayne had this nifty devise called a Jet Boil.  It heats water in just a couple of minutes.

After our coffee, we were ready to get back at it.  It was then that I had a brilliant idea.  Let's leave the packs and tents at the campsite and pick them up with the car after we finish the hike.  Jim and Jayne didn't feel comfortable with that since some of their equipment was their son's.  The top of my pack detached into a fanny pack (I could kiss the person who came up with that idea), and I had my Camelback for water.  I was golden.  The pack was staying behind.  My husband didn't have the fanny pack option, so he still had to carry his big pack, but he only carried the essentials--food and water.  Life was good.

Maybe the sweaty clothes will dry by the end of the day.

Before we left the campsite, I noticed my other boot was looking a little suspicious.  We decided to do a little preventative reinforcement.  The duct tape was getting low, so I had to use a rope for the toe of my boot.  I was starting to feel like a hillbilly.

Thankfully, the Manistee River Trail was much prettier than the North Country Trail.  We had beautiful views of the river all along the way.

The Manistee River

 This would be my view for the next seven hours.

 Snack time

We stopped for lunch at a beautiful spot.  Unfortunately, Mike didn't bring the sterno or cookware along, so we had to eat our meal cold.  Our meals, by the way, were interesting.  I picked them up at work. (They are for the weight management program--code for diet food.)  They are similar to Lean Cuisine, except they don't have to be frozen.  They have a shelf life of three years, and all you do is microwave them for 60 seconds.  I thought we could heat them over the sterno and be fine.  They aren't bad warmed up, but eating them cold just doesn't do it.  

 One of the many kayakers we saw.

We knew we had to cross the river over a suspension bridge and then would reach the car about 1.5 miles after that.  I asked every person that we came upon how far we had to go to get to the bridge.  I got different answers from everyone.  I knew I could trust the guy who told us "39 minutes".  Sure enough, we caught sight of the bridge in 32 minutes and got there in 36.

 The suspension bridge comes into view.

 It was on the bridge that my boot finally bit the dust.  Pieces of rubber were starting to fall off.  Thankfully, I had a pair of mules that I had brought along to wear around camp in the evening.  They weren't made for hiking, but they worked.  And they looked quite chic with my white socks.  

 The boots had had enough.

By now, Mike was on a mission.  He was like an old horse heading back to the barn.  We couldn't keep up with him.  By the time we got to the car, he already had changed his shoes and had his pack in the car. The death march was finally over and we had survived.

 Gotta love the white socks and black mules.  

The look on Mike's face says it all, but he was a good sport.

These boots don't owe me anything.  They are at least 15 years old,

have been up Long's Peak (14,259 ft.) twice, 

plus countless other hikes.

Goodbye to my boots.  They served me well.

I can now cross backpacking off my bucket list.  If anyone is interested in gear, keep an eye out for ours on e-bay.  I tried it, and I don't like it, and I never have to do it again.   Praise God!!