Vancouver

Its that time again - I have the travel itch. Yesterday was my 26th birthday (I know I am old!). In December, I have a week off unpaid from work. I figured I better take advantage of the time. So, as a gift to myself, I bought a plane ticket to Vancouver.

I have a list of things that I am interested in doing. The Vancouver Aquarium and Stanley Park. Capilano River and Grouse Mountain. Butchart Gardens. Whale watching. I only have a short time in the city, so if any of you have visited Vancouver, I would love to know what you think are the must sees!

Weekend Up North

My grandparents came to visit me this past weekend. It was a fantastic change of pace from the past week. We just moved slow and relaxed and saw some sites. On Friday I showed them around where I work. On Saturday, we hit up the Duluth and Superior area. We went to Canal Park as well as a couple Wisconsin State Parks. In addition, my Grandpa showed me some of his childhood stomping grounds.

Lighthouse at Canal Park

Manitou Falls at Pattison Park State Park

Little Manitou Falls at Pattison State Park

Shortly after my Grandparents dropped me off at my house,  my housemates asked if I wanted to go to Duluth with them. So I hopped back in the car and went to Canal Park and Superior Street with them. On the way home we grabbed pizza in this cute little place in Moose Lake.

It was a fun filled, relaxing weekend and a bit of what I needed!

Family Reunion

Well, this past week was the family reunion. I met up with the parents, grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins for a few days in Door County. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Close up of a dragonfly

Sunset

Cave Point County Park

My parents and I

45 X 90

I think my nerdiness was on full display today.

Amanda and I went to the exact center of the northern half of the western hemisphere which lies on the 45th parallel and 90th meridian. Basically that means its the halfway point between the equator and the north pole (and it happens to be the halfway point between Greenwich, England and the International Dateline).  There are 4 points in the world where the 45th and 90th meet - the one in Wisconsin is the most visited because 2 are in the middle of the ocean and one is in a remote area of China.

The marker the county put up

Me in front of the sign!

Yep, thats right. It is in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a bunch of corn fields. The sign was placed along the road side and its not at the true location - that is about 1000 feet East in the corn field....but it was still fun!

Back to Wausau

So I have a full 6 days off and am spending a few of them in Wausau. My friend came to visit for a few days and we went to the few fun places there are in this town.

Rib Mountain State Park - Quarry Area

Me sitting on a hippo statue at the Leigh Yawkey

(don't worry, the sign said it was ok to sit on it)

Amanda and I at the Eau Claire Dells bluffs!

All in all, its nice to be able to sit around and relax; not having to worry about anything. Oh and I have been getting my Starbucks fill. For the rest of the week, I will be at the family reunion in Door County. Looking forward to more relaxing and some good photo chances! :)

Salt Lake City - Day 4

Today, it was off to see the Dinosaurs at the North American Museum of Acient Life. They claim to have the largest collection of dinosaurs fossils in the world. The website also says  that they have a megalodon (which I was super excited about!). Mindy and I explored the museum for most of the morning and they were not lying about the fossils - there were 100's. The fun part was you could even touch a bunch!! I really enjoyed all the fish like fossils....no surprises there :)

I went the entire time looking around corners to spot my favorite ocean critter of ALL time. However, I am sad to report that this was the most lame and sorry megalodon I have come across (see below).

At the end, you could even pretend to be a paleontologist!

The rest of our day wasn't nearly as exciting. We went to Barnes and Noble and I got a Starbucks. For me though, living in the middle of no where, this was quite a treat. For dinner, we went out with a bunch of the Aviary interns and then met up at a coffee shop. It was nice and relaxin - exactly what I needed.

Unfortunetly, tomorrow I go back to Minnesota. I will be sure to post more pictures soon!

Salt Lake City - Day 3

Today, we went to the Tracy Aviary where Mindy works. This served 2 purposes. First, Mindy got to show me around where she works. Second, I got one of my interviews done for my Hamline Classes. What we thought was going to be a quick morning turned into four hours of wondering.

After the morning we grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to the library. I know this seems a bit silly but the Salt Lake City Library is HUGE. (One picture is the outside and the other is the inside of the library.) It is 5 floors with a garden roof and stores on the first floor. The views from the top were stunning!! (as you can see from the picture below)

This evening we went to Alice in Wonderland the movie in 3D. It has been a long time since I saw anything in 3D so it was interesting to see it again. The movie on the other was a little disappointing.

Thats all for now....tomorrow its off to see the dinosaurs! :)

Salt Lake City - Day 2

After getting up at the crack of dawn yesterday AND staying up seveal hours past my bed time, I managed to sleep until 10! This is amazing for me since I normally get up at 7 everyday of the week. Once we got moving, it was a rather busy day.

First up was the Hogle Zoo. We enjoyed a lazy and another beautiful day wondering around looking at the animals. I did see a male American Kestrel - however I am going to say that Nero is way cuter....not that I am biased or anything. :)

Next up was a quick walk by Olympic Cauldron Park. This is where alot of the stuff took place when the Olympics were here. In the photo I am standing under the arch where some of the medal ceramonies took place. It seem that I have a problem. This is the 3rd Olympic park I have been to...only about 8 years too late. Maybe some day I will get to go to an actual event!

Last stop of the day was Antelope Island. This is the largest island on the lake. We say quite a bit of wildlife. Bison, antelope, birds and I am 70% sure I saw a burrowing owl. It just moved a little too quick for me to properly ID it. The views were amazing here and we got to see the sunset on the drive back to mainland. If anyone is planning a visit here soon, this would be one place you can't miss!

Until next time....

Salt Lake Ciy - Day 1

I got up at 4 am to make it to my way early flight on Saturday. It was so early that I got to see the sun rise from my window seat. After a quick layover in Denver, I got on another plane to get to Salt Lake. Flying over the Rocky Mountains was beautiful!

Mindy and I were off and running. We went to the capital building and Temple Square. The architecture is amazing and eveywhere you look are the mountains. The nice thing is that even though Salt Lake is  big city, it doesn't have the big city feel. This makes it rather relaxing.

So far, I am really enjoying the nice mild weather. I will be sure to post more from my visit soon :)