Happy Birthday, Mom

October 4, 1946 – January, 15, 2009

  In my heart your memory lingers, Always tender, fond & true; 

There’s not a day I do not think of you.

Waterfalls of North Carolina

Last fall our photography meetup group had the opportunity to visit some of the great waterfalls in North Carolina, around the Brevard area and in the Pisqah National Forest.

Looking Glass Falls

  

This was the start of our walking journey to the Moore Cove Falls, it was a hike but well worth the walk.

Next we did a easy walk to Log Hollow Falls, also in Pisgah National Forest. 

Then onto see the Mill Shoal Falls on Living Waters property in Pisgah National Forest. This is an awesome place with two falls, I could have stayed the entire day.

This was our last waterfall, and it was definitely the best. Called Eastatoe Falls which is located on private property where the owners have allowed public access! I could only imagine how relaxing it would be to come home after a hard day at work and relax with the sites and sounds of your very own personal natural waterfall.

New Year, Old Post

Well, it has been a very long time since I did a my last post (bad, bad me), so I have decided to look through all my old, unpublished posts and get them posted. After that I can move onto newer post. So out with the old so I can move on to the new.

Here is my very own handmade snowman from February of 2011. I made it on the side of Hillandale Golf Course on a very cold day, (but what I won't tell you is that the head of the snowman was already made by some neighborhood kids and all I had to do was roll the larger snowball for the body and stick the arms in and presto a snowman for me!)

Town of Deadwood, SD

I grew up some 45 minutes south of Deadwood long before the casinos, before Kevin Costner, before "Deadwood" the HBO series. Deadwood was the town we drove through to go skiing at Terry Peak, the town was usually covered in snow and vacant. Not anymore, the town has been restored, revived, reinvented.

"With the discovery of gold in 1876 and Deadwood was born. A Wild West town that was once ruled by outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers. Wild Bill Hickok was one of the gunslingers who was gunned down for holding a hand of aces and eight, creating the Dead Man's Hand. Calamity Jane also spent some time in Deadwood and is buried next to Hickok." Deadwood.com

We had plans to camp the night but a strong storm came through and blew over our tent. This led to a decision to drive into Rapid City to find a hotel for the night. But before that we did get to enjoy some of the town, the architect and a few casinos. 

Here is our tent before the storm on a nice grassy spot with a great view.

Devil's Tower National Monument | Wyoming

The Devil's Tower was established as the first U.S. National Monument in 1906. The Devil's Tower is spectacular. Each Plains Indian Tribe have their own belief of the Tower. Some legends say that a girl turned into a bear and running after her sister and slipped and made the scratches on the big rock; another says that a brave's wife had become infatuated with a bear and when they went to the bear he was so big that it scared the braves. They ran to the top of the big rock and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them and the rock began to grow saving the braves. There are more legends all a little different but all seem to revolve around a bear and the rock. Whichever legend you believe it is a very spiritual place and while we stand there watching the tower I could hear the tribes chants in the wind.

I loved that the park took the time to stamp footprints along the trails, some human and others not.

This is my friend Sam, the Prairie Dog. His lives in a prairie dog "town" at the bottom entrance to  Devil's Tower. He was so nice to pose for this picture. Sweet puppy but not too close, puppies will bite.  

Saw 3D | Saw it | Like it

Awhile back we went and saw the 3D movie "Saw The Final Chapter" and I wanted to share our nice 3D glasses. Rather nice wouldn't you say. It's bad when the $3.00 3D glasses look better than my $6.00 bug eye sunglasses.

Bug Eye














3D


What do you think?

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument | Montana

We spend a few hours touring the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. We arrived in time for the ranger's interpretation on the history of the battle that took place here many years ago. This is were Col. Custer had his last stand and died along with 262 soldiers and an undocumented number of Cheyenne warriors. We drove the tour and visited the grave sites that were along the path. It was amazing to stand on the same ground were many men lost their lives for what they believed.

The Custer National Cemetery is also located at the Battlefield and is open to the public. Upon first arrival I thought these were the graves of the soldiers that died in the battle, but they are not. Most of the soldiers are still buried on the field, left at their final post.