Yellow River Game Park

For my first week back into heavy wedding season, I did a lot of playing. We went mountain biking on Sunday and Thursday, and
would have probably gone Tuesday morning, except we had a job. Wednesday I accompanied DM on a shopping trip to the mall- she needed me to keep her company. And today I went to the Yellow River Game Park with DM, Gwennan, Shauna,
Ian & Bevin. I couldn't pass up the offer to hang out with the girls, and Ian, of course.













It was a pretty cool park, with deer who were so tame they would walk into the middle of a group of 20 screaming school kids to eat. I guess the animals get used to the idea of noise and wildness and eating. The whole thing was very exciting for Gwennan, while Ian was a little less sure at first. Eventually, Ian figured out the whole feeding the animals idea and would retreive a carrot and bring to the animal of his choice, or in some cases, the animal who chose him.
There were black bears who lounged around with their mouths open trying to catch food if you should happen to throw it close enough. Some of them were apparently bottle fed, so they were very accustomed to humans. There was a de-skunked skunk (one of the animals I used to beg my parent to buy for me), there were peacocks, tons of goats, donkeys, cows, sheep, ducks, rabbits, roosters, hens, chicks, a cougar, geese, chipmunks and squirrels. I think of all of the animals, the squirrels were the most persistent. The goats probably would have beat them out, but most of them were behind fences.


























And in the end, we all felt a little like Gwennan.

Mythbusting at 4am

Let's start with the good news: Charles and I are photographing a wedding in the Redwoods in Northern California in June, and then driving down the coast for a week, eventually visiting friends around the LA area. Charles has a friend who is a wine tester in wine country, so we're hoping to contact him and swing by on our way down the coast. I have never been to California, so I'm really really excited about our trip. I've always had the feeling that if I were to visit California, I'd never want to leave, so we're testing that theory.

The bad news: Someone (not mentioning any names here) told me that when they were up at 3am one morning, the flight they were trying to purchase dropped $100 in price. Then at 4am, it dropped again. So, being the frugal person I am, I set my alarm for 3:45 am last Thursday night and thought that I was going to partake in this midnight secret and find all sorts of deals. Well, at 4am, I watched the flight I was hoping to take disappear, so things do change in the middle of the night. And after searching every airline website I knew of or could find, I watched the price increase $20. So, at 4:30, I crawled into bed waking Charles, who didn't fall back to sleep, but tossed and turned until about 5:30, when he just decided to get up for the day, and I was finally able to go back to sleep.

So, I spoke with this person over the weekend, and mentioned my failed attempt to get a deal, and he said that he woke in the night feeling all of this hostility towards himself. Hmm, what could have caused that? I think the funniest part of the whole sad incident is that Gordy lives in the office by the computer, so I kept him awake while I was in there, and at 9am, when he's normally roaming the house and getting in all sorts of trouble, he was sound asleep. Even the rabbit was tired.

Saturday we photographed a wedding for a Jewish couple. One of my other brides said she wished she could have some of the Jewish traditions at her wedding because they were so fun. I agree, Jewish weddings are just fun. It was a really long day, we started preparing around 11am, left home around 12:30pm, and didn't get back home until 1am. I think the only reason we got home then was because the band was only contracted until 12 am so we headed out when they started packing up. I think the wedding guests would have partied most of the night.

Needless to say, we're tired today, really really tired.

Easter

So Gordy the Easter Bunny spent Easter alone. I did allow him free reign of the office, so when we got home he was cuddling with the Bowflex letting the heating vent blow in his face...something he really seems to like whether it's air conditioning or heat.










Ben & Jen invited us to join them for Easter dinner, and it was quite a dinner. Ham with little cloves stuck in the sides basted with pure sugar every 10 minutes, sautéed green beans, baked carrots, corn pudding, potato casserole, crescent rolls- what a meal! I brought a blueberry pie for dessert with homemade crust and everything. It was so much fun to join the Greenwalds for the holiday- Ben and Charles (Jen correctly observed) are like brothers. They were college roommates and graduate school housemates. The same video game mesmerized them for most of the afternoon-you can see the family resemblance in their mouths when they are sitting in front of the screen.


Ben played with our camera and took some fine art photos of things like his shoe, a pillow on the couch and the Masters on TV. He also took some portraits while we sat around talking, which are quite good.

Dupont Forest Bike Trip

Charles had Thursday and Friday off this week, so we drove to North Carolina to go biking. Unfortunately, living in 80 degree sunny Atlanta, we forgot to check the weather report. So, we crossed the NC border mid afternoon Thursday and the skies opened up their fury on us. Tempted to turn and drive home in defeat, we decided we would just bike in the rain. That was until we reached the park and opened the doors and discovered that it was about 40 degrees. Hmm, mountains do that sometimes, don't they? Anyway, we had only packed tank tops and shorts to ride in, and Charles didn't even pack pants for the trip, so we found a local bike shop and spent money we don't have on winter biking gear.
So, we went out to dinner in our warm bike gear, since we didn't have anything else warm enough and stayed in a hotel praying that the weather would warm and clear for Friday.


Friday dawned cold and gloomy, but no rain, so we ventured our ride in our new warm gear. Very out of character, I begged that we start with a climb so that I could stop shivering.The first section was a grueling climb up to slick rock, which is just open faced rock. It’s easier than gravel or dirt in that you have a lot more traction. It’s more difficult because your bike takes all of the impact of all of the small (or large) ripples in the surface, and if you fall, you are going to be really bruised. Some sections were so steep I can’t believe I did them, but I survived.






At this overlook, you could see out almost in all directions.




After going up to the slick rock and down the other side, we had to do a stream crossing. Here’s me trying to will myself across the stream with my face. Basically, the rocks in the stream were covered with moss and it felt like ice skating without blades. And the current is making you and your bike slowly drift closer and closer to the rapids. Charles had to put the camera down and help me across the last few feet of the stream or I would have lost my bike. On the way back we ran into a group of about 20 guys crossing the stream in their socks, which sticks to the moss and gives traction. So the way back was much easier.







We did another climb which took us to a lookout high above Bridal Veil Falls, and then rode the decent and ate lunch at the foot of the falls.










Near the falls was a stable with horses.






The way back was all single track in the woods- fun fast ups and downs. Overall, we rode from about 10am-4pm, and then drove 3 1/2 hours home. Saturday morning I hosted a brunch so by that afternoon I felt like I had been run over by a truck.