The New American Angeler Part 2

As part of the good times in Island Park, my dad arranged for the two of us to go fishing with a guide. We went out in a little boat (sorry, Dad, I don't know what you'd call the boat) with a guide named John, who was really nice. We fished the Henry's Fork of the Snake River.

My dad told me that if John was doing his job well that I'd catch a fish or two. I was really hoping that I would.

Aaaaaand I did. Dad caught the first fish of the day, but I definitely caught the most. It was soooo much fun. And a lot harder than I thought it would be. Those fish may not be very big, but they can sure put up a good fight. Plus, I have little to no upper body strength.

Here's the very first fish I have ever caught! It was a rainbow trout. I'm so excited I can't even open my eyes.Not long after that I caught a 16" brown trout. This guy knocked me off my feet and almost made me fall out of the boat. But it was worth it. Look at him.
I caught the biggest fish of the day. He was a 18" white fish. With him netted, I had scored a Henry's Fork Grand Slam--rainbow trout, brown trout and white fish. How many of you have done that?
You'll notice that in every picture John is holding the fish. My dad thought he was being rude in not letting me hold it. I had to set him straight and let him know that while I like catching the fish that doesn't mean that I want to hold it. Bleh.

It was such a great day. By the time we finished, I was exhausted. Fishing can be a work out. But it tons of fun to be out on the water with my dad, enjoying the scenery and time with him.

The Yellowstone Adventure

The first weekend in August I went up to Island Park, Idaho with my parents. They rented a cabin up there, and I was lucky enough to get to spend some time there. Island Park is really close to West Yellowstone. We went into the park a couple of times. I hadn't been there since I was like 5 or 6, so it was pretty cool to see.

Here are some pictures from our mini-tour.A cool waterfall, but I don't remember what it's called. The fallen trees all around are from the forest fires in 1988. Even 20 years later, there was a lot to see from the effects of the fires.
A shot of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. You can see why the park got named "Yellow" stone.
Moi at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I had to crop the picture so you wouldn't see the random Italian guy who got in the shot. There were soooo many people at this lookout, and, from the sounds of things, a lot of them were from another country.
One of my favorite signs warning of the danger of the hot pots. The best part is the guy walking away who doesn't seem to care his kid is getting scalded.
To help me feel like I'm a true American, my parents took me to see Old Faithful. This was the scene as we walked up. That's my mom up ahead in the capri pants.

There were quite a few false starts before the geyser actually erupted. But once it got going, wow. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get the really high spouts.
After we were done at Old Faithful, we decided to head out of the park for some lunch. As we came around a bend, we encountered this line-up of cars. At first we couldn't see why they were all stopped. Then we saw that at the front of the line a buffalo was walking down our side of the road.
Eventually, the buffalo decided to walk off the road. I got a quick picture as we drove by. It was a huge bull. And he was in no hurry. It was pretty cool.

"Marie, why haven't you updated your blog recently?"

"Oh, you know, some stuff at work has been keeping me busy. I'll get around to it."

All for me, none for you

My two nieces (and their parents) are coming out for a visit the end of this week. I am overwhelmingly excited to see the girls and remind them of how I'm their favorite aunt.

This picture is one my sister put on her blog. She used it as an example of how well Squish (the older one) does of sharing with her younger sister. I'm still laughing. Ah, sisters.

A little, lovely change

One of my wonderful friend helped me make my blog even better. Doesn't it look great?

Thanks again, Ali.

They're listening

Earlier this week I was driving to a food establishment to pick something up for myself. On the way I was listening to a local radio station. On this station they have a show in the evening where they play three new-to-the-radio songs. Listeners can then call in and vote on the one they think should win (it gets played again the following night against new competitors). I had heard all three songs, which is unusal for me because I generally don't listen to the whole show. I really liked one of the songs, so I decided to call in. I really don't do this sort of thing very often, but I really liked the song. The DJ took my call, I cast my vote, and that was that.

I arrived at the food establishment I was headed for. As I waited in line I realized the song that was playing over their speakers was the same one as was on the radio when I got out of my car. Interesting coincidence. When the song ended, I recognized the voice of the DJ. I heard her taking calls to get votes. I realized the food establishment was tuned in to the same station I had been listening to in the car. Just then I heard myself say, "Hi, one vote for {cool song I voted for}." It was really odd. I was standing there, listening to myself, surrounded by people who didn't know it was me they were hearing.

I know, I know. Not that bizarro. But I was weirded out.

Blog Watch - Cake Wrecks

My brother told me about this site. And I think my friend, Em, has something posted on her blog about it as well. If you need a quick bit of entertainment and laughter, this is great. Oh, the things people do with food.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Until next season . . .

I miss you already. *Sigh*

Beijing 2008

I might find some time to watch the Olympics. Maybe some swimming. You know, the backstroke or something. That could be interesting. Yum. I mean, yeah. Go USA.

Boston Photos

I like to pretend lots of things--that I'm a rockstar, that I am 5'10" just like Cindy Crawford, and that I know what I'm talking about a lot of the time.

I also like to pretend that I'm a photographer. There were lots of cool things to photograph while I was in Boston, so here for your viewing pleasure are my artsy fartsy pictures.

Chalk art on the sidewalk by the waterfront

Atrium in the JFK Library


JFK's boat outside the library

Statue of Paul Revere with the Old North Church's steeple in the background

A men's store in Boston (no joke)
Boston Public Library
Statue outside the Boston Public Library

Beantown - Day 4

Day 4: Another great start with Dunkin' Donuts. Breakfast of champions, I tell you. Today was the day to fit in anything we didn't get to previously. And we were lucky enough to have clear, sunny skies.

Our first stop was the JFK Presidential Library, south of Boston. It's a huge white building right on the water, next to University of Massachusetts. Our tour guide's name, interestingly enough, was Caroline. The tour was very interesting for me since I don't feel like I know a lot about that time in history. The quote below is in the large atrium you enter at the end of the tour. The design was really cool because at the end of the tour is stuff about the assassination, obviously, and then you come out into this huge, bright atrium. So pretty. I'll put pictures of that in another post. I really like the idea he shares here, in that we may never see the whole effect of all the good we do, but we should do it anyway. From there we headed over to the Prudential Building. It is one of the taller buildings in Boston, and they have an observatory you can visit to get a bird's eye view of the city. I was glad we had such good weather. Plus, doing this on the last day, we got to see most of the sites we had already visited. The tall, mirrored building is the John Hancock building.
If you know where to look in this picture, you can see the State House in the distance, along with the old North Church. If you don't, then these are just random buildings.
When we were done with the Skywalk (as it's called), we split up. I wanted to go to H&M (love it!) since we don't have one close to Salt Lake. I was not disappointed. The shop in Boston is HUGE, and I bought a cute shirt and a new purse. Then we all met up again in the Public Gardens because the other three gals wanted to take a spin on the Swan Boats. These boats have been a Boston staple since the late 1800s. I stayed behind to enjoy the shade and snap a couple of pictures.
Jenn's looking back at the camera in this one. Ellen is too, but it's kind of hard to see her because of the kid on the last bench.
We all wanted to pick up some souvenirs and gifts before we left, so that meant another trip to Quincy Market. This picture is actually from the first day, but I just love it so much that I had to include it.

Near the market is a Holocaust Memorial. It's beautifully done and very moving. I apologize for not having any pictures of it, but I didn't feel like pulling out my camera. My advice is go to Boston and see it in person.

For dinner, we decided to visit the north end again, in hopes of having some more fabulous Italian food. We sure lucked out. Apparently there was some parade/festival thing being held to celebrate St. Joseph (yeah, I have no idea who he is either). Here is part of the parade.

We walked down the street looking at the booths that were out. At the very end was a stage with a man singing. We got all excited about the free entertainment until we realized the man couldn't sing. At all. My favorite overhead comment was from a lady standing near us who walked up and said, "What the hell is this?" We all had to suppress our laughter. He was pretty bad.

We had dinner in a place recommended to us by one of my dad's friends. Excellent choice. The food was fantastic, even if the service was a little slow. We laughed at the fact that our waiter couldn't believe we didn't want nice bottle of wine with dinner. Wrong crowd, pal.

After dinner, we stopped by Mike's Pastries, which is a well-known bakery. There was a huge line, but it was well worth the wait. We all got some sort of yumminess, like an eclair or cannoli. Delightful.

Then it was back to the hotel to pack and get ready to leave first thing in the morning. As we were waiting at the T station for the train, we were discussing politics. It came up that Al Franken is running for the senate in Minnesota. Kristin, who doesn't really know who Al is, said, completely straight-faced, "Well, is he good enough?" We were practically rolling on the ground with that one. Kristin had no idea what she had said until we calmed down enough to explain it.

All in all, one of the better trips I've been on. What I loved is that there was so much to do and see. I could go back and check out all the stuff I missed on this trip. I ate tons of good food, saw lots of cool stuff, and had a blast hanging out with my friends.

Good times.

The End.