People in the Streets

I know the grass is always greener on the other side but, guys, just when I thought you couldn't improve upon the mall food court I go to Europe and find out that they have OUTDOOR food courts EVERYWHERE. People. Everywhere. Outside. Eating. The best.

Left: A Piazza in Rome Right: The best thing ever, A German beer garden (don't worry we only ate oversized pretzels)

That smile says it all. The streets of Berlin.

Berlin

Even at night Berlin was off the chain.

Market in Amsterdam. Best mini pancakes ever, more on those later.

Market in Rome

Streets of Florence. I wish Whitney's shirt matched the shirts of the ladies on her left.

Beer Garden in Munich

Mammoth High Country

"The realities of nature surpass our most ambitious dreams" - Francois Rodin

I hit up Mammoth high country last weekend with the Adams brothers. Every year I get that itch to get lost in the wilderness. That itch is quickly satisfied when the combination of the altitude, overpacked backpack, fear of bears, and lack of 7-11's catches up to me. Whitney slipped the quote above into my pack before the trip. I couldn't think of a more appropriate quote for some of the things we encountered on the hike.

Greg was the smartest one. He made his pack lighter by burning all of his dirty shirts and socks along the way.

If you look hard you can see Greg and I on the ridge. At this point I was already cursing bringing the world's heaviest camera lens.

Greg fishing at Thousand Island Lake. Banner Peak looming in the background.

Banner Peak at sunrise.

I'm acting like the king of the world in the pic. In reality I wanted to curl up into the fetal position and surrender.

Left - Shadow Lake     Right - Banner Peak / Thousand Island lake 

My graceful jump at Badger Lakes.

Left - Brothers in the same position at camp     Right - post-hike blank stare

Idaho Spud

Idaho Spud, a photo by Bret Baker on Flickr.

Maybe it's a Sign

Bicycle Characters

We met a lot of characters in Europe, and I'm not talking about our tour guide in Amsterdam that kept praising the queen for making it legal for him to have a stash of hash. I'm talking about the thousands of bikes we saw. The bicycles whose stories go unnoticed. It's crazy to think about what some of these bikes have been through.

Somethin' Like a Phenomenon (LL Cool J anyone?)

It's kinda cool when you encounter a phenomenon. Rarely can someone casually mention in a conversation, "yeah, I saw a phenomenon today." One of the phenomenons we saw in Europe I see almost every day of the winter in Alameda. It's called Raynaud's Phenomenon. It's a condition that causes discoloration of a person's phalanges. In Whitney's case the cold causes a vasoconstriction in her peripheral blood vessels (this is beginning to sound like a report I did in 8th grade). Now to the interesting part. Behold, the phenomenon.

Sun Seekers

We didn't plan on doing this in every picture, but the sun was so golden we just had to.

Lassen National Volcanic Park

Eternal Flame

Bikeamania

Bret and I have 5 bikes between the two of us, a bit excessive? Yes. But some of them were given to us and they all serve very important and different purposes. I obviously feel the need to justify our 5 bikes, but after spending some time in Europe, oh no no no. We are not bikeaholics, we are just Europeans at heart! These people like bikes. LOVE bikes. I think that was the most shocking thing about our trip. Everyone bikes, and everyone wears tailored suits and skirts and blazers while on their bikes.

Alley in Amsterdam

Notice the bicycle parking garage in the background.

Craft-cation

You may or may not remember that this is the Year of the Creative Mind. Things were lagging for the first few months, but we've kicked it up a few notches. If you are wondering where I've been, I've been on a craft-cation. I paint-stamped 285 muslin bags, watercolored stationary, did my first oil paint landscape scene, and sewed some floral garlands. Before you start getting impressed, any of these crafts could have been done by an 8 year old... but I still feel good for sticking with my theme of this year. 

Oh and I've also been trying to get creative in my outfit choices, instead of just wearing a hanes t-shirt and stretchy jeans every day. I'm chronicling it here: asktheduplex.blogspot.com