Jen: Wichitawesome Part 2

Botanica (the botanical gardens) of Wichita.  We strolled around the grounds until we felt at home. Here some of the fun flora & fauna of Wichita!

Anne: Two Faced

This was either side of the same mountain that we hiked up on Saturday. None of us were expecting this much snow, but that's the mountains out here.

Anne: Fangorn Forest, WA

Doesn't it look like he's trying to lift something on his shoulders?

Goslings

When Jen and I were kayaking, we saw a number of goslings on the shore. This time Ben and I found them chowing down on some grass. 28 if I remember correctly! It made us interested to learn about Goose culture as there were 4 geese guarding them, but clearly they weren't all theirs. If they made a honk all the goslings would gather and when they were stopped for too long they would plop down on the pavement. It was truly entertaining.

Olympics

We had the privilege of spending a weekend on the Olympic Peninsula. Like all breathtaking, expansive views of nature, especially through a phone camera, this does nothing to express its beauty and majesty. But I would highly recommend heading over there and checking it out. We only got to Hurricane Ridge but there's a rainforest, beaches and tons of hiking.

A few of my favorite things

Orchids, Mexican blue jays, and Anne Mamula Johnson. A perfect Saturday afternoon.

Getting Philosophical

To experience or capture - that is the question.

Yesterday was a rare cloudless day in Seattle. I treated myself on such a day with a run as reward for putting in 10 hour day on my thesis survey. Without exaggeration, it was the most breath-taking run I've ever taken.

I traversed over 14 miles on sidewalks, side streets, and mulched paths. I encounter boardwalks & blueberry farms, forests & fields, old-timey windmills & waterfalls, 3 lakes, each bigger than the one before, two birds of prey that I'm going to call golden eagles (because they were huge), a navy seal tearing up hill sprints on a ridiculous incline, and such scenery that I cannot paint with words.

And yet in the midst of such wonder, I couldn't help but lament not having brought my phone or camera that I could pull off some Zooey Deschanel running-photography from Yes Man! A feast for my senses, and all I have to show you of it is a picture of the sunset from my apartment (where I sat and iced my knee).

Today's technology of instant capture and instant share frequently results in us experiencing our lives through the filter of our camera phones or glowing screens. We take pictures of our food before we eat it (like I did with my dinner last night!) We have this incessant urge to document every fleeing moment. But at what cost? Do we miss living the moment because we're so busy trying to capture it? 

And why must we capture it? Are we so afraid that we'll never have another moment, another run, another meal as good as the one we didn't fully experience in the first place?

So I have no pictures for you from my run. The only remnants of the day lie in my faulty memory and in my tender knee, but I'm going to keep running and keeping living, to experience all the more that life has to offer, not settling for even the best of today - because tomorrow is full of its own opportunity (and hope) for awesome.

Stay tuned though! I have some sweet pictures of the dinner I made.

Coming Clean.

Anne & Katy are well aware of my secret obsession. Seeing as I will be posting pictures of things that bring me joy, I guess I should prepare you as well for what is bound to be a reoccurring theme in my posts:

Birds

This is a (not great) picture of a blue heron I snapped while out on a bike ride. These elegant feathered friends are particularly close to my heart. The heron was chilling out in the marsh lands beneath the 90 & 405 interchange.

Into the Woods

The answer to Last week's riddle photo was: C.  That photo was taken at the lounge area situated in between the cardio machine area and personal trainer area! Ridiculous.

This past Saturday, My hubby (Justin), Anne's husband, and I checked out the nearby hiking trails of Cougar Moutain.

Fog shrouded the whole forest, and emerald mantles of moss adorned every tree trunk. The scenery encouraged and complimented our tendency for philosophical and theological discussion.

Pecking Woodpecker

So when other people come to Vegas they take pictures of the Vegas sign or the Strip. Not me this is a baby woodpecker I found working it outside my grandparents house.

Bonus: that's the sun!

Inappropriate

Went snowshoeing for the first time. It was a lot of fun! I saw this awesome old growth stump in trees. Truth be told though in the picture it looks like an old growth dump.