I've been trying to fit in all the little adventures I can. For one, I met up with some much-missed and infrequently-enjoyed family and wandered around Denver for a few hours.

( Adventures With Fish )

Further adventures! Next up I took a good friend of mine down to the cabin. The cabin is located outside of Westcliffe, Colorado in the beautiful Sangre de Cristos, and provides vast amounts of entertainment for those with a taste for the great outdoors (heck, if you're in Colorado and would like to stay there, I can introduce you to the man to talk to).

( Adventures With Snow )

In the interest of a) getting back into shape, which I've let slip in the latter half of this semester, b) enjoying the spring and c) having more adventures, I'm trying to get in a hike every other day, minimum. Prepare for many pictures of the general Fort Collins area, and maybe a trail review or five.

All these little adventures, however, are nothing compared to what I've got coming up, which I will make an announcement about very, very soon. Trust me, it's all sorts of cool.

Ooo, the suspense!

One windy morning once most of the snow from the first days of break had melted, I grabbed some good company and headed a short ways southeast to The Wild Animal Sanctuary. If any of you have seen Animal Planet's "Growing Up Black Leopard" you've seen the sanctuary, and yes, it really is that cool.

If you're in Northern Colorado, drop by. You could say I sent you, but you'd just confuse them. For those who are not in Colorado (and why not?), I took pictures! Unfortunately for anyone with a taste for variety, it appears that when I am surrounded by lions and tigers and bears (andleopardsandpumasandservals) oh my!... I only take pictures of Tigers.

What? I like tigers!

* * * *

In other news, I've been on a serious new music kick lately. How do you find new music? I have three methods: a) asking friends what they love, in just those words b) leaving Pandora.com running in the background whenever I can and c) browsing allmusic.com, which is like IMDB for music.

Here. Have a song.

I've been doing a lot since the last time we spoke. A lot of what, you ask?

A lot of small-scale adventuring:






Hogback


In Shadow

A lot of skeletonizing grapes. Seriously, I'm going through multiple bags a week:


Ambrosia

A lot of thinking:


Good Advice

A lot of new-piercing-aftercare:


See it?

A lot of collecting bruises in mosh pits and the front rows of various punk shows:




Like a sunset, only disturbing.

(All well worth it, mind you, though I'd like to know what I did to my ribcage to make it hate me so.)

A lot of doodling and painting:



A lot of finding of lost things:


What once was lost

A lot, a lot, A LOT of studying and even more time in-lab researching:


Argh.

And finally, over the last few days, a lot of much-neglected crafting:


I make messes, not projects!

All this is merely my way of apologizing for my absence, and (for any reader which may remain, given my tendency to randomly disappear) giving you a heads up: I've got things to share. Ciao, then, and see you soon!

I did it again. Yep. I just couldn't take the thought of sitting around at home on break, and so threw some travel plans together one day and left the next with naught but my backpack and travel journal.

And tent. And sleeping bag. And fins/mask/snorkle. But that's all excusable excess.

So where did I go here in the midst of a Colorado winter? Somewhere warm, of course!

Prickly

( New Mexico, San Diego and Maui )

States visited in ten days or so:

-Colorado
-New Mexico
-Texas
-Arizona
-California
-Hawai'i
-Nevada
-Utah

Quite the trip. Per usual, more pictures can be seen by clicking through the gallery the above pictures all link to.

At this point in the year my various retreats and recharges tend to be far less "sit down and make something" and far more "head for them thar hills!". I have many hypothesis for why I start itching for the great outdoors so much in the fall and winter, but I think the most likely explanation is that I simply spend more time indoors (in class, at the library, avoiding the cold) in chill months, and have to make up for that somehow. I mean, there's so much out there!

I give you, then, some shots of the great outdoors. The first set is from Poudre Canyon, which is close enough that I can drive up for a couple of hours after class and get some wandering in. The other two are from Estes Park (more specifically, Rocky Mountain National Park), which tends to be more of a weekend escape for me.

( Poudre Canyon )

( Estes Park )

That's all for now!