Star Wars + Politics = Awesome

Actually... I suppose I'd say Star Wars + Anything = Awesome....





Now it all makes sense!

At the Zoo

Last Sunday was Free Day at the Denver Zoo. Which, of course, we took advantage of, despite the fact that I probably should have been studying for the exam I had the next morning....

Not an owl... a short, stubby Tawny Frogmouth. Looks grumpy.






Alligator snapping turtle. 2-3 feet long, couple hundred pounds.





Komodo Dragon. Wipe your mouth, buddy.


Why are babies animals so cute?





Red Panda, 4 months old








We were totally blocking their sun... totally on purpose.







Not sure what I'm doing, but Val's getting hippo kiss. Maybe I'm mad that my wife left me for a hippo....




We also got to see an aye-aye, one of the only ones on display in a zoo anywhere.... it was too dark for me to get a picture, but here's some from google:





As for what I said about animal babies being cute... well, every rule has its exceptions.

Hey, look..... Art!

In response to Lindsey's return to blog-dom (two posts in two days!), I've posted my own latest attempt at abstract art:


Actually, no, I lied. It's not art... it's SCIENCE!!! (Again....) It's actually yesterday's lab results from my research project at school. My feeble attempts at art are strictly limited to music and photography. And really, I think I approach even those genres from much more of an "analytical" perspective than an artistic one....

The Loch Hike

Another hike, another couple hundred pictures... Once again, the best 40-ish are online, and below are the best of the best:

A beaver-dam pond

Yeah, we're weird. Get used to it.






This is The Loch. I wonder if it has its own Monster....

There it is!!! Oh, wait... never mind.

This should be titled "The Circle of Life" or "Birth from Death," or something cheesy like that.

See Little Red Riding Hood?

Near the end of the hike, as we approached 11,000 feet, the trail was paved with a nice thick coating of ice. It was easier to abandon the trail and just scramble up the mountainside.

At the top!


This was a 10-mile hike... 5 miles out, 5 miles back. Due to some poor planning and plenty of side trips and photo stops, we still had to hike the 5 miles back.... and it was half an hour to sunset. That's The Loch down there, about a mile away.






Back at The Loch, close to sunset... meaning we hiked the remaining 4 miles at dusk and in the dark. Through the trees. Without flashlights or a moon. The stars were out by the time we made it back. Quite the adventure!



We stopped for hot chocolate and Battleship on the way back.


Guess who lost? ;-)