Gatlinburg Trail

Hailey and Ryan dig around in the water for some good "skipping" rocks.

Gotta find out what kind of flower this is. Couldn't convince the nearby hovering butterfly to alight on its flowers while I was shooting:(

Another unknown flower to me. I'm sure I'll find out shortly. Half the fun of hiking for me is learning what the plants are that I see along the way.

From a different angle...

Gatlinburg Trail

Me and Hailey pose by the sign as we start our early afternoon hike to the Sugarland Visitor Center.

Hailey doing a cheer on the trail?

I couldn't resist climbing this great tree!

A variation on pole dancing known to tree huggers as "tree" dancing.

Run Forrest Run!

Evening Family Hike

Standing near the river near the beginning of the Gatlinburg Trail. This trail begins at the far end of Gatlinburg just as you enter the park.

Dad stole some peanuts from Texas Road house to feed the squirels in the National Park (which is probably a federal offense).

Here I am trying to pull off a Laura Croft on this old stone wall. Successful? You be the judge:)

Hangin' out on the National Park sign. Left->Right: Hailey, Lisa, and Ryan.

Alum Cave Bluffs: Part 2

Me and Ryan sitting at the top. The kids enjoyed playing in the loose sandy dirt, and Hailey ventured into every hole she could find:)

My Dad trekked up a really steep slope to get this shot. Somewhere down there amongst those people is me snacking on a chocolate chip granola bar. Mmmm...tasty.

Stephen, my oldest brother, standing at the hand rail in front of the bluffs. I thought this photo looked better as a B&W.

Alum Cave Bluffs: Part 1

Alum Cave Bluffs is a trail located 8.4 miles up Newfound Gap Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's a 5.1 mile trail there and back. From Left->Right my hiking companions: Dad, oldest brother Steve, niece Hailey, and Nephew Ryan.

A tricky step on the rocks. Just over the rocks is a nice view down a steep slope. Behind me is the small step over this steep slope. I get a little nervous around steep slopes and cliffs, so this hike was full of personal challenges.

Don't know if you can see the sweat that poured off Ryan and Steve's bodies as we made our way up the mountain in the heat and humidity. As you can see, the weather was turning a little sour as we made our way up. On the way down we would be soaked in the thunderstorm that is building in this picture. Hailey and I were a little bit ahead of the rest of the crew so we didn't get as wet. We hid out at Arch Rock. I'll have to acquire photos of that great part of the trail from my brother. This was a great hike!

The Destination. According to a hiking guide I took along, Alum Cave is neither a cave nor Alum. It smelled like gun powder up here. According to the manual if you touch a finger to the rock you'll experience a bitter, salty sensation. I passed. Many trail improvements have been made since I last hiked this trail over 7 years ago. This hand rail was one of them. It used to be really tricky for someone with an aversion to heights (like myself) to make it to the top.

New Photo Albums and Videos on MySpace

Well...I've joined the MySpace revolution. I must say, I'm having a quite a good time. The controls have been a bit clunky to figure out at times, but the social networking capabilities are outstanding. I've uploaded several photo albums and videos. Hope on over to my profile and check them out at:

http://www.myspace.com/trinityandlisa

Photo Albums added so far are:

• My Photos
• Trinity
• Flowers
• Colorado
• Mammaw and Pappaw
• Trip to McArthur, Ohio
• Lisa and Dad's corvette
• Gatlinburg '04

My Videos are:

• Lisa Sledding '04: This ones funny!
• Sledding Video #2
• Sled Surfing: The poor man's snowboarding:)

There is also a video stored in my favorites which I think is soooo funny. Weird Al Yankovich's "Gonna Catch Me Ridin' Nerdy". It really resonates with my computer science life:)

Mom and Me at Jack's farm in McArthur, Ohio

Mission:Wolf

Mission:Wolf is wolf-pet rescue organization located in the mountains near Westcliffe, CO. They provide refuge for approximately 40 wolves currently. I'm going to go for a visit once I get home to Colorado. I hear that you can actually camp at the refuge and help with projects and feedings. That sounds like a dream come true to me.

In the Backyard

My grandfather built this shed when he moved to the property in the late 1940's. My Dad and his family lived in it until my grandfather finished building the main house. I never knew this, but before the main house was built, Dad said the family would take a 20-30 gallon trash can over to "Beaver creek" and fill it up for their drinking water. The can sat in the little house and served as their potable water for the week.

Trinity returning from her morning patrol in the back of the property

Trinity looks inside the back door, hoping to escape the mid-day humidity.

A picture of the house from the south side of my parent's property.

Trinity in the Morning

She wakes up early in the morning. Eats her breakfast.

Rolls around in the wet grass. Scares up some game...

Waits for her Pappaw (my Dad) to come outside for his morning coffee

Sometimes tries to get in a lick of his coffee cup, but mostly just sits at a distance and admires him:)

Book Review: The Red Pony

Ummm...I really enjoyed this book. It was very easy to read and the plot lines and dialogues kept me turning the pages quickly. But, I don't think I really grasped everything that Steinbeck was trying to communicate. The text is surprisingly simple to read, but I sensed that there was so much more going on underneath if only I could slow down.

The theme in this book that caught my eye was the fallability of humans. The ranch hand Billy Buck makes several promises concerning ponies on the Ranch. In the first case, he promises that the pony Gabilan will survive an illness. The pony dies. For the first time, Jody sees Billy Buck as fallible and does not trust him completely in the future. Billy Buck himself also comes face to face with his own limits when he realizes that he cannot make promises that are out of his control.

With the second Pony, Jody tries to obtain a promise from Billy Buck that it will be born. Billy Buck finally relents and promises, eventhough he knows better. His hubris results in the sacrifice of a good mare, as Billy Buck must slaughter the mare to deliver the pony with success.

Book Review: Seven Steps on The Writers Path

When I picked up this book, I was looking for some advise on how to become a published writer. But, I didn't want to read a dry manual or a book with a discouraging tone. While this book does not offer addresses and names of agents, it does provide an inside look into the lives of many successful writers. The authors themselves are writers of fiction and self-help books. This book is more a look into the psyche of a writer, and in that respect it was pretty comforting. Nancy and Lynn helped me realize that there is an emotional cycle to writing that I often feel but can't really put into words myself. Like life, once you realize the existance of this cycle you can move from inaction to action more quickly.

The only critism I have for this book is that it dragged on a little long toward the end. The authors probably could have dropped 20-50 pages without compromising the message of the book.