˜ apteryx wa: August 2007

apteryx wa

west indies / virgin islands

we went on a cruise as july turned into august.

della and i got us a kayak and paddled out to sea.
but we came back to snorkel with turtles and sip caribbean cocktails.

yellow-headed welcome home party


this fall/spring while we were in new zealand, my mom was busy planting a whole field of sunflowers. we arrived in kentucky just in time to see the results.

road trip

we took a short roadtrip with my parents to southwest colorado and visited durango, mesa verde, silverton, ouray, the royal gorge and colorado springs.

cliff palace, the largest cliff dwelling yet discovered in the united states

rainbow paint on the side of a shop in silverton

the royal gorge bridge, the worlds highest suspension bridge over water

on the bridge, looking down just over 1,000 feet

weekend in fairplay

upon arriving in denver we spent the weekend in fairplay where della was able to meet some of my high school friends. we did some hiking up in the higher altitudes and roamed around a motorcycle rally back in town. della and elizabeth also went to old-timey southpark (the same one made famous by the cartoon), and i did some shooting with derek, justin and kevin.

hiking around near kite lake, one of the highest maintained campsites in the national park system at 12,000 feet

the valley and old mining trail which brings you in to kite lake

eating an apple at the motorcycle rally

homecoming

we're back! we planned a long layover for our arrival in san francisco and wound up going to napa, santa cruz and harry potter before making our way to denver. napa was great as usual; we sipped wine and beers by the pool, hit some golf balls (poorly), had a great meal and finished off the night with some cigars, a soak in the hot tub and a nice fire. della did her first outdoor rock climbing on the way to santa cruz, then we hung out on the beach and enjoyed another fire before getting rousted by the cops. then we spent a night in the city and toured some neighborhoods before waiting in line for harry potter.

but we missed some friends while we were there so we have to go back soon to make up for it...



above, i'm not sure who the artist is for these wooden sculptures in an abandoned industrial landfill near albany/berkeley in the east bay, but they're pretty impressive.