Day 344: Waterfall

While visiting Ashley in Grand Rapids, we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. The place is huge, and there were a lot of sculptures and flowers, but the place wasn't quite as cool as I thought it would be. Still it was pretty cool.

Day 325: Everglades Alligator

We saw a few alligators on the air boat ride we went on in the morning, but we saw way more when we hiked a trail in the Everglades. We got to see a 9-foot alligator swimming (slowly) and thought he was going to get frisky with a female, but not much happened.

Day 324: Kayaking Biscayne Bay

Kayaking was a lot of fun, though out on the bay it could be a little scary at times, especially when a yacht would go sailing through. I probably wouldn't have thought much about it except for trying to paddling through the wake and because last time I went kayaking in the ocean, I rolled the kayak and lost my sunglasses.

Day 323: Strangler Fig

We drove around Miami so that I could collect research for my novel. We saw these gigantic trees all over Coral Gables. (I learned the name later.)

Day 322: South Beach

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, picked up the rental car, and headed to Miami Beach. After checking into the hotel, handing off the keys to valet parking, we ate dinner, and then headed for the beach. Obviously we didn't swim, but after flying all day, we had to get our feet wet. Yay for vacation!

Day 286: Heist

When I laid these items out to take a picture, I thought to myself, I feel like I'm planning a heist, and then I realized that I kinda am. I was working on planning my trip to Miami to do research for my novel which involves a heist. ":)

Day 268: The Gateway Arch

We listened to the GPS and we missed the exit for the arch. But it recalculated, and took us through a ghetto-ish area and the instructions weren't very good, so we missed our turn again and gave up. I took several photos from the car and we called it good.

Day 267: Hotel Room

Day 94: Airtran

My view from the airplane on the way home.

Day 93: The Teinert Family

In alphabetical order: Alice, Amber, Ashley, Brady, Bryan, Chloe, Darrell, Holly, Ian, Jen, Kolten, Lynna, Matt, Misty, Morgan, Rachael, Raven, Riley, Robert, Rosanna, Shelby, Sheldon, Shirley, Taylor, Wendy, Werner, and Willow.  (Missing: Al, Ed, and Kenan)

Day 92: The Great Grandchildren

Day 91: The Beach

Holly, Ashley, and me.

We spent most of our time on the beach. The weather was fantastic, though I did get a bit of a sunburn.

Day 90: Surfside Beach

Ashley and I flew to Texas for a weekend at the beach. Mom picked us up at the airport, because she was already down there. We ate lunch at Granny's and then drove down to Surfside.

Day 16: Casselman River Bridge

On the way home from DC, we took the scenic route and stopped in Grantsville, Maryland, to take pictures of the Casselman River Bridge.

Day 15: Smithsonian Castle

The Smithsonian Castle was probably the coolest looking building in D.C.  My only disappointment was that I didn't get to see more of the building.  I want a full tour of everything.

Day 14: DC Trip

I decided that today's picture needed to be something that just screams "Washington D.C." so I went with the Washington Monument.  I have to say that I think it looks taller in pictures.  When I saw it in person, my first thought was "I thought it'd be taller than that."

Day 9: Ludington State Park

Since Dad is working out of town, we (Mom, Ash, Toby, Rodney, and me) spent Father's Day hiking in Ludington State Park.  It was awesome.  We saw at least 10 deer (including three fawns that were jumping and playing), a raccoon, and a large bird (maybe a heron?).