Adventure Tuesday: San Diego

For our San Diego style adventure we headed to the New Children's Museum, which puts a modern art slant on museums for kids. Truman had a blast with his Nana, though much of the stuff was geared toward older children.







My mom pretending to be a rock-throwing giant in the toddler area:








They had a giant room filled with old mattresses to jump on and these pillows shaped like tires My mom took these lovely photos:

Stairway to Heaven: St. Louis Arch

Last week I was down in Missouri, land of relentless humidity, where I discovered that the St. Louis Arch looks a lot like a stairway, or escalator, to heaven while on an adventure to do something entirely different in the city.

We got lost on the way to this museum:




And decided to head toward the most recognizable element in the downtown skyline:







Where we also enjoyed lunch and walked under a nifty bridge:

Iceland Day 1: Reykjavik . Geysir . Gullfoss . Storinupur

This is the first in a series of blog posts about our Aug. 2007 trip to Iceland. All posts can be found by typing "Iceland" in the search bar.

I figured it was about time I blogged about Iceland.

We tried to sleep on the flight to Iceland because we knew when we arrived it would be morning and several hours off of our schedule of when morning was, so we wanted to be as rested as possible. But, honestly, it was hard to sleep beyond all the normal reasons it's hard to sleep on a plane. I was excited.







We picked up our rental car at the airport and headed to Reykjavik, where we had breakfast. It was the most expensive meal of our entire trip and consisted of what we'd consider a pretty normal breakfast buffet of eggs, sausage, potatoes, breads, jams, butter, milk, juice, cereal and apples and oranges. Iceland, you have a beautiful country, but your food, frankly, stinks. It isn't really your fault, though, because only 1% of your land is tillable soil and you're far away from everything else.







As we left Reykjavik we wandered down a long street that bordered the bleak sea, dark rocks and road made from those dark rocks separated us from the sea. We realized we weren't going the right way and Joe stopped to ask this woman walking her dog for directions. They chatted for quite some time. I think because she really didn't know which way to tell us to go.




We headed out but quickly grew tired, so pulled onto a large gravel parking area and took a nap in the car. Finally, we headed to Geysir, the geyser after which all others are named. Now elderly, Geysir erupts only about twice a day and sits watching over the much more regular, Strokkur.


(view large for full effect)







Then, with little sun left to light our way we headed to Gullfoss, a large nearby waterfall.










There was a long path to a visitor center where we found this diagram that explains how the falls was made:






We used the final shards of sunlight to find Storinupur, the farm where we were staying. Though it was only one family's farm it had its own road sign, just like larger towns. There was also a church nestled into the short hillside with it.



We ate something, pushed our twin beds together and went to sleep.

Greetings from the Land of Fire and Ice

Here is a sampling of what we have done on our trip so far (you may need to use google to get the full picture):

- Seen the sights in the golden circle (geysir and gulfoss)
- Seen Pingvellir National Park (where Europe and the Americas are slowly growing apart, physically not metaphorically)
- Climbed to the volcanic crater of Mt. Hengill (inactive, we think)
- Walked behind Seljalandsfoss and walked to the top of Skogafoss
- Hiked the Skaftashedl Loop, seeing both glaciers including the great Vatnajokull, the largest ice cap in Europe and the third largest in the world
- Walked on Snivafellsjokull, part of vatnajokull, using crampons and ice axes
- Had lovely lobster pizza and lobster pasta in Hofn (pronounced "hup" as though you are hiccuping)
- Drove the windiest and windiest roads you can ever imagine (yes, those are two different words)
- Seen LOTS of sheep — shy ones, white ones, black ones, brown ones, brave ones, a few that really liked the grass near the road, and a few that even met us on the road.

Pictures when we return. Hope everyone is well.

The McSpadden Clan

I visited with my Dad's side of the family on Saturday and we took a few moments to take some portraits using the handy-dandy remote control for my camera, which was strapped to a patio chair via my gorilla pod.

I think they turned out really well. It was a perfect day for portraits with nice, clean white cloud cover. The trick was taking a few pictures, then laughing at ourselves.







My dad and stepmom:



More pictures to come, including portraits of my four-month-old cousin, Nate, and his parents.

Waffles, Gnomes and Sunlight

We started out Friday heading to the Waffles Spot ( a breakfast joint nestled into the Kings Inn on Hotel Circle ). True to it's name, the restaurant serves great waffles. My mom and Kellie were excitedly playing with "Henry the Gnome" ( pictured ). For those of you that don't know Henry, he's a recordable plush toy that speaks in a high, quick voice. It's pretty funny.











Then we headed to Fashion Valley mall to do some shopping.

Here are Kellie and I basking in the sunlight.







As I was helping my mom take a picture of me basking, the on/off switch to my camera broke off. I immediately headed to a good camera store I know in Little Italy. The problem isn't too serious and it can be fixed relatively easily, but I am going to need to order a part when I get back to Minnesota.

I can still turn on my camera, but it is more difficult. The woman I talked to at the camera shop said that turning it on and off now won't harm the camera anymore, so I plan to. But, if the pictures slow down for the next few weeks, that's why.

We went to Miguels where I did not take any pictures, then I headed to hang out with my good friend Christie ( the one who gave me the CDs in the plastic bag, blogged about previously ).

* Photos of me were taken by my mom, Victoria.

Vacation, Had to Get Away ...

... from the cold (I wish you could have come, Joe).


So, I decided because I had so many requests to stow away people in my bags and bring them to warmth, I would do some blogging while I was here to keep you updated on my trip.


We left Minneapolis at 9:30 last night and arrived in Vegas at just before 11. Then our flight, which was supposed to leave at 11:59 was delayed.


Of course, there are worst places to be stranded than the Vegas airport.


(note: in the interest of saving time during my vacation, these pictures will not have my cool blog boarder on them)

This vacation finds the return of our own traveling gnome, Woodward:

This morning, I woke up to these old friends:

(Now, this is why I need a marco tube extender)