Mill Mountain Zoo

I love zoos. It doesn't matter what kind; big, small, I love them all. Roanoke has a tiny little zoo on top of a mountain (Mill Mountain). Its actually right next to the Roanoke Star (see older post). We had beautiful weather last weekend so we road the motorcycle to the zoo and then stopped in downtown Roanoke for a mexican lunch. It was a tiny zoo but we still managed to spend 2 hours or so there. And...we saw an escape! Thats right, one of their large heron-type birds flew the proverbial coop and was running around the zoo looking for an escape route. Soon all the zoo employees were running in circles looking for the bird until they finally got him. It was pretty entertaining. So our overall rating of the Mill Mountain Zoo was very high, 5 stars, would do again.

Me with the Mill Mountain Zoo sign. The bird depicted in the lower right corner of the sign is the bird that almost escaped. I did not have a photo op with the actual escapee.

The wolverine. It kind of looks like a little bear, and looks nothing like Hugh Jackman.

The black vulture. Its the only kind of vulture in the world that will eat live carrion if it needs to. It kept giving us the eye. We were uncomfortable.

Red panda. Cute and funny.

Giant porcupine. All of its needles were on its butt portion.

Pink bird. I like birds, by the way.

The monkey display was less than stellar. There was plexiglass between the observer and the primates.

Here is the linx. We stood there for several minutes trying to find it and were almost about the leave the exhibit before we saw him, sitting right there, plain as day, on the rocks. He blends in really well, yes?

Everyone loves a fat pig.

Here the cougar was giving us the eye through the brush. She was probably checking out Ian (get it...cougar...ha ha?)

Well that pretty much sums up the Mill Mountain Zoo. Cute, fun, worth checking out next time you come to visit :)

Summertime Creations

We may be a little boring. Here is the highlight of our weekend...

Thats right, scrabble. And since there isn't a whole lot to talk about when it comes to scrabble night, I have decided to dedicate this post to my recent knit projects. You like to see what I've been working on, right?

Well, the simplest creation, a pretty little chick.

This one if for Mom, she requested it specifically.

Next, a neck warmer. Its like a mini scarf. I knitted a little keyhole in it so you can slip the end of the scarf right through. Have a look!

Oh who is that neck warmer model?
Here is the pattern up close

My next creation, a dog hat! Why? Because Neit needs a hat in the winter (kind of...) and I had some yarn to use up.

Neit isn't exactly the best hat model, so I had to have a basketball fill in

I finally got it on his head

He kind of hated it

Okay he REALLY hated it.

Well, if you know anyone who wants a dog hat, Neit might be willing to give up his.

The project I am leisurely working on now is a scarf. Its multidirection triangles and I am using variegated yarn to enhance the pattern. I'm not in any hurry to get it finished, I just work on it while I am watching Jeopardy and whatnot. I am just aiming to get it finished before it gets cold out.

My work in progress

Close up

So let me know if you are interested in any of these items. I am always trying to think of good Christmas gifts to give ;)

Riverstock ´09

Oh man. It took me until today to fully recover from Riverstock 2009. You needed to be there to fully appreciate the images to come. Let me just say great music, great food, great folks, custom made t-shirts, fun games, 2 kegs, lots of fun. Without futher ado...

Welcome to the River

Here he is...the pork chef (he also kicked off the celebration with the first official drink of the day)

I think this group wins the Furthest Distance Traveled award (minus Kalow)

C.P. Bacon enjoying the band

How about that shrimp/crawfish boil?

Life of the party

Waiting for the big volleyball match

Someone convinced Carl Erskine to show up and even play some harmonica

Some of the kids who stuck around for the after party

A lot of people are hinting that they would like to see this event become an annual one. So stick around and we will see!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for putting on such an extravagant party. You rock.

Mead and Cider

We had a lot of fun this weekend! The weather was beautiful, cooler than normal. We took the motorcycle out for a ride, which we really have not gotten to do yet this summer. It was cool enough on the bike to need a jacket. Pretty atypical for July, but I was not complaining. I do not have pictures from the ride, of course, because I am not that advanced of a rider.

We also made it about an hour south of here to visit Foggy Ridge which makes hard cider and the Blacksnake Meadery. Both are very small operations that are less than a mile from one another. Both had live music, although not big productions. It was really nice, the booze was really good and different. We bought a few things so next time you come to visit, remind us and we will open a bottle!

Apple orchard at Foggy Ridge

Cutie Pie with an apple tree

Glass full of cider

At the meadery. Those are hops in the background that they add to some of their mead. It was a cool place. I would probably go back if you asked me to.

Sabrina and Jerrys Wedding

My good friend Sabrina, who I share an office with in the food science building, just got married. Ian and I have gotten to be pretty good friends with Sabrina and Jerry and were some of the few people invited. We are such good friends that we even have the honor of watching their pet ferret while they are on their honeymoon. We had a really good time this weekend. On Friday night we met a bunch of friends at a bar to celebrate Sabrina and Jerrys night before they marry. Ian insisted on buying lots of shots. Here is proof.



And the next day...the wedding. My pictures are not great buy I have tried to touch them up a bit. Sabrina looked lovely and everything went as planned. They finished up the wedding and got to the reception about 3 seconds before it down poured.

Sabrina and Jerry walking into the reception

The cake with the cake toppers Jerry picked out

First dance

Still the first dance

Photo op with the bride

They have since left for a cabin in the mountains and left their marmot with us.

So I hear Oscar is in town. Everyone be sure to get a hold of him because he is here for a few weeks. I see him Aug 1 for Riverstock. Exciting!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts

I just wanted to apologize to my fanatic followers for not posting on here lately. I have been bogged down by the swarms of pictures from Italy I still have to post, and as life continues here back in the States since my return, my pictures are piling up in that alley as well. I have decided that I will start posting again regularly starting with my events this weekend, and drop posts for the past couple weeks. Just to let you know, our friends Bim and Hannah came to visit two weekends ago, and we traveled to Kentucky last weekend to meet up with Mom, Dad and Mozie for the forth. It rained alot. We are going to a friends wedding this weekend, so hopefully I will have a fun and upbeat post for you next week. Sorry once again for letting down my fans (and by fans, I mean Dad) and I will do better from now on. Promise :)

Rome

Our first stop in Italy was Rome. Our purpose there was purely to be tourists. Rome is a crazy city because it has that big city feel, except there are ancient ruins everywhere. Just sitting amongst the city. There is pretty much no need to know Italian in Rome, everyone speaks English. We had a guided tour of the city our first day, from 9-5. We saw pretty much everything, and learned more than my brain can contain. On the second day, we had a choice of what we wanted to go where we wanted to go. We decided to go inside of the Colosseum and to the Sistine Chapel and to the top of St. Peters Basilica. Rome was awesome. Here are pictures.

Outside of Circus Maximus. There is a lot of history here that you may want to google if your interested.

Group picture outside of the Colosseum

Just me outside of the Colosseum

The Colosseum from the inside

Spiral ramp at the Vatican

Inside of Vatican City

The dome at St. Peter´s Basilica

Example of how all walls look inside of St. Peters

Dead pope inside of St. Peters

Inside of St Peters Cathedral

Spanish steps

Sistine Chapel

Inside the Pantheon

Piazza Novana

Roman garden

Rome from the top of St Peters

So there was a quick tour of Rome. I could talk for hours about it if you wanted to. We also went to Bologna, Venice, Parma, Milan, and Florence so I have quite a few posts to go. Plus I took over 500 pictures, so I have a lot of sorting out to do.