Mom drops me at Des Moines International Airport (I always snicker at the "International" portion of that) early Sunday morning. Let the feverish text messaging begin! Byron was at the Portland Airport boarding his flight eastward. Soon after arriving at my gate, I noticed my departure time was delayed by two hours - which would cause me to miss my connection in Chicago. I was almost panicking. Texting Byron, who was now airborne, I told him that I wouldn't be making it that day. Finally, after changing the departure time two more times, I was boarding as originally scheduled and we were on our merry, yet bumpy, way to the fine, fine city of Chicago. I texted Byron to let him know I was on schedule. Yippee!
In Chicago's O'hare airport I played with some LEGOs that were provided by a wind-energy company while I drank a delicious strawberry shake from Johnny Rockets Diner. My flight to Grand Rapids left with no problems (from the very same gate when I flew to Tokyo two years ago). Twenty one minutes later, my flight landed a few short minutes ahead of Byron's and we met his parents in the middle of the airport just like in the movies. It couldn't have been more perfect. Byron introduced me to his parents, we grabbed our luggage and were off to his parents house in Rockford where his sister, Marya, and Grandma awaited our arrival.
We ate a delicious meal - white lasagna with garlic bread and amazing hot tea after dinner (I don't remember the variety - it had pomegranate in it. Yum!) We all chatted for awhile and then went to bed. After a long day of travelling we were tired!
The following morning, Byron made breakfast then we were off to see Madagascar 2 at the IMAX. This was my second experience at an IMAX and it was superb! The opening trailer was for an undersea movie about coral reefs - such a tease! (Especially after I had spent a fair amount of time with Sport Diver magazine on the airplanes - it's a scuba diving mag that writes about the hot scuba spots in the world as well as new gear and other dreamy stuff.) The movie was fantastic and so HUGE! I love the IMAX!
After the movie, we went to Robinette's Apple Haus and Gift Barn for apple cider. This was definitely a hands-on type of place. The apples were beautiful in their shades of reds, golds and greens. The aroma of sweet apples and baked goods hung in the cool air. They offered samples of all their varieties of apples. We were lucky enough to have visited while they were making cider and got to see the process first hand. A conveyor belt moves the apples to a machine not unlike a wood mulcher. Then, the pulp gets folded into these canvas-type cloths and a hydraulic press squeezes the juice out of them. The juice then runs into a collection vat. Then it goes in my belly. ;) So cool! Here's what the press looks like...
This is the up close and personal view of the press. You can see the layers of cloths holding the apple pulp and the juice pouring out. Delicious!
Herman's Boy Bakery and Deli was our next stop. It was my introduction to two fine foods, married as one - the Bagel Dog. Leftover bagel dough wrapped around homemade sausages and baked. Mmm Mmm Goodness! I especially loved the poppy seed bagel dogs when I was lucky enough to end up with them. We ate bagel dogs A LOT during out visit. This day we took our bagel dogs to Grandma's house where we drank water and chatted with Grandma. She told me all about downtown Rockford and then she mentioned the yarn shop there. I had to go! So we did. Downtown Rockford is beautiful with the cold, clear Rogue River flowing lazily next to the boardwalk. After shopping a bit, we took a brisk walk down the boardwalk. This is the dam that is downtown.
I spotted a pair of Mute Swans, though they are majestic creatures, they are introduced species and don't belong here. They are very territorial and aggressively push native waterfowl out of their habitats.
The ever elusive Coasty on the trail ahead...I finally caught him!We came home and prepped potatos for a potato soup dinner. Byron and I sat side by side and watched House, M.D. on DVD while we cubed potatos with beautiful, sharp chefs knives on equally beautiful wooden cutting boards. OK, he did most of the cutting while I got sucked into House (it's my addiction).
Tuesday Byron's mom spent the day with us. It was a beautiful crisp, sunny morning. She made a delicious breakfast and then we were off on our adventure! We went to Frederik Meijer Gardens. This place was absolutely gorgeous! Outdoors is beautifully landscaped with sculptures along a walking path and indoors was a desert-scape with more bronze sculptures. For the holidays, they had Christmas trees representing countries from around the world.
We began outside to take advantage of the sun while it lasted. This pond had iced over in places. The waterfowl in the background dabbled in open water and preened on the thin ice. There was another pair of mute swans here with cignets. The only ducks I could pick out without binoculars were mallards.
We stopped to photograph Leonardo da Vinci's Horse: The American Horse by Nina Akamu which stood 24 ft. tall. Very impressive!
A shot from under the right hind foot of this beast. In the background is the indoor garden (left) featuring tropical plants and an arid desert scape, and the amphitheater (right). Byron is photographing the horse and me.
A picture of Byron and me with the horse thanks to his lovely mother and her photography skills.
Sculptures by Jaume Plensa - each sculpture is made of stainless steel letters fit together to form shapes of people sitting with their knees drawn to their chests. Crown Fountain in Chicago's Millenium Park is probably his most well-known work.
Byron and his mom exploring the possibilities of the english alphabet...
Nature contributed art to the sculpture garden, too...
We headed indoors to investigate the tropical garden. Here's what we found...
Next we visited the desert-scape which housed a very large variety of cacti, aloe and other succulents. This is a macro shot of dried chilis that was part of the holiday decorations.
I was quite fond of this bronze peccary sculpture. It's neat how an artist can make an animal like a peccary look so elegant.
This is the indoor garden - I really like the architectural design of the building. This photo captures how beautiful the day was.
Looking up in the atrium at a glass sculpture.
Looking down in the atrium at (brass?) designs laid on the floor. Each design was different and represented parts of plants.
The holiday exhibition was impressive. Yours truly in a glass ornament. Merry Christmas!
I was quite fond of the Japanese inspired tree. I've always been fascinated by Asian cultures and traditions. I -loved- the crane chains and the Origami star.
More detail of one of the woven ornaments on the Japan tree.
A glass light-catching decoration hanging in the hall of trees.
Our next stop was the Public Museum of Grand Rapids. I had been here a few years back for the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference social event. I love this place! A fin whale skeleton hangs nearly the entire length of the great hall. Here we learned about the start of the furniture industry in Grand Rapids. We also learned about fossils and natural history stuffs. Some of us even learned how to tell east from west. ;)
A self-portrait with Byron at my side taken in a piece of glassware from a science/medical exhibit.
Then we were off to the old town where Byron took me for a spin on his lovely bicycle. He sure knows the way to my heart!
Finally, the gears of a very large clock.
Byron, his mom and I had a very fun day being kids and enjoying our time together. We finished the day off with another trip to Herman's Boy for, you guessed it, bagel dogs and pulled pork (for dinner later that night).
I'll pick up with Wednesday through the last part of my vacation later when things on my end calm down a little. Why things aren't calm in and of itself is a whole 'nother post - stay tuned!
3 comments:
What a great collection of photos! Thanks for sharing...
looks like a grand ole time was had in michigan :)
Girl,
I still think you should do photography for a career. I guess you could be an ecologist and a photographer eh? LOVE the photos. You look great!
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