Isle of Shoals part 1

So, this post is long overdue! I could go on to say that I've been too busy, my hectic schedule sweeping me away in a rip tide I cannot control... But my sister is bound to see this at some point, and for that reason I'm forced to admit that I've just been too darn lazy. Computers have never really been my specialty, I must admit. This past summer, my dad and I went to Star Island in the Isle of Shoals. It was absolutely b-e-a-utiful!!! The weather was divine and the seagulls were as cuddly looking on the island as they are ravenous here at our local mcdonalds parking lot! I

took a few hundred photos that day, so I'm going to do a real quick summary here. Ill have posts posted later on about specific stuff.

The first thing we did was travel under the drawbridge on the boat. Now, I have never seen t

he drawbridge up before. As a kid I always wanted to, but my timing was always unlucky. So it was great that the first time I had ever seen the bridge raised was when I was traveling BENEATH it!!!! ^_^

It took us quite a while to figure out what this was

By the time we got to the island it was a flawless

sky. No clouds, and just enough wind to keep you comfortable. It was the perfect day,

and I haveta say I was surprised... I w

asn't expecting the island to be t

his green!!!!

This is from the hotel

balcony!

I thought that this looked like something from a fairy tale. It was the perfect, quaint little cottage, ya know? Like little red riding hood should come running out anytime soon 0_0

I kinda wanted to take over the place, actually!

Sorry about this picture being all obnoxious and sideways... but it was a large spire of stone in memory a Rev. John Tuckeam. The spire was so tall you could see it over the trees. Im assuming this guy was pretty important. haha. There was also a stone that talked about how John Smith settled the island. Take THAT Pocahontas!!!!

The seagulls were pretty interesting. They were everywhere and they were obviously used to humans. But still they seemed to own the place, and on almost every pile of stones there was one adult seagull standing majestically just watching... then dad and I realized why. In the brush all around were little baby seagulls running around! it was adorable.

Beaver Brook

Alright, so I may not be as talented at taking nature shots as my sister is, buuuuuuuut, I sure tried my hand at it a few times. About a year ago I bought myself a brand new digital camera. I had been using a film (not digital) 35 mm monster of a camera which was great and all, but not much a point a shoot kinda camera. So when I got my camera I immediately bugged my father to take me down to the garden at Beaver Brook to take photos of the plants and flowers which I so desperately loved. So here are those photos I took. 

My Little Vulcan Sister

Every kid goes through stages in their life.... the teething stage, the tomboy stage, the goth stage; hundreds of stages. Well when my little sister was 7 she went through her vulcan stage. Someone had pointed out to her that when her hair was tucked behind her ears, she looked like Spock from Star Trek because her ears were so big. So, seeing the potential for attention, she attempted to flaunt her "talent" in ever photo for about 6 months. These photos are just a handful of ones taken when my step-father's parents came to visit one year. Enjoy. 

A Welcoming

My first year in Spartans was incredible. Traveling across the country and ultimately winning DCI world championships with a gold medal. One of my favorite parts was coming home though (strange, isn't it?). The welcome back we got was amazing. Driving back from Denver, CO was an adventure in itself with everything from the bus breaking down to being chased by tornadoes (yeah, thats gonna be saved for another blog post). But when we entered nashua, police escorts escorted us to city hall where a mob of people waited. The news was there as the mayor congratulated us on our gold medals hanging around our necks. When I got home (desperate for my first warm shower in a month and a bed) i was met by a party of my family and a couple friends. I got presents and everything, but my favorite thing was a card my older sister made for me, which I still have today. Its shown below. 

UMASS Band Day

I wasn't huge into marching band, but we had a bunch of fun times, including Umass Band Day held at the Umass Amherst campus. Umass Band Day is an annual event where any marching band can drive to the campus and spend the day learning a show to perform with the Umass Minutemen Marching Band. This was always so fun. The volume is incredible... especially since hundreds of marching bands (thus thousands of musicians) show up every year. My marching band went every year. Over those 4 years that I was there we've played music like Shrek, Little Mermaid, phantom of the opera, and last year we did a compilation of random 90's songs. We spent the first half of the day rehearsing music and movement (although with so many of us, the movement consisted of us walking onto the field and standing there packed in shoulder to shoulder). These pictures of from Umass Band Day 2005. 

These are pictures of the umass marching band performing their half time show while all the marching bands piled in on the side lines waiting to perform. 

These pictures are cool because it shows only part of the field.... look how packed in we were! the volume was incredible. My ears were ringing afterwards =)

Madison, Wisconsin

I spent four years in the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps and during those four years I got to travel all over the country for competitions and practices. Very rarely, though, did I actually get the chance to actually see these places.... whenever I mention that I've been to a major city or capital, I am always bombarded with questions about the sites I've seen... well usually I didn't have much to say. Traveling was more for business than for pleasure. So it's no surprise that when I did get the opportunity to be a tourist I ate it up. 

Every year during tour we got 2 half-days off; laundry day and I&E day. These photos are from

 I&E day in Madison, Wisconsin in 2006. I&E (individual and ensemble) day is  when every drum and bugle corps gets the opportunity to put their best individual and group of musicians forward for one on one competition. Those of us who are not competing get the last half of the afternoon off to roam the city and see the performances. With over 60 corps represented and on average 115 people per corps, DCI pretty much takes the city over with buses, trucks,

equipment, performers, and obnoxious people enjoying a free moment. All of the photos on this blog were taken by me with my rinky dinky disposable camera, and I am very happy with the way they came out. 

My favorite part of the city, strangely, were these strange painted cows that were all over the place. These statues were painted in every design imaginable... this one was painted with flames. There were flower cows, black and white cows, goth cows, clown cows, car cows... you name it they had a cow for it 0_0. I loved it. i ended up using an entire disposable camera just photographing the cows (yeah.. thats just the kind of person I am). Up in Toronto, Canada they have the exact same thing, except they're moose, not cows....why cows? Am I missing something?

This was another structure they had all over the place. These fountains were really cool, because some, like this one, just covered a street

 corner, while others surrounded entire buildings. The water ran from pool to pool and was very teasing, seeing as to how it was around 100 degrees that day. 

These photos I was very excited about. They're of the Capital building that sits in the exact center of down town. 4 main roads sprout off from this building (I'm almost positive that they went North, South, East, and West) and this building was at the heart. It was an amazingly beautiful building, which is why I have so many photos of it =P. The weather was sooooooo beautiful that day. *sigh*

This one is my favorite (the one on the left). It may be a little blurry but I love the angle its at. You see how the building is build with halls sprouting from its center at right angles? well it was like that the entire way around, so with the street being the way they were it was a really cool design. 

Like I said before, the city was taken over by DCI for the day. Every where you turned there was a string of busses or an

 ensemble rehearsing. 

Montreal 2005

You often hear people call Montreal one of the world's most stunning cities, and in no way do i disagree with them! Montreal is absolutely outstanding with its breathtaking architectural landmarks and its bustling, yet respectful, city life. I took a three day trip there my sophomore year in high school and those few days brought experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

I can't exactly remember 

where this building was or its significance, but this was one of the first places we explored. This absolutely beautiful stone building sat on the top of a huge hill (what we may consider a small mountain around here) where it overlooked all of Montreal. To get an idea for the size of this building, look at the base of the right hand pillar. See the little round thing? Well that little round thing was larger than I am!!! (and despite what my sister says, I'm not TOO teeny). To get to the spot where I took this picture, I had to go inside the hill, take several elevators up the inside, climb a flight of stairs into the building, walk outside, climb back down all 5 flights of stairs, and balance on a railing, so please feel free to appreciate the effort =) From half way up this hill you have a perfect view of the Montreal Olympic Stadium. We didn't get close to the stadium, but I found a picture that shows it close up, along with the one I took on top of the hill. 

Isn't it so cool!?!?! I wish we had stadiums like that around here too. It wasn't until two days later that we found out what it was. We stood there staring out at it for the longest time puzzled as to what it was for. I still don't know why they built it like that. Im sure somebody does. But it was sure a sight to behold.

Now this I put it just to prove that Canadians (though I love our North American neighbors) are completely crazy sometimes. I mean, Caffeine Free Mountain Dew??? Now that's just wrong! but everywhere I looked

 in Montreal, not a single vending machine had regular Mountain Dew... Man, was I caffeine deprived that weekend!!! 

But I can honestly say that this was my favorite part of the trip. Now, I'm not usually into churches, being pagan and all, but I appreciate flawless beauty when I see it.

Montreal has more churches in one city than any city in North America, but none compare to what was inside the Notre-Dame De Montreal Basilica. From the outside it looks rather dull; high walls made of gray stone with angels set into the walls. So when I was told that we'd be spending an hour inside the building I prepared myself for a boring ride. But when I walked inside, what I saw was so breathtaking that I quite literally began to cry. Never in my life had I been inside or near anything of such architectural beauty. I could have spent days in the church just looking atthe spiraling, wood-carved stair cases and the stain glass windows... not to mention both of the organs that were about the size of my house!!! At one point someone started playing a few notes on the organ and I felt like my insides were melting. haha. There was an entire room painted gold too. These pictures are my favorites out of the ones I took. It was hard choosing favorites.