bluff!

a few weeks ago, claire and i went down to bluff, ut where rebecca is spending her semester designing and building a home on an indian reservation.

when we got to our first camp site near moab, it was dark. so we made a fire.

and THIS is where we woke up!

the beautiful butterfly emerging from her cocoon. 

twin rocks.

claire and r.

the home where all of the students stay.

checking out the swimming hole.

the house that r is working on.

couch in the desert.

lorraine's windmill.

petroglyphs.

this is where we camped night 2.

this is how cute we looked.

unfortunately my camera died at the end of the trip, but we also did an epic hike up to some ancient indian ruins. soooo cool. can't wait to come back, r*dawg!

botanic garden time with R.

to celebrate R's first hiatus from bluff, we went to the most magical place in denver, the botanic gardens.

R with some beautiful bark.

trippy reflections.

a friend in the corn.

crazy cacti.

so magical! 

better late than never?

besides getting whiplash behind the boat, here is what i spent my summer doing:

zack's and my abstract model representing "community" that eventually informed our tower design.

the interior side of our tower slice model.

(slice means it's a cut though what would be the actual building so that 

wall details and such are revealed.)

exterior.
p.s. this thang was pushing 5 feet in height.

close-up of our fin system.

business in the front, party in the back.

zack's elevation renderings.

also, here is a smattering of sketches from my drawing class:

lake time fun!

this is very much out of chronological order. but i went to EYE-OHH-WAHHHHHHHHH the first week of august. and it was glorious.

we did some nails. g'ma was ultra-hip with her blue crackle polish.

we played some cards.

make that lots of cards.

aunt kathy had a birthday.

we missed sam and chloe while we took this photo.

dad saved some lives.

(really, he did.)

but he also put some in danger. 

this was me pre-face plant.

nick skied.

derrick scored some points with the aunts.

susan tried very hard to make the lasso-technique work.

it didn't.

kathy skied.

i wake boarded.

we took this cute photo.

is it next august yet?

bikez.

some giant bike race went right near our home a few weeks ago. nathan was very excited and took many pictures. he says it was called the USA pro cycling challenge. 

lots of bikers.

lots of biker fans.

the end o' the race.

winnerz.

hiking.

claire and i have been doing some major hiking as of late. 

the incline! 

probably the most strenuous thing i've ever done. 

and i've done some things.

then we conquered my 1st 14er (claire's 2nd).

champions of the WOOOORLD!

view from the top.

view of the appropriately-named kite lake.

view of claire.

adventures!

to celebrate my last days of freedom, nathan and i made a trip to glen canyon where our old pal ranger james is employed.

ranger james busting some hooligans.

hiking in a slot canyon.

127 hours style.

james' home-brew + an obscene quantity of cheese balls.

our camp site.

rebecca came to meet us!

we went swimming in the mud of lake powell.

but we looked cute doing it.

friendz-4-eva.

the long road home.