Ahh, a day in the life of (e:theecarey) and (e:ladycroft)

The Mystery Adventure (TM) proved to be an exciting jaunt, as are all "Mica Mic and Kee Wee Mac" excursions.

hehe, those are our old nicknames. We have always been a pair of super sleuth adventurism extraordinaires. Our resume of experience and adventure goes way back.

So, Friday began with loading my iPod with select songs downloaded from LimeWire the night before and jotting down a few directions. The music was intentional. I knew we'd be laughing hysterically over it. I made sure not to listen to any of it until we were well on our way.

Music: check
Gas: check
Money: check
Nutritious lunch packed in cooler: check
Camera: check
Car ride munchies: check
Dr. Pepper for Timika: check
check..check..check

Anything else we could possibly need is in the trunk of my car. It is always prepared for adventure, or Armageddon, whichever happens first.

I was well aware of the weather a head of time. The rain was not a hindrance, and in fact (as predicted) is added to the quality of the trip. We ventured off to unknown territory (and it truly was unknown for Timika as all she knew of the day was that I was picking her up around noon and that all she needed was to wear clothes for being outside)

A delightful "wrong" turn here and there provided us an opportunity to see all sorts of fun things. Signs such as "Meat Raffle", "Humming Alpaca's" miniature McDonalds signs, "Posted" signs were everywhere; we were afraid of being shot when we jumped out and rummage through someone's garbage. Timika scored on a pair of super cool retro chairs. I am partial to their red color. We made a pact that I have visiting rights and that if she is no longer able to take care of them, then they would come live with me :)

Eventually we were on the "right" path. I place the words, 'wrong' and 'right' in quotes as I perceive getting a little lost and going off plan adds to the experience and does not take away from it. Be forewarned, if ever in the car with me, I never stop for directions. You can, but not if I am driving.

First place to explore is the Griffis Sculpture Park out in Springville (Ashford).


Once off the main road, we turned onto a street that made me gasp. Suddenly there was a steep hill ahead. That in itself isn't what made me feel in awe, it was the turning onto the street and the sudden visual of this road that just keeps going up.

Here I am trying to take a picture of the road behind us, backwards, while driving and while paying attention to the narrow winding road. Yeh, that's just a picture of my face. At least I look as amused as I felt.


Ahh, there we go: the descent of the road. Taking a picture of us going uphill didn't really look like much.


Eventually we turned onto a road that gave clear indication that we were getting close to the park. We were fascinated with the change in scenery. Giant metal sculptures intertwined with nature. My sense of awe heightened to jubilation as more and more sculptures appeared, of all shapes, sizes and locations. There were sculptures in the middle of a clear field along with ones that skirted the edge of the woods.

A small sampling of what we saw. For the rest, you will just need to take the trek out there :)








At one point, I pulled over, jumped out of the car, hopped over a ditch and gleefully bounded through the tall wet grass to find out what the enormous and shiny object was off in the distance. I began the journey early on with wet feet and jeans up to the knees. Wet jeans make it hard to keep them from sliding down the body. I was hiking them up all day.

spider with a beak? no thanks..


heh, this would be a nightmare come true. Eww..


Timika and I had the same sentiment at seeing this large pond; to float on a raft and relax (for me, daydream..). I can envision taking a paddle boat through that water, or a canoe, or an inner tube, or wood planks tied together!!


Whatever it was.. I climbed it. Anything that looked like it could and should be climbed, I did.
This one I really wanted to take home with me. I need one in my back yard. Forget clothes lines and birdbaths, I want a freaky metal thing to climb into!!



Like Mork and Mindy, "nanu nanu"


ewww!

Who knew NY has smurfs??
More smurf sightings..




Um, this is a classic picture. Totally priceless and I will tell you why. I am afraid of heights. Yet I am the first one climbing a tree and heading up into crazy metal sculptures. I try not to think about my fear that much. I don't like to be in the way of myself. If something is hindering me, I will work at overcoming whatever it is. And so, I proceed to climb stuff as usual. However, with the continual rain, it made for dangerous climbing. The metal was slippery and i could sense the level of fear increasing the further I went up. I was actually doind fine until the sculpture shook a little. Then that overwhelming tremble took over my brain and body. I couldn't move. I stood a few rungs from the top and internally freaked out. Had I known that the sculpture shook a little (I didn't think to ask LC) then I would have been able to prepare my brain for movement. So as I stood inside the sculpture, I willed myself to go up two more rungs. I figured I had three to go, so just going up two more was quite a compromise. I was proud of my tenacity despite the shaking fear. I leaned over to look out and Timika snapped a picture. Priceless. hahaha


sha! this is nothing..


Lasted more than 8 seconds. woo!


Meet my new friend.










rainy and sweaty (e:ladycroft)


(e:theecarey) and her 30lb back pack. Just the essentials: 4 16.9 oz bottles of water, camera, two sweat shirts, latex gloves, red hood, box of crackers, bag of assorted nature munchies, trashbag, roll of toilet paper, two umbrellas, first aid kit, flashlight and bug lotion.
And don't forget the GIANT walking stick. LC had one, so I had to have one too :)




Sometimes it sprinkled, or a gentle rain and even a couple of down pours. Either way, this hair wont be dry anytime soon. I stand and take pics, as I climbed another scultpture. Timika went up one more level.




hehe, I love these pics of her:
Crazy girl locked away at the top of the castle.


Or, the regal queen up in her tower looking down upon her minions.





The metal maze. Oh no! I can see you, Timika, but how do I get to you??






What is this?! A random pile of rocks? I must climb you. (whats the deal with the large white spot?)










(yeh, that was quite a few of pretty much the same pic)

Another friend..


such a dream-like and surreal quality to the excursion. Fog rolling in, the Amazons in the bathing pond and not a single person besides Timika and I during the entire time we were at the park, which happened to be 5+ hours!








Taking a break on the picnic tables to breathe in the heavy air, listen to the birds, frogs, rain, and cows. Yes. cows. And I say they go,"moo" ;) (see LC post)


(e:ladycroft) looking and feeling worn out, but in a very good way!


This sign cracked us up.


Not bad for an out house.


We sat on a rock and dined in the misty rain. LC admist the pile of food. Hmmmm egg salad, wheat pitas, fruit (mangos, strawberries, kiwis, apple), wheat pasta/red lentil combo, swiss cheese from the laughing cow- not the mad mooing cows we saw on the hillside, green tea and some chips. Dig in!



My oversized walking stick not suprisingly did not fit in my car. Sadly, it had to be left behind. On a cool note, you can see the chairs we picked up on the side of the road in the back seat, well kind of.. just need to look closely :)


And so, we wrapped up the day. Another point in the days adventure would have included a hot air balloon ride, however, all of our fun at the Sculpture park left us with little daylight and I am sure the balloon rides would have been way over by the time we got there. So we drove around the area some more, getting a little lost (yay) and enjoying the strange look of the incoming darkness, fog, zero people sightings and random cows.

hehe, our use of Timikas compass was a nice taste of Orienteering.

A few of the sculptures reminded me of the game MYST, as they are somethng I am sure I would come across in that game.

A fun day. I wouldnt have changed a thing!!

moral of todays post?

Dont wait for so called perfect weather to get out an explore. Half of the fun is just to see how things can be experienced and perceived in the light of changing weather. Good friends, provisions, curiosity and a sense of mystery makes for a great day.


PS-- leave your watch at home.

oh and bring extra socks, shoes and pants... or a trip to Super Wally World will be a pit stop on your way back. :)

Later gators!