This last section looks at Disney’s whimsy, animals, fun, and romance!!! Enjoy! (Is it time to go back yet?)

In this section, we look at six more parts of my scrapbook.

Not to toot my own horn, but I think that this most recent scrapbook is awesome. Definitely my best work. I attribute this to the fact that I took notes to journal during the trip and also completed the book within a year of the vacation. In addition, I tried to go outside of my normal chronological sequencing. I wanted to group photos in certain ways that described the Disney experience. So, I came up with a list of adjectives (and some nouns) and sequenced my photos that way. This also allowed me to use several photos of the same subject but in different places in the book. I really tried to focus on journaling as well.

This trip took place early in my scrapbooking days, and now that I look at the pages, I’m amazed how far I have come. There is some technique and creativity in this book, such as using color and patterns to bring the page together. However, I think that the 7x7 format and the fact that I accumulated so much embellishment “stuff” hindered me a bit. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t take a peek and maybe steal an idea or two though!

See you in a week!

This year's vacation will be very special: we've been talking about it for a few years, and finally decided on it last fall. We wanted to take my parents to Walt Disney World, and a vacation for all four of us was our Christmas gift to them. (Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of them opening the book we made to present it because of my camera's problems.) My parents have never been there, and it's not the kind of place they are likely to go on vacation, but we knew they would love it! So, we've been doing a little planning of where we want to eat and what we want to see, and trying to get in shape to be able to last all week!

We spent October 28-30 in Vermont, just west of Montpelier, to go to the Essex Junction craft fair. Of course, we made a few other stops and saw some late-but-still-nice foliage.

As always, Pinball didn't want us to leave without her.

What follows are brief reviews of the places in the book that we've visited, broken up the same as the book.

We went back to Yellowstone today, and made our way to Mammoth, best known for the huge hot springs. The springs were certainly impressive, but I was most amazed by the rest of the geology and landscape. The carved cliffs, multi-colored rocks, and glacial remains left me awed! If we had more time, I could have spent much longer there with the camera.

Thursday, June 16

We spent today in Yellowstone National Park, and part of that time at The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I took this photo from a stop along the route, at an altitude of about 8,100 feet. Near the middle of the photo you can see a bunch of steps that descend to another view--about 600 feet lower and 3/4 of a mile away.

The areas we visited were roughly 6,000 to 8,000 feet higher than Connecticut's terrain, which caused quite a bit of unplanned difficulty. For example, the above 600 foot descent (and ascent!) and 1-1/2-mile round-trip hike left me completely exhausted! My lungs burned and my legs felt like jelly--I felt like I had been hiking all day long.

As with our Florida vacation, we'll be doing a Picture of the Day!

If you've ever met Jim before, you know he's a good storyteller. This is well worth taking the time to read!