Louisiana!

Hello, all!

I know it's been a while, but the holidays swamp everyone, do they not? These photos were taken around Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house in Louisiana. I was born in the boot state, and it's a place that's close to my heart. I always feel so at home when I visit my family (and a large family it is). Anyway, these are some photos from my grandma's yard, home, and the swamp in the surrounding area. Beautiful!

 My grandmother's pergola patio. It's pure heaven to eat breakfast out here in the morning.

 I love all of the small details of items on this patio. The antique-looking lanterns, the lovely rugs and faded benches. It's taken years to accumulate all of these things, I know, but every item here is special.

 Romaine hearts! Perfect for making homemade hummus wraps (YUM).

Talk about bounty! It's one of my goals to have a garden this spring.

 Not to mention the citrus trees! (Unfortunately, Georgia is just a little too cold for them :( ). But we came home with a huge bag of lemons and satsumas (below). There's so much fruit on the trees that the poor things are sagging nearly to the ground!

 This incredibly beautiful live oak tree has been here forever! My grandpa built the tree house you see there, and we loved playing in it as kids. Our hand and footprints decorate the inside, and we each made a painting on the walls (we being myself and my cousins).

 We also visited the Louisiana swamp for the benefit of my boyfriend, who had never seen it before. I love the way that cypress trees stick out of the water with their skirted bottoms. As a kid, I loved playing in the low water levels of the bayou because you could balance on the parts of the cypress roots that stick up out the water, called "knees".


 While in Louisiana, we went Cajun dancing, and my photo was even in the local paper! We also ate some good, gooood food. Gumbo, sweet potato casserole, homemade hummus, pepper jelly, fruit galore, and even some sugar cane. I'm a Cajun girl at heart!

 Do you have a home away from home? Visiting Louisiana made me want to up and move there, even though I just got to Georgia.

I have some crafty projects in the works for this blog, and I'm going to attempt to make Moroccan stew this week, plus homemade sushi, so look forward to more from me soon!

Nature: Bartram Forest

I'll probably be posting quite a few pictures of this beautiful forest right by my house here in Georgia. Bartram Forest used to be a maintained area, but they lost funding and now the Military College apparently uses it for some training exercises, but it is still open to the public. There are miles of trails, gorgeous woods and seemingly endless pine trees (there's logging in the area). It's nice to have a little slice of paradise so close to home. These photos were taken in early October, on a particularly warm day.

This is a teeny lake in the middle of the area, very picturesque. There's a picnic area just to the right of the lake.

 

I'm a sucker for sunlight through the trees. It feels so much like fall to me (even though fall happens so differently here in Georgia than it does in the midwest).

 Doesn't this path just beg to be explored? And we did! (And got a bit lost, we ended up turning around because we didn't know when the trail would end).

 

Sorry that this post is so late. I have been swamped with Grad school stuff lately. A large research paper that I (finally!) finished (at least a good draft) tonight that's due after Thanksgiving. So I let myself have the treat of writing up this post.

And another GORGEOUS photo of that sun through the trees. We saw some people in hammocks right around here, and slung ours up after our long walk (we have ENO hammocks, I highly recommend them for adventurers).

I can't WAIT for Thanksgiving, I'll be heading down to Louisiana to see my mom's (giant) family, Brandon in tow. It should be really great, and I'll be sure to take some pictures of the incredible scenery to be had down there. I want to do a food post soon, too, and (hopefully) a craft post once I get going on my friend-gifts for this Christmas (yikes, it's sneaking up on me!).

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Nature: Escarpment Trail

So, to start out, I'll take y'all on a tour of beautiful places I've been dying to share! These pictures were taken in Michigan's upper peninsula (the u.p.) right up against Lake Superior in the Porcupine Mountains. These particular photos were taken on Escarpment trail, which is right off one of the main highways through the area. The trail goes all the way around Lake of the Clouds, but after a beautiful 20 minute hike through some hilly woods, you arrive at this view!

 Here's me!

And my wonderful boyfriend, Brandon.

You continue walking up these amazing brownstone rocks and round the corner for a view of the lake.

 And of course it was a beautiful place for some yoga

Here's the lake (in 3 parts). 

Lake of the Clouds is really amazing. You can drive right to a viewing area within the state park. But this view is way better. Plus, it really feels like you're the first person ever to visit this amazing place. We came here twice within a week! Which wasn't our plan, but we really couldn't get enough of this view. Truly incredible. If you love nature and want to visit somewhere beautiful (and never too hot!), GO to the U.P. for the summer. It's full of incredible treasures. More to come later!