Larger view of July’s thumbnails

July was the month of summer vacations, and the art journal has been a good way to remember where we went and what we did. I had a work trip to CA also in there, so it truly was a month of planes, trains, and automobiles (well, an RV anyway).

• On the 1st of July we were camping at Black Moshannon State Park in PA. We hiked a big loop from our campground that included a Bog Trail (with pitcher plants), a Blueberry Trail that had less blueberries on it than the Bog Trail, and a really cool pond we found at the turn-around that was filled with hundreds of bright green frogs. 12 miles in total, and we got done right when the rain storm hit.
• July 2nd it was on to Stony Brook State Park in NY for a hike. There are tons of gorge trails with waterfalls in NY, so we are trying to visit a few each year. Driving to NY State is pretty easy from the DC area.

• July 3rd was a visit and camping trip to Letchworth Falls State Park, the “Grand Canyon of the East Coast.” More green, not as big, but a heck of a lot more water than the Grand Canyon. We hiked the gorge trail and saw the 3 big waterfalls. The sky opened up in the last mile of our 6 mile hike and we ran back to the RV under our umbrellas.
• 4th of July was a visit to Taughannock Falls State Park. We found perfect parking for the RV in the north lot and did the rim trail to the south end, then the out-and-back of the gorge trail before taking the south rim trail. Lots of people with inadequate footwear, and on the south rim people we passed going the opposite way kept asking “how far is it?”
• 5th of July was a beautiful hike and picnic in Filmore Glen State Park, which was very scenic and a lot less crowded than some of the other gorge trails. We saw A TON of chipmunks in the forest on the rim trail.
• Our last night camping we walked to another frog pond to check out the wildlife. We actually saw a huge turtle chasing a snake in the water! The turtle really wanted that snake, but the snake got away.

• The 7th of July we were back home. The great thing about our neighborhood is it is a 15 min walk to the local library branch. What started out as a sunny walk turned into an insane downpour by the end.
• My phone is full of cool mushrooms that grow in our neighborhood. (That’s a mushroom on the 9th of July, not a butt).

• July 10th we were back home and when the weather is nice we eat lunch outside on the back porch. Except now we have to bring peanuts with us because the backyard peanut heads expect them. The peanut heads include Freatherduster the squirrel, Chippity, Blue Guy the blue jay, and Tufty the titmouse.
• Honestly, sometimes my illustrations don’t come out the way I want. Trying to paint some flowers in the yard turned into quite a mess. So I decided the next day’s painting would point this out.
• Trying to make yogurt turns into a home chemistry lab.

• July 14 marked the beginning of a trip to WV for work. Rather than stay at a hotel, we took our RV and stayed at Coopers Rock State Forest. Each trip west along I-70 near Hancock, MD means a mandatory stop at the Blue Goose Market where we always buy the big bag of hard Pennsylvania pretzels, ginger snaps, their awesome blueberry crumble pie baked fresh in the bakery on-site at the back of the store, and a bag of old fashioned apple candies.
• This was our second time staying at Coopers Rock State Forest campground. Word has caught on how awesome it is because there was construction where they were adding new sites and it appears they are doubling the capacity of the campground.
• July 16th we did a 25 mile rail trail bike ride along the Monongahela River from Morgantown to Point Marion and back. Along the way we saw chickens having a peck alongside the trail, ponies with geese out in a field, an abandoned factory which we learned was an old glass factory, a powerplant, and a big gopher we called “Thunderchunk.” (Learned gophers are just big squirrels). I liked how Thunderchunk came out, which made up for the previous mess of artwork earlier in the week.

• The 17th of July was the beginning of the work week for me where we had our face-to-face meeting at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center. Large receivers are there for NOAA and the facility also houses an FBI unit.
• Tuesday night dinner at a pizza place along the Monongahela River.
• Feeding the turtles and fish in the pond at Coopers Rock.
• Our camp spot at McCollom Camground at Coopers Rock. Much of the time it was raining, but we were right next to the area of new construction and got to watch the construction equipment working on the campground expansion.

• A view of the pond at Coopers Rock, where the turtles and fish know to look for people along the shore with food.
• I took a picture of a giant moth that was hanging out at the campground restroom. Turns out it is an Imperial Moth. It was huge!
• The 23rd of July we headed home, and on the way I made a dent in the book The Power Broker by Robert Caro. I started reading it after seeing the documentary Turn Every Page, and decided to start reading all of Robert Caro’s books. I’m not even half way through this 1200 page book about Robert Moses, but at this point in the book I’m up to the part where he creates the first state parks in the U.S. in NY. A bunch of other states followed. So it’s interesting to read about where all these NY State Parks that we’ve been visiting came from.

• Another book I’ve been reading is called The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms you and this book totally describes me. I decided to draw this quote: “Do not over-schedule yourself. Allow time to think, to daydream.”
• July 25th I was back in CA for work, where we often get very little time to grab food. My survival tip is that I always pack my own lunch and it always includes the same items: A PB&J sandwich, banana, my homemade healthy cookies, and almonds. I have found it is the only way to survive work trips and not have my health go downhill.
• July 26th was an intense day of meetings that I can only describe as turning the brain into Jell-O.
• July 27 was my travel home day. I have a lot of illustrations in my journal of airplanes.

• July 28 was a weekend trip to NY. We ate tasty pizza, walked Broadway, and visited Rockefeller Center (it looks bigger on TV). Right around the corner from the Today Show set is an awesome vegan place called Beatnik’s. We got tasty vegan burgers and fries that we ate at a table and chairs outside in the same spot where they do the concerts.
• Living in DC I had always wanted to take the train to NY and see a Broadway show, so that’s what we did. We saw Some Like it Hot, which was awesome! Not awesome are the crowds which seem to be much bigger. NY was OK to visit for a weekend, but no way could I live there.
• July 30th was the Amtrak train ride back home and some of the things we saw from the window, including a hilarious billboard in NJ that said “Youse hurt?” Since Art is from NJ, we cracked up at that one, and kept repeating that phrase in a New Jersey accent the whole trip.

• Closing out the last day in July seeing these cool flowers blooming in the neighborhood. I had to research them and found out they are called Spider Flowers.

Whew! That was a lot of travel and a lot happening in July. On to August!