This morning, after sleeping in, I did a bit of blogging, then took my hostess out to lunch with a Twin Cities blogress, Peg Kaplan at a restaurant at the Mall of America before meeting the fetching Carlos to visit the amusement park area in the Mall’s atrium.

No sooner did we ride a roller coaster where that fair Texan treated us to some rather colorful language than I spotted a Lego store with cool Lego dinosaur sculptures. Turns out Carlos was also a fan of those interlocking building blocks, having, just like yours truly, delighted in building Lego houses as a child.

WOW!! WhY didn’t they have stores like this when I was growing up?  Well, another good thing about nieces and nephews.

Anyway, as a Star Wars fan, I took particular note of these sculptures:

When I drove cross country last fall, I didn’t take enough time to do what I really enjoy doing on such journeys, stopping along the road to delight in the beauty of our great nation.  This time, when I decided to visit my family in Colorado, I elected to give myself three full days to get back to LA.  I have done the drive in one day of heavy driving, so this really gave me the chance to explore.

I did decide to stay a little longer with my family so I got to go on a great hike with my twin nieces and their little brother, along with their parents and my Dad and his wife.  That was wonderful.

Wish I could have shared the landscape I saw in the following days with them.  In Utah, I stopped at a rest are just east of Green River on I-70, followed this path up a little hill and delighted in the openness of the landscape around me, noticing the interesting contours of the barren hills around me, the contrast of this dun stone to the blue sky around me.

The real beauty of Utah (to me at least) is not just the open spaces, but those very contrasts.  Perhaps one reason, Zion National Park is one of my favorites where you see the red stone set against the pine trees and other verdant foliage and the blue skies–even the brown trunks of the trees made the vista richer.

The following day, I took more time to explore the Beehive State.

So, since I finally figured out (easier than I ever imagined) how to upload pictures from my digital camera, I thought I’d share with you a picture I took just outside Bryce Canyon National Park which shows these contrasts.  Herewith the first picture from my own camera posted to this blog:

UPDATE: It was so easy to do this, I thought I’d add in this picture of the Natural Bridge in Bryce Canyon National Park:

Yesterday the Young Marine in the family ‘dragged’ all of us off to see the new National Museum of the Marine Corps. Actually, he didn’t have to convince me much to go there as I’ve seen the ‘spire’ of this structure for some time now from the highway as I drive to and from work. Just the uniqueness of the design itself, inspired by a famous photograph, was enough to pique my interest even without what and whom the museum pays tribute to. So without the trees lining the highway to obscure the view, we pulled up and were greeted with this sight:

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… a quick look at the soon-to-be-removed Christmas decorations on the Patriot House in Charlotte.  I hope everyone had as wonderful a season of joy as we did.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Hey everyone, please welcome Shadow to the GayPatriot family.  Saxby decided he liked her….. and she really likes him — I can tell because she is constantly biting on his ears and neck.  

Aside from a move that a spayed male dog isn’t supposed to make (*rolling eyes*)…. he has been great with her and she is definitely tiring him out (for once!).   I’m hoping to get photos of both of them together by week’s end.

For now, I think I’m more tired than the dogs who have been playing constantly.   So I’m hoping to catch up on some sleep!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Here are just a few snapshots of our trip in July to the Three Bars Ranch in Cranbrook, Canada.  As the politics of our midterms heat up, I thought it might be good to put some life perspective into our world.  There’s nothing better than riding a horse through the Canadian Rockies, my friends.

  

I hope to post more photos from our trip to Canada as well as the Brad Paisley/Sara Evans concert in Charlotte from back in June.  (Hey, I wanna capitalize on Sara’s starring in “Dancing with the Stars”!   Timing is everything.)

So what are your fond memories from the Summer of 2006?  Email me your photos and I’d be happy to post them.   This is a community, after all!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

PatriotPartner and I ventured into unchartered territory last night by attending the East Coast World Rodeo Finals at the Cricket Arena in Charlotte. Well, that’s not entirely true as we did go to a rodeo in Cody, Wyoming about three years ago during a tour of the West.

But this was our first Charlotte entertainment activity since we moved here in December. And trust me, it was a Blue Staters Nightmare!

The National Anthem was sung proudly and loudly, prayers for the crowd and the cowboys and cowgirls were said with reverence, and all four flags of the branches of our Armed Forces were galloped around the arena on horseback.

Now, I ask you… what’s not to like about the rodeo?

More photos after the jump.

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It was a beautiful night in Philly…

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