Back! Fulfilling a dream and walking behind a waterfall

Since seeing the cartoon Robin Hood as a little girl, I have wanted to find a waterfall to walk behind. Finally I did! Ashley and I visited Moore Cove Falls in Pisgah National Forest the weekend after I got back from London. Here's a shot from behind the falls. Classic Anna and Ashley--using the "we'll take our own picture" approach. Notice the lady at the bottom of this picture..that puts the waterfall into perspective. We climbed up to the ledge on the left-hand corner to get a better view. Amazing up there.
This view is looking down the Green River in Saluda, NC (about 30 minutes from the waterfall country of Transylvania County, NC. Ashley's parents' mountain house is in a valley after a 15 plus switchback road leading down from the top.
And in other news...the pontoon is getting ready to hit the lake. We've painted the sides, Ashley has laid the carpet...now he has to put all of the electronics back on and we'll be ready to go. Yippee!

London!

May 11-25 I travelled to London with a group of 16 students (post-Freshmen) and an art professor for a Capstone Abroad program. I served as the program assistant, which meant that I was responsible for all sorts of things--mainly logistics (getting us around on the Tube and the streets on London). It was fun to be back in the UK for two weeks but I definitely missed Ashley.

Big Ben and the London Eye with Minuette Floyd, the art education professor

Oxford University's Christchurch College, aka Hogwarts from Harry Potter
The complete group, plus our tour guide Adrian. The students were fantastic!We went to see The Woman in Black and it gave us all a good scare. A great play to see if you are in London!
The classic doubledecker bus.

and the beautiful Tower Bridge

*Unfortunately I accidently deleted the first 200 pictures from my digital camera so you will just have to use your imagination to see the changing of the guard, Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, the River Thames cruise, Bath, Harrod's, etc.

SPA Family

When I was in my grad program at USC, I was a member of the Student Personnel Association (SPA). Part of being in SPA was adopting a "SPA buddy"-- someone who was a year behind me in the program. Rachel Ott was my SPA buddy (middle) and Claire Robinson (left) was Rachel's buddy. We had a SPA family lunch on May 10 before Rachel left to work at UVA.

MerleFest 2006

MerleFest is a huge Americana festival in my hometown of Wilkesboro, NC. Over 80,000 people come from all over the country and the world to hear a wide range of music. Some of the artists from this year (April 27-30) were Nickel Creek, Sam Bush, Robert Earl Keen, and Gillian Welch. The festival goes on from about 10 a.m. until 12 a.m. Here's a shot of the nighttime crowd.
Gillian Welch is my favorite musician who plays at MerleFest. This is a picture of her set at the Creekside Stage. If you haven't heard Gillian, you should check her out. My favorite song is "One More Dollar."
MerleFest also has a lot of activities for children, including the Alberti Flea Circus. Ashley and I got a kick out of watching this! In this picture, Mr. Alberti is coaxing his flea to do the high dive.
All of MerleFest time is spent relaxing on our blanket. Here's Ashley working on some Sudoko.
And it's a good time to see friends! Jane Lee (middle) has been coming to MerleFest for years (since 1998, we think). And Anneliese Mueller (right) has come for several years--and we always randomly run into each other. Go Carolina Girls!
Also while we were at home we got to cruise on Mama and Papa's new pontoon. It's quite the Cadallic--so comfortable to ride in. And the lake was perfect!