On July 4th, Kiawah had a bike parade.  Here Gabby is decorating her bike for the parade

and

here,

Sadri is decorating his, while his mom, Diane, holds her bike up.  Yes, that's Howard in the white shirt, and Diane's husband Rod, in the back ground.

 

and even Trixie, our little miniature Blue Dapple Dachsund, joined in the parade.

One evening we went to eat at Osprey Point Golf Club and had a beautiful view from our table on the veranda of the golf course.  Yes, that is an alligator on the bank.  On the bank of this particular pond, in the middle of a golf course, there were at LEAST 10, yes, 10, of these buggers, scattered around it.  We even saw some bikers on the trail, above this one, who couldn't decide if they should try to pass them or turn around.  Some went on by.  We enjoyed watching these guys for a couple of hours, during our meal, and at one point, they  all slid back into the pond for a while.  There were a group of children near one of the banks, and they all started a slow swim toward them.  Fortunately the manager came out and told them they needed to move on (the children, not the alligators).

Okay, I tried.  I really tried.  But, really, how good can anyone be when the temperature is at the melting point. 

On our last evening at Kiawah, we enjoyed a very nice dinner on the Jasmine Porch, at the Sanctuary hotel. 

Visitor

Had a little vsitor recently -- he got a little hungry ---decided to try Doc's dog food.  He kept at it until Doc saw him and tried to chase him down.  Fortunately he got away.

Trip to State College and Ithaca, NY

Over Memorial Day weekend we visited with Heather and Andrew for Heather's birthday.  This beautiful setting was on the morning of her birthday, in their backyard.  We had such a great time with them.  The night before we went to see a play at the community theater, titled: "Epic Proportions", a very funny comedy.   

Andrew and Sawyer having a "special" moment

After leaving Heather and Andrew, we traveled about 3 1/2 hours north to Ithaca, New York.  Howard was fortunate enough to be able to attend a conference on "Biological Information: New Perspectives".

Howard and I were fortunate to share a picnic dinner with this gentleman, Werner Gitt and his daughter, Roma,  from Germany.  He was one of the speaker's at the meeting Howard went to held on Cornell University's campus.  Delightful people.

A scene near one of the athletic fields.  I just thought it interesting with the ivy growing all over.

Another view of the ivy climbing up the side of a structure near the athlectic field.

This shrub was growing out of this huge rock (this was located in the arboretum near campus) 

This explains why the shrub is growing out of the rock.

While Howard attended meetings, I got to explore --this is a view in the arboretum that I kept returning to daily.  It was a beautiful place.

Arboretum

This little fellow was so CUTE!  And he allowed me to get several pictures of him.  He even came back the next day, hoping I would take his picture again!

Taughannock Falls, Ithaca, NY

Absolutely amazing and beautiful!  Such wonderment!

Pictures absolutely CANNOT portray the majesty of this.

The name means "in the trees" in the algonquin language.  It is 215 feet high, the tallest free-falling waterfall in the northeastern U.S.

Howard standing at the top of a cliff with the falls in the bacground.

The next day, after taking Howard's picture, I returned to the falls -- I found a trail that would take me to the bottom of the falls.  It was about a 3/4 mile hike, on a beautiful trail.

I crossed this bridge in order to get as close to the falls as I could.  However, due to the heavy mist the falls created, I couldn't get near as close as I wanted to.