salton seagoers

Strange things take place in small towns. My cousins and I took a trip to the Salton Sea and stopped off at some pretty amazing and strange places along the way.

THE SALTON SEA
What was once a happening seaside resort town is now a ghost town with a few strange residents still living amidst the stinky sea.



SALVATION MOUNTAIN
This was our strangest stop and my favorite. Salvation Mountain appeared in the Oscar-nominated film, Into the Wild, and so did its maker, Leonard Knight. He is a strange old man, yet also very sweet and especially determined. He's been working on this piece of art for 24 years and living in a very small trailer, without electricity, on the grounds. I don't know how he stands it out there in the summertime, with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees (it was about 120 degrees when we visited). He was really excited when we showed up and asked if he could show us around. This man just wants to share his mountain and his message of love with as many people as he can.

He builds his mountain from hay bales and adobe and adorns it with objects he finds in the desert like tires, tree branches, car parts, and other junk. His mountain includes a "museum" with pictures and news clippings of the mountain plastered to the colorful walls. People bring him paint and help him out as he's in his 70s. This man is awesome. If you're up for something wacky, I recommend checking Salvation Mountain out.

andy's BBQ birthday!

complete with hamburger art





























and creepy faces




james, kiffy
















mom, daniel















colie, christopher
















ashley, stella
















toni, mia












daniel, micheal










so, who wins for best "creepiest" face?

the ranch

We took a short trip to the ranch (June Mountain) this weekend with Mark and Kate Lockhart and Kate's pregnant belly to celebrate our freedom from school for the summer. We were there for about 24 hours and had lots of fun. I followed Kate's lead and ate like a pregnant woman. We stopped by Denny's on the road there and ate heart-attack-inducing grand slam's for breakfast, and Connie made us some A-mazing potatoes, creamed corn and ribs for dinner that night. We also ate delicious gas station candy. It snowed. The boys fished. I snapped what few photos I could without my fingers going numb. Oh, and we sat in the spa. Lovely.

misery

This is how I feel about finals:
(That's yours truly on the bottom right)

milhouse van houten

tristan & isolde

Honestly, need I say more? Yeow ...

meet barkley, the 13 inch beagle

She enjoys tug-o-war, sunbathing, fetch, and cuddling. Though she doesn't belong to us per se, she probably should. My parents are her rightful owners, but Kiffy and I probably love and play with her much more and are therefore her better friends. Seriously, who needs human babies when you can have doggy babies?




The dogs as children bit is a joke. Relax. We'll have babies, just not for 15 years.