A Rocky Adventure

Back in the fall I packed a lot of sightseeing into a 5-day, Denver-based, work trip. In fact I did so much sight-seeing, I'm pretty sure it took me this long just to sort through the photos. In between school visits, social media programs, breakfasts with college counselors, and lots of recruitment communications... my good friend Jonathan showed me the ropes of the Wild West.

We took an early flight in that first day so we could drive out passed Estes Park for some Rocky Mountain National Park exploration. The photos from that day were just gorgeous.

The views were just awesome from every angle and location...

We even saw some Buffalo roaming (they might have really been Elk, but I like the imagery of roaming buffaloes), right from the road in our car... it was really neat.

You could climb through the whole park in your car (with lots of places to park and take photos)and it was incredible to see the climate/environmental changes on the way up...

We were there the week of the big Boulder, CO fire that made news everywhere. In fact it had just started the morning of this (below) photo and many people on the trails with us didn't yet know what was going on...

Beside the elk, we also got up close and personal with different types of wildlife that brave these climates... it was neat to see different animals and birds as we climbed higher and higher... this bright blue bird spent some time singing us a song...

And they certainly weren't afraid of us... this fat little chimpmunk snuggled right into this little girls lofty perch:


I also made Jonathan do some climbing for more photo ops...
While we climbed we added layers and layers to our outfits... it's a good thing we had our suitcases with us.



Clearly we had some sun/shade/wind issues in our posed photos... but still glad we made the climb.
Totally worth it for this awesome view:
We ended our journey at about 12,000 feet... not because we couldn't go a bit higher, but mostly because we had important dinner plans and had to get back. The last area we saw though is classified as tundra... it was such a neat (albiet very cold and windy) atmosphere...


A lot less green, no trees, much more desolate:

It also got so much harder to breathe as we got higher, you could really feel how thin the air was here... it was exhausting just to walk from the car up a 1/4 mile path.

It felt like we could just see forever... and in fact we were told some days you can see four states from the park... I'm pretty sure we never knew just exactly which direction we were facing to work that out, but we did see lots of cool things.

Definitely a place I'm glad I spent some time at, and hope the next time you're near you'll bring a picnic lunch and block out the whole day. You won't be dissapointed.

Adventures of the Orange

As many of you know from my twitter account (@juliewalas) Otto has been a very busy Orange this year. And I'm very grateful to have done some fairly interesting travel with my favorite Orange... a few of my favorites below:


Late last August Otto and I (and the whole family) got tickets to a Buffalo Bills pre-season game. The game honored Billy Buffalo's 10th birthday, and all his mascot pals played their own football game at halftime... below, Otto cheers as Billy makes a touchdown: Otto in the endzone... performing at Ralph Wilson Stadium:

My friend and I posing with Billy Buffalo after the game. Happy Birthday buddy!

A few weeks later (early October) - Otto and I got up REALLY early to take a drive out to Bristol, CT -- yes, that's right, we went to ESPN. It was an awesome day around the campus.. clearly, Otto was very excited:

While at ESPN we filmed a "This is Sportscenter" commercial with Dwight Freeney and some of the Sports Science guys... you can watch here. After the shoot, they let Otto tour around the ESPN campus stopping by the cafeteria and the SportsCenter studios.

In between Christmas and New Years (as I'm sure you've heard) the Syracuse football team played it's first Bowl Game since 2004... and we won. Otto and I headed down to Yankee Stadium for a few days to help cheer on the team. My credentials that let me take that really cool picture on the field (above).

Game day came a few days after a horrific east coast snow storm... teams worked around the clock to get the stadium in shape for the game, but there was still snow left on the sidelines... which Otto used as a podium to liven up the crowd.
Otto's flag is my favorite.

It was a tough, back-and-forth game, but in the end, with some really exciting plays and some true Syracuse magic, we pulled out a sweet victory, and the team took to the snow-banks to greet the fans (and their families).

Otto didn't leave without some further stadium exploring though. It was really neat to play the first-ever Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium and to have some all access passes. You can watch Otto getting ready for the big game here -- the video shown on the jumbotron at the stadium pre-game.

Mayhem on game day as Cheer, Dance, Band and Otto lead a pep-rally for our fans outside Yankee Stadium.

Otto and I took a couple trips to NYC this year for some neat events...we went to this Alumni bowling event- where Otto was a big shot on the lanes (knocking down a total of two pins) and behind the counter - giving everyone their bowling shoes. This was an incredible event in the heart of Times Square (who knew there was a bowling alley this classy in Times Square?) with some really fun alumni.

Otto's attempt at bowling (his opponent was Don McPherson, so we knew we were done before we started).

One afternoon in NYC we took Otto out exploring central park... next thing I know that darn Orange "borrows" a sled from a local kid and does some good runs down the slippery hill.

We also dropped by SU's home in NYC - the Lubin House on East 61st Street to say hi to our friends and alumni there. It's a beautiful brownstone right near the park and whenever I'm in town for work, I love staying there.

The first weeks of January brought a flurry of excitement as Otto was selected to be a part of UCA's national mascot competition. We built props and skits and edited music to get ready for a trip to Disney World's Wide World of Sports. An awesome weekend overall, we all were able to spend some time at the pool and in all the parks.. And to top it off, Otto won 10th place!

For now, Otto is resting up before our basketball team makes a big run in the tournament... I can feel it coming!

As always, Go 'Cuse! #ForeverOrange

The end of summer...

Seems so long ago, but wow did that time fly by. And in the midst of these days of negative temperatures and blustery winds... I wanted to remind myself of the joy that was the end of summer.

I spent those last few warm weekends last August and September, at the beach:

Cape May, NJ AUG 2010

and in the sunshine of the busy parks of New York:

(Photos from the HighLine- one of the coolest places in NYC, a recent discovery for me, and a definite must see for your next visit)

As I gaze out my office windows, and the crazy college student heads to the gym across the quad in orange basketball shorts... I remember, Spring is almost here again.