Summer Adventures!

It's been a busy one lately!  I've been working at a local sub shop (not Subway!) where they make some gosh darn awesome subs.  Plus, it is a very friendly work atmosphere, a welcome change from my previous places of employment.  :P 

But, last week, I took five days off to traverse across several states in a visit to my boyfriend and his family.  It was SUCH a lovely time!  The first afternoon I got there was dedicated to watching World Cup matches.  It was a good way to unwind after the longest solo car trip I've ever driven. 

The next day, he and I drove into the city, where he brought me to his favorite museum of natural history, famous for its dinosaur exhibits. There were plenty of marvelously preserved and reconstructed bones.  The T-Rex looks fearsome even as a skeleton.  Can you imagine meeting a live one face to face?  I'd pee myself. 

The museum had adjacent art gallery, which we visited, thrilled to find a bust of Pope Gregory Somethingorother by Botticelli, a beloved art pal from our Rome days.  There was also a Hall of Architecture which had replicas of many different church facades and interior works, several of which we recognized from Florence, Siena, and Paris.  There was also a modern art exhibit, where we found this.  I suppose I am supposed to glean some deep truth about the mystery of life from it, but all I could get was a good selfie opportunity. (#letmetakeaselfie)  Notice the Thinker Dude behind me and my boyfriend, he's probably peeved at our juvenile giggles over his "art." ;)

 Then after that, we wandered on to a botanical greenhouse garden.  It was one of my favorite things that we did all weekend.  Every greenhouse had a different botanical habitat, such as the Summer room, the Butterfly room (where there were butterflies floating gracefully through the air around us), a French Garden room, etc.  We both thought it was so nice that we went through it several more times, just to make sure we saw everything. 

Only problem with the trip was the drivers up North where I was visiting.  Apparently in my boyfriend's town, they don't have any nice handy-dandy signs telling you to yield on green to on coming cars when turning left, which led to some confusing left turns for me, who assumed that since there wasn't a sign indicating otherwise, I had the right of way.  Let us just say my guardian angel was doing double time for me until I realized that just because there wasn't a sign I didn't have the right of way.  Oh, and if you pause even the slightest at a four way stop sign before crossing, the other car will assume you aren't going and will nearly smash you to smithereens.  But I survived, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I crossed back over the Mason-Dixon line on my way back home, cuz y'all know how to drive nicely down here.  ;)