A visitor from the north and time spent with friends

This last weekend Austin and I had quite an excellent time hosting our good friend Kim on her tour of North Central Florida. It was fun to have a catch-up with one of my oldest pals and to spend time doing lots of the fun things that will always make this part of the world so special to me.

Our tour started off with a trip to Manatee Springs. The manatees like to come into the warmer river waters during the cold winter months. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any manatees this trip...but we did get to see some seagulls and eat some delicious blue crab quiche during a pit stop in Cedar Key on the way home ;) We spent the rest of Friday enjoying the nice afternoon sunshine around Lake Alice and had dinner and drinks with our Gainesville pals.

Our only manatee spotted

The beautiful Suwanee river

The spring itself

Keeping our eyes open...

At Lake Alice :)

On Saturday we left behind modern-day Gainesville for a simpler, more sword-filled time: the Medieval Faire :D Austin and I went last year and it was a lot of fun. Cheesy at times but all the people involved have a fun time with it, plus there's beer and games to test your axe throwing and archery skills, and cool guys dressed up as War of Roses soldiers who let you hold all the cool weapons. This year Austin and I tested each other in fencing-Austin was victorious but I had the most points for speed and style ;)

At the tent with the War of the Roses guys, Austin with thrasher

My lab mate Cody joined us and followed the cowboy hat-wearing lead of Austin

Kim and I had a bit of a spat!

A crucial element of the Faire

Post-jousting

With our jousting champion Markus

That same night we had my 'formal' going-away party. I'm still around for a couple more weeks but wanted to have a party while people were in town and before the semester got too busy for people (or for me being busy with packing and such). But of course it couldn't be just any party-it had to be a British Isles-themed costume party ;) We had everyone from Elton John, Amy Winehouse, Mary Poppins, Hermione Granger, Dr Who, Sherlock, and the list goes on and on! It was a really fun party and I'm glad we had so many of our friends there to celebrate and be silly with us.

Austin as Robin Hood and me as a punk rock type of person :P

Amy Winehouse and judge

Some very stylish guys ;)

On Sunday we took it easy for a bit and then went gator watching at La Chua sink. There were a TON of alligators all enjoying the sunshine :) the most I've seen since probably 3 years ago when we went on a warm January day.

A gaggle of gators

On the last day of Kim's visit we went to St. Augustine to the old fort, the Castillo de San Marcus. It's a really cool fort and I'm glad we came back for a visit since our first time there on a hot, busy August day in 2009. A really cool place and a reminder of Florida's varied and unusual history. We also spend the warmer part of the afternoon on St. Augustine beach and found lots of big pelicans (but not that many swimmers...the water was quite cold!)

On the top of the fort

View of the bay

Austin and I taking in the view from the bastions

An ocean friend!

Thanks for coming to visit, Kim!

Congrats to Austin!

After my trip to Europe in August, I brought Austin home some really nice whiskey from the Isle of Islay in Scotland as a souvenir. After a few weeks of the bottle sitting around, I asked when he wanted to try some and he said not until after his first paper was accepted.

Well, last night with dinner Austin brought out the bottle and a glass and shared the good news with me-he got his first first-author journal paper accepted :D Such a great accomplishment for grad school and I was very excited to hear the good news-and to try a sip of the whiskey ;)

Congrats to Austin and good luck with the last semester of grad school :)

Quiet week in GNV

With all my publication deadlines met and no finals to take, things have quieted down here in GNV, especially now that most of the undergraduate students have left also :) Enjoyed the cool and sunny weather to do some wildlife and moss spotting at Lake Alice this afternoon. My new lens continues to take stunning photos and I played around with the monochromatic mode on my Rebel today :)

old oak trees and Spanish moss

 

Baughman center

Baughman reflections

around the lake

Some friends taking in the sun :)

What have we been up to?

Amongst being distracted by my dissertation and 3 weeks of traveling, needless to say I have neglected the blog :) Here's some highlights of what's been going on in October!

While Austin headed up north to see family, I finished up writing my dissertation and then headed to St. George island for the weekend with lab friends. Nice weather and a good way to relax and finish up my tan for this year :) A big thanks to Georgia for letting us stay at her family's beach house!

Our lovely beach spot :)

Over my birthday weekend, one of my Serbian friends just happened to be in the neighborhood and he stayed at our place for a couple of days before heading back to Europe after his epic summer in the Northeast. We enjoyed the GNV sights (including a very important trip to Wal-Mart) and spent my actual birthday tubing at Ginnie Springs :)

Exploring the flora of northern Florida :)

Igor and Evan getting ready to tube with Austin and I

A perfect day for tubing and swimming :D

We found an abandoned disposable underwater camera. I sent him the photos after snapping this one on my phone of us :)

How many grad students does it take to dominate trivia? Only 4! Though we had a tough time defending our title we enjoyed our prize from Gator's Dockside after showing those nerds who's boss :D

Trivia masters Evan, Matt, and Austin (with me in a supporting role)

After a busy weekend hosting family and defending my dissertation, I had some additional celebrations with my lab mates before heading off on a celebratory epic road trip. We enjoyed some drinks downtown and also played some intense board games at home. What a month it's been!

Downtown at the Palomino

Game night at our place

Autumn has finally come to GNV and we are enjoying the cool sunny days as we get closer to heading up north for Christmas. Hopefully more updates to come as I get closer and closer to having my Ph.D. in hand :)

Signs of autumn approaching

We had our very first bonafide breeze yesterday afternoon! I was even able to have the windows open for more than an hour. It finally feels like Florida Fall (aka the best weather all year round) is slowly approaching. Other signs have also arrived over the recent days:

Belgian beer and french fries for dinner! To help build up a layer of warmth against the cold autumn winds...or something.

Our favorite Maine-based brewery and the pumpkin-infused beer!

New boots :) this season of the cowboy variety

Well this is not really autumn-related but we had sushi to celebrate my paper getting accepted :P

Ahh, true, looking forward to fall at last :) Thanks, Ned Stark!

Beach weekend :)

Last weekend we took a trip out of GNV for some beaching and relaxing on the Northeastern coast of Florida. We spent some time camping in this area last May and really enjoyed it, and decided it would be a nice break over the long weekend (and coincidentally our one-year anniversary!).

After a nice afternoon relaxing on the beach, we spent our first night in the city of Fernandina Beach at a cute little hotel. There is a fantastic local restaurant where we had amazing calamari, salads, and thai scallops. We also spent time at some fun outdoor bars and watched the sunset from the pier.

Some really nice lady asked to take our picture. We didn't even have to ask her, she just walked over and said "You guys look so cute together." Aww!

On the pier of the inter-coastal waterway

We spent the next day at Fort Clinch state park, where there is a really cool Civil War-era fort and some nice nature trails. After it got hot towards the afternoon we found a shady spot on the beach by the fishing pier and watched the waves roll in. We had a more casual dinner of burgers and a milkshake and then headed to our campsite for the night :)

Some views from the fort

The fishing pier on the beach

Rocks along the shore where the river meets the sea :)

Sunset on Sunday

After a short nature walk in the morning we headed back to GNV to rest and relax before another week in the lab. Happy to have a short break amidst what's been an already busy semester thus far :)