Getting in touch with my inner-graphic design history geek...

I'm back from the Tetons and Yellowstone -- what a relaxing and beautiful trip it was! My boyfriend and I hiked a total of around 20 miles, took tons of photos (I will post some soon!), cooked yummy campfire food (including s'mores, of course), saw lots of wildlife (elk, deer, moose, bison, osprey, and grizzly bears), slept in a rainstorm in a tent on the ground (fun, actually - if you haven't done it you need to!), went to two micro-breweries, went white water rafting, and just enjoyed being away.

Anyway, I have much more I could say, but I'll post some photos later that will hopefully tell most of the story. One thing I didn't think I would think about while gone was design -- but as we creatives always do, we observe and absorb and take notice of visually compelling things. I noticed these vintage posters on notecards while in a gift shop near Old Faithful in Yellowstone.

On the back of the box of notecards was the following story, which definitely appealed to my inner-graphic design history geek.

"Between 1935 and 1943 the WPA's (Works Progress Administration) Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public's imagination for education, theatre, health, safety, and travel to America's national parks. Due to their fragile nature only a few of these images have survived to this day. In 1993, Doug Leen, artist, found and began to restore many of the images from black and white photos. Today you can enjoy his stylish, nostalgic recreations that recall a bygone era of long summer road trips and grand western scenery." My trip can be completely summed up in that last sentence.

For more information on the WPA Federal Art Project, Doug Leen, or to order posters or notecards, visit http://www.rangerdoug.com/

Trip photos coming soon!

P.S.

This is where I'm going in less than 36 hours -- Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone -- I'm pumped! These photos are from Getty, but I'll showcase some of my own photography when I return [digital photography is one of my favorite creative releases, along with travel].

Let the road trips begin!

Hello friends! What a time to try blogging -- a time when I will be travelling for pretty much all of the next three weeks! I will try to send you updates from my travels, but no guarantees, especially after August 3rd (you'll see why in a minute). Here's the run-down of the weeks to come:

I leave tomorrow (Thursday, July 26th) for Aberdeen, SD. Not much to do in Aberdeen that I know of, but a friend of my boyfriend is getting married, and we're visiting some extended family too. I will be there until next Tuesday, July 31st.

July 31st-August 2nd I will be in the office working on a recruiting trip to Syracuse University as well as an upcoming program for Hallmark called the Visiting Educators Program... Professors from some of your schools might be coming to visit Hallmark in Kansas City!

Now, for more exotic locale: my boyfriend and I embark on a journey on Friday, August 3rd-Tuesday, August 14th to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We'll be camping, hiking, and relaxing in the woods and mountains for the duration of that trip. No blogging from the woods -- we're leaving laptops and cell phones at home (or at least in the glove compartment of my car). I can't wait to add some pictures to my blog from the trip -- I'm pumped to get going!

Until next time....