2008 October | Footsteps

Senior Pictures (Highbanks Metro Park)

Senior Pictures (Highbanks Metro Park) [1:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Highbanks Metro Park Visitor Information and Map

The best of us create scrapbooks; the rest of us take a few photos and stash them away with our good intentions. I’ve always been better at photography and have the stacked boxes of “Kodak moments” in my basement to back that up. In recent years, I’ve added wedding and portrait photography and submitted photos to on-line stock photo sites.

It was still a distinct thrill to take my oldest niece’s and nephew’s senior pictures.

A few things have changed since I took my first photographs of Brittany and Chuck. For one thing, those bubbles in time were captured with a film camera, my technologically ancient Minolta 700x.

For another, I was not yet a mother myself. When my sister Steph rolled by on a gurney after delivering the twins, I wasn’t sure she’d ever make it onto her feet again. Little did I realize that I’d just seen the easiest part of motherhood…

Not that my niece and nephew have strayed the designated path. They are capable and talented kids. That doesn’t really matter though. Being a mom means that you wonder and hope and worry about the little details in their day-to-day every day. You try not to. But it’s difficult to escape entirely.

Chuck made the arrangements with me. We met at Highbanks Metro Park on a chilly Saturday morning. My tripod kept the shivers out of the shots, and the kids’ personalities shown through. We had a lot of fun with it, walking the trails and climbing down the edge of a ravine to get the backgrounds we wanted. They were beautiful babies, and they are exceptionally attractive young adults.

My sister and brother-in-law face an instant “empty nest” in the near future. My extended family has officially slid along the timeline from the new baby era into the graduation zone.

And I’m oh so aware that the next cousin standing in that particular line is my son Zach.

Portrait Photos on Picasa

Highbanks Metro Park Visitor Information and Map

Highbanks Metro Park; Columbus Ohio
11 miles of nature trails over streams and through ravines, situated just east of the Olentangy River. Shale Cliffs, concretions, river access and Adena Indian Mounds make this a popular destination. Activities include: hiking, running, cycling, group picnics and kayaking/canoeing. Additional attractions: pet trail, winter sledding, Hutchins State Nature Preserve.
“Yes” for Pets (on designated trails with leash)

Directions: From I-270, take U.S. 23 north for about 3 miles. Entrance will be on the left, just south of Powell Road.

Address: Highbanks Metro Park
9466 Columbus Pike
Lewis Center, OH 43035
Phone: (614) 846-9962
Park Website
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Tags: Heart-to-Heart, Highbanks Metro Park, Hiking, Ohio by Heather Dugan
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The Lodge at Red River Ranch (Teasdale, Utah)

The Lodge at Red River Ranch (Teasdale, Utah) [3:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Information and Map

Isolation needn’t mean total sacrifice. And, The Lodge at Red River Ranch had all the right surprises to comfortably pad our relative seclusion outside of Capitol Reef National Park. It took a certain amount of faith to drive past the kitschy mini-jumble of Torrey, Utah in hopes that neighboring Teasdale would eventually materialize along the vast expanse ahead. We carefully noted the food stops and gas stations along the way; the remote stretches of Utah had taught us to plan ahead for our “essentials”.

The tall-timbered ranch entry was our landmark; a sturdy “welcome” amongst the mountain-fringed pastures. I had been told to look for a grove of trees far off of the main road, and finally, there it was at the end of a long graveled drive. Our oasis.

The Lodge is an elegantly (yet comfortably) appointed mega-log cabin: a great destination for groups, both large and small family-sized. Our adjoining rooms, connected by both a generous bathroom and a hallway, were on the third floor and gave us plenty of privacy.

Exposed beams, high ledges and deep teal-colored walls pleasantly counterbalanced some of the more dainty room furnishings. We had no need for the fireplaces in July but relished the breezes and mountain-views of our private balconies.

Some very personable kittens played on the east porch (way) downstairs…

…and a herd of bison roamed the front fields.

There are six miles of private river for catch-and-release fly-fishing and pastures for horseback riding. A single wooden plank swing dangles charmingly from a cottonwood limb arched some thirty feet above the gravel front drive. Hannah and I found this to be a terrific “cool-down” after our morning runs around the property.Breakfast was always a plentiful plateful, with homemade nut breads and luscious fruits. We ordered “light, “ ate very well, and always ended up with extra. The dinner menu held some intriguing options but was definitely a more upscale affair than my group of hikers needed or wanted. Maybe next time…

The dining room, with its decorative tin ceiling and massive pillared beams is a place to linger. Its bank of windows overlooks an expansive front porch edged with a profusion of swaying flowers and well-patronized hummingbird feeders.

A basement rec room houses table soccer, a ping pong table, a TV, and an assortment of toys. It also has a community computer, but free wi-fi in our rooms was our better option.The Lodge was our most expensive accommodation but well worth the splurge. And happily, there was some flexibility on the published rate (It never hurts to ask!). Concerned that we’d be too crowded in the room I’d originally selected, the owner knocked enough off the rate of our larger suite to make it an acceptable option.

On our second evening, we settled into the jumbo-sized hot tub on the late edge of sunset and watched the mountains cast long shadows as the sun dipped ever lower beyond the orchard. We talked. We laughed. The edges of the deck walk glowed with strings of light and stars dotted the blackened sky…