Philadelphia, ACRL 2011

I visited Philadelphia for the Association of College and Research Libraries conference last week. Here are some photos:

Food

Philly cheese steak (not that delicious)

Cannoli (100% delicious)

Historic sites

Independence Hall was my favorite of the historic sites we saw on our walking tour

Christ Church -- the oldest active parish in the U.S.

Benjamin Franklin's grave

Carpenter's Hall
Library Hall (with a sight-seeing carriage)
2nd Bank of the United States
Betsy Ross's House
And me at the Liberty Bell

Grad school friends

Several of us who went to University of Illinois together met for dinner while in Philadelphia. We are librarians in: Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Spring Break 2011

This year for spring break we took a 3-part trip: 1) to Albuquerque to see part of Mike's family and our new nephews, 2) then to Santa Fe and Taos, and 3) then to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.

We met Mike's family in Albuquerque, where his brother and sister-in-law live. Bob and Emily have two of the cutest little baby boys EVER, and we got to spend time with them, along with Mike's parents (who live in Fairbanks, Alaska) and grandparents (who live in St. George, Utah). We had a great time.

Here's Mike's brother, Bob, with both of the boys. Isaac, on the left, was born in February. Dean, on the right, was born in October. Bob and Emily got to adopt Dean soon after he was born, and he got a little brother just a few months later! Dean stares at Isaac like this when he's screaming. Dean seems to find his brother sort of confusing.

Here's Dean modeling the hoodie that Aunt Melissa knitted for him. He is the happiest baby! He smiles at everyone and everything. I find him irresistible.

And here's Dean modeling a soccer uniform from his Aunt Rachel in England
Isaac, I'm sorry I don't have more pictures of you. Your big brother is just more photogenic right now, but I'm sure you'll catch up soon!

Part two of our trip included a visit to Pecos National Historical Park, just outside of Santa Fe. (Note: This park has nothing to do with Pecos Bill.) The Park preserves several layers of history: the Pecos Pueblo, Spanish mission, and sites of a Civil War battle. Who knew that there was a Civil War battle in New Mexico? The ruins of the pueblo and the Spanish mission are fascinating. Around 2,000 American Indians lived in the pueblo, in apartment-like homes. It was a self-contained town. The first church that the Spanish conquistadors built on the site was burned down by the Indians, but the church was rebuilt.

Pueblo and church ruins
Landscape around the ruins: cacti, pinon, and the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the distance
Ladder to an intact kiva -- a sacred ceremonial space in the pueblo
Ruins of a kiva
Mike standing in the church. Notice the beams sticking out of the adobe.

After Pecos, we spent some time in Taos. We really wanted to go to the Taos Pueblo, which is a living and lived-in pueblo, unlike the ruins of Pecos, but the Pueblo was closed to visitors for the day. We dropped by the public library, spent some time in a bookstore (yes, we're book nerds), and then went to the Mabel Dodge Luhan house. Mabel Dodge ran a kind of salon for artists and thinkers. Friends who stayed at her home include D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keefe, Ansel Adams, and Carl Jung. It's an interesting place with a great counter-cultural history. Mike wanted to visit the house because of a book he studied in grad school, Utopian Vistas.

The Mabel Dodge Luhan house
Mountains outside Taos
And the Taos Public Library

We spent the last part of our trip in southern Colorado. We visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, which is a national park I had not heard of before. It's sort of unreal -- a huge sand basin at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains (left by an ancient lake) has created the tallest sand dunes in North America.

The long view, approaching the dunes
We did a little bit of climbing in the dunes -- walking in sand like that is hard work!

Here's a Boy Scout troop climbing up into the dunes -- I thought it was a nice photo to get some perspective on how huge this pile of sand really is.
And in case you thought this landscape looked desolate and empty, here are some deer we saw on the way in to the park.

Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site

I meant to post about this long ago, but the fall has been awfully busy! So here are some photos of and some tidbits of information about the Wyoming Territorial Prison, built in Laramie in 1872 and closed in 1903. Mike volunteered there this fall and I checked out the site on Labor Day.

First, here's Michael in his prison stripes behind bars.

What Michael actually did as a volunteer was make brooms in the broom factory pictured below. Work was part of the rehabilitation process for inmates at the prison, and the prison operated a broom factory for several years, where the inmates worked every day.

Butch Cassidy was one of the most famous inmates who spent time at the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Here's his mugshot, taken in 1894 when he was imprisoned for 18 months for stealing horses. He got off early when he promised the governor he'd stay out of Wyoming.

Below is a photo of the prison chapel, where the first female chaplain in the U.S. prison system, Dr. May Preston Slosson, held weekly services. (Wyoming is the Equality State!) This room was also used for lectures by professors from University of Wyoming, who came to improve prisoners' minds.

Here's a photo of the outside of the prison.

Wyoming is a really interesting place with an interesting history. There's a gallery in the horse barn (not pictured) with a fascinating exhibit on the first women who served on a jury in the U.S., which happened in Wyoming in 1870. There's also a women's gallery in the prison, with brief histories of the female criminals who served time in the Territorial Prison. It's a great place for women's history.