las olas art festival

Last weekend I headed down to the Las Olas Art Festival with a couple of friends...  I'm not posting any photos of the actual artwork b/c 1) I wasn't supposed to take any in the first place (oops!) and 2) they didn't come out very well anyway.  But here's a couple of Las Olas/Downtown Ft. Lauderdale...

Also had another photo session with pup - he's such a great model!

yes, this is the same photo as the one above, just trying a cool effect...



ArtPrize

Our flights to Michigan flew in and out of Grand Rapids.  On our way out, we had an opportunity to walk around Downtown Grand Rapids and look at the artwork on display for an open art contest called ArtPrize.  As I understand it, the contest is open to anyone and any medium of art, you simply need to find a venue in Downtown that is willing to host your piece. 

It was awesome! Some of the artwork was incredible and I love to the whole idea of community involvement. Every year some of the pieces are kept and become a regular part of the downtown landscape.  If you ever find yourself in Grand Rapids at ArtPrize time, I highly recommend you check it out!

there really is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow



that's the whole barrell!



http://www.metalmonkeymania.com/



ok, so this isn't actually artwork, but I though it was a cool building

as John Lennon says, it's all you need...

mackinac: around the island

Some miscellaneous shots around the island...



that's right, the restaurant has a bowling alley!





'Idlewood'



mackinac: confections

Mackinac Island is famous for its fudge, there's at least 5 different fudge shops within a half-mile area downtown.  Here are a few shots of some confectionary delights :-)


5ft slab of fudge





toffee



mackinac: flowers

To say that the flowers all around Mackinac Island are gorgeous is an understatement. Maybe it's b/c I'm not from the Midwest and this was my first trip to Michigan, but I've never even seen some of these types of flowers.  Perhaps the endless supply of, um, horse excrement adds to their vitality?  [If you weren't aware, there are no privately owned vehicles allowed on the island, you either walk, bike, or take a horse-drawn carriage. This certainly adds to the 'quaint factor' but let's just say the result is quite a lot of horse dung - to try and put it politely :-) ]

Regardless of the cause, the flowers are beautiful!

mackinac: fences

As we walked around the island, I noticed some of the really neat fences.  Some of the actual fences themselves weren't anything more than regular wood planks, but had great locations and some of the fences themselves were kind of fancy...



not the most artistic photo, but I just thought it was a cool fence :-)





(this wall was actually in grand rapids)