Celebrations
4th of July skyline in Wichita, Kansas. The fireworks display is clearly not limited to one area! The whole horizon sparkled.
Shovel races at Winter Carnival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Cover Main Street in snow and race a speeding horse while dragging someone behind riding a shovel... Who thought this was a good idea?
El Carnaval in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
International Yoga Day at Trafalgar Square in London, England.
Fete de la Musique in Paris, France. The "Music Day" celebration that takes place on the summer solstice. This was in front of our hotel, and they were playing our wedding song when we arrived, "What a Wonderful World".
Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, or "Arts Fest", in State College, PA. The streets and sidewalks are lined with artist exhibitions, and the banner competition is a signature event.
Hot Air Balloon Rodeo in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Only in San Francisco! Summer Solstice skinny dippers celebrating the longest day of the year at the Golden Gate Overlook (faces and privates blurred).
Celebrating summer at Coon's Franklin Lodge in Woodruff, Wisconsin.
"Light Up State College" - On February 4, 2017, State College broke a Guinness World Record for the largest ice luminary display. Vuollerim, Sweden was the previous record holder with 2,651 ice luminaries. State College more than doubled this record with 5,622.
Idol-makers in the potter's quarter of Kumartuli in Kolkata, India. Making sculptures for Durga and Kali festivals using clay from the Ganges.
"Love Lock Bridge", Pont des Arts in Paris, France. Celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary. Apparently the locks have made the bridge so heavy that they're no longer allowing this tradition due to structural and safety concerns.
My favorite and most unique birthday celebration - we started hiking the Inca Trail in Peru on my 35th birthday. Somehow they managed to bring a full birthday cake intact up that challenging trail! Plus headlamp "candles" and tent decorations for full effect. Thank you Jeremy, Jess, Joe, and Juan for such a memorable birthday.
Halloween "Glowga" at Yoga Lab in State College, PA. Glow in the dark yoga, complete with black lights, glow sticks, glow paint, our trusty Dr. Bones, and Kristen's matching skeleton costume. Here in "corpse pose", shavasana.
Maypole Dance at the Memorial Day festival in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Boalsburg claims to be the "Birthplace of Memorial Day", starting the tradition of decorating soldiers graves in 1864.
Pandemic 4th of July, 2020, in State College, Pennsylvania. A creative socially distanced celebration - instead of one big fireworks show the town held 4 fireworks displays in different locations so that people could view the sparkles from their own homes.
"The Burning Man" - New Year's Eve in State College, Pennsylvania. People write their regret for the old year or resolution for the new year on a piece of fabric and pin it to the torso of the figure. On Dec 31 the Burning Man is set on fire, "sending both regrets and resolutions heavenward."
One more celebration of all the holidays at our happy home when my parents sold the house in Hutchinson, Kansas. We decided to put all the decorations out at once - "House Alive" Halloween plus Christmas Luminarias, with the sold sign on the steps.