Summer can finally start now! We just got back (last night) from a rather long trip: we visited Grinnell briefly (actually, twice), each delivered a paper at a conference, and visited some really good friends in Colorado. Parts of this trip were certainly vacation, but for the most part, they didn't quite qualify as "summer" because the days were rainy and cool. We did a lot of fun things in Denver, though, some of which are pictured below:

We went to Red Rocks, where there is an incredible amphitheater and a nice hike:



We saw dinosaur tracks at Dinosaur Ridge:



We saw some awesome rocks at the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum:




And we toured an old-fashioned candy factory:



Upon arriving home, we found that some garden plants have exceeded our expectations, while others are a bit disappointing. In the positive category:

spinach
beets
arugula
lettuce (tons!)
strawberries
raspberries (getting there, anyway)
leeks
peas

In the disappointing category:

tomatoes
peppers
eggplants

Next year, we'll have to try out some different methods of starting those last three...