Summer Vacation July 15--July 30, 2006

Saturday, July 15 and 16: We visited Robert in Atlanta. We saw the Chocolate exhibit at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. We also dined at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Pho 79, on Buford Hwy.
July 17--23: We stayed at a cabin at Givhans Ferry State Park in Ridgeville, SC (northwest of Charleston). Here Mark served his Artist in Residency that was sponsored by the SC State Park Service. In exchange for a FREE week-long stay at a cabin, the artist is expected to donate a piece of artwork that was inspired by his/her "residency" at the state park (within 60 days of his/her residency). During this week, we visted Audubon's Beidler Forest, located on the Four Holes Swamp. While there, we saw a few wildlife such as turtles, a gator, 2 water moccasin snakes, warblers, etc. Mark also kayaked the Edisto River one day and met a retired couple who was panning for fossils in the swamp. On Edisto Island, we visited the Serpentarium, which is a family-owned outdoor zoo exhibiting a variety of venomous and non-venomous snakes, fat alligators with big jowls and turtles. Ann Clamp, who comes from a family of herpetologists, did a 30-minute program on the different snakes. We didn't know that water moccasins are considered slow and clumsy!! But that doesn't mean you should go near these venomous snakes! We thank Park Ranger Steve Dowdey for providing us an informative and interesting stay at the park. Next year, Mark will definitely apply again to the program.
July 23--24: We left SC and went north on I-77 on our way to OH. The drive was very scenic going through hilly region of NC, VA and WV. We stayed overnight at Cedar Lakes, a WVDOE-sponsored camp in Ripley, WV.
July 24: We left WV and continued north on I-77 to Mentor, OH where Mark's mom lives. On our way, we decided to visit the campus of Kent State University, where Mark attended for 1 year back in 1981. Needless to say, lots have changed but we were able to see his old dorm, Verder Hall and the art building. We also visited the May 4 1970 memorial where the 4 students were killed by National Guards during an anti-war protest. Although Mark never took a clay class at KSU, we decided to check out the ceramics building anyway out of curiosity. Amazingly, we got to meet Kirk Mangus and Eva Kwong, who are well known artists in the academic clay world! We were very happy to be able to talk to them briefly and get a tour of the facilities.
July 24--today: We have been focusing on doing an oral history project with Mark's mom, Eva. We have recorded her speaking about her childhood experience during the Nazi regime in Austria. She also spoke about her parents' artistic talents. Mark's grandma was an artist and created figurative sculptures, drawings and children's books. His grandpa wrote poetry and was interested in photography. We hope to find some ways to exhibit his grandma's work in the future. Tomorrow we'll drive down to Mark's brother's home in Centerville to stay overnight. Then on Saturday, we'll head back to Tallahassee with an overnight stay with Seiko and Robert in Maryville, TN.