Our summer activities

Source: Google Images

There's only a few weeks left for my summer holiday. Sigh. After enjoying myself for quite a bit without thinking about my PhD, I am feeling very sluggish. It will take a lot of effort to get back into study mode. Last year, we went back to Malaysia but this year we decided to stay. Summer is quite nice here; even though certain places in the US have been hit with terrible heat wave (e.g. Texas, Florida etc) we've been quite fortunate to have a rather breezy and windy summer here. That's been spots where we've had scorching hot weather, but it's been rather bearable. This short break has also been good to me; it feels good not to think about schoolwork for a while, and I've been feeling really happy and relaxed.

Here's a few things that we did to while away our summer holiday; for one, we took a short trip to Pittsburgh Zoo. It's about two hours from our place, and I've been itching to go there. It's pretty huge and tiring! Since we got there during the week day, it was not so crowded but the train service was not working! So we had to walk the whole way from the entrance to the exit. I think the best parts were the African Savannah exhibit and the aquarium. There were a lot of varieties of different animals, and I thought the way they organized each exhibit was very orderly, and they attempted to preserve as much as they could of the natural habitat of the animals. It was just rather disappointing that the polar bear did not make an appearance; it was too hot and they were probably sleeping instead of baking in the hot sun. Here are some selected photos:

The angry snow leopard

Yikes, sharks!

Can you spot the fish?

Sad's favorite place; the aquarium!

We also managed to visit some nearby parks. Monroe Park was nice. Sad wanted to take a dip in the lake but he changed his mind upon seeing the muddy waters! He he he. But it didn't deter others. There were plenty of kids and adults enjoying a cool dip in the lake, fishing or boating/canoeing. Since we don't have any beaches near us, this is the nearest body of water so it will have to do.

Lake Monroe

We also had some visitors from Athens and Indiana who came by for a short visit. After being entertained by the visitors in their respective homes, it felt really good to return the favor! Next in our plans is probably a visit to Lake Erie. Niagara Falls (the US bit) and Cedar Parks (an entertainment park) is also pretty close to us and we haven't been there. We only have two more years here so we plan to cram in as many things and visits to as many different places as possible. It would be a waste not to!

All in all, this long, relaxing and hot summer is definitely a much welcome break for both of us. How I wish the summer break would not end.

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