As a little girl, I wore my hair in long pigtails and loved dogs. To me, that imagine represents a childhood filled with adventure, love, and family. Our favorite family times were spent camping, mostly in Colorado, dog in tow, in our little blue Shasta camper. On those trips, we would make special projects together like acorn dolls, walnut-shell baskets, grasswoven matts and milkweed-pod canoes. We would build our own “log cabins” from long, dead branches and learned history while sitting inside listening to stories of pioneer times. Hours spent hiking through the forest developed a deep appreciation of nature and taught me about its beauty, mysteries and our responsibilities of preservation and respect. I learned how to take my first photographs on a little Brownie Instamatic camera while on those family trips. We learned about geography while playing “License Plate Bingo,” and authors like, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mark Twain, Robert Lewis Stevenson while playing “Famous Authors” card game. We had a contest of who could be first to see the majestic Rocky Mountains on the far distant horizon. “Biscuits on a stick", fresh rainbow trout, potatoe slices in aluminum foil and wild blueberry cobbler was a common camping supper. It was a simpler time where doing things together as a family was a priority. Those times instilled an intense affection for dogs, a deep abiding appreciation for nature, an obsession to lifelong-learning and teaching, a profound love of family and a creative and artistic passion which turned me into the person I am today.