F U

For Monday's hike, Cari and I headed over to the campus of Furman University. I've seen some photos of campus in the past and was interested to see some of these sites in person. Before we get to the photos, here's a few things about Furman:

Founded in 1826, its current location is its third.

The nickname or mascot of the Furman sports program is the Paladin. A paladin can be described as a heroic champion or the defender of a good cause. What a great mascot!

The Latin motto of the university: Christo et Doctrinae (For Christ and Learning)

We got to campus and found a parking spot very quickly. It was fairly quiet when we arrived in the morning. On our drive across campus to the parking areas we drove through a round-a-bout and I thought it was just the greatest thing. Why don't we have more of these things in America?

It didn't take long for us to find one of the most photographed landmarks on campus. The bell tower that sits on lake Furman.

Our next destination was a place called Place of Peace. It's a pagoda from Japan. In 2004 they disassembled it into 2,400 pieces and transported it to Furman. I assume they had permission to do this because I can't imagine a bunch of rowdy, American students running up and taking apart a building without someone noticing. It was reconstructed in a very quiet and beautiful area of campus near the lake.

We were invited to go inside but were told to remove our shoes first. I took a look through the open door and saw. . . .a pillow in an empty room. I decided I had seen it all, so we chose to leave our shoes on and continue our tour.

At the base of the hill is a wonderful Japanese garden with a collection of trees and flowers.

At around eleven, the bell tower sounded and played a short song. The chimes were even more beautiful to listen to while looking over the water. As they started playing I grabbed my camera and pointed it at the tower. Then I realized that just because the bells were ringing, my photograph wouldn't look any different than earlier.

Cari and I headed onto the trail that circles the lake. We made a stop at the bell tower and took some photos.

I had to dangle my NEW flash from the spiral stairs to achieve this photo and I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you that it fell once. As it was crashing toward the concrete floor, I made a quick grab a caught it. Even scarier than the possibility of losing another flash was the look on Cari's face when she saw what happened. Wow!

We finished our walk around the lake and meandered among the buildings on our way back to the car. We found this path that has old mill griding stones set in the walkway. It is the best use I've seen of these old stones yet. Cari noticed a railing near one end of the path and we went to check it out. Looking over the railing, we found this amazing rose garden:

As we talked about how beautiful the campus is, the bell tower struck twelve and gave a short concert. Suddenly, campus came to life as students started appearing from every doorway. Bikes started to fill the walk ways. I tried to count how many students weren't wearing an iPod but couldn't find one.

Furman is an amazing place to visit and take a relaxing walk.

Next time I go, I'm picking up a hat that says F U.  They use one of my favorite colors, purple.