
Merry Christmas from the Moran's
Michael is a super senior in college this moving into the final student teaching part of his education this yr. He has a school all lined up for starting student teaching this coming January.

Michael and Danae
His wife Danae graduated this December. Danae already has her first job in Social work at Catholic Charities up in Fargo ND. They joined in our family vacation this year and we had an enjoyable time.

Found on a visit to Duluth to see Nathan
Nathan is a jr. at UND studying software engineering. Sounds like this next semester will be very brutal with three software engineering classes but if he survives this next semester he will be almost home free.

Nathan and Mark wanting to go para-sailing.
He took the initiative to plan a trip out to Hollywood this past spring to visit a close friend. The trip was wonderful he reports, and he has a whole new appreciation for the beauty and culture of southern CA.

Nicole, All State Choir at St Olaf College
Nicole is a jr. in high school at Eagan High School. She had some great musical success this past yr. She was invited to All State Choir, a week of vocal training and practice at St Olaf College in Northfield, MN. She was given the honor of singing a solo at that event. You can hear a recording of that here.

Nicole, Evan and teacher Nicole Marschall at NATS
She won 3rd place in NATS, a state wide vocal competition at St John ’s University in Collegeville MN. She was given the honor of playing Belle in Eagan High School’s winter presentation of “A Christmas Carol, A New Musical”. Now she is starting to work through the issues of selecting a college.

Mark and his buddies on tech crew
Mark is an 8th grader. He has been involved in the tech crew for the play, band and speech.

Mark with the big guns
I think he would say the highlights for the yr would have been family vacation, going to a Twins game and certainly going to a Vikings game with his best Aunt.

Mark at a twins game
Anne continues being a very busy mom running kids around, volunteering in the community, working her fulltime job at LifeWorks as a Process Analyst and managing much of the house.

Family gathering for Duane's birthday
Her dad turned 80 this yr and we feel fortunate that both parents have great health and we able to celebrate the wonderful occasion.

Orchid show at Como Zoo St Paul
Her highlights of the yr are, all the great things with friends and family, going to the orchid show at the Como Zoo in St Paul, MN and our family vacation to South Carolina.

The beauty of Wilmington NC Beaches
Wayne quit is job, had some wonderful successes in photography, co-founded OxRun LLC, a web development and marketing company with his partner Dan Oksnevad. There will certainly be many adventures to come.

Captured a water spout on the beach in NC
The best highlights for his yr were volunteering with MN Teen Challenge, the wonderful family vacation to the beaches of Wilmington North Carolina, and the U2 360 Tour concert in Minneapolis .

U2 Concert Minneapolis 2011 360 Tour
So I am sure just like most of you, it was a very busy year.
My the blessings of the season be with you and yours for Christmas and all yr long!
Graffiti Graveyard Duluth MN
Have you ever heard of the concept Graffiti Graveyard? I did a little Google search to see if this is a common name and if there were places like this throughout the country or even throughout the world but all I have not come up with anything. So this must be something peculiar to the City of Duluth Minnesota.
Graffiti Graveyard UMD BullDog
My wife and I adventured up to Duluth one fine autumn afternoon to visit our son at college. After visiting for awhile and going out to Pizza Luce for some of the best Pizza in
the nation, my son wanted to show us this place that the locals call the Graffiti Graveyard.
Graffiti Graveyard Sandals
“There also exists under a section of Interstate 35 a stretch of graffiti known as the Graffiti
Graveyard. It is known throughout Duluth. Many residents remember visiting the
Graffiti Graveyard during their teenage years.”
From Wiki
So we decided to go.
It is located right across the street from the Bayfront Festival Park and then you go under highway 35. I know an odd place for such creative works of art.
Graffiti Graveyard Cat in the Hat
There are two things that blow my mind about this place.
Graffiti Graveyard Trash
The creativity and level of artistry is truly amazing for some of these works of art. My sense as I looked at some of these pieces is that some of the painters were “REAL ARTS”
in a more conventional means also. Meaning I am guessing that some of these painters make their living creating these or some other types or art. But then to see an incredible work destroyed by someone painting some junk work on top of a masterpiece. It is
kind of like there is no code of ethics among some of these artists as to how to treat other people’s fine work. That was so odd.
Graffiti Graveyard Dr Seuss
One more thing that amazed me was the realization that this collection of art went on for ¼ to ½ of a mile. Can you imagine that? What a huge collection of works.
So if you are ever in Duluth I would highly encourage you to get out to the Graffiti Graveyard. I would encourage you to not go out there at night and if you do make sure you go out with a large group and bring good lights. The place can get a bit scary.
Graffiti Graveyard Reflections
See you on the next adventure.Contact me if you want to license any of these images.
Many other images are available at my gallery http://waynephotoguy.imagekind.com/
Updated – I found a great youtube video on the graffiti graveyard here..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLfa4Py-cQ