Road trip Home!!

Apparently I missed a day... not much happened on Thursday. Dad and I Hung out. We went downtown to the Village and walked around. Then we went to the dam and looked at the new and old roads. The road used to be on top of the dam of the lake. They built a bridge that is the new road. It's quite impressive.

Then dinner at the Moose Lodge with my bro and friends who happened to also be there. Yummy veggie burger made just for me :)

(me, sis-in law Loni, and Bro Dave)

Then Friday afternoon about 1:30 pdt I left dad's house :(. The drive was fairly uneventful. I didn't get very good gas mileage until albuquerque. It also rained until I got to New Mexico. That was exciting for this Texan!! Took a 3 hour nap somewhere on NM. Then drove drove drove some more. Beautiful sunrise.

George didn't recognize me at first but she warmed up real quick!! Soooooo glad to be home with her though I miss California and dad and all very much.

Laundry time!!

Road trip Adventure Day

Wednesday dawned fairly early for us. We had to drive almost 2 hours to get to Palm Springs to the Aerial Tramway to get to the start of our hike. We lived in PS when I was in elementary school and went up the tram all the time. My mom volunteered with the Natural History Association and I helped, and dad ran the trails.(ran as in faster than jogged). I had time to kill a couple years ago and journeyed up to the top for a quick look around, but dad hadn't been up in probably 25 years!!! He used to run to the peak 2-3 times a week back then but it was kinda like doing it for the first time again. I'd just been a kid and remembered nothing past the ranger station and camping area 2 miles in.
Anyway, we started about 10:30 and went up. And up. And up. Dad told me stories of his running experiences and we talked to everyone we met on the trail. Campers coming down. Hikers going up who passed us. We are slow and steady. It wins the race, you know.
The trail is very rocky and has lots of steps up and over rocks and roots. It was a challenging 12 mile round trip. The last 400 yards or so to the actual peak, and sign, are all boulder. I insisted on getting to the sign :)

My new boots were AMAZING and I had no problems. They had great grip on all the rocks and my feet were warm and cozy the whole way. I was of course tired, but a good tired :)
After we were done and came back down the tram, we cleaned up and went out to dinner. We chose a local Mexican restaurant that we went to regularly back in the day. It's actually where we went for my parents wedding anniversary every year. It was exactly the same 25 years later and just as yummy. They even served a veggie taco :)
Dad drove us back home and I collapsed into bed. It'd been a long day. I'm happy to say that I feel pretty good today, just a little stiff when I first stand up. Not bad, considering!!!
Today, we rest :) and all of a sudden, I leave for home tomorrow.:(

Road trip Tuesday

Ah, big bear :) dad and I went for a short hike to warm up for tomorrow.

This is where we turned around. that'd be the lake behind me. Dad claims this is the best view anywhere and I'd have to agree. We went about 5 miles. I feel great and am super excited for the big adventure tomorrow. Oh yeah, when we got home, dad joined Facebook!!! He's not jumping in but seems excited to see what its all about. Early bedtime.

Road trip Monday

I'm in big bear, and its not hot!!! In fact, its almost cold!!! My car said 77 and I almost cried!!!

Left Sarah this morning (so sad) and drove to temecula to see karie. Karie and I met late in college and bonded instantly it seemed. She drove me to Delaware when I moved after college. She just had a baby so I went to her house and hung out. Thomas is 4 months old and ADORABLE!!! I was there about 5 hours and I held him pretty much the whole time. Good baby. Fun, sweet. Laughy, giggly, wiggly. He seemed to like me too. And karie seemed to appreciate having her hands free :) as always, it was hard leaving her. But next year I promised to stay the night.

On to big bear I drove. I got gas at the bottom of the mountain and it was $3.65. Same as I paid in Texas before I left. There's something wrong with that in my mind!!

I started up the mountain and my car read 100 degrees outside. It fell fast :) it had also just sprinkled in big bear. It smelled SOOO good up here!!!

Dinner with my bro and his fam. Yummy nepalese food. And because we've changed hiking plans, I get to see them again on Thursday! Now dads playing with his new macbook and I'm updating you :) Ah, vacation!!!

Road trip - the drive

First lesson learned at 3:30am. If you're going to leave on a road trip at the crack of dawn, have caffeine at the ready. It's dark. Nothing is open. It was a miserable first few hours. I actually pulled over and closed my eyes for about 30 minutes.

Also learned that I don't like audio books read by men. They don't keep me awake like they should.

Rolled through the New Mexico border patrol station mid morning. No machine guns out at that hour. He didn't even ask me any questions. Just told me to have a safe trip. Nothing else exciting in NM. Gas was $3.49.

Arizona held lots of excitement. It RAINED!!! Poured really for about 3 minutes. Very nice. AND gas was $3.29!!!!!!!! I stopped and saw my cousins north of phoenix. Realized it has been 18 years!! Great catching up.

Woke up Sunday and drove to California. Had lunch with a friend from elementary school who I hadn't seen on at least 20 years. Fun stuff. Then I went to see Josh. I'll have to explain that in a different post. And then I made my way to Sarah, who I call Port.

Sarah and I met and became friends through church camp in high school. Her brother is my age and she's 3 years younger. We all went to the same college too. Anyway, port is one of those friends that when we get together its like we were never apart except we could talk for days telling stories and catching up. Love her. I woke up early so I'm just waiting to say goodbye right now. Hate leaving. But I'm off to see karie and meet baby Thomas. Then to dads.

Road trip diaries part one

So I was going to chronicle my trip each night... then I forgot last night, the first night. Now its the second night and I am half asleep.

So.... maybe tomorrow?? It means I'm having fun and staying busy :)

TdF favoritism

One more mountain stage. A time trial. And a coast into Paris. That's all that's left. So....
Three weeks ago, I had several favorites. And there's one that I really don't want to win. Many stages ago, Thomas Voeckler took the yellow jersey (race lead) and has kept it. All my fave, basically, are still in the hunt. Almost everyday it is said, "todays the day someone will change it all up", but voeckler has stayed in the thick of it. It's been impressive really.
Anyway, today one of my faves, possibly my #1 fave, Andy Schleck, opened up a can of whoopa$$!! And rode to the stage victory. And gained a lot of time. In fact for quite a while, he was in "virtual yellow". but voeckler gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and rode hard the last few yards. He's still in yellow!!! By 15 seconds instead of over a minute, but still leading.
So here's my dilemma. Voeckler has really shown he deserves yellow, or at least on the podium. But then there's Andy who I want to win so bad!!! If I add voeckler to my "I'll be happy if he wins" list, am I a traitor? Or jumping on a bandwagon? It's not like I've changed my mind cuz he's cute or something!!! He earned my support!!!
Of course, everything could change tomorrow and it could be moot. I think voeckler might have overdone it today. Tomorrow will be hard on all of them!!

My First Math Teacher Conference

Well, I now have my first conference as a math teacher under my belt. It was interesting. It was VERY crowded and it was VERY hard to get into sessions. Basically, if you REALLY wanted to go to one, you had to skip the one before to go get in line. Then sit on the floor killing time. I waited for 1.5 hours for one, 1 hour for several. Worth it? Eh.

It wasn't until the third and final afternoon, when most others had already left, that I really felt like I was getting some useful information. Not that the first 2.5 days, weren't useful, just not really new useful.

Part of the problem was my ability to pick sessions. I was not good at it. There were SOO many of them and it was hard to guess by the three sentence blurb if it'd really be something good.

Also, other attendees were friendly but I didn't see as much bonding and sharing and such as I'd have liked or expected. While sitting and waiting, I tried to talk to the people around me and several just wanted to text or read or not talk to me. Hmm... maybe it's me! The ones who did engage in conversation were very nice and I got several new, good ideas from them!! The other thing is that many groups stuck together. Most of us from my group were split up all day, partly due to interest but also to try to get the most out of it. If all 3-4 go to the same session, how is that helpful?!

So, those are my thoughts. I'd go again next year. Partly cuz it's in Houston though :)

World Peace next?

I feel like I've solved all of the world's problems today!!
Okay, not really. But, I did vacuum my entire bedroom. Under the bed, behind the dressers, etc. So clean!! Of course, at the very end, I may have broken a toe, but we're gonna ignore that for the moment.
THEN, while icing my toe, I checked my favorite app - the amazon appstore - for today's free/sale app. It was easytether which my dad gas mentioned several times. Short story: for $4.99 I have internet on my computer - tv watching and all!!!!!
So, maybe I should try to balance the national budget... on second thought, maybe I should start with my own!

Ahhh... the glory of God's Creation

I did NOT want to get up this morning. But I did. I was sweating before I left my house. But I left. Got on the trail a little after 7am.
What was my reward? God's creation in its full splendor surrounding me for 8 miles (3 hours).
So glad I went. Pretty sure I sweat out mire calories than I burned, but it was a good hike!

Oh, the heat!

Day 18 over 100 this year. Thirteenth, I think, in a row. Whatever, its hot. And dry. And hot.
I was supposed to hike this morning. My last training hike. I haven't trained much cuz it is to dern hot!! Anyway, I woke up at 6 am with a headache so I didn't hike. I am going to try again tomorrow. Of course, our LOW will be in the 80's... I'm hoping I am on the trail by 7 that I can make it until 10:30 or so and get in the miles I want. Without dying.
Have I mentioned that it is HOT?!?!?!?!

Feels so good

I apologize if I sound like a broken record. I LOVE MY JOB!!!! And I love the feeling that I am SO in the right place!
What brought this on today? I spent some time in my classroom yesterday and today and I LOVE being there!! If I weren't hungry and missing the G-monster, I'd have stayed longer. I also fear doing too much and pissing off the janitors and maintenance folks who might not be done with whatever they need to do in there.
Also, while not sleeping last night, I came up with an idea. Stay tuned for info on the Hand Written Letter Initiative!!

Bad to good

I was going to post last week about my unexplained bad mood. Not only was I cranky and emotional, I was lethargic. Good thing it's summer!! I hate not knowing why I feel the way I do. I blamed the heat, the cycle of lazy=lazy, whatever I could think of.
I realized two things this weekend. First, I'd been out of iron pills for a week or so. Second, although I'd been around people, not students or the classroom. So.... Sunday I bought iron. And this week I am administering TAKS at school and spending time in my classroom (not a lot, tests are in another room).
Today? Great mood!! Getting stuff done. Smiling.
So, was it the iron or the classroom?! Who cares!!!! (Though I'd like to say, if it is the classroom, just more proof that I'm where I belong!!).