I've been tagged....

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Since I don't know 7 other people with blogs, I'll have to end it here, but here are my 7 facts:

1. I am a self-professed "bell geek", and have arranged two handbell pieces, one of which was played at my wedding.

2. My favorite restaurant is Mongolian Barbecue, my least favorite is Denny's.

3. Like Jayne, I'm constantly checking my e-mail, and if I don't have something new I'm disappointed. I also like to get snail mail even if it's junk mail.

4. I take it as a compliment when someone tells me that I'm weird.

5. My dream job would be to own my own photo studio.

6. I have a good memory for numbers and remember my last four license plate numbers.

7. My favorite Christmas songs are "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", "O Holy Night", and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".

Sweets for the Sweet

Well, today was an absolutely beautiful day. It was the kind of day that makes you want to go out and take tons of pictures. Unfortunately, it was the day I was stuck inside at a craft show. Not that that would have been a bad thing, but in six hours, we only had about three customers that actually bought anything, which was discouraging, but not as much as if everyone around us had been selling a lot of stuff while we sat there. We were at the Midland Armory craft show, and there just was NO traffic. Not even a little bit. None. My theory is that it was so nasty and rainy the last few days that everyone was doing yard work and cleaning up storm damage while they had a nice day. No one was thinking about doing any Christmas/craft-type shopping. Bummer.

So, today is Sweetest Day. Happy Hallmark holiday, everyone. I've always wondered why we really need Sweetest Day. Isn't Valentine's Day enough? What is the purpose of having Valentine's Day, part II? Or is it just that we need something to get people buying cards again after the long drought from Easter till now? I mean, really, you don't go around buying Memorial Day cards. Fourth of July cards? Nah. Labor Day? Nope. And forget about Veteran's Day and Columbus Day. They're not hardly holidays (unless you work for the USPS or a bank or something like that). So I'm thinking that Sweetest Day is meant to slide you into the card-buying mood again. Think about it. While you're in the store, picking out the perfect card for your honey, you see the Halloween cards. You think about the kids that you know who would just love to get a card from you for Halloween. Oh, yeah, and that reminds you that you should probably send a Thanksgiving card to your kids' teacher and your grandmother in Nebraska. She'd probably get a kick out of that. And then there are the Christmas cards. Multitudes of them. You've got to send those out with the obligatory annual update that everyone writes and very few people read. It's a must. Then after Christmas, just when you thought it was safe, boom - here comes V-Day again. Oh yeah, Hallmark knows what they're doing. You think you're off the hook, but they're just giving you rope to hang yourself with.

The other reason Sweetest Day was invented was to give all the single and lonely people out there a second chance to reflect on life and try to figure out just what's wrong with them. I mean, come on, when you're single and these lovey-dovey days come around, you might as well just lock yourself in a closet somewhere. You can't go anywhere without seeing the happy couples all around you. Every flower shop, candy store, and jeweler has to remind you that people will be getting flowers, candy, and jewelry in the near future - you're just not one of them. And the card aisles at the stores are full of thousands of people, looking for the perfect card that you're not going to get. When you're single on Sweetest Day, it can be depressing. Trust me - I went through it for 10+ years. I know whereof I speak.

So Happy Sweetest Day to all those out there. And get out there and enjoy the fall weather and the beautiful colors while you can - they won't be here for long!

TGI (almost) M?!?

Yes, you read it right - Thank God it's (almost) Monday. This weekend was crazy busy for me, but in
the end, everything worked out very well. It all started a few weeks ago when I was talking to Mom and we decided we really should do something for Dad's 70th birthday. You know, like a party or something. After deciding that, we decided that we should do it while my cousin Christine was in town from California. That meant we had to do it yesterday (October 13th). We decided we should have it at our church, since none of us have a house big enough. We put our names on the calendar, which was empty at the time, and went on ahead with the preparations. Later that week, we found out that the church, rather than being empty that day, was booked for the women's rally, and I had to play two handbell solos that day. So, we changed the time of the party (which ended up working out very well), and I began to prepare the solos. After much sneaking around, which included telling Dad that Mom and I had to serve dinner to the ladies before they left to return home, we got everything arranged. So my weekend schedule so far looks like this: Saturday 1:00 - 1:45: play solos; 4:00 - 5:00: get party ready; 5:00 - 8:00: party; 8:00 - ?: clean up church. Sunday 8:00 service: play solo (yeah, that's right, I got coerced into playing a solo for church this morning, since I was already doing them for the rally, I might as well play in church as well, right? I goofed it up, by the way); 10:45 service: choir sings; 1:00 - ??: clean at Shelly's house (more on that later).


So, here I am - a pretty full weekend, but do-able, right? I just started going to Jackson to help with our big software conversion project this past week. I was there Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and when I returned on Thursday, I got some rather unwelcome news concerning the rejected cash report, which our area cleans up. Turns out they want us to clean it up as of yesterday, when under normal circumstances we would keep it current to within three months. Oh, and by the way, see how much you can get done by Friday. Compounding this problem is the fact that we are in the middle of our United Way drive right now, and we had a bake sale that we had to help man on Thursday and a couple of hours on Friday. Add to that a meeting Friday morning, and we had a recipe for near-certain disaster. So, long story short, I ended up staying at work until 6:45 Friday night. Then, Brian and I had to go to Midland for ice cream. Actually, we had to go to pick up a birthday cake for Shelly, whose birthday (and the reason we were cleaning today) is today. She had been saying since this spring that she wanted a cake from Coldstone Creamery, so off we went to pick it up, with Heather in tow. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful - we watched some TV, I read for a while, we went to bed - the usual stuff. At about 4:00 I woke up and heard my phone alerting me that I had a voicemail. When I listened to it, I found that Aunt Rose had fallen down in her living room and couldn't get back up. So at 4 in the morning I'm driving to her house, blurry-eyed and tired as all get-out to get her off the floor. When I got back home I was wide awake, so I stayed up and read for about an hour and a half. I had planned to go over to church early and practice my solos, since I wouldn't have a chance to warm up Saturday afternoon, but that all went out the window rather quickly. I slept in instead. The other thing I added was taking homecoming pictures for two of my softball players, Allison (Elizabeth's daughter), and Emily (Georgie). It was their first homecoming, which was super exciting for them. They both had gorgeous dresses, and I made their jewelry for them, which means it must have been pretty (ha!). Even though it meant I was a bit pressed for time, I wouldn't have traded this opportunity for the world - we had a bunch of fun with the pictures, and I think they turned out great! As for Dad's party, we had a really nice time, and totally surprised him. The picture below is of my friends Rodney and Erlinda's baby, Evelyn, and our friends Becky and Rayden's baby, Gatlen. The joke was that they now have a boyfriend/girlfriend. I don't know, though - she's an older woman - a whole month older! People might say she's robbing the cradle. :)

After church today, I took the cake over to Shelly's house, and along with Michelle and her husband Jeff and Becky, we cleaned out the half of her basement that could just be thrown away without having to sort anything. It actually took less time than we thought it might. After we had cake, Brian came over and jacked up Shelly's steps, which had settled into the ground on one side and needed a boost, and the three of us came back to our house for a dinner of leftovers. Even though it was a nice weekend, I'm glad it's over! I need rest and relaxation. It doesn't look like I'll get too much of it, though - for the next few weeks I'll be in Jackson three days a week, which means even more work for me when I'm here in Saginaw. Ah well, I'm having fun on the project, and it's great to get to play with the system before anyone else.

Colors of the wind (or the trees)

Today started out kind of crappy - I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, then when I managed to fall asleep, I slept through my alarm and got to work about two hours later than I was planning on. So when Brian asked me what I wanted to do today, all I really wanted to say was "Nothing." I'm really glad I controlled that urge, though, since we had a great day out. He suggested going for a drive, and we decided to go up North to see if we could find any colors yet. We thought maybe we'd ask Aunt Rose if she wanted to join us, but as it turned out, she was on a color tour of her own with her old people (senior citizen tour group). More on that later... Anyway, we headed out (in my car this time) toward Grayling. No particular reason why - just that it's North and we could get to it within the time we had, since we left Saginaw at 2:00. Around West Branch we started to see some really great colors - rich, vibrant reds, bright yellows, and technicolor oranges. We stopped at the rest area there - it's on a hillside and actually quite scenic for a rest area, and it also had some very pretty trees - so I could take some pictures. I was amazed to see that I only took 37 pictures today - I thought it would be more. The top three pictures here are from that rest area. I loved the coloring on the middle tree. It was so unusual that my eye kept going right to it.

After leaving the rest area, we continued North until we got to 55, then cut over to 127 by way of Houghton Lake. Unfortunately, it was kind of overcast up there, so the pictures I took of the lake weren't as nice as they could have been. When we got to 127, we headed back home. The bottom picture was taken from the car on the way to Clare from Houghton Lake.

On the surface, Aunt Rose's color tour would seem to have been more exciting than our improptu one. For starters, they were taking a train from Kawkalin to Gaylord, so there should have been lots of opportunity to see colors. Then they were supposed to visit a museum that had more colors and things to see. Unfortunately, she didn't get to see much color until they were practically in Gaylord, and there was a lot of walking to do, so between the two, she was already pretty unhappy. Mom and I were supposed to pick her up at 8:45 - that is, until Dad called and said she'd be two hours later than scheduled since the train broke down. She was not a happy camper when Brian and I picked her up at 10:45.

One last thing before I go to bed. Please take a miunute to click here and donate a mammogram to someone who can't afford one. It literally takes about 2 seconds, and could save a life. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Lack of profound thoughts...

I had a really profound thought the other night as Brian and I were driving to the casino. I remember that I told him I should write about it in my blog, but... I forgot it. So nothing profound from me tonight. Oh well.

I love my iPod! I cannot say it enough. I loaded more music last night, so I have a better variety once again. Let me just say it again - just one more time. I love my iPod!

That makes me think... we talk about things we hate all the time. In fact, we use the word so loosely that it has become severely devalued. I think the word hate should be used exclusively for extremely vile things/acts/people. People (and I'm as guilty as the rest of them) say things like "I hate peanuts," or "I hate rap music," or "I hate licking envelopes." Dictionary.com gives this definition of 'hate": to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest. So, when you see peanuts do you feel extreme aversion to them? Probably not, unless you're one of the unlucky people who are allergic to them. When I say "I hate driving a car with a stick shift," I don't really hate it - I just really, really dislike it. It's still better than having nothing to drive and it's more because I don't know what I'm doing and I'm scared. But when I say "I hate bigotry and prejudice," I really mean it. The problem lies when the word is so overused in your vocabulary that hating bigotry and hating peanuts become equal in the eyes of your listeners. So here's a challenge for the whole one person who reads this. Try choosing your words carefully. Don't use the knee-jerk reaction first word that comes to your mind when you're talking about things you dislike. Especially think about what you're saying if you're talking about a person. There are lots of people I don't particularly like, but I don't think there's a person that I would say I hate. Except maybe evil dictators like Hitler or Saddam. That kind of person I can get behind hating.

Scaring myself...

I'm creeping myself out right now. The girls from work and I went to see 1408 at the cheap shows, then I went back into work. No problem, right? Well... not exactly. Between my rather fertile imagination and the fact that I was there all by myself, it was kind of interesting... Anyway, all of this is compounded by the fact that Brian is roofing at his uncle's house this weekend, which is about 45 minutes away, so he's spending the night out at his dad's house tonight. So... I came home to an empty house. I'm going to watch some CSI and call it a night, but I'll probably creep myself out some more before I fall asleep. Tomorrow Shelly and I are going to the Renaissance Festival. I can't wait - I haven't been for two years, and I've missed it. Watch for the pics - it's all about the pics...

Sleepless in Saginaw

Yuck!! I think I got about one hour of sleep last night. I didn't really think I was going to make it through work today, but I did it. Yay! Go me! Anyway, today was Michelle's birthday, so we got to go to Genji's for lunch, which is totally worth it any day! Can you say "Yum"?

So anyway, I've been thinking about how summer is very nearly gone. The days are still warm, but the nights get pretty cool right now (except for last night - I walked out the door this morning and the muggy heat pretty much slapped me in the face, daring me to say it's been cool lately). I actually think we may have set some records for heat the past couple of days - it's been close to 90 degrees, which is just crazy for Michigan this time of year - but, since it's Michigan, it's not totally outside the realm of possibility. We had what will probably be our last campfire of the year out at Brian's dad's house this weekend, and I had to wear jeans! I've been so used to capris or shorts this summer it was a difficult transition, to say the least.

Introspective moment: I'm listening to my iPod (which I love!), and the song currently playing is Andy Partridge - "Aren't You Glad You Did Something Good With Your Life". So here's the question: What good have you done with your life? I try to be a decent person, and a good friend, but I don't know that I've done any acts of great good for anyone. Would you necessarily know if you had? What if just by doing something you would do anyway, you make someone's life just a bit better, and that spurs them to do something nice for someone else, and it snowballs from there? The theme of the song is more about just doing something with your life, not sitting at home waiting for that nebulous someday, but it got me thinking... Hmmm.... And we cut from that song to "Bring on the Men" from Jekyll and Hyde. Interesting...

A Long Day's Night

After driving for what seemed like three and a half days, and nearly leaving the transmission somewhere in Ohio (I still don't do well with stick shifts...), we arrived in Alexandria, VA around 5:00. Since our room was provided by the Fairfield Resorts as a gift for listening to a timeshare presentation on our last big trip, we had to check in with them and resist being convinced to go to another presentation (read: high-pressure sales opportunity) in exchange for more freebies. After a short time where we said we might attend the following evening's presentation, we got our hotel information and directions and headed uptown to check in. We were at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Alexandria, and our room was very nice. I don't know what our original room would have been like - they had a king-size reserved for us, but it was a smoking room, so we opted for the non-smoking, two double room instead. The beds were very comfortable, and everyone at the hotel was extremely helpful and friendly. After getting our stuff to the room, we planned to go into Washington to see some of the monuments at night. When we inquired at the desk for the nearest Metro station, we were informed that the hotel had a shuttle that would drop us at Ronald Reagan National Airport, where we could catch the Metro into DC proper. Since we thought that sounded like a plan, away we went. The Metro ride was fairly short (about 15 minutes), and after disembarking at the Smithsonian stop (our home sweet home for three days), we were on our way.


The first thing I learned about Washington is that even though everything is relatively
close to everything else, it's still quite a hike. We started at the Washington Monument (the first picture), and made our way around it to the World War II memorial (the fountains were beautiful) and the Lincoln Memorial (good ol' Abe down there). The walk down the Mall to the Washington Monument wasn't too bad, and the WWII memorial is pretty close to it, but between the WWII memorial and the Lincoln Memorial is the reflecting pool (immortalized in Forrest Gump), which is very nearly half a mile long. All together, I think we must have walked about four miles that night. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were tired and hungry. We scrambled around looking for someplace to eat dinner, and ended up at a restaurant around the corner called Stardust. We ate our dinners and went back to the hotel and crashed.

Ya Win Some, Ya Lose Some...

Vacation, part one:
We left Saginaw on Tuesday, 9/11/07 for our vacation. Since we had passes for four tickets to weekday Tigers games (long story), we decided to go to the day/night double-header that the Tigers were playing against the Texas Rangers, then stay with Kate in Detroit before heading off to Washington on Wednesday. The first game was... how do I put this nicely... a debacle, a fiasco, a disaster... all of the above. In the sixth inning, the Tigers were down 10 to 0, and we knew this wasn't going anywhere good, so we headed to Greektown for dinner and some gambling before the next game. Hey - at least that way we had a chance to see someone win who wasn't a Ranger...


As we started to ride the People Mover back to the stadium, it was raining. Not really hard, but steadily, and enough to make us think that maybe there wasn't going to be a game after all. However, by the time we got to Comerica Park, the rain had cleared up, and as we got to our seats, there was a beautiful rainbow. The second game was much better, too, as the Tigers ended up winning it 4 to 1. This was also the first game in which I got to see my favorite Tiger, Pudge Rodriguez play.




After the games, we headed to Kate's house to admire her engagement ring, catch up on all the news, and get some sleep before our long drive to Washington.

I've been tagged!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Mimi Kia
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Triple Chocolate Overload Chocolate Chip
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) J Lou
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Cat
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)Lynn Saginaw
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) LouJe
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The") Purple the Martini
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Eddie Clarence
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Lovespell Special Dark
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names ) Rose Clarence

Ok, J Fab - that's for you... Now tagging - Nancy

Woo hoo!! (At last)

I'm so excited - after the better part of two years, my best friend of 26 years and her boyfriend got
engaged. Congratulations, you two crazy kids... :)

We've arrived back from our vacation - lots to share, but not right now, since it's after midnight and
I'm pooped! All the scoopage (and pictures) will follow soon.

Here we go again...

Ok, here we go again. I'm going to make an effort to post here more often and get the creative juices flowing. I'm inspired by my friend Jayne, who just started blogging, which made me think that since I have the blog, I may as well use the blog. I'm really excited - we're getting ready to leave for Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. I've never been there, and I can't wait to visit. We'll also be hitting two Tigers games on our way there, and Williamsburg, VA, and Gettysburg, PA after Washington. It should be a blast! Pictures will follow (of course).

Anyway, since my last post a lot has happened. On November 25th, 2005 Brian and I got married and have been happily coexisting for almost two years. We've had four or five weddings in the time since my last post (one of them ours, of course), several babies, and some sad parts as well as happy times. My little old lady, Aunt Rose, turned 87 on August 25th, and we took her to the Tigers - Yankees game on her birthday and had her name put on the scoreboard during the birthday listings. She was very surprised, to say the least. After we got back, I took some of the best pictures from that day and had them made into a photo book for her, which she absolutely loved. She was showing it off at the family reunion this weekend. I'm glad she enjoyed her birthday and the book - I was a little worried that it would be too much for her and she would get tired and/or crabby, but she hung in there and we all had a good time. I'll throw some pictures at this post later, but for now, have a great day!

The happy couple...

Well, it's been a very interesting few weeks. We did make it home from Arizona (in case anyone was wondering), and I only had to sit at the gate for three hours thanks to a crabby old lady who insisted that we leave the hotel by 7:00 am for a 20-minute drive to the airport to catch a 10:20 flight. I count myself lucky that she didn't think we should leave by 6:00.

The good news isn't that I got home, though. After I got back, I got a surprise question from my boyfriend, Brian. He asked me to marry him, and I accepted. I have a beautiful sapphire ring that matches the necklace he got me for my birthday, and I've been bouncing off the walls with excitement for the last three weeks. I'm so happy that I don't even know what to say. I can't believe how lucky I am to have met him - he's smart, funny, attractive, fun to tease and laugh with, a champion Scrabble player (I can only hope to beat him once in a while), and I just love him so much it's not even funny. I think the best way to sum it all up is in Ben Folds' song "The Luckiest"

I don't get many things right the first time;

in fact, I am told that a lot.

Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls

brought me here.

And where was I before the day

that I first saw your lovely face

now I see it every day.

And I know

That I am

I am

I am

the luckiest.

And I know for sure that I am. I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else.

Brian & Jen

Escapes other than the Pina Colada song...

Neglecting to think about the morning rush hour traffic to get into and through the city, we booked our ferry passage to Alcatraz at 9:30, and we were supposed to pick up our tickets by 8:30am. So we got up and were on our way to Fisherman's Wharf bright and early - by shortly after 7:00. We did hit some stop-and-go traffic, so we didn't have too awfully long to wait when we finally made it to Pier 39 and parked. While we waited, we browsed the gift shop a little, then it was time to get in line and wait some more. Having Aunt Rose along does have some advantages... instead of sending us through the long and winding line, they had us wait right up near the front and we got to board the ferry first. Once we reaced the island, there was a 1/3 mile hike up the hill to the cell block with an elevation change of just over 13o feet. Since Aunt Rose couldn't make it, she took the tram up while Kate and I hoofed it. At the top, we took a 32-minute guided audio tour which told us all about the prison and had us wandering all over around the cell block. Although it's not the imposing, dark, desolate place Hollywood has made it out to be, I certainly wouldn't want to be locked up there.


Alcatraz prison
After returning to the pier, we decided to go to the Bay Aquarium, which was at Pier 39. Not only did they have two long glass tunnels that we rode a moving walkway through to check out the fish, they also had three "touch pools", where we actually got to touch some of the marine life in person. We got to "pet" bat rays and skates, both of which were pretty slimy feeling, sharks (I can't remember what kind they were) like the one below, and starfish.


Shark!!

Once we were done feeling the fishies, we had some time to kill before dropping Kate off at the airport and driving to Bakersfield, so we took a tour of the city, including Haight-Ashbury and Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the United States. The speed limit was 5 mph and the road made about 6 twists in each direction during the span of one block.

View from the top of Lombard Street

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Kate and head back towards Phoenix. We dropped her off rather early, which turned out to be a good thing, since Bakersfield was a long, long drive. We rolled into our hotel around 12:30 after a few times getting lost and rolled into bed, exhausted.

A day in the park (among other things...)

Let me set the scene... It's a beautiful day, slightly chilly, but nothing we intrepid Michiganders can't handle, right? It's also a Sunday morning, and Kate and I are awoken at the butt-crack of dawn by an impatient Aunt Rose. She said she was going to let us sleep in, and she did - until about 7:00... After getting ready, we headed up to the city (our hotel was about 30 miles southeast of the actual city, which wasn't too bad. We stopped for breakfast, then headed out to Cliff House, where sea lions are supposed to hang out to give the tourists a good show. They weren't interested in entertaining, so we didn't stick around there too long, but headed out for Golden Gate Park - the 1,000 acre park right in the middle of the city (Kate said it reminded her of Central Park in New York). The park was pretty nice - nicer I'm sure for those people who don't get to experience much of that type of nature. There were a lot of trees and grass, an arboretum, which we toured briefly, but looked pretty much like any botanical garden you would see anywhere else. There was also a Japanese tea garden, which we went in and toured - very pretty.


Japanese Tea Garden - Golden Gate Park

Trees in the park

After touring the park, we called my cousin Christine, who lives out in the San Francisco area to see if we could meet her for dinner. She and her boyfriend invited us to his house for burgers that night, and we headed off to explore until it was time to head over there. Our next stop was the Golden Gate itself. It was somewhat impressive - I mean, hey, it's one of the most famous bridges in the world, probably, but I didn't really think it was all that big a deal. Of course, I'm used to the Mackinaw Bridge, which is longer (I think), and in my opinion, prettier. While on the other side of the bridge, we drove through Saulsalito, which used to be an artist's colony back some time ago, then croseed back over the bridge to go to Chinatown for lunch. We had awesome food at a little restaurant, looked around some, then went down to the Cartoon Art Museum before meeting up with Christine and Gary for dinner and fresh home-made margaritas - yum! After the margaritas and the great dinner, we were exhausted, and went back to the hotel for rest and relaxation before getting up early Monday morning for our tour of the Rock...


San Francisco skyline

California dreamin'

On Thursday morning, we headed out for San Diego. We drove, and drove, and drove some more, stopping at a casino along the way, and finally reaching our hotel about 6:30. We picked Kate up at the airport at 9:00, and headed out to find some dinner. Friday morning, we got up and went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which is about 40 minutes northeast of the city. We saw a lot of neat animals, but most of the pictures are on my big camera because I needed the zoom. There were lots of birds around, but we also took a train ride where we saw everything from elephants and giraffes to a baby Indian rhino!


Lorikeet at the San Diego Wild Animal Park

On the way back from the park, we stopped off at a couple of beaches so we could stick our feet in the ocean and take some pictures. We walked out on the rocks at the beach, then took our shoes off so we could go in. The water was cold, but not too bad, and the view was beautiful. After our feet dried, we headed back to the city, but stopped at another beach for a few shots. When we got back to San Diego, we drove around to see the Gaslamp district and got stuck in traffic for a Padres game, which was starting at 7:05 (we got down in that area about 6:30). By the time we got back to the hotel, we were more than ready for bed.


Kate on the beach


Fisherman on the beach at Torrey Pines State Park

This morning we got up early and began the trek to San Francisco. We got stuck in several traffic jams in L.A., saw the Hollywood sign from the road, but couldn't get a picture, and drove. A lot. The drive was definitely scenic, but we didn't get to San Francisco and the hotel until about 10:00 tonight. We did stop at San Juan Capistrano for a while to tour the mission and stretch our legs for a while. I loved the bells (of course), but this picture shows the whole thing better. Tomorrow, it's down to the Golden Gate and Chinatown...


The mission at San Juan Capistrano

Catch up...

I've been out of Internet connection range/time the last few days, so here are some pictures and stories...

We got to Tucson on April 3rd to visit Aunt Rose's friends who I call Aunt Ginny & Uncle Cy. We haven't seen them in two years, and in the intervening time Aunt Ginny, who has Parkinson's disease, had had a stroke and is now confined to a wheelchair. She hasn't let that slow her down, though. She's still convinced that she can do everything she used to do. The first day in Tucson, we went over to Green Valley (a mostly retirement community about half an hour south of Tucson) to visit another friend of Aunt Rose's whose husband had recently passed away. On the way there, we stopped at an art gallery and looked around for a while.


Me with Aunt Ginny

Aunt Rose, Aunt Ginny & Uncle Cy

On Tuesday, we got up and went to the Tohono Chul park, which is like a botanical garden filled with native plants. After we went through the park, we headed out to Kitt Peak observatory to look around there. It was interesting, but I really didn't get to do anything, so that made it a little bit boring. I think I would rather have been able to go at night when the guests get to look up in the sky and see what the astonomers do all the time.


Kitt Peak Observatory (solar)

A day spent looking at rocks...

The three Gossips - Arches National Park

Those of you who have seen my other pictures from my trips out West know that the title of this post is not a bad thing for me. In fact, I can't think of many other things I'd rather see. We got up and drove the 5 miles from Moab to Arches National Park fairly early - I think we were there by a little after 9:00. The weather was beautiful again - it was a little chilly in the morning, but warmed up nicely as the day went on. The first part of the park is mostly rock formations like the one above, but as we got further back we began to see some of the arches that give the park its name. The first arches we came to were called Turret Arch and the North and South Windows. Aunt Rose waited in the car while I hiked the 1.1 mile loop to go view them.


North Window - Arches National Park

After we left the Windows area, we drove through the rest of the park. Most of the arches weren't visible unless you hiked the trails to see them, and since the trails back there were 3 - 5 miles over rocks and up and down the mountainside, I opted out of them. I did hike to the viewing area for Delicate Arch - a short but very steep climb which was well worth the effort to get there.

After leaving Arches, we began the long drive back down to Flagstaff, planning a stop in Monument Valley on the way through. It was kind of nice to get to see all the scenery that we missed by driving in the dark the night before. The drive was long but beautiful - cutting through red rock cliffs and for a long time I had a gorgeous view of the snow-covered mountains near Moab in my rear view mirror. We made it to Monument Valley around 4:00 and decided to take a Jeep tour. You can drive your own car through part of the valley, but the road was unpaved and very rough - once we got started I was really glad we hadn't brought the rental car down it. We shared a jeep with a very nice woman around my age who is a traveling nurse. Her assignment in Tucson had just ended, and she was doing the sightseeing she hadn't had a chance to do before heading to her next assignment in Vermont. Our guide, Leroy, took us through the Valley - stopping to let Lorena and me take pictures whenever we wanted to, and explaining to us what we were seeing.


Sun's Eye - Monument Valley

The tour took us about 2.5 hours and covered 28 miles and most of the formations in the valley. When we finished, it was sunset, and we had about a 3-hour drive back to Flagstaff. Once again, we were driving in the dark while watching for cows, horses, deer, elk, and falling rock. It was a long day, but well worth it in the end.


Sunset over Monument Valley