Saturday Snippets

Enjoying a nice fall day up north. It's overcast, but the reds and yellows of the leaves are brightening up the landscape.

This morning I took advantage of an empty Saturday schedule and went for a 3.5 mile walk at a nearby lake/park. It was a great walk all in all - although I did get drizzled on a bit. The fresh air was great after being in an office or classroom much of the week.

I did have a situation that left me feeling a bit disheartened. I decided to use the restroom before I started walking. There is a nice building at the park, so the restrooms aren't scary or anything. However, half way around the trail I would only have an outhouse available. Anyway, back to the restroom. I went in and found myself having to wait. There are 2 stalls and both were occupied with females carrying on a conversation. One finished first and came out, looked at me, and then went to wash her hands. I went into the stall and minded my own business. Next thing I know, they are leaving the bathroom and the lights go out. I said something, but they had already left. I was getting ready to leave the stall anyway, but still. I had to find my way in complete darkness to the lightswitch and then back to the sink. Hello....did the one lady totally space that I was in there. When she looked at me was she really just looking through me? I'm guessing the one who didn't see me was the one who was trying to save energy by turning out the light, but still. Needless to say I had the feeling of being invisible to those around me. Not the best feeling in the world. Thankfully the walk around the lake was great and the people I encountered all said "hello" or "good morning". So, I am not invisible after all, just encountered a couple of self-absorbed women first thing.

I then headed to the grocery store. Had a great time there - didn't feel rushed, just enjoyed walking up and down the aisles and seeing what I might want to get. Went through the checkout lane just fine. At this particular store they have young workers (first job types) that walk the groceries out to your car for you. Today a young guy helped me with the groceries. Once we got to the car I had to tell him trunk or backseat. I said, " let's go with the back seat today, I've got too much junk in my trunk." I was super embarrassed at what I had just said. In "his generation's" language, "too much junk in my trunk" is slang for a well-endowed back-side. I thought about saying something to laugh it off, but in the end I let it go. I at least gave him conversation fodder with his buddies.

So, that is my Saturday thus far.

Only 3 to Go!

I've updated my map. The red indicates the states I've been to, the light gray are the ones I haven't.

I'm in Washington, DC this week for a conference for work. I stayed through the weekend to both experience DC and also take a side trip to Delaware and New Jersey to check those two states off my list.

DC is great - love the history and the cool old buildings. Today I started at the Library of Congress, walked by the Capitol, down the mall to the Washington Monument, toward the Lincoln Memorial and then over to the White House. The saddest part of the day was when I went and visited the White House. I just gathered where you could in front of the house. There were a number of protesters out there and it just didn't have a good vibe. Guess we'll see what happens in November!

By the way, I heard a Capitol policeman telling someone that the Capitol and the lawn in front of it is closing soon to tourists. They always close it 4 months before the inauguration to get it ready. Wow!

Well, it was a great trip to DC. We had a great conference - met some good candidates. I enjoyed hanging out with some of my colleagues and then spending a bit of time on my own. Tomorrow I head home and it's back to work and school!

By the way, I think 2009 will be the year to check off New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine!

Trip Wrap Up

I lost a little steam in blogging about the vacation. Now it's been almost a week since I've been back and work/school has made me feel the need for another vacation. I should be studying, but instead thought I'd blow off a little steam through the blog.



The western trek led us south from Whitefish, MT around Flathead Lake and down through Missoula into Idaho. Montana is gorgeous country. Lots of wheat fields, bales of hay, and cattle. More cattle than people they say.

We stayed in Rexburg, Idaho just outside of Idaho Falls. They have a Mormon temple in Rexburg and we were surprised to see the newspaper the morning after we stayed there. A man had somehow gotten onto the roof of the temple. It must have happened not long before we went by it. The other thing that we'll remember about Rexburg is this housing complex we went by several times. On the sign out front it read "Approved Housing for Young Ladies."

After Rexburg we headed east into Wyoming. We drove through the Grand Tetons and entered into Yellowstone National Park from the south. We had lunch at a great lodge looking at the mountains. Hard to beat that picturesque view! The weather on the day we did Yellowstone was absolutely gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky.

We stopped at a visitor center about 20 miles from Old Faithful. While in the rest area my parents ran into people they knew from back home. Such a small world. Here we were thousands of miles from home and they know someone.

After the connection at the visitor's center, we headed on to Old Faithful. It was spectacular! We only had to wait about 40 minutes or so to see it go off. The picture above was at its highest peak. People just sit and wait patiently for the eruption.

After leaving Yellowstone we encountered forest fires in the next chain of mountains. Nothing we couldn't drive through, but lots of burnt forest. We ended the day in Cody, Wyoming.

The next morning we took off for Rapid City, South Dakota. We stopped in Buffalo, WY for lunch at The Occidental Hotel. The food was not that great, but the hotel itself was pretty cool. Lots of stuff to look at and we even were able to see some of the rooms. The hotel was over a hundred years old.

The drive through Wyoming was pretty boring. A few things to see here and there. We drove to Devil's Tower which was extremely cool. Some of the geology of the west is just amazing. We ended the night with a great dinner at The Corn Exchange in Rapid City.

The following day (Sunday), Steve flew back home and I went to Mt. Rushmore with the parents. They hadn't been there in 30 years and it had changed dramatically since they had been there. Well, the faces on the mountain hadn't, but the tourist area around it had. Still quite the amazing site. It was my 3rd time there and I would go back again. We didn't stay too long at Mt. Rushmore as we had 11 hours of driving ahead of us.

We stopped for lunch at Wall Drug in South Dakota. For those of you that have been through that area, you will remember all of the signs for Wall Drug that you see for miles and miles before you get to the town. It was a nice stop for lunch and then we headed out. Dad drove through most of South Dakota in sustained winds of 36 mph with gusts up to 50. He won the award for worst gas mileage for that portion of the trip. We got back to the Big H Ranch around 10:15 that evening and had driven 3800 miles for the whole trip. Not to mention the 1100 my parents had to drive to get up to our house and back. Lots of being in the car!

It was a great trip though. We all got along in a mini-van for 3800 miles. Had some good laughs, good meals, fun times - met relatives. We took well over 800 pictures combined. Gotta love digital cameras! I'll post additional ones in the next day or so.

Now it's back to reality. The reality of long work days, evening classes, and fall weather. Summer is over, but what a great trip to end it on!

This is my 100th post on this blog. :)