Hi family! I hope things are well. I thought Id update the blog before there are any riots. It's been a good semester so far. I'm a TA for a materials intro lab. I teach porosity, grain size, and sample preparation to a bunch of sophomores who don't care one lick. The way our lab is set up, I teach four weeks and grade the papers on my off weeks. The papers are...well...Carson could write some of them. There are plenty of good ones, but there are some stinkers too. Despite the attitude, I do actually enjoy being a TA right now. Which is good, since I have to do it again next semester. I've got a new advisor and a project that I'm looking forward to, so yay.
The football team...not so hot. We have a new coach now. We've lost several games in a row. Kinda sad.
Amy was in town this weekend. We saw a glimpse of her as she ran past. Actually, we had a lovely lunch after church on Sunday. I can't even begin to tell you how happy mom was. I go up to visit in 2 weeks. We have fall break and I have a rather open schedule at the moment, so I get to go visit. Yay!
We had a tornado or two at the beginning of the semester. It was quite scary once you realized that the tornado warning was real.
I went to Pittsburgh for a materials conference 2 weeks ago. It was quite fun and productive too. I always love a new city when I have my camera, so today's slide show will be from the conference. Enjoy!
usually i think of a good quip for the title...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Well, we got up on Wednesday morning and Jessica’s mother had made a delicious breakfast for us. We ate and watched some more Olympics, then we got on the road just after 7. We drove and drove and sang and whatnot. We got to Ben’s house in Atlanta (Conyers, if you want to be picky) at around 2 or 3. We unloaded his stuff (but I’ve already found his bedsheet in the car, so who knows what else he left in there) and talked to his dog, a chihuahua who apparently wanted to come to South Carolina with me, as he decided to camp out in the passenger’s seat. I headed out and maneuvered the roads of Atlanta quite brilliantly, on my way home finally. I called all sorts of people, trying to keep myself from getting antsy or bored in the boring drive from Atlanta to Greenville. I got within 3 miles of the house when I was slowed down by a car that insisted on going so slowly that it made me cry. I got home and yay! I’m here! Woo! Chris came over for dinner, Paul came over after that, and there were wii competitions. Quite fun. I pooped out and here I am this morning. I am sitting here all by myself with the dog, who is quite content. Mom and Amy left for PA just a little while ago (boo) and Dad has gone to work now. He’s apparently going to Kansas on Sunday, so nobody will be around. I’ll probably hop between Clemson and Greenville for a little while.
Thanks for being awesome readers! Amy has promised to blog for us while she’s gone. I don’t know how frequent my blogging will be this school year. Grad school puts a lot on your plate, so yeah. We’ll see. But anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it!
Thanks for being awesome readers! Amy has promised to blog for us while she’s gone. I don’t know how frequent my blogging will be this school year. Grad school puts a lot on your plate, so yeah. We’ll see. But anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it!
the dull part of the drive (except we got to see Jess)
Did I mention that we failed to find the special Dr. Pepper in Texas? I am very sad.
The drive out of Texas was very foggy. Very Very Very foggy. So there weren’t many pictures on this trip. Oklahoma was mostly boring. I called Rachel and talked to her while I drove. Except she was in Texas and not Oklahoma. Arkansas is currently boring as well. Ben is griping at the drivers around us. They’re quite absurd. We saw a plane take off right next to us. We are on the west side of Arkansas, on the way to Little Rock.
Welp, now I’m at Jessica’s house. Yay! The traffic in Memphis was quite insane, but we made it into Collierville safely and have had a lovely dinner, thanks to Jess’ family. We had delicious homemade peach ice cream. Yum! After a quick walk around the neighborhood and a phone call, I’m ready for bed. Going home tomorrow!
The drive out of Texas was very foggy. Very Very Very foggy. So there weren’t many pictures on this trip. Oklahoma was mostly boring. I called Rachel and talked to her while I drove. Except she was in Texas and not Oklahoma. Arkansas is currently boring as well. Ben is griping at the drivers around us. They’re quite absurd. We saw a plane take off right next to us. We are on the west side of Arkansas, on the way to Little Rock.
Welp, now I’m at Jessica’s house. Yay! The traffic in Memphis was quite insane, but we made it into Collierville safely and have had a lovely dinner, thanks to Jess’ family. We had delicious homemade peach ice cream. Yum! After a quick walk around the neighborhood and a phone call, I’m ready for bed. Going home tomorrow!
at the edge and on the road
Monday morning, we woke up at 5 to rather chilly weather. We threw on several layers and hopped into the car. We drove to the rim trail and hiked out to watch the sunrise. It ended up being much warmer right at the edge, so we We were probably there for over an hour. We wanted to see the light hit a few of the deeper parts of the canyon. Well worth the wait, because the view was amazing.
We hit the road, stopping for coffee to properly caffeinate ourselves. The drive was fairly uneventful. We stopped in some little town near the Petrified Forest NP and saw some petrified stuff and some dinosaurs and “buckets of blood” road. We stopped for lunch in Albuquerque at the Rio Grande Nature something State Park. It was hot, but we saw a roadrunner, which was really funny. Never have I seen a bird with such a personality. We gave it goldfish crackers. Probably not allowed to do that. We didn’t much care. We then headed out toward Amarillo. On the far side of New Mexico, we encountered a large cloud that ended up causing a storm, but also causing TWO complete rainbows that arced perfectly across the road. So cool.
We got to Amarillo, checked into our hotel, and took the first showers that we’d had in two days. We went to the Big Texan steak emporium hotel opry banquet space thing for dinner. It was hilarious. We had steak, which was quite delicious. They have a 72 oz steak meal that is free if you eat the whole thing in an hour. It includes salad, rolls, shrimp, and 2 sides or something like that. There was a guy attempting the challenge when we were there. Poor guy had to eat this dinner up on a raised platform that faced the entire restaurant and had a timer going behind me. His friends had set up a video camera to record the whole thing. Sadly, he didn’t finish. But he got a tee shirt.
We went back to the hotel and that is where I decided that I wasn’t going to blog until we got on the road today. If you had the bed I had, you wouldn’t have blogged either.
We hit the road, stopping for coffee to properly caffeinate ourselves. The drive was fairly uneventful. We stopped in some little town near the Petrified Forest NP and saw some petrified stuff and some dinosaurs and “buckets of blood” road. We stopped for lunch in Albuquerque at the Rio Grande Nature something State Park. It was hot, but we saw a roadrunner, which was really funny. Never have I seen a bird with such a personality. We gave it goldfish crackers. Probably not allowed to do that. We didn’t much care. We then headed out toward Amarillo. On the far side of New Mexico, we encountered a large cloud that ended up causing a storm, but also causing TWO complete rainbows that arced perfectly across the road. So cool.
We got to Amarillo, checked into our hotel, and took the first showers that we’d had in two days. We went to the Big Texan steak emporium hotel opry banquet space thing for dinner. It was hilarious. We had steak, which was quite delicious. They have a 72 oz steak meal that is free if you eat the whole thing in an hour. It includes salad, rolls, shrimp, and 2 sides or something like that. There was a guy attempting the challenge when we were there. Poor guy had to eat this dinner up on a raised platform that faced the entire restaurant and had a timer going behind me. His friends had set up a video camera to record the whole thing. Sadly, he didn’t finish. But he got a tee shirt.
We went back to the hotel and that is where I decided that I wasn’t going to blog until we got on the road today. If you had the bed I had, you wouldn’t have blogged either.
On top of the world…
I have never been so in love with one place as I am with Zion National Park. We caught the 5:45 shuttle into the park on Sunday and headed to the Angel’s Landing trailhead. The trail itself is only 0.5 miles long, but you have to hike 2 miles to get to it. The hike is listed as strenuous in the guidebooks and there is a warning that you shouldn’t hike it if you are afraid of heights. We headed up the mountain, hoping for a glimpse of the sunrise when we got to the top. Since we were blocked by hills, the light itself got to us before the sun came over the hills, so we were able to see our way on the trail. It was quite a challenging hike, despite its being mostly paved. I haven’t a clue how they got cement up there, but I can tell you that some parts looked like the old driveway at 120 Montverde Dr.
We got to the end of the 2 mile section and could see that we had made it in time to watch the sunrise. The last part is along the rocky spine of a ridge and many parts have chains along the “trail” for you to hold on to. There are spots where the rocks have steps that have worn into them over time, but there is a lot of your own skill (and holding tightly to the chain) involved. We made the climb quite well considering it took a lot longer than any half mile on the trail to it. We got to the end in time to see the sun come over the canyon edge and light the top of the ridges. Absolutely beautiful. The canyon was as stunning as the sunrise itself. We probably sat at the top of the peak for 45 minutes, staring out and enjoying the beautiful weather The pictures of the trail are there in the slideshow to show you why I am so proud of myself for completing this hike. We made a friend at the top, a German man who we ended up hiking all the way down with. We talked about schools and travel and all of the differences between the US and Germany. Very cool dude.
We got back, hopped into the car, and got on the road. The route took us out of Utah, across the top corner of Arizona, and into Nevada. In Nevada, we went through Las Vegas, which is quite hard to miss from miles away, because there is nothing to block the view (that means no trees). The city is truly as tacky as you might believe it to be. If I were loaded, I’d go shopping there. I’m not loaded. We drove down the strip (traffic was AWFUL. Big surprise, right?) and saw all of the casinos and whatnot. There was a Donny and Marie show, plenty of half-naked showgirls, and there were FOUR Cirque Du Soleil shows. We stopped on the south end of town, where the Las Vegas sign has been moved, and hopped out to take a picture (it is apparently quite acceptable to stop in the road for this sign, as there were about 8 cars stopped).
After we escaped Vegas, we headed southeast toward the Hoover Dam. To cross the Hoover Dam (or get within a mile of it), you have to be inspected. This caused a traffic backup of four miles. The traffic was moving, but only just. But I didn’t care, because I wanted to see the dam and because we had to cross it to get to the Grand Canyon. It was frying hot. Enough that when we opened the window for air, it was too hot. We got inspected, which consisted of a man standing by the road and waving us on. Yeah. All that traffic. We’re not really sure what his criteria for stopping you are, because he really didn’t look at the car at all. We parked and hopped out and went to explore. I was a little bit more than excited. Okay, I was making squeaking noises because it was so stinking cool. We walked down on one side and back on the other. The sheer size of the thing is astounding. I mean, I’ve heard about it many many times before, but I never really fathomed how big it is. The water on the backside was well over 100 feet below us. As I mentioned, it was hot. Ben’s watch said it was 103 in the shade and easily over 110 in the sun. Which caused me to get dizzy very quickly and have to seek refuge in the shade several times. Thankfully, we made it back to the car before I started seeing black and white (which has happened every time I’ve been near passing out). I drank enough water to cause me to need the bathroom quite frequently for the rest of the drive and sat with my face in the vents.
We headed out across Arizona and were surprised to eventually encounter some trees. How strange. We always assumed that there was only desert there. We got to our turn (Williams, I think) and headed due north for the Grand Canyon. We came into the park and were again surprised by the trees. We assumed that it shouldn’t be too hard to find a ginormous hole in the ground. We checked in to our campground and went to get firewood before attempting to decipher the map and get to the rim. We found the trail and started walking. It turns out that you can only see the canyon once you’re within about 100 yards of the rim, because of the tree growth. We had gotten there right at sunset, so we found a spot to sit and took pictures. So, now that I’ve gushed about all of the other stuff we saw on Sunday, I am at a loss for words to describe the Grand Canyon. It’s the most to-the-point name in the National Park system. It’s bigger than I ever imagined it would be. I can’t even begin to tell you how stunned I was at the sight. So I won’t. We made a campfire and roasted hot dogs for dinner. We slept with the tent fly off so that we could see the stars. It ended up being a bit cool in the morning, but that story is for the next blog post.
We got to the end of the 2 mile section and could see that we had made it in time to watch the sunrise. The last part is along the rocky spine of a ridge and many parts have chains along the “trail” for you to hold on to. There are spots where the rocks have steps that have worn into them over time, but there is a lot of your own skill (and holding tightly to the chain) involved. We made the climb quite well considering it took a lot longer than any half mile on the trail to it. We got to the end in time to see the sun come over the canyon edge and light the top of the ridges. Absolutely beautiful. The canyon was as stunning as the sunrise itself. We probably sat at the top of the peak for 45 minutes, staring out and enjoying the beautiful weather The pictures of the trail are there in the slideshow to show you why I am so proud of myself for completing this hike. We made a friend at the top, a German man who we ended up hiking all the way down with. We talked about schools and travel and all of the differences between the US and Germany. Very cool dude.
We got back, hopped into the car, and got on the road. The route took us out of Utah, across the top corner of Arizona, and into Nevada. In Nevada, we went through Las Vegas, which is quite hard to miss from miles away, because there is nothing to block the view (that means no trees). The city is truly as tacky as you might believe it to be. If I were loaded, I’d go shopping there. I’m not loaded. We drove down the strip (traffic was AWFUL. Big surprise, right?) and saw all of the casinos and whatnot. There was a Donny and Marie show, plenty of half-naked showgirls, and there were FOUR Cirque Du Soleil shows. We stopped on the south end of town, where the Las Vegas sign has been moved, and hopped out to take a picture (it is apparently quite acceptable to stop in the road for this sign, as there were about 8 cars stopped).
After we escaped Vegas, we headed southeast toward the Hoover Dam. To cross the Hoover Dam (or get within a mile of it), you have to be inspected. This caused a traffic backup of four miles. The traffic was moving, but only just. But I didn’t care, because I wanted to see the dam and because we had to cross it to get to the Grand Canyon. It was frying hot. Enough that when we opened the window for air, it was too hot. We got inspected, which consisted of a man standing by the road and waving us on. Yeah. All that traffic. We’re not really sure what his criteria for stopping you are, because he really didn’t look at the car at all. We parked and hopped out and went to explore. I was a little bit more than excited. Okay, I was making squeaking noises because it was so stinking cool. We walked down on one side and back on the other. The sheer size of the thing is astounding. I mean, I’ve heard about it many many times before, but I never really fathomed how big it is. The water on the backside was well over 100 feet below us. As I mentioned, it was hot. Ben’s watch said it was 103 in the shade and easily over 110 in the sun. Which caused me to get dizzy very quickly and have to seek refuge in the shade several times. Thankfully, we made it back to the car before I started seeing black and white (which has happened every time I’ve been near passing out). I drank enough water to cause me to need the bathroom quite frequently for the rest of the drive and sat with my face in the vents.
We headed out across Arizona and were surprised to eventually encounter some trees. How strange. We always assumed that there was only desert there. We got to our turn (Williams, I think) and headed due north for the Grand Canyon. We came into the park and were again surprised by the trees. We assumed that it shouldn’t be too hard to find a ginormous hole in the ground. We checked in to our campground and went to get firewood before attempting to decipher the map and get to the rim. We found the trail and started walking. It turns out that you can only see the canyon once you’re within about 100 yards of the rim, because of the tree growth. We had gotten there right at sunset, so we found a spot to sit and took pictures. So, now that I’ve gushed about all of the other stuff we saw on Sunday, I am at a loss for words to describe the Grand Canyon. It’s the most to-the-point name in the National Park system. It’s bigger than I ever imagined it would be. I can’t even begin to tell you how stunned I was at the sight. So I won’t. We made a campfire and roasted hot dogs for dinner. We slept with the tent fly off so that we could see the stars. It ended up being a bit cool in the morning, but that story is for the next blog post.
Day one! Goodbye Richland!
Homeward bound!
We got up on Saturday at about 3 and started cleaning and packing what hadn’t been packed already. We worked fast and got on the road at around 4:15 am. Ick. So early. We headed south into Oregon, but it was too dark to get a picture of the sign, so we got a picture of the sign thanking us for visiting. We got a rather nice sunrise in Oregon, so it made the early morning okay.
Sadly, we decapitated our bobblehead in Oregon. His name is Dusty Dust Devil (now Decapitated Dusty), and he’s the mascot of the Tri-Cities’ minor league baseball team. Free bobblehead giveaway coincided with one of our trips to the games. Dusty tumbled dramatically off the dashboard, his head flying off upon impact with the gear shifter. You’ll see his head in later pictures.
We hit Idaho and discovered that it looked like Washington and Oregon. We were soon to discover that Utah also looked the same. At least, the northern part does. We entered Utah after a highly uneventful drive through Idaho. The good thing about Utah was that there were mountains in the distance. We went through Salt Lake City and saw Temple Square from a distance (from the interstate, because we weren’t stopping). Once we reached southern Utah, we turned off of the interstate (84, I believe) and headed into some beautiful countryside on our way to Zion NP. The sun was starting to go down by the time we got onto this road, so Ben (as I was driving at this point) got some excellent pictures of the sun behind us and the moon in front of us. The sudden appearance of cliffs was quite remarkable.
We set up our tent and walked into town for dinner (who wants to get into the car after 15 hours of driving?) at a cute restaurant that ended up being quite delicious. We headed to bed soon after dinner, because we had to make the 5:45 am shuttle into the park for our hike.
We got up on Saturday at about 3 and started cleaning and packing what hadn’t been packed already. We worked fast and got on the road at around 4:15 am. Ick. So early. We headed south into Oregon, but it was too dark to get a picture of the sign, so we got a picture of the sign thanking us for visiting. We got a rather nice sunrise in Oregon, so it made the early morning okay.
Sadly, we decapitated our bobblehead in Oregon. His name is Dusty Dust Devil (now Decapitated Dusty), and he’s the mascot of the Tri-Cities’ minor league baseball team. Free bobblehead giveaway coincided with one of our trips to the games. Dusty tumbled dramatically off the dashboard, his head flying off upon impact with the gear shifter. You’ll see his head in later pictures.
We hit Idaho and discovered that it looked like Washington and Oregon. We were soon to discover that Utah also looked the same. At least, the northern part does. We entered Utah after a highly uneventful drive through Idaho. The good thing about Utah was that there were mountains in the distance. We went through Salt Lake City and saw Temple Square from a distance (from the interstate, because we weren’t stopping). Once we reached southern Utah, we turned off of the interstate (84, I believe) and headed into some beautiful countryside on our way to Zion NP. The sun was starting to go down by the time we got onto this road, so Ben (as I was driving at this point) got some excellent pictures of the sun behind us and the moon in front of us. The sudden appearance of cliffs was quite remarkable.
We set up our tent and walked into town for dinner (who wants to get into the car after 15 hours of driving?) at a cute restaurant that ended up being quite delicious. We headed to bed soon after dinner, because we had to make the 5:45 am shuttle into the park for our hike.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Well, as the song goes, I'm deep in the heart of Texas. Not really. I'm in Amarillo. In a bed. And I'm clean. Which means I'm VERY happy. After two nights of camping and no showers since Saturday morning, Ben and I were starting to smell ourselves. Bad sign that you need a shower. So I'm in a ginormous fluffy bed in a ginormous hotel room, thanks to my dear mother, and the last thing I want to be doing right now is blogging. I'm uploading some incredible pictures to my computer as I type. I want to tell you all the stories of our trip, but I'm exhausted and plan on getting up at 5:15 am local time. I have to find Dublin Dr. Peppers. The 24-hour Wal Mart was a no-go. I didn't expect they'd have them. I guess I'll ask the front desk folks. They might know. I will blog my little heart out as soon as I get home. Or maybe I'll type it all up in the car tomorrow. For now, I leave you with a picture...
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Since all of you were so keenly interested in the trip out to Washington, and since this trip will be much better, and since I can't visit and show you the maps of the trip before I leave, I have decided that the next best option is to paste a few maps from Google Maps (my most recent best friend) so that you can get an idea of where I'll be going. Also, since I will be camping the first two nights of this trip, I remind you that there won't be any posts until I get to Amarillo, TX. Plenty of pictures by then though, I promise!
I am so proud of being able to embed these maps that it doesn't even upset me that the route doesn't show up on the embedded map. Except on the last two. One of which you have to drag the map over to see the route. I am not a pro at this. I think it's just a matter of luck whether your route shows up or not. I went back and tried the others several times. If you click on the "VIEW LARGER MAP" link below the map, you'll be able to see our route highlighted. I've broken it down into individual days so I can talk about each day.
Day 1: Richland to Zion (14 hours)
We will be departing Richland, WA bright and early on Saturday, August 9. Heading east into Idaho, we will pass through Boise and Twin Falls, then head south toward Utah. We will be traveling nearly the entire length of the state, passing through Salt Lake City and Provo. We will stop for the night at Zion National Park, camping at the Watchman Campground. To get further into the park, you have to ride a shuttle. I don't know how much time we will have to actually see the park, but we'll try in the morning probably. Don't forget to click on the links to see highlighted route!
View Larger Map
Day 2: Zion to Grand Canyon (7.5 hours)
This is the day I am most looking forward to out of the trip. Except the part where I actually get home. We will be departing Zion on Sunday morning and heading southwest, passing briefly into Arizona before we continue into Nevada. We will be passing through Las Vegas, with our route taking us directly down the Las Vegas Strip and past the famed sign (pictures!). We will then turn east once more and go toward the Hoover Dam. After another brief pause to take pictures, we will continue east until we reach Williams, AZ. We will then turn North to the Grand Canyon. We are camping on the South Rim at the Mather Campground (yes, we have reservations already. yes, I've had them since May). Since this day will be half the length of the previous day, we will have time to dawdle in Vegas and at the Hoover Dam and still be able to see some of the Grand Canyon before dark.
View Larger Map
Day 3: Grand Canyon to Amarillo (10 hours)
On Monday morning, we will be enjoying the sunrise over the canyon, then heading out the East entrance of the park (so we can see more of the area before we leave). Once we are out of the park, we will be turning south toward Flagstaff. At Flagstaff, we turn due east on I-40 and head through Winslow, Albuquerque (the poor children who learn to spell in this town...), and on into Amarillo, TX. Dinner this night is scheduled for the Big Texan. Should be amazing. They serve fried okra. For those who don't know, I could probably kill for some fried okra right now.
View Larger Map
Day 4: Amarillo to Memphis (11 hours)
On Tuesday, we continue East. We will travel (STILL on I-40) through Oklahoma City and Little Rock and a whole bunch of little towns that don't have much chance of being interesting. Luckily for them, Dusty Bobblehead will be there to make their towns seem more interesting. We will be stopping in Memphis, Collierville really, for the night. We have a friend from school (Jessica! yay!) who has graciously offered to let us stay with her.
View Larger Map
Day 5: Memphis to Greenville (9 hours)
Yay! For those who know that the fastest way from Memphis to Greenville is through Knoxville and want me to stop and visit, let me go ahead and explain our route. Ben is from just outside of Atlanta. Since his car is still there, he can't go back to Clemson. So, we will be going through Birmingham and meeting up with some member of his family on the west side of town (at least, this is the plan right now) so that he can go with them to the lake. It also spares me some rather outrageous driving in Atlanta. Once I drop Ben off, it is a straight shot home to 120 Montverde Drive. I have to get there in time to kick mom's hiney at Wii Bowling. Yeha!
View Larger Map
I hope you've enjoyed this tour of my route home as much as I have. Stay tuned for tales from the road!
I am so proud of being able to embed these maps that it doesn't even upset me that the route doesn't show up on the embedded map. Except on the last two. One of which you have to drag the map over to see the route. I am not a pro at this. I think it's just a matter of luck whether your route shows up or not. I went back and tried the others several times. If you click on the "VIEW LARGER MAP" link below the map, you'll be able to see our route highlighted. I've broken it down into individual days so I can talk about each day.
Day 1: Richland to Zion (14 hours)
We will be departing Richland, WA bright and early on Saturday, August 9. Heading east into Idaho, we will pass through Boise and Twin Falls, then head south toward Utah. We will be traveling nearly the entire length of the state, passing through Salt Lake City and Provo. We will stop for the night at Zion National Park, camping at the Watchman Campground. To get further into the park, you have to ride a shuttle. I don't know how much time we will have to actually see the park, but we'll try in the morning probably. Don't forget to click on the links to see highlighted route!
View Larger Map
Day 2: Zion to Grand Canyon (7.5 hours)
This is the day I am most looking forward to out of the trip. Except the part where I actually get home. We will be departing Zion on Sunday morning and heading southwest, passing briefly into Arizona before we continue into Nevada. We will be passing through Las Vegas, with our route taking us directly down the Las Vegas Strip and past the famed sign (pictures!). We will then turn east once more and go toward the Hoover Dam. After another brief pause to take pictures, we will continue east until we reach Williams, AZ. We will then turn North to the Grand Canyon. We are camping on the South Rim at the Mather Campground (yes, we have reservations already. yes, I've had them since May). Since this day will be half the length of the previous day, we will have time to dawdle in Vegas and at the Hoover Dam and still be able to see some of the Grand Canyon before dark.
View Larger Map
Day 3: Grand Canyon to Amarillo (10 hours)
On Monday morning, we will be enjoying the sunrise over the canyon, then heading out the East entrance of the park (so we can see more of the area before we leave). Once we are out of the park, we will be turning south toward Flagstaff. At Flagstaff, we turn due east on I-40 and head through Winslow, Albuquerque (the poor children who learn to spell in this town...), and on into Amarillo, TX. Dinner this night is scheduled for the Big Texan. Should be amazing. They serve fried okra. For those who don't know, I could probably kill for some fried okra right now.
View Larger Map
Day 4: Amarillo to Memphis (11 hours)
On Tuesday, we continue East. We will travel (STILL on I-40) through Oklahoma City and Little Rock and a whole bunch of little towns that don't have much chance of being interesting. Luckily for them, Dusty Bobblehead will be there to make their towns seem more interesting. We will be stopping in Memphis, Collierville really, for the night. We have a friend from school (Jessica! yay!) who has graciously offered to let us stay with her.
View Larger Map
Day 5: Memphis to Greenville (9 hours)
Yay! For those who know that the fastest way from Memphis to Greenville is through Knoxville and want me to stop and visit, let me go ahead and explain our route. Ben is from just outside of Atlanta. Since his car is still there, he can't go back to Clemson. So, we will be going through Birmingham and meeting up with some member of his family on the west side of town (at least, this is the plan right now) so that he can go with them to the lake. It also spares me some rather outrageous driving in Atlanta. Once I drop Ben off, it is a straight shot home to 120 Montverde Drive. I have to get there in time to kick mom's hiney at Wii Bowling. Yeha!
View Larger Map
I hope you've enjoyed this tour of my route home as much as I have. Stay tuned for tales from the road!
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Well folks, it's been a pleasure regaling you with stories of my adventures this summer. I will be sure to keep you as informed as possible about the trip home, including an extra post later this week.
As the summer has drawn to the end, it's been rather busy. The first intern to leave was Sara. She left last Thursday after a quick hello and goodbye at the second party of last week. The first party was thrown by Nick and Carolyn, the folks Sara lived with, and was held at a local barbecue place (where we could actually get sweet tea, though it wasn't nearly sweet enough). It ended up being nearly 25 people. There are several pictures of that. The second party was at Joe's house. Joe is one of the guys I've worked a lot with this summer. He and his wife (and PJ, who is 3 and very outgoing) were kind enough to have nearly 30 people out to their house to enjoy some hamburgers and bonfire action. Several of the mentors came, and there was delicious food. Some people played frisbee, I played bocce with the guys, and then we made fire. Remember: when there is a high fire hazard, always have a hose. So you don't burn your yard down.
I'm finally quite busy at work. I got my samples back and had to cut and polish and prepare them for resistivity tests. I ended up staying at work an extra hour on Friday and going in to work on Saturday too. I get time and a half for overtime, so hey, at least I'll end the summer with a big paycheck. Joe (mad props to Joe for going to work on Saturday for me) and I went in at 7:30 to start a test and found out that the power had blinked just before I got there (and thankfully after my data had auto-saved). We started some stuff and I left to go get my oil changed, my tires rotated, and my car washed. Once Rhonda was happy, I headed back to the lab and prepared some more samples (lots of cutting and polishing) for testing on Tuesday. I ended up being there for about 2.5 hours more, then I came home, grabbed lunch and Ben and I went to the park by the river to be lazy. New favorite thing to do. Lay around in the sun and read our books. Get in the river occasionally, roll over occasionally. It's a great park, all families. Quite entertaining. There was a baptism while we were there. And a family that came ready to go fishing, except they never got in the water to fish...they just practiced casting in the grass. Strange.
Today was a major cleaning project. I scrubbed the bathroom and gave Ben the kitchen. Then we vacuumed and whatnot. I'm mostly packed. As I finish with clothes this week, they're supposed to be put into the suitcase. Last stuff to go in is the kitchen stuff. Friday, we will pack the car, then we'll get on the road bright and early on Saturday. Not really bright. Like between 4 and 5 AM. We have 14 hours to go on Saturday. We'll probably rotate by tanks of gas (~ 4 hours) so that neither of us gets too tired. Lunch will be peanut butter and jelly and bananas for the week. There is a grocery store that has a great bulk food section, so we'll probably stock up on essentials for the road. You know, peanuts, gummy worms, sour patch kids, trail mix, more gummy worms. Trying to find some corn nuts. Those were good. We got them at the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis on the way here. Yeah. Nice salty snack. Also, we may have to be inventive in Zion, because there is a ban on all fires due to the dry season. Understandable, but we don't exactly want to eat PB&J for lunch AND dinner. And we don't have a stove. Any suggestions from my well seasoned campers? Need something dinner-like that requires no heat whatsoever. I'm out. I need to poke at some data before tomorrow. Ciao!
As the summer has drawn to the end, it's been rather busy. The first intern to leave was Sara. She left last Thursday after a quick hello and goodbye at the second party of last week. The first party was thrown by Nick and Carolyn, the folks Sara lived with, and was held at a local barbecue place (where we could actually get sweet tea, though it wasn't nearly sweet enough). It ended up being nearly 25 people. There are several pictures of that. The second party was at Joe's house. Joe is one of the guys I've worked a lot with this summer. He and his wife (and PJ, who is 3 and very outgoing) were kind enough to have nearly 30 people out to their house to enjoy some hamburgers and bonfire action. Several of the mentors came, and there was delicious food. Some people played frisbee, I played bocce with the guys, and then we made fire. Remember: when there is a high fire hazard, always have a hose. So you don't burn your yard down.
I'm finally quite busy at work. I got my samples back and had to cut and polish and prepare them for resistivity tests. I ended up staying at work an extra hour on Friday and going in to work on Saturday too. I get time and a half for overtime, so hey, at least I'll end the summer with a big paycheck. Joe (mad props to Joe for going to work on Saturday for me) and I went in at 7:30 to start a test and found out that the power had blinked just before I got there (and thankfully after my data had auto-saved). We started some stuff and I left to go get my oil changed, my tires rotated, and my car washed. Once Rhonda was happy, I headed back to the lab and prepared some more samples (lots of cutting and polishing) for testing on Tuesday. I ended up being there for about 2.5 hours more, then I came home, grabbed lunch and Ben and I went to the park by the river to be lazy. New favorite thing to do. Lay around in the sun and read our books. Get in the river occasionally, roll over occasionally. It's a great park, all families. Quite entertaining. There was a baptism while we were there. And a family that came ready to go fishing, except they never got in the water to fish...they just practiced casting in the grass. Strange.
Today was a major cleaning project. I scrubbed the bathroom and gave Ben the kitchen. Then we vacuumed and whatnot. I'm mostly packed. As I finish with clothes this week, they're supposed to be put into the suitcase. Last stuff to go in is the kitchen stuff. Friday, we will pack the car, then we'll get on the road bright and early on Saturday. Not really bright. Like between 4 and 5 AM. We have 14 hours to go on Saturday. We'll probably rotate by tanks of gas (~ 4 hours) so that neither of us gets too tired. Lunch will be peanut butter and jelly and bananas for the week. There is a grocery store that has a great bulk food section, so we'll probably stock up on essentials for the road. You know, peanuts, gummy worms, sour patch kids, trail mix, more gummy worms. Trying to find some corn nuts. Those were good. We got them at the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis on the way here. Yeah. Nice salty snack. Also, we may have to be inventive in Zion, because there is a ban on all fires due to the dry season. Understandable, but we don't exactly want to eat PB&J for lunch AND dinner. And we don't have a stove. Any suggestions from my well seasoned campers? Need something dinner-like that requires no heat whatsoever. I'm out. I need to poke at some data before tomorrow. Ciao!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
As a note, I've gone and made the old slide shows bigger so that you can actually see and appreciate the pictures. Thought I'd let you know.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
So it's time for the weekend update!
Last Tuesday, we went on a hike up Badger Mountain. One of the higher peaks around, but not all that big. But we went at sunset. Got some very cool pictures. It was very windy. To the point that my lip was flapping in the wind. I could lean back and let the wind hold me up. But it was so cool.
This past week was my birthday. I'm sure you didn't forget. I love my birthday, so I probably have told you all several times. 22. Such an odd age. I haven't decided if I like it, but it certainly makes me feel older, more like a grad student.
If there was ever a good way to spend one's birthday at work, Friday was it. I didn't do squat. Friday morning was a jet boat tour with my internship program. A nice man took a bunch of us out on his jet boat and drove us up the river. We got to see the Hanford site again (and I got to take pictures of the reactors this time!) and we got to see lots of wildlife and cool scenery. It really made me appreciate this area. I'm all for nuclear energy, but the government really screwed up when it decided to keep that area from the public for so long. I know, I know, that's necessary when one is dealing with national security. It's more that I know it will be a long time before the area is cleaned up and open to the public. If ever. At least the river is open. Beautiful area. The ecosystem is rather unstable. But very fertile if you give it water. Which is actually part of the problem there. There are serious erosion issues on the cliffs you'll see in the pictures. After the fantastic boat ride, we had lunch and headed to work.
At work, there were lovely flowers for me from my lovely family (kudos to mom despite the fact that her name was left off of the card). I handed out red velvet cupcakes to my fellow co-workers and then it was time for the APEL cup. Our office building (APEL) hosts an annual fundraiser putt putt tournament. The employees build holes however they want, then people play putt putt. So yeah. There was a hole where you had to ramp into an inner tube. This caused the balls to hit the wall of my office quite loudly. There was one called the black hole. You had to putt up a curved ramp onto another level, then the ball went into the motorized vortex and either spit out into the hole or out the backside and you tried again. There was a water hole: your ball either went straight down a ramp and into the hole or you ended up chasing it around the loading dock to get it into the hole. There was one that was rather elaborately built and involved banking a ball off of a concrete chicken. Then there was the hole that ended up a ramp and into a crucible. The next hole was a long piece of black corrugated pipe that you had to putt your ball into and pull up a string so that it would roll around and into the fishing net. Then there was my personal favorite: the tic-tac-toe. The directions were a bit hazy on this one, so we concluded that you didn't actually add any points to your score, but if you got it into the bucket with the X you got a point off your score. Good deal in golf, right? What you did was bank your ball up a ramp made of poster board and it had to land in one of nine trash cans that were in a tic-tac-toe pattern. The next hole required you to bank your ball over a gravel area (otherwise you destroyed your putter) and into a dog house. The final one was like croquet. Except with apples that had holes missing out of the bottoms. Although I'm not sure how legit our scoring methods were, our team did fairly well and had a fantastic time playing. This left about an hour of work, which I used to fix a diagram for my paper.
After work was baseball. The Tri-City Dust Devils once more. This time, I managed to get a picture of just how creepy Dusty is. There were lots of interns there, and we had a blast. Saturday were Hydroplane races. The Tri City Water Follies. Fast boats! 146 mph I heard at one point. There was also an F-16 flyover, which I got plenty of pictures of. It was hot, so we found a spot by the starting line and stood in the river to watch the race. I would like to take a moment to express pity for the Tri Cities in that they rarely are discussed individually. They are Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco. Now you know. Everything here is "Tri Cities this" and "Tri Cities that."
After the boat races, I took a nap that lasted until Sunday morning. I went to Richland Church of Christ for church, then went to Target and poked around before I went home. Ben and I decided to go down to the park by the river and lay out/read and just generally chill. So we did. We were there for several hours. My tan enjoyed it thoroughly. We could see the smoke from the boat fire at the hydroplane races (wasn't a hydroplane. a private boat that was watching the race ended up catching fire from its barbecue grill.) and we could see the C-something cargo plane come by as well as the F-16 show again. And my book was excellent and the weather was amazing. We ended the day with dinner at PF Chang's. A nice relaxing day, in all.
It's dinnertime, so I am out. There are two parties this week, so hopefully I will get some pictures of all the fellow interns for you.
Last Tuesday, we went on a hike up Badger Mountain. One of the higher peaks around, but not all that big. But we went at sunset. Got some very cool pictures. It was very windy. To the point that my lip was flapping in the wind. I could lean back and let the wind hold me up. But it was so cool.
This past week was my birthday. I'm sure you didn't forget. I love my birthday, so I probably have told you all several times. 22. Such an odd age. I haven't decided if I like it, but it certainly makes me feel older, more like a grad student.
If there was ever a good way to spend one's birthday at work, Friday was it. I didn't do squat. Friday morning was a jet boat tour with my internship program. A nice man took a bunch of us out on his jet boat and drove us up the river. We got to see the Hanford site again (and I got to take pictures of the reactors this time!) and we got to see lots of wildlife and cool scenery. It really made me appreciate this area. I'm all for nuclear energy, but the government really screwed up when it decided to keep that area from the public for so long. I know, I know, that's necessary when one is dealing with national security. It's more that I know it will be a long time before the area is cleaned up and open to the public. If ever. At least the river is open. Beautiful area. The ecosystem is rather unstable. But very fertile if you give it water. Which is actually part of the problem there. There are serious erosion issues on the cliffs you'll see in the pictures. After the fantastic boat ride, we had lunch and headed to work.
At work, there were lovely flowers for me from my lovely family (kudos to mom despite the fact that her name was left off of the card). I handed out red velvet cupcakes to my fellow co-workers and then it was time for the APEL cup. Our office building (APEL) hosts an annual fundraiser putt putt tournament. The employees build holes however they want, then people play putt putt. So yeah. There was a hole where you had to ramp into an inner tube. This caused the balls to hit the wall of my office quite loudly. There was one called the black hole. You had to putt up a curved ramp onto another level, then the ball went into the motorized vortex and either spit out into the hole or out the backside and you tried again. There was a water hole: your ball either went straight down a ramp and into the hole or you ended up chasing it around the loading dock to get it into the hole. There was one that was rather elaborately built and involved banking a ball off of a concrete chicken. Then there was the hole that ended up a ramp and into a crucible. The next hole was a long piece of black corrugated pipe that you had to putt your ball into and pull up a string so that it would roll around and into the fishing net. Then there was my personal favorite: the tic-tac-toe. The directions were a bit hazy on this one, so we concluded that you didn't actually add any points to your score, but if you got it into the bucket with the X you got a point off your score. Good deal in golf, right? What you did was bank your ball up a ramp made of poster board and it had to land in one of nine trash cans that were in a tic-tac-toe pattern. The next hole required you to bank your ball over a gravel area (otherwise you destroyed your putter) and into a dog house. The final one was like croquet. Except with apples that had holes missing out of the bottoms. Although I'm not sure how legit our scoring methods were, our team did fairly well and had a fantastic time playing. This left about an hour of work, which I used to fix a diagram for my paper.
After work was baseball. The Tri-City Dust Devils once more. This time, I managed to get a picture of just how creepy Dusty is. There were lots of interns there, and we had a blast. Saturday were Hydroplane races. The Tri City Water Follies. Fast boats! 146 mph I heard at one point. There was also an F-16 flyover, which I got plenty of pictures of. It was hot, so we found a spot by the starting line and stood in the river to watch the race. I would like to take a moment to express pity for the Tri Cities in that they rarely are discussed individually. They are Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco. Now you know. Everything here is "Tri Cities this" and "Tri Cities that."
After the boat races, I took a nap that lasted until Sunday morning. I went to Richland Church of Christ for church, then went to Target and poked around before I went home. Ben and I decided to go down to the park by the river and lay out/read and just generally chill. So we did. We were there for several hours. My tan enjoyed it thoroughly. We could see the smoke from the boat fire at the hydroplane races (wasn't a hydroplane. a private boat that was watching the race ended up catching fire from its barbecue grill.) and we could see the C-something cargo plane come by as well as the F-16 show again. And my book was excellent and the weather was amazing. We ended the day with dinner at PF Chang's. A nice relaxing day, in all.
It's dinnertime, so I am out. There are two parties this week, so hopefully I will get some pictures of all the fellow interns for you.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Or perhaps I should title it "Sleepless on the way to Seattle." See, on Thursday of last week, we had an intern picnic after work with the best tacos I've ever eaten in my life. Really. Served by real mexican people too, of course. Then I got 10 minutes to breathe before we went over to a friend's house and watched Batman Begins. See, someone hadn't seen it yet and needed to see it before we went to see The Dark Knight that night at midnight. Which we did after that movie. We went and sat in the theater for two hours and played cards or read various books (I went with Harry Potter) while we waited for the movie. Totally worth the wait and the sleepless night. A-mazing. Went to bed at around 3:15 and got up at 7-ish for work. We worked until 2, then Bem, Sara and I headed out for Seattle by 3-ish.
When we got to town, the traffic was bad, but the weather was beautiful. Not to hot, not too cold. We were attempting to go to the baseball game, but we got there 10 minutes before it started and the cheapest tickets were $30 for the upper deck with an obstructed view. So I met up with Josh, the friend from Clemson who now lives in Seattle, and we all got back in the car and headed to Fremont, where Josh lives. He was kind enough to let us stay in his living room for the weekend, so he gets mad props for that and a blog shout-out. Anyway, for those who know anything about Seattle, he lives litterally around the corner from the Fremont Troll. You'll see the cool troll dude in the pictures. That night, we went to dinner at a greek place within walking distance and wandered around Fremont for a bit, seeing all the strange things there are to see there.
Saturday started bright and early with the waffles that Josh promised a large crowd of people back around New Years. They were delicious. We hopped on a bus and headed into downtown Seattle. First stop of the morning was the City Center. The area around the Space Needle. Allow me to stop and comment on the use of the word "space." If you were to add "space" to the front of a lot of words, it would make it so much cooler. I mean, think about it: needle? no, that's lame. space needle? woah! how cool! I want to see that!
Okay, I'm back on track now. So yeah. It costs $14 to go up the space needle. Obviously, we didn't submit to this extortion. Instead, we took cool shots of the skyline from all over town. It's always cooler to have the space needle in your photo, if you ask me. We took pictures of all sorts of stuff and goofed around until we decided to wander over to Pike's Place Market. The market is down in the pier area, of course. Somehow, we missed the original Starbucks on the walk down there and didn't make it back up to see it. Oh well. If I can go to Starbucks in Nebraska, it's no longer cool. The market, on the other hand, was cool. I'm afraid I did not catch a fish flying through the air in my pictures, as everyone there didn't actually want to buy a fish. Although their smoked salmon samples were absolutely delicious. Made me want fish. So, after wandering through all the little junk shops in the market and looking at the beautiful flowers and produce (I really wish I could have shipped some of this food home, but it wouldn't be fresh. Might as well buy it a BiLo at that point), we walked a few more piers down and went to Ivar's, this seafood place that serves fish and chips. It was quite delicious despite the wait (it's rather famous and popular) and the seagulls trying to get your food if you eat outside.
After a very fresh seafood lunch, it was on to the public library and a nice loop around town. The library was so stinking cool. And a little bit strange. The level that was entirely red was creepy. The highlighter yellow escalators were very cool though. We got lost once. We were trying to find out how to get to this level we could see from the ground floor, but we missed it by accident. After playing in the library and wandering around town a bit, we went to the ferry pier and caught a boat over to Bainbridge Island. This is where all the rich people live around Seattle, or so it seems. We went there for their ice cream. Mora has the most amazing combinations of flavors ever. I had an absolutely delicious green tea ice cream. We wandered the little town, then went to catch the ferry back. The ride wasn't bad, by the way. I actually think Amy could handle it. We stopped into Nordstorm Rack (obviously the girls' choice), then headed over to Capitol Hill to have dinner with some other guys from the lab. We ate at a place called the Garage that had bowling, pool, and delicious french fries and burgers.
Sunday, we took our time getting up before heading to the Gas Works Park for a while. The park is located on Lake Union and has a fantastic view of the downtown area. They have a sundial that you stand on to get the time. It had directions. I think it was wrong. By an hour. But it was still very cool. The park used to be a coal gassification facility that manufactured oil for heating and lighting use in the area. They buldozed most of the buildings and piled them up before covering them with earth to make the hill where the sundial is. The old equipment is still there. Big rusty tanks and stuff, some concrete arches that used to hold pipes, and this barn full of equipment that they painted to make it kid friendly. I think it's a death trap, but that's Butch Burka coming out there. We walked back into Fremont and visited the Lenin statue. Apparently some dude mortgaged his house and went to slovakia to get it. Now it has no home and is currently for sale to anyone who wants to diplay it in the way the dude wanted. It's quite cool and I think Fremont needs to keep it. It's is also supposed to be the only known statue in which Lenin is neither reading a book or waving his hat. In this one, he's walking, with waving objects behind him that are supposed to symbolize guns and fire. Very cool. We ate lunch next to Lenin, then walked for a bit more and took a picture of the "Center of the Universe" sign, not to be confused with the sign I saw in Portland. Fremont is the official center of the universe. Bet you didn't know that.
Last night, we went on a sunset hike that I got some pictures of. Expect to see some of those in next week's blog.
Last but not least. There are 182 awesome pictures in today's post. They all have captions and I didn't want you to miss any, so I did not set the slide show to start automatically. You'll have to actually press play. Enjoy!
When we got to town, the traffic was bad, but the weather was beautiful. Not to hot, not too cold. We were attempting to go to the baseball game, but we got there 10 minutes before it started and the cheapest tickets were $30 for the upper deck with an obstructed view. So I met up with Josh, the friend from Clemson who now lives in Seattle, and we all got back in the car and headed to Fremont, where Josh lives. He was kind enough to let us stay in his living room for the weekend, so he gets mad props for that and a blog shout-out. Anyway, for those who know anything about Seattle, he lives litterally around the corner from the Fremont Troll. You'll see the cool troll dude in the pictures. That night, we went to dinner at a greek place within walking distance and wandered around Fremont for a bit, seeing all the strange things there are to see there.
Saturday started bright and early with the waffles that Josh promised a large crowd of people back around New Years. They were delicious. We hopped on a bus and headed into downtown Seattle. First stop of the morning was the City Center. The area around the Space Needle. Allow me to stop and comment on the use of the word "space." If you were to add "space" to the front of a lot of words, it would make it so much cooler. I mean, think about it: needle? no, that's lame. space needle? woah! how cool! I want to see that!
Okay, I'm back on track now. So yeah. It costs $14 to go up the space needle. Obviously, we didn't submit to this extortion. Instead, we took cool shots of the skyline from all over town. It's always cooler to have the space needle in your photo, if you ask me. We took pictures of all sorts of stuff and goofed around until we decided to wander over to Pike's Place Market. The market is down in the pier area, of course. Somehow, we missed the original Starbucks on the walk down there and didn't make it back up to see it. Oh well. If I can go to Starbucks in Nebraska, it's no longer cool. The market, on the other hand, was cool. I'm afraid I did not catch a fish flying through the air in my pictures, as everyone there didn't actually want to buy a fish. Although their smoked salmon samples were absolutely delicious. Made me want fish. So, after wandering through all the little junk shops in the market and looking at the beautiful flowers and produce (I really wish I could have shipped some of this food home, but it wouldn't be fresh. Might as well buy it a BiLo at that point), we walked a few more piers down and went to Ivar's, this seafood place that serves fish and chips. It was quite delicious despite the wait (it's rather famous and popular) and the seagulls trying to get your food if you eat outside.
After a very fresh seafood lunch, it was on to the public library and a nice loop around town. The library was so stinking cool. And a little bit strange. The level that was entirely red was creepy. The highlighter yellow escalators were very cool though. We got lost once. We were trying to find out how to get to this level we could see from the ground floor, but we missed it by accident. After playing in the library and wandering around town a bit, we went to the ferry pier and caught a boat over to Bainbridge Island. This is where all the rich people live around Seattle, or so it seems. We went there for their ice cream. Mora has the most amazing combinations of flavors ever. I had an absolutely delicious green tea ice cream. We wandered the little town, then went to catch the ferry back. The ride wasn't bad, by the way. I actually think Amy could handle it. We stopped into Nordstorm Rack (obviously the girls' choice), then headed over to Capitol Hill to have dinner with some other guys from the lab. We ate at a place called the Garage that had bowling, pool, and delicious french fries and burgers.
Sunday, we took our time getting up before heading to the Gas Works Park for a while. The park is located on Lake Union and has a fantastic view of the downtown area. They have a sundial that you stand on to get the time. It had directions. I think it was wrong. By an hour. But it was still very cool. The park used to be a coal gassification facility that manufactured oil for heating and lighting use in the area. They buldozed most of the buildings and piled them up before covering them with earth to make the hill where the sundial is. The old equipment is still there. Big rusty tanks and stuff, some concrete arches that used to hold pipes, and this barn full of equipment that they painted to make it kid friendly. I think it's a death trap, but that's Butch Burka coming out there. We walked back into Fremont and visited the Lenin statue. Apparently some dude mortgaged his house and went to slovakia to get it. Now it has no home and is currently for sale to anyone who wants to diplay it in the way the dude wanted. It's quite cool and I think Fremont needs to keep it. It's is also supposed to be the only known statue in which Lenin is neither reading a book or waving his hat. In this one, he's walking, with waving objects behind him that are supposed to symbolize guns and fire. Very cool. We ate lunch next to Lenin, then walked for a bit more and took a picture of the "Center of the Universe" sign, not to be confused with the sign I saw in Portland. Fremont is the official center of the universe. Bet you didn't know that.
Last night, we went on a sunset hike that I got some pictures of. Expect to see some of those in next week's blog.
Last but not least. There are 182 awesome pictures in today's post. They all have captions and I didn't want you to miss any, so I did not set the slide show to start automatically. You'll have to actually press play. Enjoy!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Good Morning Richland! You know, it doesn't have the same effect as, say, Robin Williams. It's 8:30 am on this bright and sunny dMonday in Richland, WA. It is predicted to hit 95 today, with highs in the mid-to-upper 90s and lows around 60 all week. If only it would pass 100. We get ice cream when it gets over 100. When, not if.
So, it being Monday, I'm quite ahead of myself with the weekend update. This weekend's goal was to have a quiet and relaxing weekend. We went to the local minor league baseball game. The Tri-City Dust Devils. It was free bobblehead night, but we got there after they stopped giving them out. The nice man whose seat we stole (they scooted over one seat so we could sit with the people we had moved to sit with, some fellow interns) got me one though, because those with season tickets got a free one after the initial set was given out. It's a bobblehead of the mascot, Dusty, and is quite funny. I put a picture of him up. I think he's going to become our Flat Stanley on the way home. Take a picure of him everywhere we go.
Saturday morning, Ben and I packed up and headed out to go camping. We went to Kachess Lake, but couldn't find the campground, so we went over to Cle Elum Lake. There are three lakes right in a row, so we had lots of choices. We finally settled on the Red Mountain Campground and parked our car. We went to get our tent out of the trunk and realized that it was still safely nestled in the corner of our hall closet. Oops! Luckily there was a general store back down the road, so we bought a cheap tarp (more like an oversized garbage bag) and put our sleeping bags (yay for PNNL people with camping equipment) and mats on that. There was no threat of rain, so we weren't worried. We were right on the Cle Elum River (like just across the way). It was a pretty river, looked clear and clean (and COLD!). It had probably come off of a glacier in the North Cascades. Ben hopped right in. I stuck to the stand knee deep, then get the heck out of it. It was very very cold. We chilled by the river and read. We also hiked around at the lake for a while. Dinner was delicious (chili. yum. again, mad props to PNNL people with camping equipment). We could see the stars from our tarp, so we watched the satellites go over for a while. It was so clear that you could see just about everythying.
We got up and had breakfast and cleaned up camp at our own speed. We headed back to Richland and go there in time to nap/go to the pool/buy toilet paper. We could see both Mount Adams and Mount Rainier on the way home. The skies were nice and clear. It's so strange that you can see the lone tall mountains for miles and miles. There simply isn't anything here to block the view.
So, it being Monday, I'm quite ahead of myself with the weekend update. This weekend's goal was to have a quiet and relaxing weekend. We went to the local minor league baseball game. The Tri-City Dust Devils. It was free bobblehead night, but we got there after they stopped giving them out. The nice man whose seat we stole (they scooted over one seat so we could sit with the people we had moved to sit with, some fellow interns) got me one though, because those with season tickets got a free one after the initial set was given out. It's a bobblehead of the mascot, Dusty, and is quite funny. I put a picture of him up. I think he's going to become our Flat Stanley on the way home. Take a picure of him everywhere we go.
Saturday morning, Ben and I packed up and headed out to go camping. We went to Kachess Lake, but couldn't find the campground, so we went over to Cle Elum Lake. There are three lakes right in a row, so we had lots of choices. We finally settled on the Red Mountain Campground and parked our car. We went to get our tent out of the trunk and realized that it was still safely nestled in the corner of our hall closet. Oops! Luckily there was a general store back down the road, so we bought a cheap tarp (more like an oversized garbage bag) and put our sleeping bags (yay for PNNL people with camping equipment) and mats on that. There was no threat of rain, so we weren't worried. We were right on the Cle Elum River (like just across the way). It was a pretty river, looked clear and clean (and COLD!). It had probably come off of a glacier in the North Cascades. Ben hopped right in. I stuck to the stand knee deep, then get the heck out of it. It was very very cold. We chilled by the river and read. We also hiked around at the lake for a while. Dinner was delicious (chili. yum. again, mad props to PNNL people with camping equipment). We could see the stars from our tarp, so we watched the satellites go over for a while. It was so clear that you could see just about everythying.
We got up and had breakfast and cleaned up camp at our own speed. We headed back to Richland and go there in time to nap/go to the pool/buy toilet paper. We could see both Mount Adams and Mount Rainier on the way home. The skies were nice and clear. It's so strange that you can see the lone tall mountains for miles and miles. There simply isn't anything here to block the view.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Hello family and other readers!
I'm being a slacker about blog posts. I'm sorry. I need to write about Portland and the Fourth and stuff like that. I guess I should do that.
Therewere ten of us that went to Portland last weekend. The boys left on Thursday night and went camping near Mount Hood. The girls (and Christian) left on Friday morning, bright and early at 6:30. The drive is quite nice, as the interstate follows along the Columbia River in Oregon. We stopped on the way in (about 20 miles from Portland) and went hiking up to Multnomah Falls. It is supposedly the fifth highest waterfall in the US. So I read on a plaque. It was quite a hike, with a paved trail that was straight up-hill for a mile. We hiked back down (and I believe this is where I got a call from the family) and got back on the road to Portland. Since we were there so early, we couldn't check in to our hotel. Instead, we had lunch at a 50s-style diner in the mall, then headed into the heart of the city. We got some maps and directions, then dropped a few people off and went to check in to the hotel. When we got to town, we met up with the guys and wandered the city for a bit. We stopped into Nordstrom because some people needed the bathroom, but a few of us girls got waylaid by the shoes. There were shoes easily over $700 there. Yeek! We walked all over town, and made sure to go to Powell's Bookstore, then decided to grab dinner. Powell's is fairly ginormous. It is supposedly the largest independent bookstore in the world. I believe it. They have maps there. After that, it was time to stake out a spot for watching fireworks. There is a river walk type park that we camped out in, along with half of Portland. The people of Portland, as a side note, are strange. There was a very non-Asian man in front of us who had on some sort of ninja costume thing. And his hair in a top-knot. It was strange. Then there was the girl whose nose was attached to her skirt by a chain. There was also a naked woman. Apparently she was peeing behind a bush. Strange.
So, back to the fireworks. They pulled up two barges, one on either side of this bridge, and shot the fireworks from there. I have lots and lots and lots of pictures of fireworks. I had to move closer to see around the trees, which was definitely a good decision. Very nice show.
Saturday morning we went to the Portland Saturday Market. It was a rather large street market that had all sorts of local artists and creative people selling their work. I picked up a few things there, but they are surprises for people, so I can't tell about them. They also had food vendors there, so we ate lunch at the market. I had a delicious gyro made right in front of me. There were tacos, chinese food, and even african food. After the market, we headed to the south end of town and, after several detours due to poor navigation on the part of Thelma Louise (she picked a road that wasn't there), we finally ended up at OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). OMSI is pretty stinking cool. We saw an OmniMax movie on sea monsters. There was an interactive room full of things you could do that demonstrated basic science principles. We used our bodies to make an electrical connection and light a lightbulb...It also made our muscles twitch in our arms. We also made flying machines out of paper cups...I built a cross-braced structure and tested it on the moving platform. Mad props to me that it didn't fall down (and hadn't when I came by 10 minutes later). There was also a dinosaur exhibit with lots of fossils. Very cool hands-on museum for kids and big dorks like us. We grabbed a late lunch in a very cute cafe, then we decided to go play pool. It turns out us girls are not that great at pool. We had fun anyway.
Sunday, we went to the Portland International Rose Test Garden, which was absolutely beautiful and which yielded a large number of pictures. We also went to the Portland Japanese Gardens and walked around for a bit before we joined in on a special event they had going on. They had people who taught you how to make origami, then helped you write your wishes in Japanese and tie them to a bamboo branch that you could take with you.(I just looked it up and it's called the Tanabata festival)
Once we were done there, we grabbed Thai food at a cute place in town, then headed back to Richland.
This weekend's adventure: Camping at Cle Elum lake. Hopefully in the Wish Poosh campground, but they don't take reservations. We'll see. We're looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. Maybe do some kayaking, but only if we want to, of course. Enjoy the pictures!
I'm being a slacker about blog posts. I'm sorry. I need to write about Portland and the Fourth and stuff like that. I guess I should do that.
Therewere ten of us that went to Portland last weekend. The boys left on Thursday night and went camping near Mount Hood. The girls (and Christian) left on Friday morning, bright and early at 6:30. The drive is quite nice, as the interstate follows along the Columbia River in Oregon. We stopped on the way in (about 20 miles from Portland) and went hiking up to Multnomah Falls. It is supposedly the fifth highest waterfall in the US. So I read on a plaque. It was quite a hike, with a paved trail that was straight up-hill for a mile. We hiked back down (and I believe this is where I got a call from the family) and got back on the road to Portland. Since we were there so early, we couldn't check in to our hotel. Instead, we had lunch at a 50s-style diner in the mall, then headed into the heart of the city. We got some maps and directions, then dropped a few people off and went to check in to the hotel. When we got to town, we met up with the guys and wandered the city for a bit. We stopped into Nordstrom because some people needed the bathroom, but a few of us girls got waylaid by the shoes. There were shoes easily over $700 there. Yeek! We walked all over town, and made sure to go to Powell's Bookstore, then decided to grab dinner. Powell's is fairly ginormous. It is supposedly the largest independent bookstore in the world. I believe it. They have maps there. After that, it was time to stake out a spot for watching fireworks. There is a river walk type park that we camped out in, along with half of Portland. The people of Portland, as a side note, are strange. There was a very non-Asian man in front of us who had on some sort of ninja costume thing. And his hair in a top-knot. It was strange. Then there was the girl whose nose was attached to her skirt by a chain. There was also a naked woman. Apparently she was peeing behind a bush. Strange.
So, back to the fireworks. They pulled up two barges, one on either side of this bridge, and shot the fireworks from there. I have lots and lots and lots of pictures of fireworks. I had to move closer to see around the trees, which was definitely a good decision. Very nice show.
Saturday morning we went to the Portland Saturday Market. It was a rather large street market that had all sorts of local artists and creative people selling their work. I picked up a few things there, but they are surprises for people, so I can't tell about them. They also had food vendors there, so we ate lunch at the market. I had a delicious gyro made right in front of me. There were tacos, chinese food, and even african food. After the market, we headed to the south end of town and, after several detours due to poor navigation on the part of Thelma Louise (she picked a road that wasn't there), we finally ended up at OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). OMSI is pretty stinking cool. We saw an OmniMax movie on sea monsters. There was an interactive room full of things you could do that demonstrated basic science principles. We used our bodies to make an electrical connection and light a lightbulb...It also made our muscles twitch in our arms. We also made flying machines out of paper cups...I built a cross-braced structure and tested it on the moving platform. Mad props to me that it didn't fall down (and hadn't when I came by 10 minutes later). There was also a dinosaur exhibit with lots of fossils. Very cool hands-on museum for kids and big dorks like us. We grabbed a late lunch in a very cute cafe, then we decided to go play pool. It turns out us girls are not that great at pool. We had fun anyway.
Sunday, we went to the Portland International Rose Test Garden, which was absolutely beautiful and which yielded a large number of pictures. We also went to the Portland Japanese Gardens and walked around for a bit before we joined in on a special event they had going on. They had people who taught you how to make origami, then helped you write your wishes in Japanese and tie them to a bamboo branch that you could take with you.(I just looked it up and it's called the Tanabata festival)
Once we were done there, we grabbed Thai food at a cute place in town, then headed back to Richland.
This weekend's adventure: Camping at Cle Elum lake. Hopefully in the Wish Poosh campground, but they don't take reservations. We'll see. We're looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. Maybe do some kayaking, but only if we want to, of course. Enjoy the pictures!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
As promised, Mount Rainier pictures. We got up on Saturday morning, picked up a tent from a fellow intern who lives around here, and headed out toward Mount Rainier National Park. If you have never been there, I highly suggest going. Every view is absolutely stunning. Definitely wait to go in the summer, because many of the roads are only open during those times.
I'll stop advertising now. We got there and camped at Ohanapecosh. It's in the southeast corner of the park. We set up our lovely 2-room tent with a long discussion of which poles went where. The poles were color coded, but there was no way to tell which color went where. We were situated right beside a river, so we went down the hill and poked around for a bit, then we unloaded everything we didn't need in the car and headed out to find something to do. We got our map of the park and headed toward Paradise. There are two main areas in the park: Paradise and Sunrise. Sunrise isn't open until July, so we couldn't go there. Paradise is under construction and was a bit crowded because it was the highest point open to cars while Sunrise was closed. We drove up there and took tons of pictures and ate barbecue sandwiches in the grill. It didn't seem like there was a specific trail (all sorts of snow everywhere), because there were lots of people wandering in a general uphill direction. My favorite were the women in saris trying to hike in the snow. Because there wasn't a distinct trail that we could see, we asked a ranger, who sent us to another part of the park for what she thought was the most amazingly beautiful trail ever. Some of us were in sandals (mind you, we were fine with that, since we'd already had a snowball fight in our sandals), so she didn't want us in the snow. We went to her trail, the Trail of Shadows, and learned that it was 0.7 miles total. It was a flat trail that wandered the edge of a meadow. The trees were quite beautiful and tall, but we were looking for something a bit more hike like. We decide to head to something we see on the map, Grove of the Patriarchs. Turns out to be a rather short trail too, but the trees were ginormous. There were some twin cedars that were supposedly 1000 years old. and completely rotten in the middle. Very cool trail. There was a bridge over a river that was quite wobbly and didn't suit me at all, but I made it across alive. Yay!
We cooked burger meat and onions and potatoes and peppers in tinfoil over the fire that night. Yum! There was so much food in those packets. We made s'mores and sat around the fire until we all got tired and decided to go to bed. The next morning, we made omelettes in baggies and prepared an entire loaf of peanut butter sandwiches. We packed up the car and set out to Silver Falls. Quite a cool waterfall. You hike along these rapids for a while. We actually thought those were the falls. Then we walked a little further and found the real waterfall. It wasn't that tall, but the sheer volume of water flowing was quite impressive. Lots of pictures of that. We started toward Chinook Pass (we were going to hike Yakima Peak) but were delayed when we came around a corner and saw some people on the side of the road and dust on the other side. We stopped and found that their motorcycle had hit some gravel and run off the other side of the road. The bike was sitting on the side of the bank. The riders were both okay other than some scrapes and bruises. We left some of the group with them along with some water and bandages, then Ben and I drove to the nearest place we could find a ranger to get some help. We went back and stayed with the couple while we waited on the rangers. Several trucks came up and started bandaging them up and asking lots of questions while they waited on a tow truck. Ben and Steve were handed stop/slow signs and sent to either end of the area, but the curve was so tight that they couldn't see each other, so the rest of us spread out and directed them so that they wouldn't cause any other wrecks. We ended up directing traffic for about an hour and a half. The gentleman who owned the motorcycle took our names and addresses with him and the rangers thanked us and sent us to a visitor's center to get Junior Ranger badges. We got to the visitor's center and the lady there acted like she was very loath to give the badges away. We told her what we had done and how we had helped, so she gave us badges and made us raise our right hands and swear to do our parts to help out on the roads and the trails and anywhere or something like that. We all promptly wore our badges around like the big dorks we are.
Once we had gotten back on the road, we headed again to Chinook Pass, but we decided just to stop there and eat lunch rather than hike. We ended up hiking anyway, as we wanted to picnic in the snow and do some sledding. So we trekked up a hillside and ate our peanut butter sandwiches in the snow overlooking the mountain. It was quite incredible.
We made it home, safe and sound, and are resting for the next two days before we head out bright and early (6:30) on Friday morning for Portland. Rumor has it that the biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi is there. Actually, it's on the bridge between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA. Pictures of Portland to come, I'm sure.
I'll stop advertising now. We got there and camped at Ohanapecosh. It's in the southeast corner of the park. We set up our lovely 2-room tent with a long discussion of which poles went where. The poles were color coded, but there was no way to tell which color went where. We were situated right beside a river, so we went down the hill and poked around for a bit, then we unloaded everything we didn't need in the car and headed out to find something to do. We got our map of the park and headed toward Paradise. There are two main areas in the park: Paradise and Sunrise. Sunrise isn't open until July, so we couldn't go there. Paradise is under construction and was a bit crowded because it was the highest point open to cars while Sunrise was closed. We drove up there and took tons of pictures and ate barbecue sandwiches in the grill. It didn't seem like there was a specific trail (all sorts of snow everywhere), because there were lots of people wandering in a general uphill direction. My favorite were the women in saris trying to hike in the snow. Because there wasn't a distinct trail that we could see, we asked a ranger, who sent us to another part of the park for what she thought was the most amazingly beautiful trail ever. Some of us were in sandals (mind you, we were fine with that, since we'd already had a snowball fight in our sandals), so she didn't want us in the snow. We went to her trail, the Trail of Shadows, and learned that it was 0.7 miles total. It was a flat trail that wandered the edge of a meadow. The trees were quite beautiful and tall, but we were looking for something a bit more hike like. We decide to head to something we see on the map, Grove of the Patriarchs. Turns out to be a rather short trail too, but the trees were ginormous. There were some twin cedars that were supposedly 1000 years old. and completely rotten in the middle. Very cool trail. There was a bridge over a river that was quite wobbly and didn't suit me at all, but I made it across alive. Yay!
We cooked burger meat and onions and potatoes and peppers in tinfoil over the fire that night. Yum! There was so much food in those packets. We made s'mores and sat around the fire until we all got tired and decided to go to bed. The next morning, we made omelettes in baggies and prepared an entire loaf of peanut butter sandwiches. We packed up the car and set out to Silver Falls. Quite a cool waterfall. You hike along these rapids for a while. We actually thought those were the falls. Then we walked a little further and found the real waterfall. It wasn't that tall, but the sheer volume of water flowing was quite impressive. Lots of pictures of that. We started toward Chinook Pass (we were going to hike Yakima Peak) but were delayed when we came around a corner and saw some people on the side of the road and dust on the other side. We stopped and found that their motorcycle had hit some gravel and run off the other side of the road. The bike was sitting on the side of the bank. The riders were both okay other than some scrapes and bruises. We left some of the group with them along with some water and bandages, then Ben and I drove to the nearest place we could find a ranger to get some help. We went back and stayed with the couple while we waited on the rangers. Several trucks came up and started bandaging them up and asking lots of questions while they waited on a tow truck. Ben and Steve were handed stop/slow signs and sent to either end of the area, but the curve was so tight that they couldn't see each other, so the rest of us spread out and directed them so that they wouldn't cause any other wrecks. We ended up directing traffic for about an hour and a half. The gentleman who owned the motorcycle took our names and addresses with him and the rangers thanked us and sent us to a visitor's center to get Junior Ranger badges. We got to the visitor's center and the lady there acted like she was very loath to give the badges away. We told her what we had done and how we had helped, so she gave us badges and made us raise our right hands and swear to do our parts to help out on the roads and the trails and anywhere or something like that. We all promptly wore our badges around like the big dorks we are.
Once we had gotten back on the road, we headed again to Chinook Pass, but we decided just to stop there and eat lunch rather than hike. We ended up hiking anyway, as we wanted to picnic in the snow and do some sledding. So we trekked up a hillside and ate our peanut butter sandwiches in the snow overlooking the mountain. It was quite incredible.
We made it home, safe and sound, and are resting for the next two days before we head out bright and early (6:30) on Friday morning for Portland. Rumor has it that the biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi is there. Actually, it's on the bridge between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA. Pictures of Portland to come, I'm sure.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Hi family! Hope you aren't getting antsy for this weekend's post. I'm afraid I neglected to blog promptly. This past Friday was the PNNL/Battelle Salmon Bake (I thought the color was a nice touch). $5 for salmon and the chance to play on the big inflatable kids' stuff. There are some pictures of me losing the bungee race in the slide show. After the salmon bake, we went down to the uptown (it's really just a tacky shopping center) and watched the Cool Desert Nights car show. Anyone who thinks their car is remotely cool or classic enters the show and they drive in circles before they finally park in the big parking lot and we can look a little closer at them. Plenty of car pictures on my camera of course. There was a greeen VW bug with a clemson sticker on it. We hunted them down and talked to them. Very nice people.
Saturday was floating day. We had two inflatable kayaks, one canoe, two inner tubes, three tubing tubes, and a small "two person" raft that had oars. We tied the tubes to the canoe and my kayak, then we divided up the few paddles and made sure everyone had a life jacket. We put a cooler in two of the boats and put drinks in a bookbag that was tied to one of the inner tubes (the water was cold enough to keep things cold). We hopped in our "boats" and floated from the south side of PNNL to the other end of Richland (on the Columbia River). It took about 2/2.5 hours. After that, there was some volleyball played and napping done. We played Wii on Saturday night, which was quite fun, because the TV was absolutely massive.
Sunday was hiking day. We hiked Badger mountain near here (800 ft elevation gain, 1.4 miles each way). Very different from any hike I've ever done. NO TREES on the mountain. You can see some pictures of that in the slide show. You'll notice a picture from the top, where you can see the Columbia River. There is a region that has a lot of trees. That's Richland. The empty space to the left and back (north, along the river) is the Hanford Site. You can faintly see the reactors there. You can tell from that elevation that Richland's trees don't belong there. There is such an odd variety of trees here. They were brought in when the city was originally formed by the government (like I said before, the Oak Ridge of Washington for you Tennessee folks). I'm going on a bus tour of the Hanford Site tomorrow afternoon. Sadly, Reactor B (as in, the second one built...the one for plutonium production) is getting a new roof, so we are not going to be able to go inside and see the water pools and stuff. No pictures to come of that, but there will be plenty of pictures of the trip I'll be taking this weekend to Mt. Rainier. Yay camping! With no sleeping bags!
Saturday was floating day. We had two inflatable kayaks, one canoe, two inner tubes, three tubing tubes, and a small "two person" raft that had oars. We tied the tubes to the canoe and my kayak, then we divided up the few paddles and made sure everyone had a life jacket. We put a cooler in two of the boats and put drinks in a bookbag that was tied to one of the inner tubes (the water was cold enough to keep things cold). We hopped in our "boats" and floated from the south side of PNNL to the other end of Richland (on the Columbia River). It took about 2/2.5 hours. After that, there was some volleyball played and napping done. We played Wii on Saturday night, which was quite fun, because the TV was absolutely massive.
Sunday was hiking day. We hiked Badger mountain near here (800 ft elevation gain, 1.4 miles each way). Very different from any hike I've ever done. NO TREES on the mountain. You can see some pictures of that in the slide show. You'll notice a picture from the top, where you can see the Columbia River. There is a region that has a lot of trees. That's Richland. The empty space to the left and back (north, along the river) is the Hanford Site. You can faintly see the reactors there. You can tell from that elevation that Richland's trees don't belong there. There is such an odd variety of trees here. They were brought in when the city was originally formed by the government (like I said before, the Oak Ridge of Washington for you Tennessee folks). I'm going on a bus tour of the Hanford Site tomorrow afternoon. Sadly, Reactor B (as in, the second one built...the one for plutonium production) is getting a new roof, so we are not going to be able to go inside and see the water pools and stuff. No pictures to come of that, but there will be plenty of pictures of the trip I'll be taking this weekend to Mt. Rainier. Yay camping! With no sleeping bags!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
So, I have been pestered incessantly for pictures from this weekend. You guys are going to have to put up with pictures from Thursday and Friday as well, because I put them all in the one slide show.
See, we went to the hydroplane boat races on Saturday. They were pretty stinking cool, so there are 165 pictures from the day. Needless to say, I pared it down a bit.
In this weekend's album, you will see pictures of us playing on the local elementary school playground (look closely! you can see the 11 year old boys on bikes who were trying to pick a fight with us!). We went over there on Thursday to hang out with Carissa and Laura. Yes, there is another Laura. There are some sunny pictures of fellow interns at the picnic we had on Friday evening. Very fun to hang out with everyone outside of the lab. The ones in the pictures are all interns from the building where Ben and I work. Last but certainly not least, there are hydroplane pictures. Enjoy!
See, we went to the hydroplane boat races on Saturday. They were pretty stinking cool, so there are 165 pictures from the day. Needless to say, I pared it down a bit.
In this weekend's album, you will see pictures of us playing on the local elementary school playground (look closely! you can see the 11 year old boys on bikes who were trying to pick a fight with us!). We went over there on Thursday to hang out with Carissa and Laura. Yes, there is another Laura. There are some sunny pictures of fellow interns at the picnic we had on Friday evening. Very fun to hang out with everyone outside of the lab. The ones in the pictures are all interns from the building where Ben and I work. Last but certainly not least, there are hydroplane pictures. Enjoy!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
The state of Washington has no appreciation for its own natural beauty. The state park website here is atrocious. It doesn't even have pictures of the part of the park that you would want to see. For example, I give you Palouse Falls SP. It is a waterfall. No pictures of waterfalls on their website. Luckily for you all, I have taken plenty of pictures of it today. It was incredible. We drive through this rolling countryside. Lots of farmland. All of a sudden, there's this canyon and a waterfall. The falls are 185 feet high, making the canyon at least 400 feet deep. Some of the pictures have people in them to give you an idea of the scale. This park was so unlike South Carolina. There, someone would have fallen to their death by now, so there'd be handrails everywhere and you wouldn't be able to actually wander around. Here, there weren't even official trails. There was a fence at one spot, but it was pretty much open for wherever we wanted to wander, right up to the edge. Which is kinda scary if you're afeared of heights (well, just unsafe heights. if there's a railing, i'll walk right up to it). But it was very cool and totally worth walking up to the edge. We also went to Walla Walla, so there are pictures of that too.
For those who want a laugh, I've included this slide show of the local disc golf course. It's like wandering across Wyoming or something. Very strange.
For those who want a laugh, I've included this slide show of the local disc golf course. It's like wandering across Wyoming or something. Very strange.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
A few pictures of town. You'll see several different things here. There is a picture of my apartment building, another one later of my back porch. There are some pictures of town (roads and trees). There are only actually trees along the roads, so you get the false impression of a highly treed area.
The tree types vary greatly here. There are hardly any native trees in the neighborhoods. See, when the government first built the town around the nuclear site, they planted whatever they had. Anything that you give some water to and put in the ground here will grow. As long as it gets water. So we drove past asian trees, sweetgum trees, maples, birches, willows, fraser firs...I think I saw a mesquite too.
The building you'll see later, rather gray and ugly one, is my lab. The picture of the road with the bubble building in the distance...that's the nuclear site. I'm going on a tour later this summer. No, there won't be pictures. I have a headache, so this is going to be really short. Enjoy the pictures!
Oh, there are also a few vineyard pictures.
The tree types vary greatly here. There are hardly any native trees in the neighborhoods. See, when the government first built the town around the nuclear site, they planted whatever they had. Anything that you give some water to and put in the ground here will grow. As long as it gets water. So we drove past asian trees, sweetgum trees, maples, birches, willows, fraser firs...I think I saw a mesquite too.
The building you'll see later, rather gray and ugly one, is my lab. The picture of the road with the bubble building in the distance...that's the nuclear site. I'm going on a tour later this summer. No, there won't be pictures. I have a headache, so this is going to be really short. Enjoy the pictures!
Oh, there are also a few vineyard pictures.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Hello family and avid fans!
I will eventually put up one more post with pictures of town for you to see. I start work tomorrow morning, bright and early (well, it'll be nearly 11 your time). I just wanted to let you guys know that you should probably not expect daily posts this summer. If I do anything interesting, I'll keep you posted. I'm working on a puzzle right now. Not too exciting. I'm currently sorting the pieces by color. (So OC)
For those of you who may want to reach me, my address here is:
1900 Stevens Drive
Apartment 117
Richland, WA 99354
I will eventually put up one more post with pictures of town for you to see. I start work tomorrow morning, bright and early (well, it'll be nearly 11 your time). I just wanted to let you guys know that you should probably not expect daily posts this summer. If I do anything interesting, I'll keep you posted. I'm working on a puzzle right now. Not too exciting. I'm currently sorting the pieces by color. (So OC)
For those of you who may want to reach me, my address here is:
1900 Stevens Drive
Apartment 117
Richland, WA 99354
Friday, May 23, 2008
I guess this counts as day 7. I thought I'd share with you all some pictures of my apartment. It's very nice and very clean. Today we unpacked, tomorrow we head out to explore the town. We are going to find where I'll be working and find downtown and generally orient ourselves. In the pictures, the first room with the patchwork quilt is mine. The room with the Clemson blanket is where mom is sleeping right now.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
photo notes
For those of you who think the photos on the blog are too small, I have made public the daily slideshows. They are located at this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/home
Once I have the opportunity, I will put up an album containing almost all of my pictures (i had to pick and choose so as not to bore you readers) from the trip. In case you want to see them.
Also, I will be geotagging as much as possible so you can see where we were. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it. It's a feature of Picasa.
Thanks for being such avid readers!
Once I have the opportunity, I will put up an album containing almost all of my pictures (i had to pick and choose so as not to bore you readers) from the trip. In case you want to see them.
Also, I will be geotagging as much as possible so you can see where we were. If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it. It's a feature of Picasa.
Thanks for being such avid readers!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
First, apologies go to my readers who have had to wait three days for a blog update. If you actually expected Yellowstone to have wireless, you’re crazy. I think I’d be disappointed if they had wireless here. They don’t have TVs in the rooms. And you should see our closet. Anyway, to ensure that you, my avid readers, get a quality travel update, I am writing while still in Yellowstone and will post as soon as I can.
Day 4: Cheyenne to Yellowstone
Since we had had such a long and dreary drive on day 3 and, since our drive would be only 8 hours, we decided to take a more leisurely pace across Wyoming. The slide show should really be broken down into two parts. The first would be the geology lesson. The second, snow. Seriously. Wyoming is absolutely beautiful. Very empty, very beautiful. Some of the most interesting geological features I’ve ever seen. So we set off from Cheyenne with the straight open road in front of us. Even on the interstate, we were almost alone. We could do 80 there though, so we didn’t mind all the nothing at that point. By the way, we’ve got a new slogan for a few of the states we’ve passed. Nebraska: “There’s more nothing where that came from.” Missouri: “You should see Nebraska.” Anyway, back to Wyoming. There is nothing out there. Cows, antelope, and fences. They have these snow fences that keep the snow from blowing onto the roads. There is a picture of them in the slide show, right before the pictures of the rocks. They get very strong winds out there, because there is nothing to block said winds. So they put fences up. At least some areas are making the best of the wind they’ve got. There were wind farms, with those big white windmills that are so cool. We stopped in one town whose name has slipped my mind (laramie?). It was the home of Wyoming University. The cowboys. We got t-shirts, so you'll have to see them. Quite funny. Mine has a ginormous cowboy on the front. We also saw the Sinclair oil refinery in Sinclair, WY. Once we turned off of the interstate, we were on hwy 287, which just made the interstate look busy. It is a bit unnerving to drive for miles without seeing any other cars (and you can see for miles, so you KNOW there aren’t any cars around). Makes you think you’re going the wrong way. We crossed the continental divide a total of 7 times during this trip. We took a lot of sign pictures, so you'll see those in the slide show. We had seen signs all the way that would tell you if the road was closed for snow and gates so they could actually keep you off of the roads if they needed to, so the report that it might snow on our second night in Yellowstone was a bit frightening. We decided that in Wyoming, they got snow all the time and knew how to deal with it. Brave Burka ladies soldiering on. Anyhoo, somewhere past Lander, WY we entered the Shoshone National Forest. I’ll just point out that for every beautiful picture we took, there is an even more beautiful picture to follow it. We get into the forest and are just cruising along toward the Tetons. You have to go through the Tetons to get to the south entrance to the park. So we come around the corner and there is snow everywhere. But it’s like 70-something out. We have short sleeves on and our windows down. And it’s warm. Thankfully, they were doing construction that stopped us long enough that we could stop the car and stretch our legs. So these woods are beautiful right? Yeah. Well then we get to the Tetons. Those things are absolutely amazing. Huge. Snowy. Just look at the pictures, alright? We took many many pictures. Some in color and some awesome B&Ws. We stopped in the park’s fancy lodge to rest for a moment, then we got on the road. After we stopped to take a picture of the MOOSE! Once leaving there, we headed onward to Yellowstone. Snow on both sides and a clear road. Still as warm as could be. By the way, I’ve decided to become a park ranger, but only if they let me wear the poofy pants that Mounties wear. And let me ride a moose. Anyway, we entered the park and took a lot of pictures. Especially of the frozen lake. Lake Yellowstone is covered in ice. There are melted parts right by the edge, but the thing is ginormous and completely frozen. Also, they scrape the snow out of the roads, so the sides are walls of snow. Please make sure to see the picture of me standing in front of the snow for effect. That pile is not from plows. It’s the same depth all the way into the woods for a little way. The Lake Yellowstone Hotel is yellow. Of course. Piles of snow from plowing are so high that if you aren’t on the correct row, you can’t find your car. Anyway, we ate dinner in the dining room there and it was delicious. No cell service, no tv, no internet. Ahhhh…
And in case you didn’t know...If you missed part of the slide show because you were reading the long description of Wyoming, a play button will appear at the end for you to start it over.
Day 5: Yellowstone!
So, today we woke up and it was raining. And cold. So we went over to the dining room for breakfast and requested a table by the giant picture windows. As we ate, the rain turned into snow. A lot of snow. That was sticking. And wasn’t stopping. It’s May, right? I’ve decided that the best place to be when it snows is inside with a cup of anything warm. We talked to a few employees and determined that it was safe to set out on the roads. Just don’t scare the bison with your car. So we set out and went on a loop around the park. We drove the loop and stopped whenever we saw fit. There are a lot of pictures. There was a wolf. Wait, the wolf was the day before. There was a grizzly bear, a bison, another two bison, and an elk. So look at the animal pictures. We saw some falls. Really serious water here. The snow melting (I guess it’s melting somewhere, right?) has brought the rivers higher. Oh, and it’s still snowing. We stopped at one of the geyser basins and wandered on the boardwalks. The colors and smells of the hot springs are so fascinating. The ugliness of this place is astounding. I have suffered greatly. (joking!) We stopped in and out of various places. Lots and lots of pictures of snow. You’ll probably hate snow by the time the slide show is over. Eventually, we worked our way over to Old Faithful. Of course. At this point, the snow is very heavy. We decided to see the geyser (which we got there just in time to see) and then discuss whether we would risk staying there for dinner like we had planned. Geyser…very cool. I wish the pictures better showed how huge and cool it was. Sadly, the haziness of snowy weather prevented good pictures. Go look up a picture online or something. It was cool. After that, we went inside the Inn and had coffee and hot cocoa while we poked around in the shop, then settled onto a sofa that is apparently from 1904 and watched the people. The whole place is very cozy. No, we didn’t try to drop Uncle David’s name there. We thought it might do more harm than good. We hung around and warmed up, then we went on a tour of the inn that was very cool. We now know all about the history of the inn and the park. We attempted a walk around the geyser that was rather cold and snowy. It was nice when the nearby hot springs put off smoke right at you. Even if the smoke smelled of sulfur, it was warm. Did I mention it was still snowing? We evaluated the roads and determined it was safe to stay there for dinner, so we ate an early dinner that was delicious. I highly suggest roasted red pepper and roasted gouda soup. That was only part of it, but it was such a yummy soup and so good for warming up my tummy. We returned across very snowy mountains to our own hotel and passed a snow plow on the way. Getting out in the morning may be interesting. They seem to be able to handle snow around here though…
An added note after looking through pictures: you'll see a lake in yesterday's pictures. Completely covered in ice. You'll see the same lake in today's pictures. Can't see across it for all the snow. Also, completely covered in snow and ice. I am completely astounded that a body of water as large as Lake Yellowstone could be frozen.
Day 6: Yellowstone to Richland
Technically, we aren't in Richland. We are staying at a hotel in Kennewick. Look it up on google maps. They're practically the same place. So...
We got up this morning to find that it had stopped snowing. Not that it made a difference, because there was still snow everywhere. On the bright side of things, Yellowstone really knows how to deal with snow on the roads. Anyway, we packed and had breakfast in the dining room (to let the roads thaw) and got on the road in a leisurely manner. We failed to realize that it would take us a full two hours to get out of the park. It was such a long drive that we had to take a bathroom break at Old Faithful. Anyway, it started snowing/raining as soon as we got out of West Yellowstone and headed north in Montana. Winding roads, in the snow and the rain, for 9 hours. Then there was the rest of the trip. Montana would have been beautiful but for the snow and the deficient rest area system. I have never had to go to the bathroom so badly so many times in one week. It was so strange that they would not put many rest areas out. They even put in rest areas with no restrooms. And some of them were closed for the winter. And there aren't any trees to go behind out where we were. We also learned about "chain-up" areas. They mean that you should probably be worried. See, out here, you can go up a hill and the weather be rainy and there be no snow on the ground but, as soon as you clear the hill (and by hill i mean rather large mountain. like really really really large.), there will be snow. Then you come down the hill and there's a chain removal area. So, when you see those signs...worry. Idaho was rather scenic. There is a very pretty lake that we drove past for a while. Mom remembers it as very steep, tall, foggy, and snowy. All true. We listened to "This American Life" to pass the time today. Rather interesting. I used to hate that show. We got into Washington and noticed that Spokane (being the second largest city in the state) is a lot wealthier than the towns we've been seeing the last few days. Then we left that city and crossed the empty part of the state. There are tumbleweeds pushed up against the fences, but rich farms that you can tell are very forced (lots of irrigation). We passed a few vineyards on the way into the Tri-Cities area (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco). This is a rich wine country. In fact, I've just read that it is only second in the country to Sonoma. We crossed the Columbia River (really really really big). Anyway, It's been a long day. It took us 11.5 hours to get here. Thank goodness we crossed into another time zone. I'm tired, so I'm going to bed.
Day 4: Cheyenne to Yellowstone
Since we had had such a long and dreary drive on day 3 and, since our drive would be only 8 hours, we decided to take a more leisurely pace across Wyoming. The slide show should really be broken down into two parts. The first would be the geology lesson. The second, snow. Seriously. Wyoming is absolutely beautiful. Very empty, very beautiful. Some of the most interesting geological features I’ve ever seen. So we set off from Cheyenne with the straight open road in front of us. Even on the interstate, we were almost alone. We could do 80 there though, so we didn’t mind all the nothing at that point. By the way, we’ve got a new slogan for a few of the states we’ve passed. Nebraska: “There’s more nothing where that came from.” Missouri: “You should see Nebraska.” Anyway, back to Wyoming. There is nothing out there. Cows, antelope, and fences. They have these snow fences that keep the snow from blowing onto the roads. There is a picture of them in the slide show, right before the pictures of the rocks. They get very strong winds out there, because there is nothing to block said winds. So they put fences up. At least some areas are making the best of the wind they’ve got. There were wind farms, with those big white windmills that are so cool. We stopped in one town whose name has slipped my mind (laramie?). It was the home of Wyoming University. The cowboys. We got t-shirts, so you'll have to see them. Quite funny. Mine has a ginormous cowboy on the front. We also saw the Sinclair oil refinery in Sinclair, WY. Once we turned off of the interstate, we were on hwy 287, which just made the interstate look busy. It is a bit unnerving to drive for miles without seeing any other cars (and you can see for miles, so you KNOW there aren’t any cars around). Makes you think you’re going the wrong way. We crossed the continental divide a total of 7 times during this trip. We took a lot of sign pictures, so you'll see those in the slide show. We had seen signs all the way that would tell you if the road was closed for snow and gates so they could actually keep you off of the roads if they needed to, so the report that it might snow on our second night in Yellowstone was a bit frightening. We decided that in Wyoming, they got snow all the time and knew how to deal with it. Brave Burka ladies soldiering on. Anyhoo, somewhere past Lander, WY we entered the Shoshone National Forest. I’ll just point out that for every beautiful picture we took, there is an even more beautiful picture to follow it. We get into the forest and are just cruising along toward the Tetons. You have to go through the Tetons to get to the south entrance to the park. So we come around the corner and there is snow everywhere. But it’s like 70-something out. We have short sleeves on and our windows down. And it’s warm. Thankfully, they were doing construction that stopped us long enough that we could stop the car and stretch our legs. So these woods are beautiful right? Yeah. Well then we get to the Tetons. Those things are absolutely amazing. Huge. Snowy. Just look at the pictures, alright? We took many many pictures. Some in color and some awesome B&Ws. We stopped in the park’s fancy lodge to rest for a moment, then we got on the road. After we stopped to take a picture of the MOOSE! Once leaving there, we headed onward to Yellowstone. Snow on both sides and a clear road. Still as warm as could be. By the way, I’ve decided to become a park ranger, but only if they let me wear the poofy pants that Mounties wear. And let me ride a moose. Anyway, we entered the park and took a lot of pictures. Especially of the frozen lake. Lake Yellowstone is covered in ice. There are melted parts right by the edge, but the thing is ginormous and completely frozen. Also, they scrape the snow out of the roads, so the sides are walls of snow. Please make sure to see the picture of me standing in front of the snow for effect. That pile is not from plows. It’s the same depth all the way into the woods for a little way. The Lake Yellowstone Hotel is yellow. Of course. Piles of snow from plowing are so high that if you aren’t on the correct row, you can’t find your car. Anyway, we ate dinner in the dining room there and it was delicious. No cell service, no tv, no internet. Ahhhh…
And in case you didn’t know...If you missed part of the slide show because you were reading the long description of Wyoming, a play button will appear at the end for you to start it over.
Day 5: Yellowstone!
So, today we woke up and it was raining. And cold. So we went over to the dining room for breakfast and requested a table by the giant picture windows. As we ate, the rain turned into snow. A lot of snow. That was sticking. And wasn’t stopping. It’s May, right? I’ve decided that the best place to be when it snows is inside with a cup of anything warm. We talked to a few employees and determined that it was safe to set out on the roads. Just don’t scare the bison with your car. So we set out and went on a loop around the park. We drove the loop and stopped whenever we saw fit. There are a lot of pictures. There was a wolf. Wait, the wolf was the day before. There was a grizzly bear, a bison, another two bison, and an elk. So look at the animal pictures. We saw some falls. Really serious water here. The snow melting (I guess it’s melting somewhere, right?) has brought the rivers higher. Oh, and it’s still snowing. We stopped at one of the geyser basins and wandered on the boardwalks. The colors and smells of the hot springs are so fascinating. The ugliness of this place is astounding. I have suffered greatly. (joking!) We stopped in and out of various places. Lots and lots of pictures of snow. You’ll probably hate snow by the time the slide show is over. Eventually, we worked our way over to Old Faithful. Of course. At this point, the snow is very heavy. We decided to see the geyser (which we got there just in time to see) and then discuss whether we would risk staying there for dinner like we had planned. Geyser…very cool. I wish the pictures better showed how huge and cool it was. Sadly, the haziness of snowy weather prevented good pictures. Go look up a picture online or something. It was cool. After that, we went inside the Inn and had coffee and hot cocoa while we poked around in the shop, then settled onto a sofa that is apparently from 1904 and watched the people. The whole place is very cozy. No, we didn’t try to drop Uncle David’s name there. We thought it might do more harm than good. We hung around and warmed up, then we went on a tour of the inn that was very cool. We now know all about the history of the inn and the park. We attempted a walk around the geyser that was rather cold and snowy. It was nice when the nearby hot springs put off smoke right at you. Even if the smoke smelled of sulfur, it was warm. Did I mention it was still snowing? We evaluated the roads and determined it was safe to stay there for dinner, so we ate an early dinner that was delicious. I highly suggest roasted red pepper and roasted gouda soup. That was only part of it, but it was such a yummy soup and so good for warming up my tummy. We returned across very snowy mountains to our own hotel and passed a snow plow on the way. Getting out in the morning may be interesting. They seem to be able to handle snow around here though…
An added note after looking through pictures: you'll see a lake in yesterday's pictures. Completely covered in ice. You'll see the same lake in today's pictures. Can't see across it for all the snow. Also, completely covered in snow and ice. I am completely astounded that a body of water as large as Lake Yellowstone could be frozen.
Day 6: Yellowstone to Richland
Technically, we aren't in Richland. We are staying at a hotel in Kennewick. Look it up on google maps. They're practically the same place. So...
We got up this morning to find that it had stopped snowing. Not that it made a difference, because there was still snow everywhere. On the bright side of things, Yellowstone really knows how to deal with snow on the roads. Anyway, we packed and had breakfast in the dining room (to let the roads thaw) and got on the road in a leisurely manner. We failed to realize that it would take us a full two hours to get out of the park. It was such a long drive that we had to take a bathroom break at Old Faithful. Anyway, it started snowing/raining as soon as we got out of West Yellowstone and headed north in Montana. Winding roads, in the snow and the rain, for 9 hours. Then there was the rest of the trip. Montana would have been beautiful but for the snow and the deficient rest area system. I have never had to go to the bathroom so badly so many times in one week. It was so strange that they would not put many rest areas out. They even put in rest areas with no restrooms. And some of them were closed for the winter. And there aren't any trees to go behind out where we were. We also learned about "chain-up" areas. They mean that you should probably be worried. See, out here, you can go up a hill and the weather be rainy and there be no snow on the ground but, as soon as you clear the hill (and by hill i mean rather large mountain. like really really really large.), there will be snow. Then you come down the hill and there's a chain removal area. So, when you see those signs...worry. Idaho was rather scenic. There is a very pretty lake that we drove past for a while. Mom remembers it as very steep, tall, foggy, and snowy. All true. We listened to "This American Life" to pass the time today. Rather interesting. I used to hate that show. We got into Washington and noticed that Spokane (being the second largest city in the state) is a lot wealthier than the towns we've been seeing the last few days. Then we left that city and crossed the empty part of the state. There are tumbleweeds pushed up against the fences, but rich farms that you can tell are very forced (lots of irrigation). We passed a few vineyards on the way into the Tri-Cities area (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco). This is a rich wine country. In fact, I've just read that it is only second in the country to Sonoma. We crossed the Columbia River (really really really big). Anyway, It's been a long day. It took us 11.5 hours to get here. Thank goodness we crossed into another time zone. I'm tired, so I'm going to bed.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Day 2 Update:
There was a shooting outside our original hotel in St. Louis during the parade that blocked us from our hotel. I'm convinced that I heard the gunshots. Oh dear...
Day 3: St. Louis to Cheyenne, WY
St. Louis was fun to navigate in the morning, even at 6:30 am. We got on the road right at 6:00 local time. We lost another hour today, so now we're two hours behind the east coast. We crossed the entire state of Missouri. Looks like Illinois. Farms. Lots of farms. Our maps sent us on a loop of Kansas City (we didn't ever actually enter Kansas) that was like a bajillion miles long. Really. The loop doesn't loop. It heads straight north, then hangs a left and heads west. Look at a map some time. While we're on Kansas City, I should mention my commentary that all the major cities in states around here seem to be on the border. Here's how we figure it: borders are along rivers, rivers equal commerce, commerce builds cities. Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis...think about how many cities you know on some sort of major waterway. Moving on now...
We headed north from Kansas City and ended up entering Iowa for like 10 miles before we took a left and headed toward Nebraska. Before leaving the lovely state of Iowa (looks just like Missouri), we stopped at a "welcome center" that was a small museum, some maps, and a dude behind a desk. The dude was rather old. Had been to Myrtle Beach, so that was his impression of South Carolina. At least he enjoyed himself there. We made lunch on the back of the car in Iowa, then hit the road for Nebraska. Which was two miles down the road. Counting lunch, we were in the state of Iowa for like 25 minutes. Oh Nebraska. Nebraska is really really big. Like REALLY big. Lots of farms. I have so many pictures of farms. Lots of flat. I now know all sorts of things about crop irrigation systems. If you ever see an overhead view of Nebraska, look at the circles. They're due to the center pivot irrigation system. Look it up, it's very cool. North Platte had a Starbucks. We stopped there and were caught in a sudden rainstorm that lasted only a few minutes. The flat nature of the state causes weather to change very quickly there. Think "Little House on the Prairie" and the storms they had then. There was a constant wind while we were driving. It made staying on the road a challenge for mom. As we entered the panhandle region of the state, there was a change in terrain as more hills appeared and more rocks. There was also a significant increase in elevation. We decided that we have all the respect in the world for the people of Nebraska. Not only do they provide a significant amount of the country's food, they also survive through some very extreme seasons. It was 82 there today. I imagine the summers there are brutal as are the winters. Very unpredictable weather. Last Nebraska bit: the state is not only the cornhusker state, it is a source of oil, coal, wheat, grain, and cattle. Large beef farms around the state. More varied terrain than you'd imagine. All in all, very interesting, yet very boring.
We are now in the state capitol of Wyoming. Cheyenne is a town of only 56,000. About a third the size of Greenville. We came over a hill and could see mountains in the distance. The first thing we've seen on the horizon in a while. This is a very quiet town. Not at all touristy. Has a big plant (Pioneer something) and an old-fashioned downtown area.
The deer count: We've been counting dead deer. We are up to 11. Until the very edge of Nebraska, the dead deer outnumbered the live ones. This leads to the conclusion by majority rule that deer are, in fact, alive. We have been tallying all sorts of dead animals and are hoping for some more interesting ones tomorrow. I'm still looking for a bison and a moose for amy.
Tomorrow, we literally cross the state diagonally. We will see the Tetons as well as Yellowstone. We should be getting there early enough to look around.
Enjoy the pictures!!
There was a shooting outside our original hotel in St. Louis during the parade that blocked us from our hotel. I'm convinced that I heard the gunshots. Oh dear...
Day 3: St. Louis to Cheyenne, WY
St. Louis was fun to navigate in the morning, even at 6:30 am. We got on the road right at 6:00 local time. We lost another hour today, so now we're two hours behind the east coast. We crossed the entire state of Missouri. Looks like Illinois. Farms. Lots of farms. Our maps sent us on a loop of Kansas City (we didn't ever actually enter Kansas) that was like a bajillion miles long. Really. The loop doesn't loop. It heads straight north, then hangs a left and heads west. Look at a map some time. While we're on Kansas City, I should mention my commentary that all the major cities in states around here seem to be on the border. Here's how we figure it: borders are along rivers, rivers equal commerce, commerce builds cities. Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis...think about how many cities you know on some sort of major waterway. Moving on now...
We headed north from Kansas City and ended up entering Iowa for like 10 miles before we took a left and headed toward Nebraska. Before leaving the lovely state of Iowa (looks just like Missouri), we stopped at a "welcome center" that was a small museum, some maps, and a dude behind a desk. The dude was rather old. Had been to Myrtle Beach, so that was his impression of South Carolina. At least he enjoyed himself there. We made lunch on the back of the car in Iowa, then hit the road for Nebraska. Which was two miles down the road. Counting lunch, we were in the state of Iowa for like 25 minutes. Oh Nebraska. Nebraska is really really big. Like REALLY big. Lots of farms. I have so many pictures of farms. Lots of flat. I now know all sorts of things about crop irrigation systems. If you ever see an overhead view of Nebraska, look at the circles. They're due to the center pivot irrigation system. Look it up, it's very cool. North Platte had a Starbucks. We stopped there and were caught in a sudden rainstorm that lasted only a few minutes. The flat nature of the state causes weather to change very quickly there. Think "Little House on the Prairie" and the storms they had then. There was a constant wind while we were driving. It made staying on the road a challenge for mom. As we entered the panhandle region of the state, there was a change in terrain as more hills appeared and more rocks. There was also a significant increase in elevation. We decided that we have all the respect in the world for the people of Nebraska. Not only do they provide a significant amount of the country's food, they also survive through some very extreme seasons. It was 82 there today. I imagine the summers there are brutal as are the winters. Very unpredictable weather. Last Nebraska bit: the state is not only the cornhusker state, it is a source of oil, coal, wheat, grain, and cattle. Large beef farms around the state. More varied terrain than you'd imagine. All in all, very interesting, yet very boring.
We are now in the state capitol of Wyoming. Cheyenne is a town of only 56,000. About a third the size of Greenville. We came over a hill and could see mountains in the distance. The first thing we've seen on the horizon in a while. This is a very quiet town. Not at all touristy. Has a big plant (Pioneer something) and an old-fashioned downtown area.
The deer count: We've been counting dead deer. We are up to 11. Until the very edge of Nebraska, the dead deer outnumbered the live ones. This leads to the conclusion by majority rule that deer are, in fact, alive. We have been tallying all sorts of dead animals and are hoping for some more interesting ones tomorrow. I'm still looking for a bison and a moose for amy.
Tomorrow, we literally cross the state diagonally. We will see the Tetons as well as Yellowstone. We should be getting there early enough to look around.
Enjoy the pictures!!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Day 1: Greenville to Knoxville
Well, seeing as how I have made this trip like a bajillion times, I didn't really see anything of note. Nothing new. I-40 is closed through Knoxville for those who may be trying to travel through that city any time soon. I highly suggest looking up the T-DOT website to find out the status of this road before you travel through that area. And now on to the weather report. Sunny with a chance of weather. Kidding. Really though, it was the same old mountains, same old road through the mountains. We have decided to take a picture of every state line that we cross. I have done an excellent job so far (as far as I am concerned). As I am now quite learned in the ways of slideshows, I can put a slideshow of each leg of the trip (yay! I know you're all excited, right?). We had a lovely party in Knoxville, with delicious food and a surprise birthday cake for Uncle Paul and Mom, who are both turning 29 this year. All the cousins (well, not all of them were there, but that's what G-ma kept telling me) came and we had a good time. And kicked them out promptly at 9:02.
Day 2: Knoxville to St. Louis
Up bright and early today. We were out the door and started the car promptly at 5:54 am. G-ma and G-pa were up to wave out the window at us. We got on the road and headed out toward Nashville with no problems. They even gave me a cup of hot water for my tea when we stopped by McDonald's for mom's coffee. The roads were clear, it being a Sunday morning, and we breezed through most of the day. Even Nashville. We saw Amy's favorite dam on the way to Nashville. We hopped through Kentucky and stopped at a rest area in Illinois to use a picnic table for lunch. While attempting to eat lunch, our efforts were thwarted by the vicious attack of a rabid squirrel and his gang of squirrel buddies. Okay, so they weren't vicious, they weren't rabid, and there were only two. But two's company. These squirrels were not bothered by mom's valiant attempt to defend our humble meal. She chose to take a lesson out of the Scott Burka Guide to Dealing with Animals. She yelled menacingly at them and waved. I chose to remove my feet from the ground and point while saying "no!" when they got on the table with us. The drive was fast, thanks partly to the lack of traffic on the roads and partly to the loss of a time zone. We lose another one of those tomorrow. Good thing too, since it's going to be 13 or 14 hours on the road tomorrow. We need all the daylight we can get. We got into St. Louis approximately 15 minutes before the start of the Cardinals game. Of course, we were rather lost, because 4 interstates become 1 interstate for a section there, and we weren't sure about the road numbers. So, we ended up in the middle of downtown in the game traffic. Let me say that police in this city are a bit incompetent. They don't direct. They just block streets and watch. We FINALLY find a road that allows us to get past the stadium to the road we need and we discover that the middle of town is blocked off too. In fact, there are tons of roads blocked off. I just looked up an events calendar and learned that there was a May Day parade and blues festival today. For those who are thinking "may day is on the first"...you're correct. They are a little late. Nevertheless, they were celebrating. And this celebration involved the section of road by our hotel being completely blocked off. So we went back down and talked them into letting us into the arch tram early. We walked around and took pictures and then we rode up in the little eggs. Those things are so strange. And so cool. And I got pictures of the two events that were causing us so much trouble. Must admit...the arch is way cooler than I thought it would be. And most of it has to do with how they built it. We watched a video on it. Very very very cool. And UN-SAFE (that's for dad). No safety harnesses at all. Mom survived the small spaces in the building and we made it up and down alive. After this, we headed away from town, had dinner, and talked our way into a hotel outside of town. Oh, and the people in this city don't understand intersections. Or how to drive. Tomorrow, I take the wheel first. Mom is already asleep, so I am going to hit the hay. At 8:32 pm, local time. Whatever. It's a long day tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures y'all!
Well, seeing as how I have made this trip like a bajillion times, I didn't really see anything of note. Nothing new. I-40 is closed through Knoxville for those who may be trying to travel through that city any time soon. I highly suggest looking up the T-DOT website to find out the status of this road before you travel through that area. And now on to the weather report. Sunny with a chance of weather. Kidding. Really though, it was the same old mountains, same old road through the mountains. We have decided to take a picture of every state line that we cross. I have done an excellent job so far (as far as I am concerned). As I am now quite learned in the ways of slideshows, I can put a slideshow of each leg of the trip (yay! I know you're all excited, right?). We had a lovely party in Knoxville, with delicious food and a surprise birthday cake for Uncle Paul and Mom, who are both turning 29 this year. All the cousins (well, not all of them were there, but that's what G-ma kept telling me) came and we had a good time. And kicked them out promptly at 9:02.
Day 2: Knoxville to St. Louis
Up bright and early today. We were out the door and started the car promptly at 5:54 am. G-ma and G-pa were up to wave out the window at us. We got on the road and headed out toward Nashville with no problems. They even gave me a cup of hot water for my tea when we stopped by McDonald's for mom's coffee. The roads were clear, it being a Sunday morning, and we breezed through most of the day. Even Nashville. We saw Amy's favorite dam on the way to Nashville. We hopped through Kentucky and stopped at a rest area in Illinois to use a picnic table for lunch. While attempting to eat lunch, our efforts were thwarted by the vicious attack of a rabid squirrel and his gang of squirrel buddies. Okay, so they weren't vicious, they weren't rabid, and there were only two. But two's company. These squirrels were not bothered by mom's valiant attempt to defend our humble meal. She chose to take a lesson out of the Scott Burka Guide to Dealing with Animals. She yelled menacingly at them and waved. I chose to remove my feet from the ground and point while saying "no!" when they got on the table with us. The drive was fast, thanks partly to the lack of traffic on the roads and partly to the loss of a time zone. We lose another one of those tomorrow. Good thing too, since it's going to be 13 or 14 hours on the road tomorrow. We need all the daylight we can get. We got into St. Louis approximately 15 minutes before the start of the Cardinals game. Of course, we were rather lost, because 4 interstates become 1 interstate for a section there, and we weren't sure about the road numbers. So, we ended up in the middle of downtown in the game traffic. Let me say that police in this city are a bit incompetent. They don't direct. They just block streets and watch. We FINALLY find a road that allows us to get past the stadium to the road we need and we discover that the middle of town is blocked off too. In fact, there are tons of roads blocked off. I just looked up an events calendar and learned that there was a May Day parade and blues festival today. For those who are thinking "may day is on the first"...you're correct. They are a little late. Nevertheless, they were celebrating. And this celebration involved the section of road by our hotel being completely blocked off. So we went back down and talked them into letting us into the arch tram early. We walked around and took pictures and then we rode up in the little eggs. Those things are so strange. And so cool. And I got pictures of the two events that were causing us so much trouble. Must admit...the arch is way cooler than I thought it would be. And most of it has to do with how they built it. We watched a video on it. Very very very cool. And UN-SAFE (that's for dad). No safety harnesses at all. Mom survived the small spaces in the building and we made it up and down alive. After this, we headed away from town, had dinner, and talked our way into a hotel outside of town. Oh, and the people in this city don't understand intersections. Or how to drive. Tomorrow, I take the wheel first. Mom is already asleep, so I am going to hit the hay. At 8:32 pm, local time. Whatever. It's a long day tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures y'all!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
So I am trying this new thing where instead of putting all the photos in individually, I put a slideshow in. We'll see how it works. These are just a few pictures from the end of the year.
As an update, I will be travel-blogging as mom and I (thelma and louise) take off for Washington. We're hoping to photograph every state line we cross, so get ready for some excitement!
As an update, I will be travel-blogging as mom and I (thelma and louise) take off for Washington. We're hoping to photograph every state line we cross, so get ready for some excitement!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
I cried today. Twice. Or was it three times. Who's counting anyway? It'll probably happen again a few more times this weekend.
I have always been a person who gets attached to a place. This place has been no exception. In fact, it's been stronger here than other places like, say, ole Riverside.
It started like this: I was in my car at the corner in front of Subway, on my way to get Amy for lunch. It is a beautiful day. I start looking around (for those who don't know--my family readers--this intersection has a prime view of campus) and thinking about how awesome Clemson is. It suddenly hits me that when I go to Washington I won't be here (brilliant realization, I know). Then I start thinking about all the people I won't see for 3 months. Mom, and Dad, and Shelly, and Julie, and Chris, and Paul. Let's not even mention that I might not see Amy until Thanksgiving except for one day. Yeah. And there's the whole graduating thing.
So I start tearing up. by the time I reach Amy's dorm, tears are just streaming down my face and I have to ask her to bring a kleenex with her when she comes down. So yeah. I get it together, start telling her why I was crying, and end up crying again. THEN we get to lunch and I say a prayer really quick and we both tear up over that. So, it's just been one seriously drippy day.
So there. Thought I'd share.
I have always been a person who gets attached to a place. This place has been no exception. In fact, it's been stronger here than other places like, say, ole Riverside.
It started like this: I was in my car at the corner in front of Subway, on my way to get Amy for lunch. It is a beautiful day. I start looking around (for those who don't know--my family readers--this intersection has a prime view of campus) and thinking about how awesome Clemson is. It suddenly hits me that when I go to Washington I won't be here (brilliant realization, I know). Then I start thinking about all the people I won't see for 3 months. Mom, and Dad, and Shelly, and Julie, and Chris, and Paul. Let's not even mention that I might not see Amy until Thanksgiving except for one day. Yeah. And there's the whole graduating thing.So I start tearing up. by the time I reach Amy's dorm, tears are just streaming down my face and I have to ask her to bring a kleenex with her when she comes down. So yeah. I get it together, start telling her why I was crying, and end up crying again. THEN we get to lunch and I say a prayer really quick and we both tear up over that. So, it's just been one seriously drippy day.
So there. Thought I'd share.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Who knew that I could find the time to post on here again before school let out?!
I am contemplating the best means of sharing with you. I think I'll use the usual photo thing.
Jess was with us for Easter. Thought I'd share a cute easter picture with you really quick. Don't we all look fabulous?
Next we have my major awards (they didn't give me a leg lamp!). First there's dad with his fabulous girls. Mom will not be appearing in photos since, as usual, she is behind the camera. Mad props to mom. 
We took advantage of a beautiful day on campus to take a few pictures. Clemson really is such a beautiful place. (see sam? the girls in Clemson ARE good looking...wait...those are your cousins. well, there are others...promise!)
Winner of a major award. Or two. The first was the Gilbert C. Robinson Award. It's an award for excellence in Ceramic Engineering and the ability to apply scientific principles in a laboratory setting. Essentially, it's an award where they say "hey, we think you have potential. we're telling you. now go and use it." I also received the Material Advantage Service Award (previously known by accident as the Laura Marie Burka Service Award) which is an award for service to the department. It was a busy day. 
I had quite the fan club there for me. It seems that I'm quite popular. Among a very small crowd, of course... 
There was an Orange & White game. It actually came before the award thing, but this is my blog and I can post pictures in whatever order I want. Jess and Becca and I went to that for a little while. We were supposed to look unhappy because Chris couldn't be there. Or something like that. He was taking his big test, so he had to miss all the fun.
We also went and got funnel cakes with David. There was a big festival with a carnival and everything and I had a craving for something bad for me. So we got a ginormous funnel cake.
Keramos seniors! We had our Keramos (the ceramics honor fraternity) initiation the other night. We actually had a good number of people there. But yeah, John and Mark and I are graduating (I know, you're very sad).
The whole group. We had four initiates, so most of this group is officers and members. The new officers are all girls. Except Alex. I think he planned it that way.
Jess and Stephanie sat across from me at trivia night. We always go to trivia after initiation. Our team name is the Porcelain Gods. We actually got second place this time. Yay for us! It's the best place in the history of Keramos going to trivia night. I think. We got a gift certificate which will be going into the pool to help pay for trivia next time there's an initiation, and we got a t-shirt, which will be going into the glass case in the hallway of our building.
I hope you're ready to see more of these people, because we have a picnic tonight. I'm going to Jenna's shower after that (yay!), then it's a nice slow weekend of working on projects. woo.
I am contemplating the best means of sharing with you. I think I'll use the usual photo thing.
Jess was with us for Easter. Thought I'd share a cute easter picture with you really quick. Don't we all look fabulous?
Next we have my major awards (they didn't give me a leg lamp!). First there's dad with his fabulous girls. Mom will not be appearing in photos since, as usual, she is behind the camera. Mad props to mom. We took advantage of a beautiful day on campus to take a few pictures. Clemson really is such a beautiful place. (see sam? the girls in Clemson ARE good looking...wait...those are your cousins. well, there are others...promise!)Winner of a major award. Or two. The first was the Gilbert C. Robinson Award. It's an award for excellence in Ceramic Engineering and the ability to apply scientific principles in a laboratory setting. Essentially, it's an award where they say "hey, we think you have potential. we're telling you. now go and use it." I also received the Material Advantage Service Award (previously known by accident as the Laura Marie Burka Service Award) which is an award for service to the department. It was a busy day. I had quite the fan club there for me. It seems that I'm quite popular. Among a very small crowd, of course... There was an Orange & White game. It actually came before the award thing, but this is my blog and I can post pictures in whatever order I want. Jess and Becca and I went to that for a little while. We were supposed to look unhappy because Chris couldn't be there. Or something like that. He was taking his big test, so he had to miss all the fun.We also went and got funnel cakes with David. There was a big festival with a carnival and everything and I had a craving for something bad for me. So we got a ginormous funnel cake.Keramos seniors! We had our Keramos (the ceramics honor fraternity) initiation the other night. We actually had a good number of people there. But yeah, John and Mark and I are graduating (I know, you're very sad).The whole group. We had four initiates, so most of this group is officers and members. The new officers are all girls. Except Alex. I think he planned it that way.Jess and Stephanie sat across from me at trivia night. We always go to trivia after initiation. Our team name is the Porcelain Gods. We actually got second place this time. Yay for us! It's the best place in the history of Keramos going to trivia night. I think. We got a gift certificate which will be going into the pool to help pay for trivia next time there's an initiation, and we got a t-shirt, which will be going into the glass case in the hallway of our building.I hope you're ready to see more of these people, because we have a picnic tonight. I'm going to Jenna's shower after that (yay!), then it's a nice slow weekend of working on projects. woo.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Well, I'm in the home stretch. Every teacher is doing one of two things: either they are aware of the fact that we are seniors and no longer care and are thus slacking off as well or, the more common option, they don't care one bit if we're seniors or not and are trying to give us a much work as possible. Mind you, it seems that, in my major, we never get swamped at the same time as everyone else. So while everyone else is going nuts this week, we went nuts last week and will go nuts again next week and the next.
Funny though, my social calendar is much more crowded than my academic calendar. There are like a million things to go to at the end of the year. Plus, being a senior means EXTRA stuff. There's an award ceremony on Sunday afternoon, followed by a reception for my department. Big enough that mom and dad are coming to town for it. Saturday is Chris' FE exam (EIT for you who might recognize that name better. same thing), so he's going nuts studying for it. For those of us lucky enough to be in the one engineering discipline without a section on the FE, there is the Orange and White football game on Saturday. There are also baseball games all weekend. There is some banquet I've been asked to go to and will hopefully be able to avoid. There are end of year concerts the next two weeks. I have a recital myself on the last Sunday in April. Right at the beginning of exam week, I'm supposed to be playing a piece that I don't even have learned yet. Right. There's Paul's percussion ensemble and other events I've promised people I would attend. My church has asked all of the seniors to be present for both services on the Sunday of exam week (recital day!) so they can recognize us. I have a physics test that last week of classes. Take home, I think. My department loves take home tests.
During all of this, I have to keep my regular work hours. I also have to clean and clear my room so that there is space for Amy to live in there this summer while I'm in Washington. I'm pretty excited about Washington, but nervous still. I've got to apply for my apartment so that I can have somewhere to live. As soon as that is settled, I will feel a lot better about it.
Just wanted to share about the next month. Hope everyone else's month is a little less crazy for them.
Graduation is on Friday, May 9 at 9:30 am for those who need to know. I sent out announcements today, so you'll probably be seeing one shortly. Talk to the boss lady (mom) if you are planning on coming.
Funny though, my social calendar is much more crowded than my academic calendar. There are like a million things to go to at the end of the year. Plus, being a senior means EXTRA stuff. There's an award ceremony on Sunday afternoon, followed by a reception for my department. Big enough that mom and dad are coming to town for it. Saturday is Chris' FE exam (EIT for you who might recognize that name better. same thing), so he's going nuts studying for it. For those of us lucky enough to be in the one engineering discipline without a section on the FE, there is the Orange and White football game on Saturday. There are also baseball games all weekend. There is some banquet I've been asked to go to and will hopefully be able to avoid. There are end of year concerts the next two weeks. I have a recital myself on the last Sunday in April. Right at the beginning of exam week, I'm supposed to be playing a piece that I don't even have learned yet. Right. There's Paul's percussion ensemble and other events I've promised people I would attend. My church has asked all of the seniors to be present for both services on the Sunday of exam week (recital day!) so they can recognize us. I have a physics test that last week of classes. Take home, I think. My department loves take home tests.
During all of this, I have to keep my regular work hours. I also have to clean and clear my room so that there is space for Amy to live in there this summer while I'm in Washington. I'm pretty excited about Washington, but nervous still. I've got to apply for my apartment so that I can have somewhere to live. As soon as that is settled, I will feel a lot better about it.
Just wanted to share about the next month. Hope everyone else's month is a little less crazy for them.
Graduation is on Friday, May 9 at 9:30 am for those who need to know. I sent out announcements today, so you'll probably be seeing one shortly. Talk to the boss lady (mom) if you are planning on coming.
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