Washington DC Trip

I have recently returned from my first official school trip (not counting Youth Conference)! We didn't lose anyone and only a couple had hints of heat exhaustion (they quickly recovered). I'd say it was a successful trip. :)

Here's a run down of the trip ... We took 7 adults and 16 students to Washington DC for a week. We left Salt Lake on a 6am flight, which means most of us slept all the way to Atlanta before we ran to our connection to DC. Arriving during a record heat wave, it was a kind of baptism by fire for these kids who are not used to humidity. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm, had dinner, then headed out for a walk around the monuments. It is a 6 1/2 mile walk if you see all of the monuments (which we did, of course), and in 90+ degrees plus 90% humidity -- everyone learned the value of a water bottle and air conditioning. We got back to the hotel around 10:30pm, and everyone crashed into bed.

Monday morning, everyone awoke early in the morning so we could go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We began our day later than planned, though, as the car rental experience wasn't exactly smooth as silk. No worries, though, because we made excellent time (NO TRAFFIC!!) and were only 15 minutes late for our appointment with the National Park Rangers. Elsha had arranged for us to have official guides get in our car with us and tell us about the battle (and all the cool stories) as we drove. It was so cool, and totally worth the money!! It was my 4th trip to Gettysburg, and by far the best. After our tour and lunch, we went to the cemetery. We saw the unmarked graves. There was a somber mood. We felt the Spirit. We even took a picture on the very spot (or pretty close) where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address.

Tuesday, we were in uniforms!! It made it a little more uncomfortable than before, but I have to say that I felt a little spoiled in my skirt when I looked at all the guys in their long black pants and ties. We visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the changing of the guard. It was HOT!! But looking at the Marines in their wool uniforms where the only skin showing was their face suddenly made us all feel very cool. That is, all of us but one who almost passed out from the heat, because she hadn't been drinking enough water. After Arlington, we headed to Union Station for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the hubbub and a chance to sit and relax a bit. Our final stop on Tuesday was a tour of the United States Capitol Building. Even though I lived in DC for three years, I hadn't been to the actual Capitol since I was 13 so this was a fun tour for me too. Our Congressman was even in his office to greet us and take a picture ... usually they are too busy.


Wednesday was another fun filled day -- albeit a little less structured. In the morning, we got a semi-late start (we left around 9am) and headed for the International Spy Museum. If you've never been, it's a MUST SEE! The kids loved it, and I loved seeing James Bond's car ... the real one. It was also so fascinating to see the times in history where world orders literally rose and fell due to the efforts of 1 or 2 spies. So cool! After the spy museum, we all kind of split up and headed to the various Smithsonian museums. Most kids went with a teacher to the Zoo -- oh yeah, did I mention that the heat broke on this day so we weren't melting the whole time :) -- I went to the Museum of Natural History with a couple girls; and everyone else went to Air and Space. We made it back to the hotel around 5ish, and RELAXED for the rest of the evening. Well, I only relaxed until 8 or so when my dear friend Cristy Campbell came down and took me out for ice cream in Georgetown -- she's not Cristy CAMPBELL anymore but she was then, so I can still publish it. :)


Thursday. First, we were privileged to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Magna Charta and other "Documents of Freedom" at the National Archives. It was quite impressive, though, as with most things in DC, the line to get in took longer to get through than actually looking at the documents did. After lunch, we got to go to the top of the Washington Monument. I had never done that before and it was so cool! Eddie and I went into the city early to get the tickets and learned a little trick -- if you are with a school, and have some ID or something to prove it -- they'll give you more than your 6 tickets per adult maximum. Two other cool bits of trivia learned at the Washington Monument. 1. You can see the LDS temple from the top. If you've never been to DC to know how amazing that is, the temple is in Maryland several miles away (I'm not good at guessing). 2. When the states sent in their stones to help complete the building several decades ago, Utah actually had to send in two. The first one they sent was of a beehive with honey bees and the word "Deseret" inscribed. I guess no one outside of Utah understood that, so they sent another stone explaining. It says something to the effect of "Deseret means honey bee. Utah." The Utah state symbol (and insect) is the honey bee representing the value of work. It's a word from the Book of Mormon (Ether 2:3).
Oh! I almost forgot!! On our way to the Washington Monument, we walked past the White House and took some pictures (which is the picture you see here). After the Washington Monument, we walked the short distance to the Holocaust Museum. Again, if you've never been, it's a must see -- but for a totally different reason than the Spy Museum. What an amazing monument to the people who suffered and saved others during the Holocaust. It's sobering to remember that the same sort of ethnic cleansing goes on today -- do we react the same way we did then??



Friday. Almost home. We got up at dawn to rent vans (much smoother experience this time) and drive the three hours to Williamsburg and Jamestown in Southern Virginia. It was great. We spend the morning at Jamestown, then drove the 15 minutes to Williamsburg. Once there, we split up, designated a meeting spot and time, and enjoyed traveling back to the late 1700's when Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia. They even do live "reenactments" during the afternoon, so Eddie and I saw what it was like when the Declaration of Independence was first read in Virginia in July 1776. We also saw George Washington travel through town on his way the battle at Yorktown to rally support and more volunteers. It was really cool. Once we met up with everyone, it was a pleasant drive back to our hotel. I was amazed no one slept, but we actually still had energy! We got back around 10pm and settled down for our last night in DC.

Saturday (finally), we had a chance to see the things we hadn't seen yet in the morning. Some of us went to Old Town Alexandria, some to the Air and Space Museum, and others to the mall a block from our hotel. :) Then it was to the airport and on our way home ...

I wish that could be the end of this post, but alas, it's not. Seven of us, myself included, had a very hard time checking in. Once Elsha got there, we discovered that our tickets were for JULY 14th (which would mean I should still be in DC). The Delta employees at the counter were very nice, though, and we got to go home with everyone else. WHEW!!!

Time Travel

I'm going to try to go back in time and update this blog a little bit. I can't remember April much, so I'm just going back to May ... which was actually quite eventful.
First of all, in mid-May, I began my training with the Great Life Foundation here in Salt Lake. It's experiential training to help rid oneself of "baggage" and gain the tools to just live life to the fullest!! I've seen the fruits of it in the lives of many people around me here -- I've seen people go from various addictions and suicidal tendencies to living life with optimism, control, and love. It's quite amazing. My experience with Level One was intense but wonderful. I gained a larger "family" of 46 people with whom I shared the experience. It's amazing how close you can get to "strangers" in 4 days. I feel so much more in control of my life now, and while I'm not perfect yet, I look forward to moving on to Level Two in July and further tap into my own greatness. For more information, go to www.greatlifefoundation.com.

Immediately following Great Life, our school took all 7-12th graders to Aspen Grove for 2 1/2 days for Youth Conference. It was exhausting!! In the best ways possible, of course. Anytime you get 60 or so teenagers in one spot, there is bound to be drama, and this was no exception. We had a big conversation with the high school boys about what constitutes appropriate conversation and what doesn't. It seems to have had a big impact on several of these young men as well. It's so great to be at a school that sincerely cares about the students' spiritual health even more than their test scores and other such items that turn out to be of such little importance in the long run.
I added a picture or two of the trust walk we participated in. That was a really great experience. The student council tied string between trees to serve as a guide for the students. The route went through a very wide open path, but it wasn't without it's "dangers" in the form of undergrowth, fallen trees and the like. Normal stuff you would find hiking through any forest. The trust part came in when the students were blindfolded and sent up the path one by one with only the string to guide them. Oh! I forgot to mention that at a few spots, two strings would be tied to one tree -- one leading along the correct path, and the other would dead end somewhere in the undergrowth. At each juncture, a "tempter" would be there trying to get students to follow the dead end. Throughout the entire trail, there was also teachers and the entire student council to give assistance when needed. The blindfolded students were to follow the string the best they could, and if they felt lost or needed help, they were to kneel and raise their hand. Help was never that far away. Relating this experience to life, it was great to be reminded of a few simple facts.
1. No matter how many dead ends we try, we can always find our way back.
2. There will always be people trying to tempt us off the right path; we have to be vigilent.
3. There is quite a lot of unseen help waiting for us simply to ask.
4. The reward for completing the task is well worth it (in this case, it was BYU brownies -- YUM).
Aspen Grove is such a great place to go for family reunions or just vacations. It's minutes from Sundance Ski Resort; has great cabins and lodges (our lodges sleep 30+); has cafeteria service for larger groups (no cooking!); and has a myriad of fun activities -- mini golf, badmitton, tennis, basketball, shuffleboard, raquetball, volleyball, a playground, hiking, a little old-time village, etc.

Finally, at the end of May, the school year ended. We had a big Field Day for the last day of school which was really fun and quite a stress relief. Then, it was just pack, pack, pack as we are getting ready to move our school to a new building for next year. I don't know where we're going to put everything for the summer, but right now our gym is a great storage unit for hundreds of desks, chairs, filing cabinets, boxes, overhead projectors, whiteboards, etc. etc. etc. It's kind of crazy nowadays. We are so excited to be in a new building, though, that it's well worth it.

Spring Break

I'm at the tail end of a wonderful Spring Break. It's been quite nomadic, and a lot of fun! First, Eddie and I spent the night at his parents' house in Henderson, NV as a half way point to our real destination -- California. We went to Orange County to meet up with one of his friends from graduate school. Then, on Monday, the three of us headed north along the PCH to Hearst Castle and on to Monterey. Hearst Castle is amazing! There is this unbelievable view of the both the ocean and surrounding mountains. Everything is covered in green, and it's just beautiful. The Castle itself is beautiful, too. I still can't get over the fact that this man owned all of this art that ranged from hundreds to thousands of years old, and somehow made it into his house. The whole house was like an art museum, and to think of people living there and eating and everything else is just mind boggling to me. Check out the pictures!
About 4 miles north of Hearst Castle is a beach where Elephant Seals always come -- it's kind of like home base I guess. This time of year, there are a lot of babies, and it was cool to stop and take pictures on the way up and back. They kind up look like logs or something just lying there, but when they move around, it's really cool.
This whole trip was something out of National Geographic for me, because our next major even was whale watching outside of Monterey Bay. We saw lots of gray whales surfacing to breathe, and one even put his tail out of the water for the quintessential photo opportunity. Some people on our boat saw a humpback whale, but I was on the other side and missed it. :( Actually, once we got out into the ocean with the swells and such, I became very afraid. I didn't really want to go swimming that day in the Pacific. Seasickness wasn't a problem, but once I got comfortable somewhere, I didn't move much due to my fear. It subsided the more we were out there, but I still missed the humpback.
After our whale watching expedition, we walked down Cannery Row to the Aquarium. It was a cool, huge aquarium. I think my favorite parts were the jelly fish and the HUGE tanks where you could watch the animals swim (I could probably watch them all day if allowed). I took some cool pictures of jelly fish. I continue to be impressed with the capabilities of my relatively inexpensive little camera. If I may digress for a moment, I've fallen in love with my digital camera this week. What did we do before digital?!?! On the whale watching trip and on the drive down the coast, I just snapped pictures haphazardly hoping some would turn out. Several did, and I feel like I have better pictures than I otherwise would have had. Besides, now those pictures can be easily cropped, zoomed in, and shared with everyone in the world with just a couple of clicks. Again, what did we do before digital ...
Anyway, back to the trip. On our way out of Monterey on Wednesday, we drove through the 17-mile-drive in Pebble Beach and took pictures of the bay, the lone cypress tree, and lots of other scenic vistas. I'd never want to live somewhere as exclusive as Pebble Beach, but the views were spectacular. Continuing down the coast, I took more pictures of the views and seals, and we slept that night back in Orange County.
Thursday morning had Eddie and I up early again as the two of us headed down to San Diego. It was great to be able to shed jackets and actually need sunblock. :) First, we got my birth certificate so I can get a passport. Then, we decided to walk down to the shore and just take in the sights a bit. We "stumbled" upon the USS Midway and decided to take the tour. It is MASSIVE!!! I can't believe how huge and efficient those ships are. I loved going through level after level and room after room and imagining how our men and women live at sea. It's amazing.
After the USS Midway, we met Pete and Kristin Breinholt (Eddie's cousins) in Old Town, had lunch, walked around, and then headed to Point Loma and the lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument. It was an entertaining drive full of surprises, but we finally arrived, and loved the views, again, and the weather. From that Point, you can usually see the submarines and any carriers in dock at the base, but there was only one sub there that day, so that wasn't the most impressive part of the view. I can't begin to describe how beautiful it was, so you'll just have to look at my pictures and imagine it for yourself.
Finally, we went back to Pete and Kristin's to relax and have a yummy supper. Friday morning, I went to the BEAUTIFUL San Diego temple on our way back to Vegas to hang out with Eddie's family for the weekend. Our nomadic trip is basically over, and after sleeping almost 12 hours, I think I'm ready to go again. :)

Introduction

So, I'm living here in Utah and teaching. I always tell my mom how boring my life is, but then again, I am always so busy. I figured that there must be something going on in my life that people would want to know about. I make no guarantees about regular updates, but I will certainly try to update at least once a month. Perhaps this will help me take more pictures ... so far I haven't taken ANY since I've moved here!! Anyway, check once in a while and keep up with my crazy life. :)