27th Year of Life in Review...

So, I'm 27 years old today... Here's the high points of the 27th year of my life...

I moved back home.

I took a job at the Kanabec Hospital ER.


I house shopped... a lot (Thank you Joslyn).

I finally bought a house in Milaca.


I got my first neice... Evalynn Mae.


I visited Rose & Korey in Charlotte, NC.

I made a long vacation out of my conference in San Diego and stayed 18 days in California exploring... returning the day before my birthday.


Year 28 doesn't have much of a chance of having as many changes or events...

Last day in California...

So, I went to Yosemitie and from the begining it wasn't meant to be. I got there farily early in the day, but yet all the campsites were full... so I had to go hunting in the National Forest outside the National Park. If ound a site about 10 miles outside the park's western border... set up my tent and headed for the park. Hoped to eat at the resturant that was on the map up on Tioga Pass, but alas, it wasn't open yet. I went up to Glacier Point for sunset, but it was too cloudy. Oh and somewhere between there I hit some wild animal that was about bumper hight and dark in color... it jumped into the road from the shurbs and i didn't get a chance to move. Crap, I feel so bad! Luckily it didn't really hurt the car. Anyway, it rained all night and was supposed to continue through Monday, and it was actually snowing so much that they closed Tioga Pass and were requiring chains on other roads, and I have no chains... I could have gone the long way around (2-3 hours) to Yosemitie Valley to see the museums and exhibits down there, but that's where EVERYONE would be since it was raining and the ranger told me that they were saying it was so cloudy in the valley that you couldn't probably even see the sights (like the falls) down there... so I opted not to do it. I drove to San Franscisco a day early instead with my sopping wet tent... Anyway, I decided to go home early, between Yosemitie not wanting me to visit and the fact that I was just ready to go home anyway, I changed my flight and I'm going home tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon. Today I got to San Franscisico, checked into the hostel, packed up all my stuff and made sure it'd fit in my luggage (I didn't gain much while I was here, so it all worked, no need to ship stuff home). Then I went and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (which is in fact red, not gold incase you didn't know or you care). I went to Mount Tampalis (as suggested by Ashley & Kurt)... it was BEAUTIFUL day in San Fran, I hear it's usually foggy here, but it was a beautiful sunny day. Tomorrow morning I plan on heading to Golden Gate park and maybe walking part way across the Golden Gate Bridge... then heading to the airport. Flight out at 3:10pm. Before I fly out I have to deal with the rental car company and the fact that I dented their car... Thank goodness for my credit card having rental car coverage, shouldn't cost me anything, just the hassle. Lesson in that... get the rental car insurance, stupid things can happen fast. I'll get pictures up Sunday or Monday... I have yard work to do if it's nice out, if it's raining they'll be up sooner. Getting home sooner also gives me a chance to study for ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) class that I'm taking Thursday & Friday at North Memorial. Bad timing for a class and vacation, oh well!

Trip Update...

Ok, sorry I haven't written for a bit... no Internet when camping and the Internet here at the hotel in Death Valley is not very good. The only way they could get Internet here is satellite and it's no good. But hey, it's some access to the outside world. :)

So, this internet is definitely not fast enough for me to get any pictures uploaded... so that will have to wait. Sorry.

Here's the scoop on my last few days...

Sequoia National Park Day 1 (Sunday): Arrived, went on the tour of Crystal Cave (unfortunately, the memory card those pictures are on is currently MIA, so I HOPE it's in my stuff and not in the National Park somewhere... Luckily I missed the afternoon rain shower while I was in the cave! After that I went back and set up my tent and such... then went to check out sunset on Moro Rock, that was AMAZING! Very beautiful!

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks Day 2 (Monday): Drove up to Kings Canyon. Apparently Kings Canyon is deeper in places than the Grand Canyon. It's pretty in the canyon. Checked out some really big trees... found some really big pine cones... saw some big stumps, mostly from the logging industry, but one that got cut down so slices of it could be put in museums. I did a lot of hiking, probably at least 10 miles in total which included lots of hills at a decent elevation. Maybe now I'll be in better shape to do the half marathon in August! At the end of the day I decided to watch sunset from Moro Rock again so I practically ran up the rock to make it by sunset. Again, definitely a good workout!

Death Valley Day 1 (Tuesday): So, I turned on the GPS and as the bird flies it says Panamiant Springs (where I am staying on the edge of Death Valley) was only 74 miles away! Fortunately I had looked at a map and realized there are no roads that go anywhere near where a bird would fly... it took just over 6 hours and just under 300 miles to get there. Wow. Anyway... I explored a bit around Death Valley... saw Badwater (280 some feet below sea level), the Salt Flats, Natural Arch, The Devil's Golf Course, Devil's Cornfield... wow, is it hot and the wind doesn't even cool you off because the wind feels hot too. I took some cool pictures of sunset from down in the valley... but unfortunately my memory card didn't store them right or something because now when I try to open them "File Contains no Image Data" or something like that... sucks. Oh well.

Death Valley Day 2 (Wednesday): Didn't really want to get going this morning, slept too well... but, I went and saw Stovepipe Well, Artist's drive (the mountains are so many different colors! Amazing!), I wanted to drive into a few of the canyons but I only did the short ones because the roads really are not meant for regular cars... at least a truck or jeep would have been better, so instead of getting stuck in a rental car, I opted not to do that. I saw a couple great views from Zabriske Point and Dante's View. When I was driving down from Dante's View a red car was going up and I looked at the person driving and thought, "that guy's face looks familiar"... a couple minutes later it popped into my head that he looked like Kris Allen, our new American Idol... for a brief second I debated going back up and seeing if it was really him... but I talked myself out of it because seriously, why would he be in Death Valley 2 weeks after winning American Idol... he'd either be at home, or doing whatever a person does after you win before the tour starts... Anyway, it rained all day off and on. The wind was so bad I thought I was going to fall over when I walked, seriously. It wasn't only blowing the sand around, but the gravel was blowing! It hurt when it hit me! It was so cloudy, but I was wearing my sunglasses most of the time I got out of the car to keep the sand out of my eyes! Crazy wind! Apparely this is totally crazy weather for here. Obviously, since Death Valley is one of the driest places in the country, you'd assume very few dark clouds and very little rain. But, at least now I can say I was rained on in Death Valley, how many people can say that? :) Right now it's thundering outside.

I have pictures of most of what I described above... but the uploading will have to wait. Maybe this weekend, maybe when I get home next week.

Anyway... tomorrow I will be leaving Death Valley... if I ever come back it will be in a Jeep so I can explore those crappy dirt roads...

Tomorrow I will be driving about 4 hours to Yosemitie National Park for 2 days. Saturday I will head to San Franscisco, so that will be the next time I probably will update or have internet or phone access. Home Monday morning... the back to work, I'll be hitting the ground running when I get back from this long vacation...