Jury Duty

So, I had my first experience with jury duty this week. The case itself was pretty unexciting... but here are a few ways to get excused from a jury in DWI case, just incase you ever need to know.

1. Admit to having EIGHT DWI convictions yourself. Wow.
2. Admit to having one DWI in 1988 and that you have been sober since that day.
3. Be a retired police officer - who retired 10 days ago.
4. Have a parent killed by a drunk driver.
5. Have a kid who is sick.
6. Have your own graduation party the first day of the trial. At 2pm on a Monday. One - What does a person graduate from in April? Two - Who plans a graduation party at 2pm on a Monday? Really?

Needless to say, I was not excused from the jury - I got to serve in my first jury trial. At least it only lasted two days.

My three month period continues until June 3oth, and they can call me back an unlimited number of times for more trials between now and then. As we left, the bailiff said, "See you in a couple weeks." Perfect...

Raleigh

Last week I got to go visit Rose, Korey, and Maxwell for a few days in Raleigh. I have visited them in North Carolina (well, once in South Carolina) now for 4 springs in a row.

Rose, Maxwell, and I went to an Arboretum on Thursday - the coolest thing there was this tree that has flowers that grow out of even the biggest branches, this is an example, I could not get a good picture that represents how cool this tree is.

The big happening of this trip was... their son Maxwell turned one on Friday! Even though we live in different parts of the country, I've actually seen him 3 times already. Right after he was born last spring, when they were in Minnesota for Christmas, and now over his first birthday. He's a pretty cool kid. It had been kind of a long day by the time we gave him his birthday cupcake, so he looks a bit grumpy in this picture.

Here's a cuter look while he's eating his cupcake. He's sleepy, but he has a cupcake.


On my last day we drove by a Rita's Ice, and I missed it at first, but Rose saw it and remembered I loved Rita's when I lived in Philly. I haven't been to one in probably 5 years, and I got one on Saturday. It was awesome.

Maple Syrup

So, I took Marcos out to Gorham's to check out how to make maple syrup. Although I've known them forever, I don't believe I've ever been out there during maple syrup time. First time for everything right? 40 gallons of sap for 1 gallon of syrup - that's only worth it if you love doing it. And how did anyone ever come up with that crazy plan... lets stick something into the tree to get this clear sap that runs out, and then boil the heck out of it until it's dark brown and really sweet. And then dump it on pancakes. No idea who's crazy mind came up with this process... but I love syrup. :)

Buckets on trees... a few of the hundreds...

Three taps into one bucket.

This is where the sap gets boiled down from 40 gallons to 1 gallon.

This is the beauty of being outside that day... but I can't get it to rotate on here, stupid blogger.

Yoga

Today I went to my first Yoga class. I am in better shape than I have been in years... but I think I have lost all my flexibility. My balance is fair... but this one, this one I had issues with, and this lady makes it look so easy.



And this is the hardest thing we did, none of those really fancy ones. Good deal though or I would have made a complete fool of myself.

At least my first yoga class went WAY better than my first Zumba class. I am way too much of a white girl to do Zumba.

It's been awhile!

Okay, I'm back! I know it's been a long time, but I am going to try to post at least once a week now.

Life since my last post in March 2010...

In June, I went on a mission trip with my church, Trio Community Church and Horizons Community Church. It was a great trip, it was nice to be back in Jamaica after 7 years! How have that many years passed?


In August I went on my first solo backpacking trip to Isle Royale for five nights. It was amazing, and I can't wait to go back. First boat to the island is early May!


In October/November I went to Neptal for a couple weeks with Global Health Outreach. I loved it, and I really like how GHO puts their teams together and runs things, so I will likely go on another trip with them in the future.


While I was on a plane between Dehli, India and Newark, NJ - my second niece was born - Maura (Moi-ra) Anne Holland. She is now a little over 2 months old and I love my nieces to death. :)

December 22 was my last day working at Kanabec Hospital... I took a new job in Long Prairie, still in the emergency department starting January 3. It's a smaller department, and different, but I think I made the right choice.

More later, and hopefully next time I won't have to do the highlights of the last 10 months because it was that long between posts!

Arizona!

So, last night I landed in Phoenix early after an uneventful flight, I think the pilot may have been speeding. My aunt, uncle, and cousin were there to meet me and drive me back to their house in Maricopa. I slept in today, and then we went to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument and the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society and Museum. Then we relaxed at their house for the evening. I sat out on the patio and read for awhile, had some good food tonight. Just relaxing at their house for the evening.

I'll get pictures up later!

30 by 30...

My life has become pretty routine... not a lot of adventures. Even though I have a full time job, and I own a house... I want to live a life that is a constant adventure, full of new things... So, because I work well with lists... I made a list of things I want to accomplish before I turn 30. Some are big things, some things not so big, but all should be adventures in one way or another.

Here's my 30 by 30...
1. Pay off my car
2. Be debt free except for the mortgage and student loan payment
3. Finish the basement in my house
4. Build a deck
5. Add trees and landscaping to yard
6. Spend a full week backpacking by my self
7. Improve my Spanish skills
8. Improve my ASL skills
9. Go back to the boundary waters (it's been probably 10 years!)
10. Get through my pile of books I haven't read yet so I actually buy one and read it right away... what a concept!
11. Read the main text of at least 2 other world religions so I can better understand them.
12. Go back to Texas to visit Aunt Lue & Cliff
13. Get to at least 5 more states I have never been to, to bring me to 30 out of 50 states (I believe I am at 27 out of 50).
14. Get to at least half of Minnesota's State Parks as an adult
15. Get involved in an international ministry
16. Get involved in a local ministry
17. Finish a sprint triathlon
18. Do the Minnesota Skinny Ski Series
19. Get snowshoes and use them
20. Do the Duluth In line Marathon
21. Never wear double-digit sized pants again. Size 8 or smaller!
22. Get to Louisiana to visit Jess & Robbie
23. Learn to knit hats, mittens, and socks (so far I can only knit flat things)
24. Sew a piece of clothing that I will wear
25. Go to at least 5 new National Parks (I am at 6 of 57 parks)
26. Learn to Skijour
27. Ride a century ride (100 mile bike ride)
28. Have a trained therapy dog
29. Go whitewater rafting
30. Blog at least once a week about some adventure I've had, be it on this list or otherwise.

I do recognize that God may step in and change my list, he may make some things impossible to complete, he may bring other adventures into my life... But... On June 7, 2012 we will see if I made my list!

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...

Saturday, May 30

So, today I drove my so far favorite stretch of Hwy 1 from San Simeon to Monterey... it was BEAUTIFUL! Then I met up with Brian for the first time in more than 5 years... that was great! We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium together and hung out at a park and got some ice cream. Caught up on each others lives... it was great. :) Then I drove the "17-Mile-Drive" which wasn't as cool as I expected with what I had heard about it... the stretch of Hwy 1 south of here is cooler. Then I got some Chinese food and hung out around the hotel room and relaxed some. I also worked on getting pictures up, links below:

May 20 - 29
May 29 - now

Off to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks tomorrow!

Friday, May 29 in California...

Sorry, still haven't put the last 2 days of pictures up... maybe tomorrow night.

Today I started out the day checking out the Santa Barbara coast... then up to the Santa Barbara Mission. Apparently they recently had a festival where people drew chalk drawings in front of the mission... the pictures were AMAZING! I'll have pics up later... Then I drove up the coast on Hwy 1 most of the way. Also went off the coast to a little town that was founded by the Dutch and is the only town designed differently than any other town in the area. There are towns along the way here, including the one I'm staying in tonight, that seem to me that they haven't changed much since the 1970's... it seems that I could have done nearly the exact same trip 30 years ago... kind of interesting. I saw sea lions on a dock by Morro Rock today. Tonight I went to Hearst Castle... amazing. They have 5 different tours you can take, I took #5, the night tour. I need to come back here someday and do some of the other tours.

Tomorrow, up to Monterey Bay... Last Hwy 1 stretch I'll be doing on my way up there tomorrow morning. Then to spend part of the day with Brian Johnson. Haven't seen that guy in more than 5 years... maybe 7. It should be fun! We're going to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and maybe some other stuff depending how long we spend at the Aquarium.

Thursday...

So, today I went to 2 lectures, and then went to get my rental car. Ended up with a black PT Cruiser. I hate PT Cruisers, I think they're the ugliest cars in existance. Wait... second ugliest, the ugliest is the one that looks like a box on wheels. Anyway... Drove up to Santa Barbara via the Pacific Coast Highway... took at least 2 hours longer than the interstate probably would have... or maybe not since the interstate would have brought me through downtown LA in the afternoon... Anyway, this was beautiful and worth it. I drove by a big sign to Camp Pendleton and though of Jake... I drove through seaside towns on the ocean side of LA and couldn't help but wonder if there was a celebrity in the car next to me with tinted windows... Then I drove by a sign to Peperdine University and thought of Christina. So many friends that have lived out here at different times... I got to Santa Barbara and checked into Guest House Inn & Suites, which by the way, has a VERY SLOW wireless internet connection. Then I went to La Super Rica which is a very good, makes the travel books, hole in the wall rickety looking Mexican food stand. It was very good. :)

So, pictures from the San Diego Zoo and Balboa park are working on uploading now, and I'm not waiting for them to load to label them and such, I'm going to bed... you will have to wait for the pictures from the drive today. I'll work on those later. For now I'm going to bed!

Conference DONE!

Ok, a couple more hours of lectures this morning... then the conference is over. I'll be getting my rental car around noon and heading north to Santa Barbara today, a couple stops along the way...

Yesterday I did the conference in the morning and then went to the San Diego Zoo and a little bit of walking around Balboa Park after the zoo closed yesterday. I will work on getting those pictures up soon I hope.

Today in Review...

I slept in, then wandered around the Gaslamp District a bit. Ate lunch at the Tin Fish, it was pretty good. Then I went for 4 1/2 hours of lectures. I went to on on "Hot Topics in Bioethics"... apparently I don't watch or read enough news. I need to figure out who Bernard Madoff is and what he did. Haven't looked that up yet. Then I went to the Maritime Museum of San Diego. That was pretty interesting. Old ships are so beautiful. One of the ships they have was used to film "Master & Commander"... apparently I never saw that movie. Then I was going to walk back along the bay... but a guy who does the cycle-cab things (I don't remember what they're called)... anyway... he offered me a ride all the way back to my hotel for $6, so I took him up on it. His name was Sasha and he is 22 and her from Serbia for the summer to make money to buy a nice guitar. This is the first time he has ever had a job because he has been in college and gotten money from his family. He is in the US for his first time and has only been here 3 weeks. Interestingly, he learned English as a child from watching the Cartoon Network. Anyway... it was a nice ride and a nice chat... and I gave him more than $6... since that was significantly lower than I think the standard rate was.

Got the pictures up to date... all captioned and all the pictures through tonight are up. Either click on the slideshow from the previous post or the link on the left. (For those of you reading this in Facebook... you have to go to "view original post" to get the links).

California pictures so far...

So, here's what I've got up so far... it's a representative group of the pictures I've taken... not many are captioned yet. I'll be slowly working on that over the next few days while I add new pictures of the upcoming days. You can look at the pictures by clicking on the slideshow above or the link on the left.

I also put up a few new pics of Evalynn, my niece, on the Spring 2009 pictures if you want to check those out too.

First few days in Cali...

So far...

Day 1 (Wednesday)... I flew into LAX. I had reserved a car from ACE Rent A Car - never use them. First of all, in LA, they make you take the Holiday Inn shuttle to the Holiday Inn instead of picking you up at the airport themselves. Then they pick you up at the Holiday Inn. From the time I picked up my luggage, to the time I was at the rental car office was a whole hour. They are 2 miles from the airport. Then it took ANOTHER hour to actually be in a car. Never use ACE Rent A Car out of LA. Horrible. Anyway, I drove to Joshua Tree National Park once I finally got out of LA. Picked a campsite... then ended up running back to into town to buy gas and water. There is no running water in Joshua Tree National Park. I also found out that the roads were just paved 2 years ago. I suppose not bad when you consider that the park just opened as a national park in 1994. I tried to get my campstove to work... but it turns out that general Coleman Camp Fuel doesn't work. I could get a huge flame but not a regular blue flame for cooking. So, peanut butter sandwich. Decided I'd find the RIGHT fuel the next day. The interesting thing about this campsite is that it is about an inch of sand on top of rock, so I couldn't stake in the tent. And it was windy. I put rocks on the straps you put the stakes through, but it still blew away. Chased down the tent. Then decided to put the rocks IN the tent. That worked.

Day 2 (Thursday)... Woke up early and did a lot of exploring the park. I drove up Keys View Road. Then up to Oasis Visitor Center and the Oasis of Mara. Drove down Pinto Basin Road to the Cholla Cactus Garden and Octillo Patch. Then to Arch Rock and Skull Rock. Then I drove back into Joshua Tree. I went to a cool outdoors store called Nomad Ventures and they had the White Gasoline I needed for my camp stove. Yay! If you're ever in the area, check them out, very helpful. They suggested I go to the Crossroads Cafe for lunch. Well worth it - amazing burger, AND they make their own amazing salsa. Then I went back into the park and checked out the Hidden Valley Trails and Barker Dam. Then I rested in my air conditioned car for about 45 minutes before deciding to hike up they Ryan Mountain Trail. That hike was awesome. I go to the top and there was another couple, about my age, up there... I asked them to take my picture. Turns out the guy is a professional photographer. Random. I took their picture too with his Nikon D700 with all kinds of fancy features and extras... ohhh... When I got back to my campsite I made my first meal on my cook-stove. Worked perfectly. :) Then another nights sleep... The funniest thing about the day was people complaining about the horrible humidity. It was 16% humidity. Is it ever less than 16% humidity in Minnesota?

Day 3 (Friday)... Up and made breakfast - eggs & sausages on my cook stove. Then off too drive to San Diego. I took the senic route which took awhile. The beginning of the drive I was dissapointed by the "senic route" but then as I got up into the mountians it was awesome. Not many pictures because there were very few if any places to pull off. There are pictures from one pull off. When I got to San Diego the rental car company shuttle brought me to the hotel. This hotel is less than 6 months old and beautiful. I took my first shower since Tuesday. :) Then I checked into the conference. Then I decided to go out to Coronado Island for the evening. I had dinner at a nice Mexican Resturant that reminded me of actually being in Mexico. I had hoped for a beautiful sunset... but the clouds rolled in... which seems to be normal here. Oh well, maybe another night. Now I'm back at the hotel... conference starts tomorrow at 1pm, not sure what I'll do in the morning.

Maybe I'll get pictures up by tomorrow. Working on getting them all on the computer first, then have to wort through which ones will go online. Fun fun.

Pictures

So, I FINALLY got all my pictures up from my visit to Charlotte to see Rose & Korey.

Click on the slideshow or use the link on the left to see the album.



The next 2 weeks I'll be doing stuff around home, specifically yard work to make my house look more like a home from the outside, and working... and on May 20th I'm off to California for 5 days of a conference and 15 days of vacation exploring the west coast for my very first time! There will be a lot of pictures on that trip, no doubt.

Charlotte Continued...

Tuesday I came to Charlotte and just hung out with Rose and ran some errands. I got to eat at Chick-fil-A. I love some Chick-fil-A. Especially their waffle fries. And the fact that they play Christian music in the restaurant. The we just hung out at their house after Korey got home and ate some food and talked.

Wednesday, as mentioned in previous post, Rose and I went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. Then hung out at their house.

Thursday, Rose and I went to the Latta Plantation and Latta Nature Preserve. We got a bit lost on the Latta Nature preserve trails... but it was a nice day for a hike. They need to either have paper maps to take with you, or signs up along the trail. They just have one sign with a map at the entrance to the trails by the parking lot. Anyway, we made it out eventually. :) Then after dinner we went to Cold Stone. I also love Cold Stone. Unfortunately... somewhere between Cold Stone and when we ran to Target Friday morning, I lost my debit card. So, after searching for it, I had to cancel it... so I'm down to my credit card and $75 cash until I get a new card in 5-7 business days. I have my checkbook too, but nobody takes out of town checks.

Today, Friday, we went to downtown Fort Mill, SC to take some pictures because they have cool old buildings. Rose is working on a project that she needed some "urban photography" and I just like taking pictures. They had a lot of antique shops we looked around in, but neither of us got anything. In the afternoon we went to Costco because Rose is trying to decide if the membership is worth it. Tonight we might go mini golfing after dinner, but it's kind of hot outside (still 88 at 5:30pm)... so we'll see. I'm not used to this hot weather!

This weekend we're going to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and going to The Biltmore Estate. More pictures will come on Sunday Night or Monday.

It's been fun and relaxing to see Rose and Korey and not be running around like crazy busy all day. I need the break. The only down side is that I am allergic to something here! Started as soon as I got here. I've gotten store brand Claritin-D, Afrin, and gone through a LOT of Kleenex. This needs to stop. Allergies suck. I'm glad I'm not this allergic to anything at home because it would be miserable to be like this all spring or all summer.

You can look at all my pictures to date by clicking on the slideshow in my previous post or by clicking the 'April 2009 - Charlotte Trip' link in the left hand column. I take a lot of pictures. Some are cool. Some are not. :)

Adventures in Charlotte

So, I'm in Charlotte visiting Rose & Korey and enjoying some time off...

Today Rose & I went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, NC. I took a lot of pictures trying to artsy... if you want to check them out, here they are!