This morning when I woke up and looked out my window I discovered that the ground was white. Considering that it's only mid-September, I was slightly surprised, but really did not mind. I was even more surprised when it continued to snow on and off throughout the day, and it is still snowing now. There is not really any accumulation yet, as it warmed up to the 40's today. I will post pictures in the next day or two.
I originally had the intentions of venturing to the Vail area today to return something, but about 10 minutes outside of Leadville, I decided that it was not worth it because it was a full-blown snowstorm at the time. So, instead, I spent several hours at the Leadville Public Library today. It was quite an enjoyable day and it made me wonder why I never spent more time there last year.
Another place that I've found to be an enjoyable place to spend the afternoon is the CMC Library. Yea, it involves a "trek" across campus if you live in the dorms, but it really is much nicer than studying in your dorm room. For one thing, the chances of hearing someone running down the hall yelling, are pretty slim here in the library. There are also fewer distractions in the library. As unappealing as cleaning, doing laundry, and washing dishes might seem, there are times when they seem like a great way to procrastinate. However, the view of the mountains out the window of the library, is just a tad bit distracting, as I discovered Friday afternoon. But the couches and arm chairs are nice and they even have these neat swivel tables attached to the arm chairs that work great for your laptop. The bookstore is conveniently located next door for when you need a study-break snack and there is a learning assistance center across the entry-way.
For anyone who is wondering, the library hours are:
Sunday: Noon-8pm
Monday-Thursday: 8AM-9PM
Friday: 8AM-5PM
Saturday: Noon-5PM
Discovery of the week: When a professor advises you "You should probably farmiliarize yourself with Blackboard and LexisNexis before taking the first quiz or it is probable that you will fail", you should probably take their advice. While taking my Risk Management quiz, I determined that I really was not quite sure how to use LexisNexis, and I remembered this advice only after I had started the quiz. Luckily, I figured it out after about 15 minutes. However, some of my classmates who are less awake at 8AM, might have more difficulty because the main reason I figured it out was because the professor showed us in class.
As far as other news around campus goes, the free activity nights start tomorrow (Tuesday).
Mondays & Wednesdays are free nights at the gym above the swimming pool. They have a weight lifting area, a treadmill, a "running track" (essentially the edge of the gym with taped off lanes), basketball hoops, and vollyball nets. Last year we also played soccer and dodgeball there.
Tuesdays are free Flag Football out at the new field.
Thursday and Friday nights are free swimming nights.
Saturday night there is flag football for the first hour and a half and Ultimate Frisbee for the second hour and a half.
Sunday night there is free soccer at the field.
All that is required to participate in these activities is your student ID card.
All of the 2nd year SAO classes are 1/2 over. However, several of us are taking Accounting, EMT, or some other class that extends for the entire semester. Resumes have been sent, interviews have been arranged, and internships for this winter are beginning to take shape and fall into place.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
This past weekend it snowed up in the mountains. I'm not sure what you would call what fell in town- perhaps soaking wet snow. It made the ground white, but there were also big streams running through parking lots. I took pictures, but I forgot to grab the memory card out of my camera when I headed up to campus to spend the afternoon in the library.
Now normally, I don't spend a whole lot of time in the school library. I think I came in here once last year, in order to work on a school project. But this afternoon, when I discovered that the internet at my apartment didn't work, the school library seemed like a good place to spend the afternoon. From here I can see the dark outline of the mountains, fluffy white clouds and blue skies. But I can also see rain and dark clouds, and I can hear thunder. If only it weren't 57 degrees right now, snow could be falling. I'm sure the snow will come soon enough though.
Monday in Student Government, Brett filled us in on the dates for free swim, gym, and field nights. Between those three, there is something going on every night for the rest of the semester starting this coming Monday.
Tuesday we took a test in Snowmaking Operations. Then, in Principles of Accounting, we worked with general journals and ledgers. Much to my dismay, I figured out after doing an entire problem that I'd mixed up the credits and debits. That or the business had some serious issues that they should sort out considering that they had negative expenses. However, after being informed that you "add the normal balance" I think the future should be smoother sailing for awhile. Afterwards, I went to the bowling alley to partake in $2 bowling.
On Wednesday, I spent the day in the computer lab of the New Discovery building, working on writing a resume and cover letters to send to various ski areas in hopes of getting a job as a snowboard instructor this winter.
Thursday, I had Snowmaking lecture in the morning. We went over our tests, and to our class's great excitement, not a single person failed. Then we went over snowmaking safety, took an instructor evaluation thing, and were shown where the stuff was for Snowmaking lab. In the evening I went to the pool because it was $2 from 7-9pm.
Today we went over the Colorado Skier Safety Act in Risk Management. We also have a quiz to complete before the next class period.
As for what's going on this weekend. I haven't heard about a whole lot. I know some people are going to Boulder to watch the Matchstick premiere. There are also people going to Brecktoberfest in Breckenridge. There is also a Two Planks Production premiere in Breckenridge. Last weekend there was a Refresh premiere.
If you haven't bought a pass yet and you're looking to, now would be a good time. Colorado Gems Cards are available for pre-order for $10 (use it once and you'll have it paid for). The Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus- College Pass is on sale for $339 if you have a current student ID and proof of being a full-time student (I'll give you a hint... This pass gives you full access to Copper and Winter Park/Mary Jane, plus 6 days at Steamboat and unlimited Friday afternoons... and it's less than the Copper-only pass). Click here for information about the Summit Pass, Colorado Pass, and Epic pass which work at Keystone, Breckenridge, A*Basin, and depending on the pass may or may not cover Vail and BeaverCreek.
Well, the library is about to close now, so until next week, have fun and stay safe.
Now normally, I don't spend a whole lot of time in the school library. I think I came in here once last year, in order to work on a school project. But this afternoon, when I discovered that the internet at my apartment didn't work, the school library seemed like a good place to spend the afternoon. From here I can see the dark outline of the mountains, fluffy white clouds and blue skies. But I can also see rain and dark clouds, and I can hear thunder. If only it weren't 57 degrees right now, snow could be falling. I'm sure the snow will come soon enough though.
Monday in Student Government, Brett filled us in on the dates for free swim, gym, and field nights. Between those three, there is something going on every night for the rest of the semester starting this coming Monday.
Tuesday we took a test in Snowmaking Operations. Then, in Principles of Accounting, we worked with general journals and ledgers. Much to my dismay, I figured out after doing an entire problem that I'd mixed up the credits and debits. That or the business had some serious issues that they should sort out considering that they had negative expenses. However, after being informed that you "add the normal balance" I think the future should be smoother sailing for awhile. Afterwards, I went to the bowling alley to partake in $2 bowling.
On Wednesday, I spent the day in the computer lab of the New Discovery building, working on writing a resume and cover letters to send to various ski areas in hopes of getting a job as a snowboard instructor this winter.
Thursday, I had Snowmaking lecture in the morning. We went over our tests, and to our class's great excitement, not a single person failed. Then we went over snowmaking safety, took an instructor evaluation thing, and were shown where the stuff was for Snowmaking lab. In the evening I went to the pool because it was $2 from 7-9pm.
Today we went over the Colorado Skier Safety Act in Risk Management. We also have a quiz to complete before the next class period.
As for what's going on this weekend. I haven't heard about a whole lot. I know some people are going to Boulder to watch the Matchstick premiere. There are also people going to Brecktoberfest in Breckenridge. There is also a Two Planks Production premiere in Breckenridge. Last weekend there was a Refresh premiere.
If you haven't bought a pass yet and you're looking to, now would be a good time. Colorado Gems Cards are available for pre-order for $10 (use it once and you'll have it paid for). The Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus- College Pass is on sale for $339 if you have a current student ID and proof of being a full-time student (I'll give you a hint... This pass gives you full access to Copper and Winter Park/Mary Jane, plus 6 days at Steamboat and unlimited Friday afternoons... and it's less than the Copper-only pass). Click here for information about the Summit Pass, Colorado Pass, and Epic pass which work at Keystone, Breckenridge, A*Basin, and depending on the pass may or may not cover Vail and BeaverCreek.
Well, the library is about to close now, so until next week, have fun and stay safe.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Colorful Colorado
This past weekend, while some of my friends climbed a 14er (they've climbed one every weekend this school year) and then hiked to Conundrum Hot Springs, I opted for an activity that involved slightly less exertion.
On Friday, while trying to come up with something exciting for my weekend, I happened across a website explaining that you can drive up Mt. Evans. Driving up to 14,130 feet and then walking up a path to 14,264 feet sounded about my ability level, plus now I can say I did a 14er.
A couple facts about the road to Mt. Evans:
- Depending on what source you use for the elevation of Idaho Springs, you climb 6-7,000 feet in 30 miles.
- The Mt. Evans Scenic Byway is the highest paved road in North America.
- The Mount Evans Scenic Byway was built after the road up Pike's Peak (completed in 1888). Pike's Peak was drawing the tourists away from Denver, so the road up to Mount Evans was built to draw them back. The road up Mount Evans was completed in 1927.
- The last 5 miles of the road are typically open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
- From Mount Evans you can see Longs Peak, Mt. Warren, Thorodin Mountain, Rogers Peak, Chief Mountain, Squaw Mountain, Denver metro, Meridian Hill, the Continental Divide, the Collegiate Range, Mosquito Range, Mt. Bierstadt, Mt. Holy Cross, the Kenosha Mountains, Kataka Mountain, South Park, Pike's Peak, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
So, Saturday morning I set off at 8AM to drive to Idaho Springs and then down to Mount Evans. To say the least, the road up to Mt. Evans is not for the faint at heart. I got the following two photos from the Mount Evans Scenic Byway Overview page. Ten of the fifteen miles of the drive, looked like the 2nd picture, only the drop-off looks much worse from the driver's seat.
However, I could not have asked for a better day. The sun was shining on the way over and the trees along the way looked absolutely gorgeous. It was a little overcast at the summit, but I did not mind that much because it was snowing! Technically they were only flurries, but it was snow none the less.
For more information, I recommend visiting MountEvans.com because, in my experience, it was the site that provided the most information. It also has a lot of very nice pictures.
Sunday, I went to Frisco for church, and discovered that the service had been cancelled, so I took pictures along Dillon Dam Road instead.
Well, that's it for my scenic weekend. Enjoy!
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Past Week In Leadville
Last Friday there was an inflateable obstacle course on the lawn in front of the New Discovery building. For the not so lucky, it was a reminder that we were at 10,200 feet, and that we didn't have quite the energy to run through inflateable pillars and climb up walls that we did at home.
Tuesday I had Snowmaking lecture with Jason Gusas, the new Ski Area Operations professor. Since it was the first class period, we were given a general overview of what we would be covering during the semester. Some of the topics we will cover include:
-Snowmaking System Types
-Snowmaking Science
-Climatic Factors
-Snowmaking Components
-Snowmaking Technique
-Snowmaking System Design, Construction, and Maintenance
-Economics of Snowmaking
-Environmental Issues
Tuesday night I had Accounting class, which I am taking as an elective. That night's topic was "Introduction to Accounting". We did a practice problem to help us learn the "Basic Accounting Equation" which is Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity + (Revenue - Expenses). Other topics that will be covered include:
Today I had Risk Management. While we were going around the room introducing ourselves, one student walked in late and sat down. After the rest of us had finished our introductions, our instructor asked the late student to introduce himself. It turns out that said student was in the wrong class, and therefore had gotten up at 8AM on a Friday for nothing. Perhaps in the future he'll check his schedule (This is a lesson I could also learn, after having not looked at my schedule Tuesday night, so I didn't know where my Accounting class was. I finally discovered that it was being held in a computer lab that I didn't think got used for classes). Our class schedule for Risk Management has not been posted, so I'll let you know about what topics are being covered in that class in my next blog.
Tonight there is a band named Oakhurst performing in the school cafeteria. Their band description is "Take a string band and swap out the mandolin player for a groovy drummer and you’re well on your way to understanding the sound of Oakhurst. The band spikes traditional bluegrass with rock & roll and a kamikaze rhythmic sensibility.".
Tomorrow is the grand opening for the park that they have just finished building in Leadville. This is the same park that the Heavy Equipment class was working on last fall. To read more about it, click here.
Sunday morning, a group of students got up at 3AM to climb Mt. Elbert (the highest peak in Colorado, at 14,433 feet) to watch the sunrise. I did not take part in this climbing expedition, but due to the wonders of Facebook, I was able to get a picture from a friend who did climb it.
Tuesday I had Snowmaking lecture with Jason Gusas, the new Ski Area Operations professor. Since it was the first class period, we were given a general overview of what we would be covering during the semester. Some of the topics we will cover include:-Snowmaking System Types
-Snowmaking Science
-Climatic Factors
-Snowmaking Components
-Snowmaking Technique
-Snowmaking System Design, Construction, and Maintenance
-Economics of Snowmaking
-Environmental Issues
Tuesday night I had Accounting class, which I am taking as an elective. That night's topic was "Introduction to Accounting". We did a practice problem to help us learn the "Basic Accounting Equation" which is Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity + (Revenue - Expenses). Other topics that will be covered include:
-Assets, liabilities, Owner's Equity, Revenue, and Expense Accounts
-T Accounts, Debits and Credits, Trial Balance, and Financial Statements
-Bank Accounts and Cash Funds
-Employee Earnings and Deductions
-Employer Taxes, Payments, and Reports
Later Tuesday night, a bunch of students went to the bowling alley because Tuesday from 8-10pm, shoes are $2 and games are $2 a piece.
Thursday in Snowmaking class we learned a little bit about the history of snowmaking and non-skiing uses of snowmaking. Snowmaking was first used in the 1949-1950 season in Conneticut because of a drought. During the 1980-1981 season, snowmaking was introduced in Colorado. Non-skiing uses of snowmaking inclue agricultural (frost prevention), mining (minimize frost level), and reseach (test de-icing equipment on airplanes) uses.
Later Tuesday night, a bunch of students went to the bowling alley because Tuesday from 8-10pm, shoes are $2 and games are $2 a piece.
Thursday in Snowmaking class we learned a little bit about the history of snowmaking and non-skiing uses of snowmaking. Snowmaking was first used in the 1949-1950 season in Conneticut because of a drought. During the 1980-1981 season, snowmaking was introduced in Colorado. Non-skiing uses of snowmaking inclue agricultural (frost prevention), mining (minimize frost level), and reseach (test de-icing equipment on airplanes) uses.
Today I had Risk Management. While we were going around the room introducing ourselves, one student walked in late and sat down. After the rest of us had finished our introductions, our instructor asked the late student to introduce himself. It turns out that said student was in the wrong class, and therefore had gotten up at 8AM on a Friday for nothing. Perhaps in the future he'll check his schedule (This is a lesson I could also learn, after having not looked at my schedule Tuesday night, so I didn't know where my Accounting class was. I finally discovered that it was being held in a computer lab that I didn't think got used for classes). Our class schedule for Risk Management has not been posted, so I'll let you know about what topics are being covered in that class in my next blog.
Tonight there is a band named Oakhurst performing in the school cafeteria. Their band description is "Take a string band and swap out the mandolin player for a groovy drummer and you’re well on your way to understanding the sound of Oakhurst. The band spikes traditional bluegrass with rock & roll and a kamikaze rhythmic sensibility.".
Tomorrow is the grand opening for the park that they have just finished building in Leadville. This is the same park that the Heavy Equipment class was working on last fall. To read more about it, click here.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A Country Girl Goes to the City
For anyone who knows anything about South Dakota, you know that it is not exactly the most urban state in the country. And while I do live near Sioux Falls, which has the busiest intersection in the state, it's not exactly like living in a metropolis.
Three weeks ago, my family went to Chicago, Illinois for a Ham Radio meeting which occurs in a different city every year. After I successfully drove through South Dakota and Iowa without hitting anyone with the trailer I was pulling, my dad decided that he was going to drive through Illinois and Chicago. My mom, who was navigating from the back seat with a set of MapQuest directions, once again got to realize why she doesn't like MapQuest and she let everyone else in the car know, more than once, that MapQuest was wrong and that MapQuest wanted us to drive on roads that did not appear to exist. Then, as we are sitting at a red light in Elk Grove Village, I notice a Holiday Inn to our left. "Hey Dad, isn't that the hotel?". He did turn down the street the hotel was on, but proceeded to say "This isn't where the directions said to go. It could be the wrong one.". Luckily, we came across a parking lot full of Ham Radio antenna set-ups on the top of cars, so it was safe to say we were in the right place. Then, since it was going on 10pm and we hadn't yet had dinner, we ordered the "Sampler Platter" appetizer from the Old Chicago in the hotel. I think the platter should have been described as more than a "sampler" since 5 of us were unable to finish it.
The next day, we went to Charlie's CharHouse for dinner for my birthday. I'm sure my dad would have appreciated more concrete directions than "Drive on X street until you pass the Dairy Queen and go under the interstate." but that's all he got. Once there, 10 of us walked inside and the hostess asked if we had a reservation and we said "no" but, much to our delight, they had a table for us about 5 minutes later. The service the rest of the night was just as good, and our food was not "charred" as the restaurant name suggests.
The next day, I got to drive through downtown Chicago on my way to Shedd's Aquarium with my mom. Apparently she thought sitting in the passenger seat with MapQuest directions to shield her face, was preferable to driving. I got to drive under a building which I thought was pretty neat because Sioux Falls is small enough that we still drive around the buildings. At the aquarium, we waited in line (some of us less patiently than others... I am not used to this concept of a long line. A line is 5 people in front of you at the Sioux Falls Airport. This line had about 5 x 30.). Eventually we got in though. Afterwards, we walked along the waterfront on our way back to the parking garage. This was the second time I had ever parked in a parking garage (the other being at Vail), so I still thought it was pretty cool. My mom on the other hand would have preferred to park anywhere but in the parking garage. She is deathly afraid that we are going to run the roof of the Explorer into the roof of the garage, but with the number of people driving SUV's now, I think they've got that concern covered. On our way back, we got stuck in traffic, but eventually we got the to the Dairy Queen to pick up an ice cream cake and the ice cream cake kindly waited until it had been deposited in our hotel room to start melting.
On Sunday my dad got to be disgusted with the toll booths for charging us a ridiculous amount of money for having a tiny little trailer.
Then we were home for a week and a half before we packed up the car again. This time it was just me, my mom, and my brother in the car, driving out to Connecticut to visit my grandparents. Iowa has become our state to despise driving across because it is the widest and the scenery is not much different than that of South Dakota. Somewhere between Des Moines and the Quad Cities, we stopped at "The World's Largest Truck Stop!". I think a more accurate description would be "a crowded, over-priced tourist stop". They had about 5 different places to eat at inside, and each of the menu items was about a dollar more than it would have been at any other location. The World's Largest Truck Stop also had things like a barber, a dentist, a chiropracter, and 2 movie theaters. According to their website, they cover 200 acres and are visited by 5,000 people a day. By the time we reached Chicago, my mom was driving again (I did most of the driving... probably better that way since my navigator skills are about that of "Just follow the signs for Hartford, Connecticut" when we are still in Illinois). Shortly after that, I started driving again until we got to Toledo, Ohio where we spent the night. The next morning, we drove across the rest of Ohio and Pennsylvania until we got to New York. New York ranked right up there with Iowa by the time we were finished with it. Yes, it had scenery, it was more than continuous driving on the open plains, and there were trees. But they had road construction- lots of it. And a state speed limit of 55 mph. Except there were signs saying that you could drive 65, which we never understood, and my mom wonders what state they had to borrow the 65 signs from. Also, it took some getting used to their exit system. If you're at exit #5 and you need to go to exit #17, it's probably not 12 miles away. More like 40. Finally, we reached Connecticut, stopped wandering along small country roads, and got on the interstate. At this point my mom was on the phone with my grandfather saying "We're in traffic but it's moving... 50 mph". Then we proceeded to stay in the fast lane for the next hour. My mom is pretty sure we would not have gotten there nearly as fast if she had been driving. She knows this concept of driving at the traffic's speed, but her version of driving at the traffic's speed is to pick the slowest lane and blend in with them, while I blend in with the fastest lane.
The first day we climbed up an oblisk that used to be part of a fort to guard the Thames River. After the 156 steps, we decided that we were in no shape for walking up to The Statue of Liberty's crown.
The next day, we visited New York City. We left my grandparent's house at 8 with the idea of getting to the train station at 10:30. Well, we got to the train station at 10:30- and didn't quite make the train. After having hot chocolate at a nearby cafe, we examined the ticket-selling machine. After managing to get it to spit out 5 tickets from Bronxville to Grand Central, we wandered around the station seeing if there was a machine that had a New York Times, but there wasn't. Then we rode the train into Grand Central, walked past the New York City library, and went to the Empire State Building where we stood in a couple more lines before getting to the 86th floor. The souvenir map we got must have taken awhile to get pictures for, because when we were there, it was not exactly clear enough to see the state of New Jersey. Then we attempted to take a city bus but apparently we were missing something in that system, because the buses were not opening their doors for us. Finally, we decided to take a taxi instead. Turns out that the taxi cab had a "Taxi Riders Bill of Rights". I don't remember all of it, but some of the rights were:
The next day we went to the beach where I raced my grandfather out to the buoy. He beat me to the buoy because he had a head start and I had on shorts, but I beat him back to shore. Afterwards, my grandfather was talking to a woman who said that she had recently been to Times Square and they had police officers standing around with machine guns (my grandfather had been to Times Square right after 9/11 and the cops had machine guns then, and he was wondering if they still did) and then she was poking fun at her 15 year old son that he could only swim halfway to the buoy, but my grandfather could swim all of the way. Then we showered off and had dinner at Abbot's which is a seafood place which sort of resembles a fast food place only their main item is whole lobsters.
On Tuesday we drove to where my mom grew up. On our way there we ate at Friendly's. My brother and I liked Friendly's because ice cream came with our meal. We also learned that in Conneticut, drivers feel the need to test their horns fairly regularly to make sure that they still work.
On Wednesday, we enjoyed a day without being in the car the whole time. We went to my grandparent's neighbor's pool to go for a swim in the afternoon.
Thursday we took some crazy route through Conneticut, drove through the corner of New York, and spent a bunch of time driving through Pennsylvania. We got a particularly good look at Scranton, Pennsylvania while avoiding the "Expect Delays on Interstate. Avoid Area." route. Luckily Pennsylvania does not have a state speed limit of 55 mph, so we got through the state slightly faster than we would have if we remained in New York. We attempted to head towards I-90 in Chicago, but the 25mph city streets weren't doing it for us, so we got back on I-80 and wandered through Iowa and then in Minnesota and then into South Dakota.
I now get to enjoy being home for 3 or 4 days before heading out to Leadville. Once I'm in Leadville, I think I will be very much done with car rides.
Three weeks ago, my family went to Chicago, Illinois for a Ham Radio meeting which occurs in a different city every year. After I successfully drove through South Dakota and Iowa without hitting anyone with the trailer I was pulling, my dad decided that he was going to drive through Illinois and Chicago. My mom, who was navigating from the back seat with a set of MapQuest directions, once again got to realize why she doesn't like MapQuest and she let everyone else in the car know, more than once, that MapQuest was wrong and that MapQuest wanted us to drive on roads that did not appear to exist. Then, as we are sitting at a red light in Elk Grove Village, I notice a Holiday Inn to our left. "Hey Dad, isn't that the hotel?". He did turn down the street the hotel was on, but proceeded to say "This isn't where the directions said to go. It could be the wrong one.". Luckily, we came across a parking lot full of Ham Radio antenna set-ups on the top of cars, so it was safe to say we were in the right place. Then, since it was going on 10pm and we hadn't yet had dinner, we ordered the "Sampler Platter" appetizer from the Old Chicago in the hotel. I think the platter should have been described as more than a "sampler" since 5 of us were unable to finish it.
The next day, we went to Charlie's CharHouse for dinner for my birthday. I'm sure my dad would have appreciated more concrete directions than "Drive on X street until you pass the Dairy Queen and go under the interstate." but that's all he got. Once there, 10 of us walked inside and the hostess asked if we had a reservation and we said "no" but, much to our delight, they had a table for us about 5 minutes later. The service the rest of the night was just as good, and our food was not "charred" as the restaurant name suggests.
The next day, I got to drive through downtown Chicago on my way to Shedd's Aquarium with my mom. Apparently she thought sitting in the passenger seat with MapQuest directions to shield her face, was preferable to driving. I got to drive under a building which I thought was pretty neat because Sioux Falls is small enough that we still drive around the buildings. At the aquarium, we waited in line (some of us less patiently than others... I am not used to this concept of a long line. A line is 5 people in front of you at the Sioux Falls Airport. This line had about 5 x 30.). Eventually we got in though. Afterwards, we walked along the waterfront on our way back to the parking garage. This was the second time I had ever parked in a parking garage (the other being at Vail), so I still thought it was pretty cool. My mom on the other hand would have preferred to park anywhere but in the parking garage. She is deathly afraid that we are going to run the roof of the Explorer into the roof of the garage, but with the number of people driving SUV's now, I think they've got that concern covered. On our way back, we got stuck in traffic, but eventually we got the to the Dairy Queen to pick up an ice cream cake and the ice cream cake kindly waited until it had been deposited in our hotel room to start melting.
On Sunday my dad got to be disgusted with the toll booths for charging us a ridiculous amount of money for having a tiny little trailer.
Then we were home for a week and a half before we packed up the car again. This time it was just me, my mom, and my brother in the car, driving out to Connecticut to visit my grandparents. Iowa has become our state to despise driving across because it is the widest and the scenery is not much different than that of South Dakota. Somewhere between Des Moines and the Quad Cities, we stopped at "The World's Largest Truck Stop!". I think a more accurate description would be "a crowded, over-priced tourist stop". They had about 5 different places to eat at inside, and each of the menu items was about a dollar more than it would have been at any other location. The World's Largest Truck Stop also had things like a barber, a dentist, a chiropracter, and 2 movie theaters. According to their website, they cover 200 acres and are visited by 5,000 people a day. By the time we reached Chicago, my mom was driving again (I did most of the driving... probably better that way since my navigator skills are about that of "Just follow the signs for Hartford, Connecticut" when we are still in Illinois). Shortly after that, I started driving again until we got to Toledo, Ohio where we spent the night. The next morning, we drove across the rest of Ohio and Pennsylvania until we got to New York. New York ranked right up there with Iowa by the time we were finished with it. Yes, it had scenery, it was more than continuous driving on the open plains, and there were trees. But they had road construction- lots of it. And a state speed limit of 55 mph. Except there were signs saying that you could drive 65, which we never understood, and my mom wonders what state they had to borrow the 65 signs from. Also, it took some getting used to their exit system. If you're at exit #5 and you need to go to exit #17, it's probably not 12 miles away. More like 40. Finally, we reached Connecticut, stopped wandering along small country roads, and got on the interstate. At this point my mom was on the phone with my grandfather saying "We're in traffic but it's moving... 50 mph". Then we proceeded to stay in the fast lane for the next hour. My mom is pretty sure we would not have gotten there nearly as fast if she had been driving. She knows this concept of driving at the traffic's speed, but her version of driving at the traffic's speed is to pick the slowest lane and blend in with them, while I blend in with the fastest lane.
The first day we climbed up an oblisk that used to be part of a fort to guard the Thames River. After the 156 steps, we decided that we were in no shape for walking up to The Statue of Liberty's crown.
The next day, we visited New York City. We left my grandparent's house at 8 with the idea of getting to the train station at 10:30. Well, we got to the train station at 10:30- and didn't quite make the train. After having hot chocolate at a nearby cafe, we examined the ticket-selling machine. After managing to get it to spit out 5 tickets from Bronxville to Grand Central, we wandered around the station seeing if there was a machine that had a New York Times, but there wasn't. Then we rode the train into Grand Central, walked past the New York City library, and went to the Empire State Building where we stood in a couple more lines before getting to the 86th floor. The souvenir map we got must have taken awhile to get pictures for, because when we were there, it was not exactly clear enough to see the state of New Jersey. Then we attempted to take a city bus but apparently we were missing something in that system, because the buses were not opening their doors for us. Finally, we decided to take a taxi instead. Turns out that the taxi cab had a "Taxi Riders Bill of Rights". I don't remember all of it, but some of the rights were:
- Your cab driver will speak English.
- Your cab driver will know the geography of the New York Area.
- Your cab driver will drive safely.
- Your cab driver will not listen to music.
- Your cab driver will not honk their horn.
The next day we went to the beach where I raced my grandfather out to the buoy. He beat me to the buoy because he had a head start and I had on shorts, but I beat him back to shore. Afterwards, my grandfather was talking to a woman who said that she had recently been to Times Square and they had police officers standing around with machine guns (my grandfather had been to Times Square right after 9/11 and the cops had machine guns then, and he was wondering if they still did) and then she was poking fun at her 15 year old son that he could only swim halfway to the buoy, but my grandfather could swim all of the way. Then we showered off and had dinner at Abbot's which is a seafood place which sort of resembles a fast food place only their main item is whole lobsters.
On Tuesday we drove to where my mom grew up. On our way there we ate at Friendly's. My brother and I liked Friendly's because ice cream came with our meal. We also learned that in Conneticut, drivers feel the need to test their horns fairly regularly to make sure that they still work.
On Wednesday, we enjoyed a day without being in the car the whole time. We went to my grandparent's neighbor's pool to go for a swim in the afternoon.
Thursday we took some crazy route through Conneticut, drove through the corner of New York, and spent a bunch of time driving through Pennsylvania. We got a particularly good look at Scranton, Pennsylvania while avoiding the "Expect Delays on Interstate. Avoid Area." route. Luckily Pennsylvania does not have a state speed limit of 55 mph, so we got through the state slightly faster than we would have if we remained in New York. We attempted to head towards I-90 in Chicago, but the 25mph city streets weren't doing it for us, so we got back on I-80 and wandered through Iowa and then in Minnesota and then into South Dakota.
I now get to enjoy being home for 3 or 4 days before heading out to Leadville. Once I'm in Leadville, I think I will be very much done with car rides.
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