Spain

How was Spain you may ask? Well if you read my other blog (www.offexploring.com/travelingchameon) you would know I had a great time! Even though I didn't speak Spanish well only a sprinkling of words with the use of my phrasebook, I found that one can communicate without using much words. The people there were friendly (except for the creepy guy that followed me once on Montjuic [I escaped him by entering a restaurant with an awesome view!] and the weenie-wacker guy in Valencia) and thought I was one of them. So most of the time they would rattle off in Spanish as I nod my head and try to grasp a few words to understand what they are saying. But I discovered that one didn't need many words to communicate and that a smile goes a long way in communication.

Frankly I wished I had set aside more time for Valencia instead of just four days. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain yet it somehow retains the traditional small town feel. They still have their siesta at 2pm and everything but food places are closed until 4pm. You can hardly find English signs at their museums only Spanish and the local dialect and you'd be lucky if you get an English guidebook. The city isn't very touristy unless it is with other Spaniards from different regions and I didn't really see too many large tourist buses like in Barcelona. Valencia weather reminded me of home and frankly if I were to pick a place in Spain to live I would want to live here. You have the center of town which retains the classic style architecture, then there is the riverbed turned park which connects the center of town to the modernist City of Arts and Science. Plus there is the beach, where one can swim in the Mediterranean. The airport isn't very large but it can get you to the two big cities, Madrid and Barcelona, or you can take the train to travel around town.

Barcelona was a nice city to wander in and absorb. A city full of energy, people hustling and bustling everywhere, tourist abound in droves and yet one can still get lose them by getting lost in the Barri Gotic. There is so much to see and taking the Bus Turistic is a great way to do that. The bus hits all the "must see" things on two different routes (3 in the summer) and you can hop on and off at any point to take your time to see each place. If you're in Barcelona for more than 2 days it is worth your while to get the Barcelona Card. You can get it for 2, 3,4 or 5 days and use it on both the Metro and buses it is a good way to get around the city, though you still want to bring comfortable shoes since you'll be walking a lot. Art museums abound, there is the Picasso musuem, Miro musuem, Gaudi musuem and National Art Musuem. I got my fill of culture and fell in love with Gaudi's work. I spent 8 days in Barcelona and was quite satisfied with it, by the end of my time there I felt that I knew the city well enough that when I go back I can manuever around much like Paris. The only difference is that when I left Barcelona there were no tears, in Paris I had tears as the plane took off.

How am I feeling?

Well after almost tripping and falling while walking back to my hotel this song comes to mind.

Packed and ready to go

I'm off on my Spain vacation in the morning. The bags are packed, weighed and repacked again. Those pre-trip butterflies are back in my stomach and I'm trying to get them to fly in formation at least. This trip is my second solo trip so the first timer butterflies are gone at least. But I'm still very, very nervous since I really don't speak Spanish at all. Basic traveler's/tourist Spanish is all I know how to speak and I have a feeling that it will be like my Asia trip. =)

I'm probably going to update my other blog: www.offexploring.com/travelingchamelon

So if you could keep me in your prayers as I travel I'd greatly appreciate it. And check out the
other blog if you want to make sure I'm still alive. =)

Colorado Pictures

Packing for Colorado

Tomorrow I leave for a short visit to see my good friend from college, "Bob" (aka Stephanie Solich), in Denver. What to pack? I called Bob and my other friend, Tiffany, to see what the weather conditions were and how to pack. Basically they both told me to pack in layers, since it has been from 60 degrees to 40 degrees out there. So out goes my sweaters and I had to go and buy a winter coat, both for this trip and the one next week. Also gloves, we don't really need gloves out here in California since our winters are mostly wet and not chilly so that was another purchase to be made. But I think I'm ready for the cold now. I looked at the weather forecaset and it showed mid 50's for the most part of the weekend but I herd the wind makes it colder than it really is too. So we shall see if this California girl will not be turned into a popscile while in Colorado. =)

It has been over two years since I've seen Bob and about seven years since I've seen Tiffany. So this will be a nice quick visit to see them and give me an amuse bouche for my big trip to Spaing next week. I can't wait!

Haircut

In preparation for my trip, I went to see my hair dresser and had my hair cut. Last time I was there she mentioned giving me bangs. Now I haven't had bangs since middle school so I was a bit wary enough so that I stayed away a good six months. But since I am off to Colorado next week and then Spain the following week, it was time to get my hair cut. And this is what she did, I got the bangs but it is more like a side bangs. Frankly I think I look like my cousin =)


Notice the side sweep? =)


So what do you think?

I bought this hat in San Francisco since it reminded me of "Carmen Sandiego" that fictitious criminal mastermind cartoon show I used to watch.

Counting down

Okay so I have two weeks left before I leave for my Spain trip. This will be my second solo trip and so the butterflies of anxiety about going alone are not as bad as the first trip, but they are still there. Normally I plan and plan my trips about a year in advance but there were some unexpected circumstances that came along this summer which caused me to deviate from my "game plan". Originally I was going to try to learn the language and get just a basic understanding of commonly used words in the local language three months prior to my trip. What I didn't plan on was getting a promotion at work in May and spending most of my summer and part of the fall training for my new position, or as soon as I got trained in that new position that I would end up training someone else who may replace my old spot. So much time and effort went into work and the situations arising from the changes this summer that the only thing I could plan for my trip besides the plane ticket was booking my hotels in Barcelona and Valencia. Fortunately I have worked with a fantastic travel agent for a few years and she was able to assist me. At least I have a place to stay and the main two transportation's taken care of (I will be flying from Barcelona to Valencia and back, so this means another plane ticket besides just the cross country/Atlantic one).

So what do I have planned so far you may ask? Well I have my plane tickets going to Barcelona from San Francisco, my hotel in Barcelona and Valencia reserved and my plane tickets going to and from Barcelona to Valencia. I know where to go to get my Barcelona Card (this wonderful card that will help me maneuver the transportation system which includes bus and metro fare) and how to best utilize my two days in Barcelona so that I can get an overview of the city (using the Bus Turistic) before leaving for Valencia and the most important thing (for me as a foodie anyways=) where I will eat dinner my first night there and where the nearest chocolate cafe is. I found out that this one restaurant I went to in Paris, Le Relaise Entrecote, has a branch in Barcelona not too far from my hotel (not too far being about 3 miles away which is about 45-60 min. walk for me, typical when I travel to Europe I find) and about two blocks away is a popluar Chocolate cafe. As for the languange thing, well I bougth the Rick Steve's Spanish Phrase book which fits nicely into a small purse or a jacket pocket and a small journal to draw pictures in if necessary.

I found this video on youtube which gives a picture highlight of Barcelona along with some Spanish music.

A day at the Bay

Today Alli T and I went to San Francisco for the day. It was a nice clear day though windy and cold but that is typical 'Frisco weather. A friend had suggested we go up to Twin Peaks which has an awesome 180+ degree view of the city. It was beautiful and peaceful up there. Then we headed down to Pier 39 to get on a trolley tour of the city. It was fun and our driver drove down really fast on this one steep hill. I felt like a roller-coaster ride! The day ended with dinner at Bubba Gump's at the Pier 39. I did make one purchase that I liked very much, a red hat that reminded me of the one Carmen Sandiego wore.

Costumes on Holloween

I know it is a little bit late but we had some trick or treaters show up at work on Holloween. Tell me who you think has the best costume.



Little Cowboy

Poodles as a toilet (Those are candy inside that bowl!)

Tinkerbell

Avaitor, Raggedy Anne, Good/Bad girl

Busy Day

So yesterday I had signed up for 10 hours of voluntary overtime at work, not bad since that is like a regular shift but it was on Swings so I got to go home by 1:30am. Well Graveyards ended up short two people and since I'm back on graveyards the Sergeant looks to me and says "hey do you want to work 5 more hours?" Looking at the big picture (my Spain trip is coming up quickly!) I said "yes" but I wasn't prepared for 15 hours and only brought enough food for a 10 hour shift. Thank goodness for co-workers and cell phones, I was able to catch one of my co-worker who was at Panda Express getting her dinner and she ended up bringing me some food too. The nice thing was that they were down dispatchers and I was able to be the breaker to get my "feet" wet again. But this is my last week with my trainee on phones and then I'm back in the radio room. Yay! I missed being on the radio talking to units instead of citizens who yell, cuss and get mad at you even though they called you for help in the first place. Go figure!

But today my mom's Day Care had a field trip to Chuck E. Cheese planned and I couldn't let the kids down. So I came home took a two hour nap, woke up and drove the kids to the train station. They were going to take a quick train trip downtown, where I picked them up and then we drove to Chuck E Cheese. Let's just say that for pre-schoolers that is one of the best places to go to. They have games for you at your eye level, nothing too hard and when you collect enough tickets you can get a prize. The kids had fun and on the drive home it was quieter, one of the kids fell asleep but the rest followed soon after when we got back to the house. Needless to say I joined in on nap time today. =) I still had to hit the gym though so tonight I will be sleeping like a baby! My one free night from work before starting my work week tomorrow.

Long weekend

Columbus Day weekend and I spent most of it at work. On Saturday we had a BBQ and they all requested I make lumpias. Well the thing with lumpias is that it is good fresh, because then it is crispy. So I had to bring my deep fryer to work along with some meat, cooking utensils and the necessary condiments. My Saturday morning started with a fright! I was putting some things in my car when this strange 4-door sedan pulled up at the end of the driveway with four people in it. They paused stared at me and the proceeded to pull into the parking lot next to our house, turn off it's headlights and remain idle with the engine running! Well that scared me so I walked quickly back into the house and dialed up one of my friend, hoping he was on duty (which thankfully he was!), and asked him to drive by my house in his patrol vehicle. As soon as I hung up with him though, the car left the parking lot and drove away, still frightened I walked back out to my car making sure my friend was on the phone with me until I got into my vehicle. I quickly drove off since I had to get to work on time and had to make two trips from the parking lot to our break room with all the stuff I was briging for the BBQ. Now work starts at 0600 hours for me that day, but around 0900 hours I started getting messages on my computer telling me to go cook the lumpias. =) I made them wait an hour then got my trainee to assist me in making the lumpias and setting up the rest of the potluck things. My Sgt was manning the grill out back and it was funny to watch him put 2 radios in his apron instead of the usual beverage. But since he was still on duty he had to listen to the radio traffic incase something came up, still he looked good grilling. =) There was plenty of food, mostly meat from the grill, lost of veggies and I was stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving day. So when they needed someone from dayshift to stay over an extra 5 hours, I volunteered and didn't mind it one bit as there was plenty of food left! Not a bad way to spend your weekend. Sunday I was back on graveyards and couldn't keep the smile off my face. It was like coming "home" and to top it off the Sharks won both their back to back games against the LA Kings. A very nice weekend indeed!!


My trainee learning how to cook lumpias.

Bringing my deep fryer to work.

Worrying in circles

With all that is going on in this world for a worrywart like me that is enough to drive one crazy! I mean you have the whole election next president of the USA pending, the economy is down and everyone is in a tizzy about that then to top it all off I get a text message from a good friend at work who is moving out of state. Mind you she's not giving us much of a heads up warning here because she is leaving next Tuesday! So how can I not help it but to worry in circles? All these changes pending that may affect my life and those around me. Siiiggghh. Which is why I'm so grateful to have a God that controls the universe. I mean after all when my world seems to spin out of whack having a loving Heavenly Father who is in sole control of the universe is very reassuring.

Philippians 4:6 comes to mind and is a great comfort, I found the parallel translations of that verse to be all comforting and very applicable in helping me stop worrying in circles.
International Standard Version (©2008)
Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation let your petitions be made known to God through prayers and requests, with thanksgiving.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.

King James Bible
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

American King James Version
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

American Standard Version
In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Bible in Basic English
Have no cares; but in everything with prayer and praise put your requests before God.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.

Darby Bible Translation
Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

English Revised Version
In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Webster's Bible Translation
Be anxious for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Weymouth New Testament
Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God.

World English Bible
In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Young's Literal Translation
for nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer, and by supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God;

So now when my mind starts thinking about life and all that is going on in the world this present age, I just keep saying this verse over and over again to remind me that no matter what happens I just have to bring it all to God. After all a God who created us and loves us more than anything is in complete control of the World and not me. =)

Personalizing Luggage

When traveling you need to have a way to find your luggage and since most luggage look alike they recommend you do something that would cause your luggage to stand out. The most common suggestion is to add a brightly colored ribbon or yarn to your luggage besides some tags with your mailing information. For me that is still hard because when that baggage carousel goes around sometimes the handle where your yarn or ribbon is located gets hidden due to another suitcase on top of it. I find that by really personalizing my luggage I can see it. So since my black luggage of 5 years has done its duty and plus the edges were tearing apart, I had to get new luggage. Mind you your options for luggage are now so vast and wide with a price tag scale to follow from luggage with polk-a-dots to brand name luggage that you can engrave your initials to. But my budget won't allow for those high expensive suitcases so I needed to find my own way to personalize my luggage. That is where stencils, some fabric paint and paint brushes came in. Now I don't just put a picture on the front of the luggage, I also add it on the sides and tops so that when my suitcases goes around I can identify it quickly.

Cliffhangers

This weekend I got hooked on the ABC Family mini-series "Samurai Girl". I was channel surfing Saturday night and caught the middle part of the story, but that was okay since they did a few flashbacks. Now knowing that there was a third part Sunday I was expecting the cliffhanger Saturday night. Boy was it a good one too and it took the word 'cliffhanger' literally! So here I was tonight expecting all the loose ends to be tied up. The show was great full of exciting martial arts action and the plot was pretty decent. But the thing I was so not happy with is that the heroine still didn't end up with the hero. The hero being this total "bad boy" but with a good heart guy who thinks he doesn't deserve the heroine but you know that the heroin love him with all her heart anyways. I just wanted them to end up together! But what do they do instead? They give you a cliffhanger at what you thought was the end but may not be.

So being the type "A" person that I am, I did some research online. I found out that this movie was based off a book series which has 6 published so far. This movie is based off the 1st book and I'm curious to know if they will make more or if this is how they plan to end it, with all the loose ends still not all tied up. I want Heaven and Jake to hook up, Otto realize that his other half is Cheryl and yes I understand this is all fiction. But isn't that the beauty of TV to take you out of the harsh "real world" for a little bit and bring you to a whole new environment? Still I want my happy ending, there is enough unhappy ones in the world we live in why can't they give us that nice fluffy feeling at the end? Why?

Greek Lunch

There is this great Greek restaurant in Sacramento that I enjoy going to, during "girls day" we usually end up here for lunch and the food is fabulous. The place is called Opa!Opa! and they have website you can check out http://www.eatatopa.com/ Plus next door they have a dessert store called "Sweeties" and it has a counter full of yummy sweet goodness. Today we had our girls day out and two of the girls brought their kids. One of them J is such a cutie and was totally hamming it up for the camera.

A great overtime

Tonight I had a great time working overtime at work. Normally I just go in, do my job and leave thinking of the extra cash I just earned for an up coming trip or something. Tonight however turned out to be a great night! First off I got to work the Officer Request station which I haven't had a chance to sit in since I started training this summer after my promotion. Then one of the guys in radio was not feeling well and so I offered to switch with him. He took me up on the offer and I got to be in radio dispatching for his end of the shift. When graveyards came in the gal who was supposed to take my radio channel decided to stay out on phones and let me keep it. Man was I happy! Moving to day-shift was a change in how thing worked and the two days I worked on Days were rather boring with not much radio traffic. But my overtime was on swingshift and those guys keep you going at a steady pace, if it starts to lag they run vehicles and do vehicle stops. However the best part of my night was yet to come. Near the end of my shift one of the units got into a pursuit for a few minutes and it was my first pursuit since I finalized. I was a tad nervous and had a quick brain freeze in the midst of it, fortunately my colleague who was monitoring the channel next to me helped out. So it was a pretty good pursuit and mhy sergeant said I did a good job. (She had her radio up in the other room so the call takers could hear it all, including my last trainer and he said I did a good job on it too). But I was just excited that I totally didn't mess up on my first pursuit and walked out at the end of shift with a BIG smile on my face. =) What a great night!

Displaced

Definition:to move or put out of the usual or proper place.

Right now I should be sleeping since I have to get up at about 4:30am for work. They placed me on dayshift after finalizing at work. For someone who has worked graveyards over 4 years this is a BIG change for me. I'm feeling so out of place and lost right now. Sleep will probably be the biggest challenge for me and getting my noggin in the right proper order. Dayshift is so different from graveyards, the types of people you deal with and the whole attitude of the place. For someone to enjoys the change in travelling I'm completely dreading this change in my schedule. But as an old history professor of mine used to say "this too shall pass".

Gnome Day

I had given my trainer a Gnome in a box last week. Today when we arrived at work we noticed the gnome was missing from its usual stop on top of the TV. So my trainer created this poster:


One of the other guys from work even got really creative:


We think we know who took the Gnome and are not awaiting for the "ransom" note. I'll keep you posted on the happenings. But it was a good way to keep our spirits in cheerful mode as I especially needed the cheering up after finding out I was assigned to Day-shift.To top the night off when I got home and watched 'Will&Grace' it was the episode where Will brought home his garden gnome. LOL

Fun at the Fair

I know this is a week late. But so much has occurred and life gets busy. Last week when Allison came over to visit we went to the California State Fair in Sacramento. Actually Allison went ahead with Haney and his daughter, while I waited for Anne and her crew to come along. Then my friend "Poodles" joined us there. It was a pretty large group but we all had fun. I wanted to hit the fair due to a craving for funnel cakes, a craving I've had for about two years now since the last time I ate them in Santa Monica (coincidentally with Allison too!). The food at the fair was so worth the extra hard workout my trainer had me do at the gym! Besides funnel cake, I had a bearsoaked polish sausage with ketchup and relish, gelato (pistachio and dulce leche flavor), bar-b-qued corn, pink lemonade and some chocolate samples. We visited the livestock area where I got to touch a cow who then tried to lick me, some goats wearing these funky coats that reminded me of the 80's exercise video, pigs, horses and sheep. There was a horse show that we arrived to late due to the lines at the gelato place (but that gelato was so worth it!), lots of exhibit including one for Merced County that had a singing Elvis doll which totally cracked me up, a large chicken for Solano County, and Weird Al Yankovich was singing at the fair that night so while I ate my funnel cake I listend to something he call music. Frankly he is not my cup of tea, but it was nice to sit down on the grassy area and relax with high sugar content food. =)

Mama Mia! movie review

This weekend I went to the movies with my friend and watched Mama Mia. A total chick flick for sure. Now I grew up in the late 80's so I was not familiar with ABBA like those before me but I must say their songs are rather catchy. Though there was that band "A*Teens" during the 90's that I listened too and had an album with some ABBA songs. The scenery in the movie was also worth watching it from my point of view, but then that is no surprise to those who know me. =) Overall the movie was pretty decent, lots of catchy song, plot was okay loved the surprise ending and the singing at the end cracked us up. Amanda Seyfried is a good actress and who knew that Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan could sing. That was a pleasant surprise! I knew Colin Firth had some musical ability and he does sing in this movie also, though I didn't like what they did to his character. But oh well Hollywood must have their twist I suppose.

Here's a clip from youtube:

Rough night

Tonight was pretty rough at work. My trainer had me doing some scenarios and I felt like such an incompetent person because I was not copying what he was saying and left out information, which is not a good thing when one of your job description is to be a scribe. Then we had several high priority, high stress type call on what was supposed to be a nice quiet channel. Go figure, the one time you want a nice easy channel so you can train and you get all the calls you don't really want! But overall it was a good night for training since we had to go tactical on one of the calls, which was a first for me and rather exciting. Now I'm so tired that all I want to do is have a good cry and some chocolate. I withheld on the chocolate but we shall see about the tears.

Graveyard

There have been different studies on the affect of working the graveyard shift and people's health. Because people who work on this shift go against the natural order of things and their circadian clock is tossed out of whack it may seem at times that they get the short end of the stick. People who work graveyard are more likely to get some form of cancer, they are under more stress both mentally and emotionally, they have a higher tendency to get dependent on some form of stimulant pill, etc. as plenty of studies show. But in some fields it is necessary to have the graveyard shift and there is no way to go round about it, especially in the law enforcement field.

I have spent the past 4 1/2 years on graveyards and let me tell you I love it. Yeah the hours are not that great if you want to have some form of social life, especially if you work the weekends (which I did!). Originally the main reason why I went to graveyards was because it was the first permanent spot that opened and I wanted a more "stable" schedule. Also the people at my job who worked graveyards were more laid back and younger. So that made it very appealing! I found that the people on graveyards at work tend to be more of a family than the other three shifts. We fight and fuss with each other but when the other shifts start "attacking" us, all of us would defend one another and protect our shift. Working in the Law Enforcement community you find yourself already part of a big family as soon as you sign those papers, but there are different sectors in that community. Being a Dispatcher and that field is quiet narrow and small, it takes a special person to be a Dispatcher and not just anyone can do the job, it is a tough job and the training is hard but this is another topic to be covered another day. So to be a Dispatcher and work the graveyard shift, you are in a different league from the others. Quirky people work graveyards and at times those quirks can get to you. But once you understand each other and learn how to tolerate one another, it does not bother you as much.

I know I'm rambling but the bottom line is this : I miss graveyards already! Last night was my last night on graveyards until I finalized training. I knew that getting this promotion meant that changes would be happening in my life but still it is hard to say goodbye to something you have been used to for 4.5 years. Most of my friends from the Field are on graveyards, I know their little quirks and their voices. Now I'm going to be on swing-shift for a month and though this is good for my training (it is the busier shift) it means I have to get used to a new set of people, habits, etc. Still I must remind myself that this is all for the greater good and I'm hoping and praying that as soon as I finalized I can return back to graveyards. =)

A poem by Robert Frost

A Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don't stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven't hoed,
And shout from where I am, 'What is it?'
No, not as there is a time talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

Drama

This is what happens when you work in an environment composed 80% of women. Last night at work it was not the citizens causing the drama but co-workers. Now I'm in training and frankly I just keep my mouth shut and observe. So let me tell you there was a lot of things to see last night! Yelling, throwing pens at the windows and plenty of gesturing just to say a few words that can depict the scene. I must say it provided the entertainment for the evening though not in a way I expected. The stress was there but just in different form than what I had been hoping for! Oh well, everything in training is a learning experience and last night was no exception. =)

A new "favorite" song by a Filipina Artist-Lea Salonga

Training

The reason why I'm so busy right now is because I'm in training. I got a promotion at work last month but they waited until I got back from vacation to start my training. Man I totally forgot how exhausting training can be. My trainer was out of town the first two days and then he got sick so he went home early. I've had to sit with three different people so far in radio and my head is dizzy. Different people have a different way of doing the same job and as a trainee it is my duty to obey them, no matter what I think or what my opinions are. So I am just trying to learn all the good stuff they all have and get that from them, while discarding the bad/pointless stuff.

So far it is going well. They have been really nice to me and saying all these wonderful things about me. I am just trying my best to do apply the principles of Ecclesiates 9:10 " 10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;" For now I'm still on graveyards with the same days off, but that schedule will change in 3 weeks when I get a new trainer.

My second week starts this Friday and with the holiday it should be an interesting night. Hopefully all will go well and I get a hot call or two that I can handle and learn from. We shall see.

Church camp

I'm sorry I'm late in posting these pictures but it has been a hectic few weeks. After our vacation up North the following weekend, Father's Day weekend, we had our church camp up at Pilot Lake. Here are pictures of the camp:

Sign to camp

Outside the cabins

Look what's that over there?


Skipping rocks

Boating in the lake Playing camp games like paper race
Tug of War
Lunch time

Going on a hike

Crossing the river


Taking a break at the mouth of the crystal caves

Campfire night

Family Vacation

I learned that even though you may live in the same house with your family, you still don't know them well enough until you've spent several hours with them in a small confined space like a moving vehicle. See if you live in a house together you can still get away from them whenever they annoy you, but in a moving vehicle there is no other place to go. That was the first lesson I re-learned during our family vacation.

We left California early Friday morning to ensure that we arrived in Portland, OR with plenty of time to visit friends. Since I work graveyard that meant I spent most of that drive laying in the back seat of the van sleeping while my father drove. My brother is more of a swing-shift guy and so he still sleeps in the morning. The drive was nice and scenic though you knew you weren't in California anymore as soon as you saw the lush green hills of Oregon. My parents had an old friend who was ill in Vancouver, WA which is just across the river from Portland so we visited her first. Her kids knew me and my brother and saw us growing up so the families are pretty close in that sense. We spent Friday night at another of my parent's friends house. Now I had forgotten how wet, gray and dreary the North-West was and so on this trip I brought some shorts and only one pair of jeans. What a mistake! I soon learned that even though it is summer the sun only peaks through in the great North-West and doesn't stay very long. It was wet and drizzly in Oregon when we left Saturday morning to head to Washington.

That was lesson number two: always bring more than one pair of pants on a trip.

Butchart Gardens

On the way to Vancouver Island & the Butterfly Garden

Oregon & Sequim, WA