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Saturday, July 26, 2008
Guatemala...woohoo!
I'm going to Guatemala for a week with Becky. We're leaving on Friday and plan on tripping around the country with no specific plans. During the trip we'll be exploring jungles, lakes, villages and volcanos. Luckily Becky speaks the language and we're both pretty flexible and spontaneous when it comes to travel. There'll be lots more posted about the trip when we get back, so check back later for the update.
City Wide Water Walk 2009
Bridging the Gap is organizing Chico's first City Wide Water Walk. The Water Walk will be on March 21, 2009 at Bidwell Park in Chico.
I'm really excited to be helping Shirley Adams organize and plan this event. This will be a family oriented event that will provide an opportunity to help get clean water to developing countries that are in need. It's inspiring to have an opportunity to find ways to help other communities live healthier and better.
So, put it on your calendar and plan on walking for water next March. If you're interested in helping during the event there are lots of ways to do that too. Just contact me, Shirley or anyone else you know that's involved in helping.
www.bridgingthegapbygiving.org
I'm really excited to be helping Shirley Adams organize and plan this event. This will be a family oriented event that will provide an opportunity to help get clean water to developing countries that are in need. It's inspiring to have an opportunity to find ways to help other communities live healthier and better.
So, put it on your calendar and plan on walking for water next March. If you're interested in helping during the event there are lots of ways to do that too. Just contact me, Shirley or anyone else you know that's involved in helping.
www.bridgingthegapbygiving.org
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Colorado Weekend
My mom, Jerry and Kai and I spent a long weekend in Colorado for the 4th of July. We started out in Durango and hit the Four Corners, Cortez, Silverton, Ouray, Norwood, Telluride and landed back in Durango. These are all in the southwest corner of Colorado and within 1 hour or 2 from each other. It's basically a loop and the scenic route to get there is beautiful. We arrived in Colorado on Thursday and spent the first day visiting Cortez, the Four Corners and Stayed in Durango for the evening.
At the four corners there a monument where you can stand in 4 states at the same time (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah). The funny thing about this monument is that it is in the middle of nowhere. The closest town is over 30 miles away and there isn’t any convenience store or gas station even near the historical site. Apparently, I’d been there before when I was too small to remember, but I wanted to see it anyway. Claiming that it was “just one of those things” that I felt I should do in life, like seeing Old Faithful (done) or Mount Rushmore (done). Jerry and Kai hadn’t been to the four corners before either and they felt the same way. Now that we’ve been, we’re satisfied we don’t need to ever go back. There is some resemblance of civilization at the four corners. After all, they charge you to visit and there are vendors with snow cones and jewelry. The jewelry was hand crafted by American Indians that live in the area and was really beautiful. But other than that it’s mostly just a slab of cement with a few flags in the center. So, we got our pictures and stood in four states and we were off to the next place… We stayed in Durango and found a really great Italian restaurant to eat at that featured a live blues/jazz band. Gotta love that stand up bass.
For the 4th of July we stayed in Durango and did the usual meandering around a small town, visiting shops and taking in the local flavor. There was a 4th of July flea market, BBQ, parade, street dancing and fireworks. Durango is your typical small town with the locals and tourists blending comfortably. It’s beautifully surrounded by mountains and has a rustic old west feel. The fireworks were amazing and lasted 30 minutes. They were set off from a hill behind our hotel. The river was between us and the fireworks and we watched them from the comfort of our balcony. The lights reflected off the water as we watched some of the most amazing fireworks I’ve seen.
The next day we started into our loop through Silverton, Ouray and Ridgeway before landing in Norwood. These small towns are classic old west towns much like Durango and feature plenty of tourists and fun downtown areas. While the crowds get smaller as you move farther from Durango, the beauty of the land and friendliness of the locals doesn’t. The most amazing thing was, I ran into some old Chico friends in Silverton. Mark and Jen M. currently live in Boulder, but they were down for the weekend celebrating Jen’s birthday. They were exploring the countryside by hiking to the waterfalls and had plans to hit Telluride as well.
When we made it to Norwood I was excited to see the place where my life began. It’s an extremely small town, that doesn’t have a hospital and features one of everything. One gas station, one grocery store, one coffee shop, one real estate office, you get the picture. There were a few hotels and a couple restaurant, as this is an area that gets busy around hunting season. We saw my first house, the place where I was born and stayed in an old hotel in the middle of town. My mom reminisced about the time she spent there when she was younger. My dad worked in a neighboring area and they moved to Norwood in the early stages of their marriage. My dad worked and my mom spent her time taking my sister and I on walks to town and visiting with neighbors. Norwood has actually grown and changed since then so it’s hard to imagine what was there 28 years ago. I enjoyed seeing Norwood and hearing about my early childhood. I was only about 1 year old when we moved back to California, so my memory doesn’t go back quite that far. My mom enjoyed pondering how different our lives would have been if we hadn’t left Norwood, but I’d rather not think about it. I thought I was a small town girl for growing up in Grass Valley, but it doesn’t begin to compare to Norwood.
After spending sufficient time in Norwood (it doesn’t take long), we continued our loop to Telluride. Now Telluride, on the other hand is a place that I would have been happy to grow up in. It’s absolutely beautiful surrounded by huge mountains that are decorated by trees, ski slopes and waterfalls. We headed up the mountain 4 wheeling up to the Bridal Veil Waterfall. Ironically, we ran into Mark and Jen as they were heading back down the mountain. It was so fun to see familiar faces! We continued up the hill to the waterfall before stopping and hiking a little. There’s an old railroad track and tunnel near the waterfall and it clearly hasn’t been in use for quite some time. It was great to get up into the mountains a little and see Telluride form this angle. It was absolutely stunning as the sun was shining into the valley. Back in town we got some ice cream and took a gondola ride to Mountain Village. It’s a small village with shops and restaurant perfect for the ski bunnies and snowboarders who need a break between runs.
We headed back to Durango for our final night and found a fun pizza place for dinner. It was such a great weekend with the family. I had to head to Farmington for work the next day and they played around before coming to Farmington and meeting me for dinner and staying the night.
That was the end of our trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like Colorado and I think it’s because it reminds me a lot of Northern California with all the mountains, trees and small towns. I’m so glad I got to experience more of the area before my project in Farmington ends.
At the four corners there a monument where you can stand in 4 states at the same time (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah). The funny thing about this monument is that it is in the middle of nowhere. The closest town is over 30 miles away and there isn’t any convenience store or gas station even near the historical site. Apparently, I’d been there before when I was too small to remember, but I wanted to see it anyway. Claiming that it was “just one of those things” that I felt I should do in life, like seeing Old Faithful (done) or Mount Rushmore (done). Jerry and Kai hadn’t been to the four corners before either and they felt the same way. Now that we’ve been, we’re satisfied we don’t need to ever go back. There is some resemblance of civilization at the four corners. After all, they charge you to visit and there are vendors with snow cones and jewelry. The jewelry was hand crafted by American Indians that live in the area and was really beautiful. But other than that it’s mostly just a slab of cement with a few flags in the center. So, we got our pictures and stood in four states and we were off to the next place… We stayed in Durango and found a really great Italian restaurant to eat at that featured a live blues/jazz band. Gotta love that stand up bass.
For the 4th of July we stayed in Durango and did the usual meandering around a small town, visiting shops and taking in the local flavor. There was a 4th of July flea market, BBQ, parade, street dancing and fireworks. Durango is your typical small town with the locals and tourists blending comfortably. It’s beautifully surrounded by mountains and has a rustic old west feel. The fireworks were amazing and lasted 30 minutes. They were set off from a hill behind our hotel. The river was between us and the fireworks and we watched them from the comfort of our balcony. The lights reflected off the water as we watched some of the most amazing fireworks I’ve seen.
The next day we started into our loop through Silverton, Ouray and Ridgeway before landing in Norwood. These small towns are classic old west towns much like Durango and feature plenty of tourists and fun downtown areas. While the crowds get smaller as you move farther from Durango, the beauty of the land and friendliness of the locals doesn’t. The most amazing thing was, I ran into some old Chico friends in Silverton. Mark and Jen M. currently live in Boulder, but they were down for the weekend celebrating Jen’s birthday. They were exploring the countryside by hiking to the waterfalls and had plans to hit Telluride as well.
When we made it to Norwood I was excited to see the place where my life began. It’s an extremely small town, that doesn’t have a hospital and features one of everything. One gas station, one grocery store, one coffee shop, one real estate office, you get the picture. There were a few hotels and a couple restaurant, as this is an area that gets busy around hunting season. We saw my first house, the place where I was born and stayed in an old hotel in the middle of town. My mom reminisced about the time she spent there when she was younger. My dad worked in a neighboring area and they moved to Norwood in the early stages of their marriage. My dad worked and my mom spent her time taking my sister and I on walks to town and visiting with neighbors. Norwood has actually grown and changed since then so it’s hard to imagine what was there 28 years ago. I enjoyed seeing Norwood and hearing about my early childhood. I was only about 1 year old when we moved back to California, so my memory doesn’t go back quite that far. My mom enjoyed pondering how different our lives would have been if we hadn’t left Norwood, but I’d rather not think about it. I thought I was a small town girl for growing up in Grass Valley, but it doesn’t begin to compare to Norwood.
After spending sufficient time in Norwood (it doesn’t take long), we continued our loop to Telluride. Now Telluride, on the other hand is a place that I would have been happy to grow up in. It’s absolutely beautiful surrounded by huge mountains that are decorated by trees, ski slopes and waterfalls. We headed up the mountain 4 wheeling up to the Bridal Veil Waterfall. Ironically, we ran into Mark and Jen as they were heading back down the mountain. It was so fun to see familiar faces! We continued up the hill to the waterfall before stopping and hiking a little. There’s an old railroad track and tunnel near the waterfall and it clearly hasn’t been in use for quite some time. It was great to get up into the mountains a little and see Telluride form this angle. It was absolutely stunning as the sun was shining into the valley. Back in town we got some ice cream and took a gondola ride to Mountain Village. It’s a small village with shops and restaurant perfect for the ski bunnies and snowboarders who need a break between runs.
We headed back to Durango for our final night and found a fun pizza place for dinner. It was such a great weekend with the family. I had to head to Farmington for work the next day and they played around before coming to Farmington and meeting me for dinner and staying the night.
That was the end of our trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like Colorado and I think it’s because it reminds me a lot of Northern California with all the mountains, trees and small towns. I’m so glad I got to experience more of the area before my project in Farmington ends.
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