Biking in the Wind

Smoke follows beauty and wind, in a rainstorm, tends to follow me . . . as I'm riding my BICYCLE home. Well, the wind didn't so much follow me as turn against me. THE ENTIRE WAY HOME. How is that even possible? I mean I spent part of my bike ride going south, then east, then southwest, then west, then south again and EVERY TIME the wind was in my face. Trust me, I wasn't biking fast enough to create a breeze in my face.

Tomorrow? I'm definitely bringing a jacket. But on the positive side, my yard is getting a good soaking, which is really good considering I didn't water this week--AT ALL!!

Memory Loss--At My Age?

Okay, I'm no spring chick. I'm not really that old either. I mean, I'm old to my students . . . but to most adults, I'm probably just . . . heading towards younger middle age. Right?

Yesterday at school I had some questions to ask the principal. He was busy and the vice-principal was the best person to talk to about my questions according to Mr. S, so he told me to talk to Dr. W. I headed on over to the cafeteria, but got slightly distracted talking to a couple of other people. When I finally found Dr. W I went up and said, "I have a question for you." He looked at me expectantly and then I found myself in some kind of brainless wonderland. He continued staring at me. I opened my mouth and then I felt my face flushing as heat rushed through me. My brain raced into high gear. I wouldn't have gone to the principal or the vice principal if it wasn't something I needed to know.

My brain faltered, sputtered, and died. I closed my mouth. I had just talked to Mr. S! I had just asked him the questions. JUST BARELY. My mind, now a void of complete blankness, was not helping me. I opened my mouth and finally admitted it, "I forgot."

Dr. W then went on to razz me about my 'blonde' moment. Sigh. I've never had a blonde moment quite like that before. I mean, I've definitely had blonde moments, but not like this. This was different. This time my age loomed over me.

Ultimately, my brain refused to work and I had to go ask Mr. S, THE PRINCIPAL, what we had just BARELY talked about. Yes, he laughed at me. No, I'm pretty sure he wasn't thinking, "Oh my gosh. I hired this woman? She can't even remember a conversation we had five minutes ago?" At least I hope he wasn't thinking that.

Then later that night it happened again. At taekwondo. We had to do pushups and sit-ups (not many), but we had to count to 10. We count to 10 all the time. I've never had a problem getting up to five--I always get hung up on number six, but I figure that's just because it sounds wrong. I thought I'd gotten over my little 'six' problem, but as it turns out not only did I have problems with six but also with two and three . . . and four . . . and six . . . and eight . . . and--well you get the picture. I CAN'T COUNT TO TEN.

I guess it's a good thing I don't teach math. Dumb brain. I can only hope these moments will be few and FAR between. At least for another good thirty years. Or maybe sixty years. Yeah. Sixty years. That's better.

Obama's speech

Yeah. Go to school. Make mistakes and learn from them. Work hard. Put effort into what you do. We're not all naturally good at everything. Life is HARD WORK. You have to work hard. Commit to what you want to do and then WORK AT IT.

There was a funny note in the speech (at least to us writers out there). He said that we won't always know instant success-that J.K. Rowling was rejected TWELVE times before she got her book published . . . yeah. If only it was normally that easy to get published!

Don't let failures define you--let them teach you. Don't be afraid to ask questions, to ask for help. What are you going to do with your life? What contributions are you going to make? Get serious about school this year and work hard and you'll find success.

Anyway. That is pretty much the gist of the speech. It was a great speech and he was right on. No, he didn't go off about how we need to have socialism and how everyone needs to follow everything he does and says. No, he did not talk about abortion. No, he did not talk about his healthcare plan. Yes, your children paid little to no attention. No, he did not brainwash your children (even those who paid attention). If we could brainwash children that easily--and convince them that you should work hard at school, don't you think we'd already be doing that?

Truth is truth no matter where you find it--even from someone who you may believe is destroying our country--what he said today--was truth. And truth is always good, no matter where you find it. But, if you're still worried sit down with your kids and let them know that sometimes someone, even someone you might not agree with or respect, will get something spot on right. SOMETIMES. And today was the day for Obama to get something so right that everyone can agree on it. Well, maybe not the people who believe the earth is still flat, but pretty much everyone else . . . I hope anyway.

So NICE

It is so nice to have a day off!! I've actually been working on school stuff all day, but it's been important that I catch up on grading stuff etc . . .

Just a few more things to figure out and a lesson for tomorrow and then I can enjoy the rest of my day. Oh wait! The day is almost over as it is. LOL. Ah well. The life of teaching, right?

A Troubling Day

My husband sent me an email this morning with a link to a news-site with an article about Obama's speech that he intends to give to students on Tuesday. I read it and found it troubling to say the least, especially when I went on to read many of the comments posted in response to this future address.

Some schools have already decided not to show it. Some schools have sent letters home telling parents about this broadcast and in response parents have decried this move on Obama's part going so far to compare him to Hitler, etc . . .

Okay, first off--DUDE, this guy is not Steve Jobs. He has no device that alters the reality-perception field. Yes, it hasn't been proven, but I can almost guarantee you that Steve Jobs does have one. And he hasn't given one to Obama because believe me--having devices like that--makes you too scary to deal with. Jobs keeps it secret.

Second. We do not know what exactly the speech is going to be about--according to Education Secretary Ann Duncan he is going to "Challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning." Dang. I was really hoping he'd tell the kids that the only way to succeed in life would be to drop out. My class sizes are way too large right now. Stupid President. Can't he see that my job would be way easier if about half my students left school? Oh, and supporting a republican's idea for education (ie NCLB)? What is up with that? Doesn't he know he's a democrat? Sheesh!

Something else really worries me. Duncan said that "Obama will also call for a 'shared responsibility' among students, parents, and educators to maximize learning potential." What? People sharing responsibility to help kids grow up? What kind of socialistic crap is this? What is this guy thinking? I never interfere with my nieces and nephews. I don't help them with homework, with their problems, or anything like that, because they are not my children and who am I to tell them what to do?

My nieces and nephews would be the first to tell you too, "Oh, I'm SO glad that Aunt Shanna doesn't tell us what to do--like be more respectful to our parents. That would be LAME."

It's not like I have any valuable life experiences to share with them. It isn't like I'm older than they are, have suffered and enjoyed what life has offered so far and have learned things from life. Nope. I have nothing of value to help them with.

AND I definitely am not concerned with my students at work, because I am just there to teach them--how does concern over the fact that they may not have enough food at home have anything to do with me?

Plus, what about the whole brainwashing thing? There are going to be LITTLE kids listening to this broadcast. Little kids cannot think for themselves and listening to Obama natter on about some blah blah blah blah blah blah blah . . . oh wait. Sorry. I had the attention span of a fourth-grader there for a second. Okay, what was I saying? Oh yeah. As I was saying, he is going to totally brain-wah wah wah blah blah blah "No, he totally said you were cute!" blah blah blah blah, "Can you believe we aren't in class right now? Suweet!" blah blah blah blah blah blah, "I totally did not say that about her. We are so not going to be friends with her ever again" blah blah blah blah, "Dude, did you see that sweet shot I made last night? I'm so playing pro someday" blah blah . . .

Okay. Wait a minute. I'm back. I guess I was experiencing the attention span of one of my junior high students. Yeah. We definitely do not want Obama brainwashing our students. And if we don't allow our children to hear this speech they'll stay safe from the evils of politicians out there and safe from the possibility of hearing something that lasts longer than 5 minutes.

Do you know what this outcry reminds me off? People burning Harry Potter books because they are evil. People burning and trashing the Dixie Chicks' artistic work because they spoke out against Bush and should be killed. I vividly remember little kids smashing up cd's . That was such a terrifying an image to me.

People--trust yourselves. Trust your children. As parents you have far more power over them than not only any president, but any superstar out there. Talk to them. Watch the broadcast. If there is something in there that is outrageously against what you stand for, as a citizen of the United States of America, discuss it with your kids. Show them that you are not afraid to deal with someone who may be in the wrong. Show them that you support our right to freedom of speech, no matter who it is, even some crazy socialistic president who has set us on our way to ruin.

And always trust in PUBLIC RELATIONS. There is no way they are going to let Obama shoot himself in the foot by saying something like, "Do as I tell you to do. Support me, you little kindergartners because I'll be running for president for more than two terms. And I'm going to win. And Walmart and I are really going to take OVER THE WORLD." Then again, maybe public relations would put that message in subliminally. Yeah. Don't trust the PR guys either. BUT DO TRUST YOURSELVES AND YOUR CHILDREN!!

Fighting Scenes

I just read a friend's chapter the other day. It was good--lots of interesting stuff going on. There was also a fairly involved fight scenes. Not only are fight scenes hard to figure out, but they are also hard to write, even if you figured it out really well.

So how can you write fight scenes well? I'm not sure. You don't want to make it too complicated and you don't want to make it too detailed. On the other hand you need to give enough details and enough emotion to make it interesting without it being too annoying.

So what makes a good fight scene? I read Graceling by Kristin Cashore. It had fighting in it and if I remember right I really enjoyed it, but I wasn't paying a lot of attention to how she made it good. So I think I'm going to have to check out that book again and re-read it. Also, maybe take another look at Hunger Games and the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins. And The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley and Hero and the Crown. Hmm. Can you think of any other books that do fight scenes really well? And when I say fighting scenes I mean small groups--not WAR. No more than three or four people fighting.

Back to Life

Last week was a busy one with LOTS and LOTS of meetings! Sometimes you feel like you learn a lot, sometimes not. Now that last week is over, official teaching starts tomorrow.

There are a lot of changes that I'm facing--so many (some of them my fault) that I almost feel like I'm starting my first year over. We are moving to 70 minute class periods, which means that I need to revamp the few lesson plans I kept from last year. I want to incorporate using the books provided by school more--not something I really did last year. I want to use more technology--my projector daily along with my interwrite tablet (think of a mobile smart board), more videos, and more interesting ways to get my lesson across to the students. There are some other things that I have to do--I have to teach more grammar. We won't get into my philosophy about grammar, but a quick note--there is no correlation between better writing and knowing grammar. NONE. However, there is a correlation between reading and better writing. What a surprise, eh? And I need to make sure that I'm following the core curriculum, much more closely than I did last year as our department now plans on what core we will be testing on for the term.

All of this is good stuff and will help my teaching. But now I have a lot more to figure out along with making up lesson plans. I'll get there eventually with figuring this stuff out, but this year I'm going to have to set aside time at home to work on lesson planning and incorporating technology.

At the same time I want to continue writing . . . when I say writing I mean revising and critiquing and writing! I have quite a bit of critiquing to do for friends, a TON of revising that I need to do for myself, and I NEED to write.

I'm also getting back onto a diet--I've only gained, gained, gained this past year and 1/2. While that doesn't always take up a lot of time, planning foods takes some time as does exercise.

And I also need to keep on top of housework and the yard.

How am I going to do it all?

I don't know. I do know that I'm freaking out--just a little bit. On the other hand I'm not nearly as nervous about starting school as I was last year. That's good, right?

Gearing Up For School

No. I'm not really gearing up for school. In a way I am. I've bought some supplies for my classroom and I have some ideas on how I want to approach my classes, including my honors class. However, they are just vague ideas in my head and nothing really concrete. Last year I didn't use the books the school provided and this year I want to use the books in addition to other things.

I've also started working on my yard again. How is that gearing up for school you ask? Well, it probably isn't, but it makes me feel like I'm still doing something useful. Maybe it is just a good way to get OUT of lesson planning!

Tomorrow? I have to go clothes shopping--yeah. I weigh a little more (ahem . . . okay a LOT) than I did at the start of the school year and well-yeah. I have to buy some clothes that are good for school and that will fit me.

I'm also planning on riding my bike to school. Next week may be a little strange for riding my bike because I'm not sure when I'll be in my actual building or at meetings in other places. Other than that I'm planning on biking--it's 2.75 miles one way (roughly) and all downhill on the way there, which makes it doable. I have no desire to get to work all sweaty! Maybe that exercise will help me tone down my eating when I get home. Maybe!

Family Reunion

For part of our family reunion we went to "This is the Place Heritage Park". I've been there before, but it has been years. It was a lot of fun. This park has moved historical houses from all over and created a small pioneer community. People work there--including a blacksmith--and they dress in appropriate clothing and do activities such as rug making, (in which you can participate), butter churning, grinding corn, basically typical activities of the pioneer era.

Above is a picture of my two nieces, Anna Marie and Bailey having their picture taken with Brigham Young--the second prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He brought members of the church to Utah to escape the persecutions experienced east of the Mississippi and because he was inspired to do so, of course!

One thing that I found a little disconcerting (and only decided to have a little fun with it when it was too late) was the fact that these people know a LOT and they are in character. So they treat you the way they imagine the people would have treated you back then. They answer your questions that way too. So if anyone who reads this blog is planning on a trip up there try telling all the people there (when they ask you) that you are a tourist from the future, where they have discovered time travel and you thought it would be fun to experience this era.

Wouldn't that be fun? I wonder if it would throw them at all or if they would totally take it in stride. When I went into the leather tannery place (I have no idea what you would call it) the person there asked me what I was doing there and I said I was a tourist. I didn't quite have the guts to say 'from the future'. If I ever go there again, I'm totally going to say that.

The houses were definitely not built for people who are tall. Richard, at 6'6'' had to duck quite often. His wife, Mindy who is obviously WAY shorter had no problem!

There are several houses that have been relocated to Heritage Park. There are also replica structures that have been built in order to give us a better feel for structures of that time.

Emma and I explored the tepees--they had a woman there dressed in Native American dress and she told us that these teepees are used by the Shoshone tribe--you can tell by the buffalo skins used on the floor and by the type of teepee? I think. But I got the impression that other tribes used this type of teepee. I could be wrong though! She also told Emma that the women of the tribe were the ones who put up the teepee and when Emma was older, had she belonged to the tribe, she would have had to put it up all by herself. Emma said, "If I were a big strong Indian woman I could". Which, I guess means that she is a small, weak white woman. Well, she is really small for her age, but weak? Not for her size anyway!

Bailey had a blast riding the ponies. After going around a couple of times she actually just held on tight and the lady was able to let her go. The workers there were amazed that she enjoyed it so much and was able to do it by herself. Mostly, kids that age (if our visit was anything to go by) screamed and cried the whole time!

Bailey, right now, is really into trains. Part of the reason we went to the "This is the Place Heritage Park" was because it had a little train you could ride on and the 'bus' they carried you around on was built to look like a steam engine. Because Damon works for the Rail side of things at UTA and he knows a lot, he got permission to give our family a tour of the Warm Springs facility where they maintain Commuter Rail and some light rail vehicles. This is a close up of one of their locomotives. I've gotten to ride in the locomotive before--WAY FUN--but this was just a tour. We did get to see inside the train though and that was cool.

Damon doing his thing! I am continually amazed at how much Damon knows about rail. He just took us there and was this fount of information. He didn't have any cards with information on it--nope. He just knows it all. Smart guy! As his boss puts it--he is a foamer. He foams at the mouth when he sees a train. I don't know if that is just his boss's term, or if that is a general term for people who really, really, love trains. Admittedly, I've taken a tour of this facility before, so I'd heard a lot of it already.

We had been planning on riding Frontrunner (ie commuter rail) after this tour, but everything took much longer than we thought so after we finished up with this, we went to our house and had dinner. After dinner most everyone left so that was pretty much our family reunion.

And you know how I am about writing so what can we apply to writing for this blog? Well, what if your story took place in a village like this one? If you want to do historical research getting a pass and visiting this park on a regular basis would help you really get into touch with the time period and the day to day kind of stuff.

If you are writing fantasy--what kind of world would have places like this? Places made especially for tourists? And what if something happened there? Or what if people were forced to live there and actually believed they were from that time period? How would you keep them ignorant of the real world or the more modern world basically keeping them as slaves?

Cute pics of nieces and nephew

Zoos are lots of fun for most people to visit. One of my favorite zoos (I've only been to it once) is San Diego's Wild Animal Park. I like feeling less like I'm looking into cages and more like I'm looking into an actual habitat. Anyway, for a relatively small town for most people, but decent sized for Idaho this city has a good zoo. This zoo also had gorgeous walkways with plenty of shading from trees with plenty of places to sit down.

For some kids, petting zoos are the only way to connect to animals. They may live in the city or in an apartment that doesn't allow pets of any kind. At any rate, I think that I learned a lot of life lessons from having pets as I grew up.

I loved all the trees at this zoo. It really felt like you were in a forest a few times!

One of the nice things about zoos is if you are trying to come up with some unusual animals, but don't really know where to start? I mean come on! Go to the zoo. Observe some animals and their habitats and then start writing down your ideas. Funny how I always relate just about EVERYTHING back to writing. Hmmm, maybe that is because anything seen or experienced in your life will broaden your writing horizons!

Tom Hickey's Death RIDE

A few days ago I posted about a multi-modal tour that we went on in Denver this past weekend. I wasn't too sure about the name, and now I think the name should be Tom Hickey's Death Ride versus Death March. We did do some walking, but we actually didn't have to do as much as they thought we would. We were going to have to walk 3/4 a mile to the cog rail and then 3/4 a mile back, but the bus driver decided he could go straight up there. I GUESS if we would have had to do that, in addition to some of the later walking we did then you might be able to call it a Death March, versus Ride.

I thought I'd post the schedule that they gave us for the tour. It might be hard to see, but you get the idea. We had to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 4:45 AM.

I liked the schedule--very colorful! And here is a map of where we went. Basically we started in Denver, went to Colorado Springs and up Pike's Peak, back to Denver, then on to Boulder then back to Denver.

Groceries from Chile

You don't normally expect to get a package from someone SERVING a mission. For those of you who don't know, normal mission protocol is to send the person/s out there (wherever there may be) packages. I think my parents get confused sometime, but that is okay. (They're kind of getting up there in years--sshh, don't tell them I said that and maybe if the print is small enough they won't be able to read it because you know--they are so old and all that. Wa ha ha).

Anyway. I'm very glad that they DID send ALL of us kids a package. Mom has talked about some of the stuff they have seen in stores and I've been really interested to kind of get a better picture. Mom and Dad decided to send us kids some things that they see every day in the Chilean grocery stores.

Some of the stuff they sent was more because the packaging is so different from here in the States. So the picture above shows the difference between the United States and Chile. (Yes, I did have to look up Canela to figure out what the heck it was. Damon and I originally thought it was some kind of hot chocolate--only with a different name!)

The direct translation of manjar is food or delicious food. Mom said that we should use this as a dip for fruit. In the States our fruit dips usually come in small plastic tubs.

These are peanuts bought in the street, nice and hot. We are supposed to warm them up before we eat them. The packages almost feel like rice paper. It is fairly thin. I'm looking forward to trying the peanuts tomorrow. However, our microwave is broken and I'm not sure how to heat them up otherwise. Would you believe that we have survived without a microwave for over six months now? But hey, that is another story for another time!

Mostacilla means sparrow-shot, the smallest kind of bird shot OR very small glass, gold, silver, or steel beads. I'm pretty sure that this is for cake decorating--at least that is kind of what it looks like. Here they are called nonpareils (I figured that out after an internet search because I had no idea). Personally, I've always called them sprinkles. Soo yeah. Cake sprinkles actually. I guess it could just be candy, but I'm pretty sure. I'll double check with Mom though!

This is the candy section. I haven't tried any of them, but at the top is some kind of Nestle candybar, some cookies and small hard candies at the bottom. To the left is something . . . The technical translation of morocha really didn't help, but basically it is a chocolate covered wafer (I just tried it so I could tell you what they were). They're pretty good, too!

Now we get to the jello section. We have a box, Chileans get pouches. I'm pretty sure this is the equivalent of jello and of pudding. You can see the brand name of Zuko. Out of curiosity, I looked up the name online. No hits. Well, I did get a lot of hits--you know Prince Zuko from the Avatar? Yeah. I'm pretty sure this is different since that is a cartoon and this is food. Am I right about the jello, Mom and Dad?


I haven't actually tried to open any of these packages. Well I did the cookies, but just because I wasn't sure what they were! Yeah, yeah. That's it!

I wonder if the rest of the packages are easy to open? I think it is a bit nicer having the baking soda in a box instead of this kind of package because then it is easier to use with baking stuff. However, I could see advantages to plastic pouches too. Insects and other little creatures are a lot less likely to get into something sealed up tight in a plastic covering versus a box or paper. Hmmm. Still, it would be a pain to pour into a teaspoon for measuring purposes. And besides how many little creatures like baking soda? Blech!


Since squeeze bottles came along I'm good with that. I always did like the small pouches that come in those deli sandwiches though. So perfect to open, use, and discard. I wonder what different sizes these pouches come in. Is this a big one? A small one? A medium one? I mean, obviously Mom and Dad don't want to send us something that weighs a lot, so maybe they chose everything to size too, but does that mean these are the smallest packages? If these are the largest, I think it works for the mayonnaise, but I don't use a lot of mayo. Hmmm . . .




Again, I think a little bit of mustard goes a long ways, so this package is a nice size. However, what about sticking it the refrigerator? I refrigerate mine--aren't you supposed to? Maybe I should go look at the instructions. But I think all of these flat packages could eventually cause some problems in the frig. And when I say problems I mean big messes! But then again, if we had everything in pouches versus hard plastic I bet they would design refrigerators to hold these pouches upright. Mom and Dad? Do they have anything like that in the refrigerators in Chile?



Now ketchup gets used a little more in my family, so this seems like a pretty small package for ketchup. Just a quick description on the way these feel--very much like you'd expect. They seem to be very similar to the feel of the teeny pouches you get from delis.






And last, but not least is the gravy. The package from Chile has a very smooth plastic feel to it versus the package from here. The package here feels very similar to paper. I prefer the Chilean feel!

Mom and Dad, thanks so much for giving us a little feel for what it is like in Chile. This was very cool to get! I'm sorry I didn't get to open it sooner so I could call you, but this was way cool, especially since I've been wondering, just a bit, what the stores and things like that are like--and how they are different from here. So thank-you!

And I could totally put in a writing tip, but nah. YOU figure out how something as small as different foods or even differently packaged foods might give your worldbuilding a richer feel to it! Okay, okay! That was a writing tip after all!

PS. My sister just told me that those are drink mixes--NOT JELLO. Oops. I actually feel pretty foolish because the directions say one liter of water. Yeah. That would be a lot of water for jello. (Shanna blushes).

Plotting a Novel

Plotting a novel can be nightmarish. Halfway through your book you may find out that someone just popped in who becomes one of your main characters (yes it happened to me!), or you may find out that you don't have near enough tension. Your characters don't have enough bad stuff happening to them and your book, as a result, is long and tedious. Or you may find that you spend YEARS plotting the novel, but not much actually gets written.

Most authors begin to figure out ways that they plot best. Some writers refuse to plot anything--they just start out with a vague idea and then go for it (what I did in my first novel). Others do a complete outline (what I did in my second novel) and others fall somewhere in between outlining and just coming up with a vague idea and writing.

I went to a conference once and Brandon Sanderson was teaching a class about plotting. One of the things that stuck in my head was if you just write, with nothing more than a vague idea, you will find that you revise that book far more than someone who has outlined it. And yes, that is very true. I can vouch for that!

So it really interested me when a friend told me she'd come up with a book called The Complete Novel Plotting Workbook. I bought one from her and so far I've been really impressed. It is really a workbook. Everything is in there for you to come up with an entire book and can be written in the book. Just what you need before you start writing the actual novel.

Now, if you are a writer who has your own unique idea of how you plot and it works for you this may not be an option you'd want to consider. For me, personally, the more ways I can approach a book the better it may get. Also, maybe this will eventually become a powerful tool for you to use and it will work BETTER than your previous system. However, if you are someone who uses something that works well, I suggest trying it on something that you'd be willing to experiment with. In other words, if you have a deadline for a book that needs to be written use what you are used to, but if you have something that sounds like fun, but no one is interested in it (in terms of publishing) buy this book and give it a shot. It may turn out to be better for you--it may not. The book, however, is very affordable and you won't be out that much if you decide it doesn't work for you.

And if you are a beginning writer? This is a MUST BUY. It breaks things down, makes you think of things you might have never considered, and gives you lots of thoughts and ideas to make your entire book better.

For more information about purchasing the book please go here.

And if you still are wondering whether or not you should try it out here is another review from author Tristi Pinkston.

What a day . . .

Up at 4 am and now we are returning to the hotel on this bus. However, we
are in Boulder and our bus doesn't get back to Denver until 10. It's
been a long day of riding lots of different types of transit, but
still fun.

Goodnight!

The top-14,115 ft

A more complete explanation

It may be hard to read.

The cog railway

Not that we are actually riding up using this locomotive-but this is
what they used to use. You can see the third rail in the middle-hence
the cog-hence cog rail.

Tom Hickey's Death March

Today is the death march. Sound like fun? I don't know yet exactly why this is called a death march, but I think it has something to do with the fact that we had to be up at 4 AM and probably won't be back until late this evening.

The first thing on the itinerary? Front Range Express Bus then Mountain Metro bus then a 3/4 of a mile walk (uphill-steepness to be determined later) and then the Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway, which is a Cog Railway. I'm not actually sure what that is, but I do know that it is going to be extremely steep to the top of the mountain.

Then we do a tour of the Cog Railway Maintenance Shop, which should be interesting. The reason I'm blogging right now (as I'm on the bus) is because the have wi-fi on here and they wanted us to experience it so they even brought a couple of computers--how fun is that?

I'm not sure how posting pics is going to work, but I will post more pics when we get home! But I'll also post along for the rest of the day (via my phone) and we'll see how much of a death march this really is!

Tilework at hotel

Oxford Hotel-where we are staying

What used to be the carriage house.