Travel to Virginia

November 30, 2009
I left my house at 8:00am to fly to Sterling, VA (Washington Dulles Airport) for a meeting at the FHWA Eastern office. Flights to/from Dulles are often full of business travelers and they are often over sold flights. I was hoping to get a free flight (give up my seat) to use when my sister and I go on a cruise in March...I was soooo close, but no luck this time. The United agent told me she had me booked on the next flight but she just needed to get my the free flight voucher. I said OK and was waiting around. Then this lady comes walking OFF of the airplane (weird) and I was then told that she couldn't go on the flight because she was having an anxiety attack and they didn't need me to give up my seat anymore...dang it! I was seated in business class "for my troubles". I would have much rather gotten the free ticket. I do travel a lot but I've never sat in business class. It is basically what first class is on "regular"/smaller airplanes. The stewardess came up to me and asked me if I'd be eating lunch and I said "what do you mean" (what a dumb thing to say) and she said "I mean, will you be eating lunch" (duh) then I said "Do you mean like buying a box meal" and she said "No, we are serving a chicken salad". OK, I had NO idea they served free lunch in business class...live and learn (and look dumb at the same time). Anyway, it was a good flight and I got to watch the movie Four Christmases. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369436/

On the way to the rental car building the rental car shuttle got pulled over by a police officer. That was a first for all of us on the shuttle to experience. We didn't know what had happened. The officer came to the window and said "do you know you almost hit my vehicle." The shuttle bus driver got a ticket for a reckless lane change! Wow, I was surprised but at the same time happy that a police officer actually held someone accountable for reckless driving.

Moving Along...

November 25 to 27, 2009
On November 25 we packed up the car and headed back to Phoenix. The trip went smooth and we stopped in Yuma, AZ at the Yuma State Historic Park for lunch. When we arrived in Phoenix we headed straight to the grocery store to get food for our Thanksgiving dinner. We spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix and had a great dinner, which included an awesome fruit pizza. I think we will make that a new Thanksgiving tradition! It was 80 degrees Thanksgiving day and I think that was a first for all of us, we are used to snow and cold. On Friday we couldn't pass up the opportunity to shop on "black Friday" so we checked out all of the ads and decided on a couple of places we wanted to go. We were at Kohl's at 4:00am and we were in line to check out around 4:20am and we waited in line for one hour, yep one hour! I don't know how that many people could find what they wanted and get in line only 20 minutes after the store opened! The wait was worth it though because we got some pretty good deals. My flight left Phoenix on Friday at 2:50pm and I made it back to Denver in one piece. It was a great vacation for all of us!

Cabrillo and Mission Beach

November 24, 2009
Today was a day for the beach. In the morning we went to Cabrillo National Monument, yep I went to a park on my day off! We watched a short movie and then walked up to the lighthouse. There is a really great view of San Diego from Cabrillo. We then went down by the tide pools and enjoyed the view for awhile. I found another sign of someone falling with their hands up in the air...I'm starting to see a pattern here with this sign and the Blue Ridge signs I saw.We then headed North and went to Mission Beach. We spent a few hours there and could have spent more time there but it was late afternoon and we wanted to head downtown by the dock where the USS Midway (aircraft carrier) is located.

San Diego Zoo

November 23, 2009

No trip to San Diego is complete without a day at the San Diego Zoo. This zoo is pretty big and we spent the whole day there. We headed over to the pandas first thing to avoid the lines that usually form later in the day. They had two pandas we could see but there was a baby in the "back" but shown on a TV screen. I think my favorite animals were the meerkats but we saw many animals, too many to name them all. We also went to a sealion show. It was a long but fun day.

Balboa Park - San Diego

November 22, 2009
Today we went to Balboa Park which is next to the San Diego Zoo. http://www.balboapark.org/. We walked around the park and had lunch and then watched a performance at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion. Here is some information about the organ "John D. and Adolph Spreckels donated the Spreckels Organ, one of the world's largest outdoor pipe organs, to the City of San Diego in 1914 for the Panama-California Exposition. This unique organ contains 4,530 pipes ranging in length from the size of a pencil to 32 feet and is housed in an ornate vaulted structure with highly embellished gables." In the photo is me, Isaac (in the stroller) and Ben with Zach. My friend Jamie was taking the photo. After spending time at the park we headed over to Coronado Island to see the Hotel Coronado. It is an amazing hotel right on the beach. We got there at sunset and took some really great photos. The historic hotel is defiantly a sight to see and I'm glad that I was not the one who had to drive us across the long bridge to get to the island!

To San Diego, CA (Vacation)

November 21, 2009
I flew into Phoenix, AZ very late Friday night. My friends and I were on a mission to take a vacation and we decided that San Diego would be the perfect spot. We got up Saturday morning, packed the car and hit the road. Along the way we passed several cattle farms which I didn't know existed in the southwest. The big difference between SW cattle farms versus the ones in Nebraska is that the in SW the cattle have shelters with fans. The heat is pretty bad down there in the summer so the cattle get some comfort having shade. They are pretty big operations down there and you will know when you pass one because the smell is pretty strong. We also passed some sand dunes. The dunes went on for miles and there were several people camping with their dune buggies along the interstate at Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. We were very close to the Mexico boarder traveling along I-8. We could see the boarder fence and we were stopped at 3 boarder check points along the interstate. We didn't have any problems at the check points but stopping traffic along the interstate does create a bit of a back-up. I am still grateful for their efforts. There was a sign at one of the check points with statistics stating how many pounds of drugs they have seized etc... It was pretty amazing. We finally pulled into our La Mesa, CA hotel around 5:30pm, unpacked and then headed out to dinner. Overall the travel day went very well and the two kids (Isaac and Zach...with an h :) ) handled the long ride very well.

More Signs

November 18, 2009

Today I found another sign along Blue Ridge Parkway. It is similar to the other one I posted but I think this one is even better. Apparently someone had time to change the design of the sign so they have different curves that the biker gets to fall off of. I think this one is "better" because he is really going over the side and on the other sign he just had his hands up in the air but the road was still underneath him....weird. I had to post it so you can compare and see what I mean.

Today I had envisioned some quiet time at home after work with no rush to really do anything. Nothing ever turns out as I plan. Rather than getting to come home I spent 2 hours in urgent care. After my hand shakes wouldn't go away (but my blood sugar tested fine) and a few other symptoms I decided I'd better not risk it. Turns out I have low blood flow and am dehydrated and I think I have some kind of infection but nothing that looks to be the flu (either strain) so I guess I'll take it. Just once I'd like to spend some time at home without getting sick...not this time. It could be worse though...I don't think it is anything a few days time won't cure (finger's crossed).

Another Denver Snow Storm

November 15, 2009

It started to snow around 4pm on Saturday and kept snowing until Sunday afternoon. I was out of town for the first big Denver snow storm of the year but this time I wasn't so lucky. Attached is a photo I took from my porch...not the best photo but it shows about 7 inches. It was still snowing when I took that photo. I guess November is Denver's 2nd snowiest month. I'm sure all of this snow will be melted in a couple of days. That is one great thing about Denver's weather, if you don't like it wait a few hours.

Friday the 13th

November 13, 2009
So I made it through most of the day not really realizing that it was "Friday the 13th". I got home and was grabbing a glass out of the cupboard and as I grab one another one falls out! Yep, into pieces on the counter and on the floor. It is rare that I break a glass but I'll leave it to my luck to happen on Friday the 13th!

In The Office

Road Log Example:

176.528 - INTERSECTION - PAVED ROUTE (VA ROUTE 603 / NON NPS) - L

October 11, 2009

Many people have asked me now that I'm home what do I do. Well, I still have to work...in the office. Then the response is "OK, so what do you do". I decided to let everyone know a little about what I do when I'm in the office. One task that takes up a lot of my time is going through something called "road logs". It is basically a log of all intersections, parking lots, bridges and overpasses that we come across when we drive the route. After we collect the route I have to watch all of the video and update the road logs. I make sure all of the intersections are there and in proper order, I make sure the entries fit our program's format, and most importantly I add the updated mileage. I posted one entry above as an example.....imagine a whole .xls list of these and on a 500 mile long route (like Blue Ridge Parkway) can take up a lot of time. While I'm doing this I also look at the GPS we collect with the truck and compare that with the parking lot shapes our program collects (image of GPS is above). Oh, and if you were wondering...YES it is boring, but the pay check is always nice :). I also do other things in the office but I'll save that for another post.

Funny Sign

November 6, 2009

Today I was watching some video from when we were working in Blue Ridge. I came across this sign. It is a pretty funny sign. If you are on blue ridge parkway be careful because if you take a curve too fast you might fly off your bike with your arms up in the air! Ha! A park service guy told us that people steal those signs all of the time so they started selling something similar at their visitor center and they also put the image on t-shirts.

So Many Miles

November 3, 2009
Today I tried to find the truck mileage from when I first started this job. I found something close to when I started. Over the past 5 years and 3 months I've been in the truck for approximately 131,500 miles! What a journey. That is a lot of miles and a lot of parks. Not all have been easy, as you have read the truck has put up a pretty big fight over the years. I'm glad the truck is going into hibernation for a few months. We will take that truck out one last time in February but from then on everything will be collected with a brand new truck.

The Drive to Denver

November 1, 2009
Today I made it back to Denver. We drove the truck back so we took I-70. It seems that no matter how many national parks I've been to nothing compares to the Rockies, especially when there is blue sky and snow on the mountains. The drive went pretty smooth but we stopped in Eagle, CO at a rest area only to find out the "real" bathrooms were closed and they had outhouses/porta potties/biffies...no thanks. We went to Wendy's instead. Maybe some of you have heard on the news but over the past few months mass budget cuts in several states means closing rest areas. Which is OK if they cover up the signs on the interstate so you don't waste time going to a place that is closed. The rest drive was pretty uneventful until the last 10 minutes when there was the moment of panic when I thought I might be getting pulled over for speeding. The cops have this pretty sneaky hiding spot on I-70 east of town and today I wasn't thinking about it. Sure enough a cop was there and as I pass his lights go on BUT luckily the guy next to me was the one getting pulled over. He was in the left lane and I was in the right lane, he was passing me. I have no idea who the person was but "thanks for taking one for the team!" After I dropped off Jeff to get his car (near the airport) I decided to wash the ARAN for one last time before it hibernates for a couple of months. I then took the truck to the office and headed home. What a weird feeling. No more trips in that truck...one last trip will be in February but then all trips after that will be with our brand new truck. I can't wait!

Even though I will not be traveling in the truck over the next couple of months I will still make periodic posts to my blog so keep checking. I will still be traveling over the next couple of months but it will mostly be for meetings (and a couple of vacations I have planned). I am definitely looking forward to less stress and getting things done around the house.

Oh, all of the snow that fell in the Denver area last Wed./Thrus. has pretty much melted. There is still some snow on the grass but the roads are clear and dry. We timed that one perfectly :) !