Coming to the Caribbean

Well, our trip finally arrived. After a very busy month, we are now on our trip. We left SLC yesterday morning. Our friends, Tim and Di, are traveling with us. Thank goodness for Medallion status as we had nice seats the entire trip over. We first flew to Atlanta where are stay there was very uneventful. Crappy food. Don't bother eating at Great Wraps in the A concourse. Nothing great about them at all. Our flight to San Juan took just under 3 hours. We were on one of the newer planes with the personal entertainment systems. I watched a cool program on climbing that JJ would have loved. Then I started playing this trivia game. It was fun because you play against the other passengers. Tim and Di and I were all playing (Marcella was either sleeping or reading her book). I won one game but Wendy (some chick in row 32) pretty much kicked our butts. We got in around 10 pm. We got in a taxi to take us to our hotel. I knew that it was close since it was an airport hotel. The driver didn't know where it was so he had to ask directions. As it turned out the hotel was AT the airport. So the driver took us OUT of the airport and BACK in and dropped us off in front from a whopping $10 plus tip. What a rip. Oh well. Live and learn. We dropped off our bags and walked over to Wendy's for a late night bite to eat.

Tim was up at the crack of dawn. I needed a bit more sleep. I got up around 7:30 and went for a run. Already pretty hot and very muggy. After running completely AROUND the airport, I jogged over to the beach where I met up with Tim. I got him to turn around and go to the beach. We dropped our shorts and went for a swim (this only after our adventure in trying to go through one of the hotels to get to the beach access. WHAT A PAIN!). The water on Isle Verde beach was quite nice although the water was quite salty (DUH!). After the swim we ran back. We did get stopped by a policeman because Tim was running sans shirt. Now after a nice breakfast of juice, bananas, and cereal, we are ready for the next part of our adventure. We don't have to get on the ship until tonight. So we'll probably spend the afternoon walking around Old San Juan.

Later

Golden opportunity

Well, since I still have a few minutes I guess I can write about our trip to Golden last week. Marcella and I went out there for the MODFLOW conference (work related). We decided to go out a day early so that we could spend time with Tony (Marcella's father). It was kind of funny that we were in Colorado and Joyce (Tony's wife) was back in Highland spending time with the grandchildren. We were driving a fake Hummer (as Marcella liked to call it). We drove down to Colo Sprgs on the 2 lane interstate. We were completely amazed that after all of these years the highways are STILL completely inadequate. We drove around Manitou Springs where Marcella grew up. We even drove up Ruxton. We haven't been there for several years. Nothing much has changed. The Chavez sign over the bridge leading to the house is still there. It is really sad that all of these years have passed without any relationship between Marcella and the "person that gave birth to her". After driving around we went to Mall for a while (practically out in Kansas) and then had dinner at this dive of a Mexican place in downtown Colo Sprgs.

The next day we met one of Marcella's longtime friends Wendy and her new husband Jerry for brunch at the Table Mountain Inn. Pretty good food but we had a great time chatting and laughing for the next 4 hours.

The conference was pretty good. We know most of the people at the conference and it is good to see them and catch up with them. There were a number of people that we know through either e-mail or over the phone and we finally were able to meet them face to face. Norm and his whole group of guys were there also.

One of the best things about where we were staying is that we had access to The Pointe Fitness center. It was less than a mile away. I'm telling you, if I had a gym this close to my house that was a nice as this one, I would join. There is nothing like this where we live. Norm, Mike, Alan, and I would go around 6 in the morning. I would ride the bike for 1/2 hour or so and then we would play racketball or basketball or something. Very fun.

I was glad that Marcella was able to come and help me with the conference. She is getting quite familar with all of our stuff. She can pretty much answer most of the commonly asked questions. We couldn't stay long in Colorado as we had to get back in order to get ready for the cruise.

Vicksburg

Okay, 5 months later I'm finally writing about my trip to Vicksburg. My partner, Royd, and I went there for some coastal modeling trianing. It was interesting to be on the other side of the training. Usually I am the one doing the training. I haven't been back to Vicksburg for many years. You see, the happening town of Vicksburg is home to the Waterways Experiment Station. The folks here have been quite instrumental in the development of the our software. It was good to see some of my good friends like Cary and Rob. I was able to run the streets of Vicksburg each morning. That was pretty fun (and interesting). Vicksburg, for those Civil War buffs, is the site of one of the great, final, battles. I usually ran along the street that had all of the markets showing the location of the battle lines.

One afternoon, Royd and I had some free time so we decided to go to the Vicksburg National Military Park. For all of the times that I have traveled there, I'm surprised that I've never taken the time to visit this park. It was very interesting. Here is a picture of the Illinois state memorial



There are several state memorials scattered throughout the park.









There are also fields upon fields of graves. Most of these are fallen Confederate soldiers. It is all pretty amazing.















Another cool thing we saw was the restored USS Cairo Gunboat. This was one of 7 ironclad gunboats that was used during the Civil War. The boat was sunk in about 36 feet of water and there it remained until about 40 years ago when it was recovered and the restoration began. Most of the ship is now on display. It was interesting.

Reno??? Really???

Yes, I've been doing some work for a client there over the past couple of months. It is nice when I go there because I stay in their home. They treat me really well and I get a good run in each morning. Reno is much like northern Utah County. What more can I say?

Like a bowling ball???

Today on KSL.com there was an article about the Visitor Center at Dinosaur Monument and how it was deteriorating due to the type of soil beneath the building. I did find this sentance quite interesting:

" In the West, bentonite clay soils are notable for causing pioneer cabins to collapse over time and buckling hard-surface roads. The clay expands considerably when wet and turns so pasty it can cling to shoes like a bowling ball."

Now, I'm a Civil Engineer and I don't remember being taught that. Maybe someone can help me with that.

South Pacific. JJ worked hard for a couple of months to put on 5 performances of the hit musical. He loved his part mainly because he got to use a megaphone. Good job! 

Moab - Last Day

When I was a teenager, I went with my family to the Needles part of Canyonlands. It is a bit out of the way so we've never been back. I decided that this time we'd return. We had a great time. We stopped at Newspaper Rock. We had lunch in a big sandstone pothole area where the boys spent more than an hour chucking rocks at Gatorade bottle. The main think at Needles is Elephant Hill. If you are into 4x4 adventure then you have probably tried doing EH. It is pretty technical. Since we were not in Jeeps we just walked to the top and watched a group coming back. What a rush. The bad part of the day was the LONG ride home. We all had a great time. Next time I think we are going to Colorado for Spring Break.

No jumping! 

Moab - Day 3

Today was 4-wheel drive day. We have a favorite drive that goes from Canyonlands all the way down to Moab. The trail is called Shaffer Trail. It is beautiful. We stopped at one area to play hide and seek, throw rocks, and catch some sun. We stopped later on at a big overlook down on the Colorado River (to throw rocks).

Sassy Girls!

Delicate Arch (please don't climb on it) 

Moab - Day 2

Okay, so I'm a slacker. I've got to finish the Moab trip. It was nice that every morning I could get up and run. I would run about 3-4 miles. It was fun. Today was the Delicate Arch hike. I was looking forward to it since last month when we came down with the Scouts it was super windy and Jake didn't quite make it to the arch. Everyone did great. We all had our hydration packs. What a beautiful site. We hiked around the arch for more than an hour. Jakey discovered "A view rarely seen". After our morning hike we had lunch at Devil's Garden. This is where the infamous "challenge" is. JJ is such a great climber. Well, one thing's for sure. If I wait to tell about something it turns out pretty short (and boring IMO).

Almost caught

It was a beautiful day this morning. Driving to work, sunroof open, XM blaring at almost full blast.
Stupid tractor pulls out in front of me. Slow down to 30. Not fun. So when the double lane hits just before the freeway onramp, the TL goes off. Before I was halfway up the ramp I was going 90+. Got on the freeway and noticed a motorcycle WAY back there. I slow down as I see him speed up. He got close enough that I realized that it was UHP. So my FUN drive ended up being a normal 70 mph drive into work. The radio was still blasting, and the sunroof still open but not quite as fun as it could have been. Oh well. At least no ticket. I better get that radar detector NLJ told me about.

Tax the Fat People

I just LOVE reading KSL comments. Today there was an article about whether you would rather lose your job or lose 75 pounds. I thought the article was rather un-news worthy but again, the comments ROCK.

We interrupt this broadcast.....

I know that I'm in the middle of Moab trip but this was just too hilarious to pass up. Many of you know that I like to ride my new bike (had a good ride this morning in fact). Well some bonehead city councilman in Utah thinks that it is a really good idea to put a tax on cyclists. Who put this guy in office? As always the KSL comments are very entertaining. I love reading the comments MORE than the actual news item itself. Right now there are only 7 comments but I'm sure there will soon be more. Now, back to my story telling

The Gang! Much better than being in the car for sure. 

The Windows 

Moab - Day 1

Because the Davis' are soooo good at getting up early and getting going, we didn't make it to Moab until late in the afternoon. We checked into the cabin and then headed for Arches. We decided to go somewhere simple. We went to the Windows section where we hiked the both Window arches and Turret Arch. We finished off the night at Double Arch. This is JJ's favorite. We had dinner at an all you can eat pizza place (Zaks). Okay food. Tired!

Spring break - Moab, UT

For several years, the Davis family would spend Spring Break in Moab. If you are not familiar with this part of the world, you really need to make a trip. For the first few years we would camp. It was fun trying to stuff our Honda Accord with all of our camping equipment. Then we got our first SUV and we still were always stuffing it with every piece of camping equipment. The last year we went we stayed in a small cabin located in town. This allowed us to leave things like the tent, chairs, and sleeping pads at home. We really enjoyed the cabin experience.

Then came the building of our house and for the past 4 years we didn't make it down to Moab. This year we determined to continue the tradition. So a few months back, I searched online and determined that the 2 room cabin at the Moab KOA would be a good choice. We had invited the entire Draper family to come with us but only Tim and Bailey ended up going. In order to be comfortable we drove seperately but once in Moab we all piled in the Ascender.

The kids were out of school all week so we left on Wednesday morning (okay it was noon before we rolled out of here) and came back on Saturday night.

I'll break it up for each day.

Thou shalt not ...

Conversation between Mom and daughter:

Daughter: "Mom? You know how when you go somewhere and you take something that doesn't belong to you and you don't ask? That's stealing. Right?

Mom: "Yes, honey."

Daughter: "Mom, who stole my lamp and mirror?"

Add background: Marcella is helping a friend decorating a parade home. In the past couple of days several items from our house have been borrowed to decorate the home (including Olivia's table, lamp, and mirror). Obviously, Mom should have asked before the heist.