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We pulled into the drive last night at midnight. We are now home and our vacation is just about over. It has been a great week, but it seems that an unexpected benefit of going away is appreciating being home again. After a week of amazing sights and experiences, after a week of new places and faces, after a week of getting up and going down at unusual times, it is nice to be back in our little house with familiar things and ... soon ... the familiar faces of our children.

Missing the kids was beginning to drive our attention from the things of vacation. All of the wonderful distractions of our adventure were loosing their hold, and at just the right time, we were wrapping up the time off. Now we are anticipating seeing them soon!

Being off will certainly have its lasting effects. I got up this morning late (unusual for me) and took the time to make myself a Carmel Machiatto - something my mornings never afford me the time to do. Maybe, along with the souvenirs, pictures and memories, I'll take home a renewed commitment to taking time to relax. Ahhh .... Vacation!

Olympic Dreams

Our last full day of vacation held a real surprise – rubbing elbows with Olympic athletes at the Utah Olympic Park (UOP). If you are not familiar with it, the UOP was the site of ski jumping and sledding events in the 2002 Olympics. Thursday AM we had already found out about the events going on – bob sled and skeleton. Jake found out from a worker that not only were the ‘camps’ have more events on Friday but that in the evening they would have events starring many national level athletes and even past Olympians. We showed up and the evening was awesome on several counts.

First, the athletes were outstanding. We had already seen runs by the ‘amatuers’ that were amazing to watch, but these athletes were clearly a notch above that. Cheryl said it best, “This just doesn’t get old!” Agreed – every time a sled came by, we were awed by the speed and spectacle.

Second, we had better than front row seats - we were almost the only people there that weren't directly involved. This was apparently not a publicized event! We just showed up and walked up to the track. No one batted an eye as we walked the length of the track and stood just a couple of feet away watching them go by - WOW! We were able to hang out at the landing area (half way back up the mountain where they come to a stop and even ride up with the athletes to the starting area. Absolutely surreal! These were world class Olympians and we were just chatting with them and milling around in the crowd. Wahoo.

We watched a number of starts in men's skeleton, women's 2 person bobsled and men's 4 person bobsled. All fascinating. If you know me at all, you'll know that I watch almost no televised sports. But, after this weekend, I'm thinking about following sledding! ... and just in time for Vancouver 2010!

On Vacation

Oh the joys of a vacation. It is not often that I take time for a vacation. We've really not done this type of a trip since our honeymoon, so the last week has been a real change for us. The real highlights have been the sights like the Olympic Park and Arches National Park and, especially, the time I've gotten to spend with Cheryl all to ourselves. Cheryl has done quite a few posts on the trip's goings on, but I thought that I'd add my 2 cents worth here, so here we go with the highlights...

SUNDAY - Olympic Park
We visited the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics ski jumping and sledding events (bob-sled, luge and skeleton). The big fun there was a zip line that ran the entire length of the longest jump - Weee!

MONDAY - Shopping
We spent most of the day Monday piddling around town. We saw the "Main Street" and walked most of it looking in shops and such.

TUESDAY - Hiking and a Date
Cheryl and I really wanted to get outdoors and this was our chance. We walked out of the resort and right onto a dirt service road that led up the nearest ski mountain. We followed these service roads most of the way to the top. It was a LOT of uphill hiking, but it was rewarding to say the least. Amazing views and probably the most fun part - just enjoying it with Cheryl.

WEDNESDAY - Arches National Park
Utah is an outdoor enthusiasts dream land - amazing national parks with stunning sights. Although the biggest and best parks were several hours south of us, we planned from the beginning to go see at least one of these parks. Arches seemed the mosted doable, so we got up really early (5am!) and gt on the road. The drive alone was incredible - mountain passes, high deserts, waterfalls .... WOW!

The park, though was the best part. Enter by switch-back road into an absolutely phenomenal menagerie of sandstone spires, fins and arches. Strange shapes everywhere and most of them towering over you hundreds of feet in the air. We got out and hiked a short trail to see the "Delicate Arch" and were blown away by the view and the surreal immensity of the arch. After dinner in Moab, we drove home in the dark and slept well!

THURSDAY - Back to Olympic Park
We had heard that some athletes would be practicing on the ski jump so we headed back to the park for the morning. They were practicing - it was fascinating to see them jump without snow! The jump was iced over mechanically and the landing was a synthetic material that was wet down. The jump then ran out into a grassy area, where the skiers came to a stop on green turf - crazy to watch.

The big surprise was when we walked over to look at the bob-sled track and realized it was not only up and running but they were actually running Skeleton and Bobsleds that afternoon. We got to stand right by the track as athletes rocketed past at 74mph+ speeds. It was amazing! TV does not do the sport justice! Wow! ... WOW!

FRIDAY ... hmmm, we'll see!
Today looks to be a quieter day as we get ready to head home tomorrow. Any excitement will have to come in the next post!

Ahhh .... VACATION! (more pics on Facebook!)

This is Me Lonely

This really is the blog that I intended to publish in the middle this last week while at convention. Just ran out of time to do it. This was a great idea though! What I wanted to do was take pictures of all the neat stuff and fun places that I saw while in Austin for the annual TCEA Convention (an edu-nerdy thing). But, I was going to make sure that I had a sad face in some of them to let my family know I wasn't having near as much fun with out them around. And that was the truth, I did get to enjoy a number of things, but I was always thinking, "Man, I wish Cheryl were here!" or "The kiddos would love this!"

All that said... here are the pics:

This is me lonely at the starbucks by the Hotel. :-(

This is me lonely on Congress Ave looking up at the State Capital.

This is the capital from the middle of congress. (Photo by Gabe - lonely and somewhat in fear for life due to crazy Austin drivers with no respect for my photographic pursuits )

This is me lonely at the Seattles Best Coffee across from REI! (no pic from REI - too busy looking at the neat things ... and being lonely)

The Adobe Booth ... ooooo... so much col stuff ( but I'm still lonely)

Hey, That's Not Wi-fi! That's a Thermostat!

Just a random bit of humor ... I ran across this picture I took while in an airport a couple of years ago. I was walking along when I saw th Wi-Fi sign. I tend to notice techy things. I'm going to assume that they were intending to mark what might be the center of this particular 'hotspot,' but the sign was placed directly above a thermostat. I was pretty amused imagining the rip-off that might have been perpetraited against the airport there. Some shady contractor talking to the airport's non-technical purchasing manager:

Shady Guy: "Aaaa, Oh Kaaaa, Vinnie and I got 'cha Wi-ah-less Network set up, boss. 'dat'll be 100 grand - cash pref'rably."
Dopey Manager: "Well OK, but I didn't see you do anything but screw that thing to the wall and slap on the sticker.
SG: You gonna tell us how to do ahhr job, or pay up? (Vinnie cracks knuckles menacingly)
DM: Yeah, here's the money, but ... that sure looks like a thermostat to me!