Further adventures

Laura arranged her schedule to get as many days off in a row as possible. This does mean that she also works 6 12-hour shifts in a row, but she has a full week off in between. We're now wrapping up one of those weeks off.

Monday we went to the Renaissance Pleasure Fair, a massive ren fair that's been running in the area for almost 50 years. We went with Stephanie, another nurse working through Laura's company. There were a half-dozen different stages with performers, countless artists and shops, and a spectacular arrangement of costumed players. We've been to ren fairs before, but nothing on this scale. With a city the size of LA, there are many more people interested in dressing up like knights and nobles, and I think the presence of the film industry contributed to the high quality of costuming I saw. Laura found a booth selling hand-dyed wool, and she is looking forward to spinning it.

Yesterday we went south for a day trip to Palomar mountain. First, we went hiking in Palomar Mountain State Park. The drive up was beautiful; we miss nature. The park was a Civilian Conservation Corps site in the '30s. The CCC built a forest fire watch tower and a summer camp, and roads to allow logging in the Cleveland National Forest nearby.

After a hike and picnic lunch, we drove further up the mountain to the Palomar Observatory, home of a 200-inch telescope. (That's 200 inches across the lens. Very big.)

We finally replaced the bike that was stolen in Vegas, and we're both exercising more. We've found our favorite course that allows us to work out together. I bike from our apartment to the base of Mt. Rubidoux, about 8 miles away, while Laura drives there. She runs and I bike up the mountain, and once we get back down, I ride home. This gives both of us a good workout, but lets us spend time together.

The trail to Mt. Rubidoux runs along the Santa Ana river. Although you can see a number of factories, gravel pits, and the county dump, the trail is good and the riverbed is full of wildlife. Thus far, I've seen coyotes, a snake, countless lizards, a roadrunner, hawks, and what I'm pretty sure was a bobcat.

Laura has decided to familiarize herself with the birds we see around here. None of the familiar cardinals, robins, etc. Thus far, we've identified the Black Phoebe, the Western Scrub Jay, the Acorn Woodpecker, the Red-Tailed Hawk, and Some Sort of Swallow That Moves Too Fast to Be Identified Conclusively.

So Cal, finally

<=The big building in the middle is the hospital I'm working at

Below: Mission Inn patio, Flowering cacti on Mount Rubidoux, Peace Bridge on Mount Rubidoux, the cloudy beach

Sorry it's taken so long to post. I don't know where time has gone, and honestly I have a hard time thinking of things in my life anyone would be interested in. But, my mom keeps pestering me so here goes.

When we first got here we stayed at the Mission Inn because we didn't have our furniture for our apartment and I had reimbursable money to spend for travel. The inn is a historical landmark and almost every president has stayed there since Teddy Roosevelt. The architecture was beautiful; it was a fun night of enjoying and exploring what will be our home for 3 months. We even got room service for breakfast and were the only ones in the swimming pool.

Matt and I are enjoying Riverside; it is brighter and greener than Vegas, which is what I was hoping for. I love all of the flowering trees and vines everywhere - even around highways. The cacti are flowering here too. We went on a hike up Mount Rubidoux (a small hill near our apartment) and had a great view of Riverside, including my hospital, and many flowering cacti and trees. They also have many good coffee shops here, the dark, older, local kind with baristas that know what they're doing.

Our favorite coffee shop is Coffee Depot, it's in the original train station building in Riverside with a lot of the original architecture and lots of fun events every week including the stitch and bitch knitting club of Riverside (not as cool of a name as Sin City Hookers but equally as fun). One element of the area we could do without is the heat. I know it's only spring and there is more to come (the locals keep reminding me) but 80 degrees in May is just not right.

There was a short trip to the seaside which turned out to be cold and cloudy even though it was 80 degrees and sunny in Riverside, so we watched the waves and birds and sat as long as we could without freezing since we were dressed for warmer weather. It was a fun drive and we saw a movie-making in progress. We don't know what movie but it was fun to see anyway.

That's about all the excitement as of yet, but I've had a rough schedule and not a lot of long strings of time off. I got an official contract at the hospital I'm working at for a month, and guaranteed schedule and time off (I don't have to be available for 5 days and they can call me 2 hours before work to tell me whether I am needed or not). So I should have a nice long weekend coming up and we will have some more exciting adventures to post soon.

New Address

Here's the new address:

1401 Santo Antonio Dr.
Apt. 389
Colton, CA 92324

It's sunny and the birds are singing here in southern California. More details to come when we have a better internet connection.

-Matt

Goldstrike Canyon and beyond!

First, a little bit of business-

Laura has signed a contract for the next three months to work in Riverside, CA. Unfortunately, this isn't up north where we wanted; it's in the orbit of Los Angeles. But it's work, and as long as the fires and mudslides don't get us, it should be fun. Maybe we'll see some celebrities. Anyway, we'll be leaving here in a week and a half, so if you need to mail us anything, wait until we move in in California. We don't have an address yet, but my task tomorrow is finding an apartment for us, so hopefully we'll be able to post that address soon. Keep watching this space.

Yesterday, Laura and I hiked the Goldstrike trail, a canyon that runs down to the Colorado river. The canyon starts out broad and flat, but narrows down to a rugged landscape of steep cliffs and jumbled rocks. About three miles down the canyon there's a hot spring that previous hikers have shaped into a series of pools suitable for bathing. The trail used to be fairly straightforward, but an earthquake a few years ago knocked a lot of boulders down, creating blockages that require intense scrambling and climbing to get past. Some of the blockages are intense enough to require ropes. Conveniently, ropes have been permanently installed by previous hikers.

We saw more wildlife than we have in the last three months combined, by which I mean we saw some wildlife. Seriously, the Vegas area is pretty barren. A few pockets of vegetation, but other than pigeons, no fauna to speak of. In the canyon we saw dozens of little blue-and-brown lizards, birds, butterflies, and other insects.

After hiking down to the springs, we decided not to traverse the last, most difficult rocks. The weather here has been heating up, and by lunchtime, we were dripping and beat, so we passed on taking a dip in the hot springs, too. By the time we made it back to the car, we were beat, and every muscle in our bodies seemed to have been used. Climbing over all the rocks was certainly a full-body workout!

Arizona Visit

Our newest adventure was a trip to Tuscon, AZ to visit Grandpa and Grandma Streelman. We left a little late because both Matt and I slept in (I worked 6 days in a row to get a week off - I was tired, but it was worth it). We had a great drive down to Tuscon, lost an hour, and got to grandpa and grandmas nice little trailer at 6, just in time for grandma's delicious cooking (cheesy broccoli soup!). The next day we had a great time hiking down the Sabino Canyon after we took the tram up. since they've seen so much rain in AZ all of the bridges were flooded, G&G hiked down to the first stop with us and Matt and I hiked the rest of the way over flooded bridges. It was a great hike.

The next day we checked out a cute craft down south of Tuscon called Tubac, they had some amazing crafts and beautiful area around there. That night we went to see Tracy and Brady (friends from college) who are also living in Tuscon. We had a great Chinese dinner and went out for coffee (our common love). It was great to see them again!

Sunday morning we went to church, had a dinner with friends and went home because there was a storm brewing. We had a great night of playing games (one of my favorite things to do) but Matt won most of the time - very frustrating. The next day in a continuing sprinkle of rain we got to see Wycliff where G&G work/volunteer. It was great to see the whole area and what they have been doing for so many years. It was such a positive community of volunteers, I think I could do that when I retire. After that we went to see Greek Orthodox Monastery with gorgeous architecture. Grandma and I had to wear skirts and head scarves. It was beautiful. We had just enough sun for a nice walk around the grounds.

On Tuesday morning we left earlier for a drive up to the Grand Canyon before we ended our vacation. The drive was uneventful until we got up to an altitude of 8,000 feet. Then we were in a blizzard. We could barely see a thing and I was glad to be right behind a plow truck clearing the way with flashing lights to follow. Once we got out of the high altitudes it was a little better and the grand canyon had a lovely light snow falling when we got there. The canyon itself was full of clouds and we couldn't see past our noses. We saw the visitors center and a few more cloudy sights, then checked into a cute little lodge and ate at the only open restaurant in town. The next day was much clearer and we had a great hike down into the canyon. It was a rough hike due to the slippery snow the whole way down and the 12% grade the whole way up. But it was beautiful and invigorating. After our long hike we drove back to Vegas, we had such a great time. Time spent with Grandpa and Grandma can never be bad. Now I've worked three nights with class in between (I averaged 1.5 hours of sleep per day) I'm exhausted and ready for a few days off. We are still unaware of where we are going next, but something should come through soon. Thanks for all the support, e-mails and comments from everyone! We miss you all!

~L

February Pic update

Abby and I met a Blue Man, we think he's probably the one from Calvin.

The classic photo with the fam

The guys at Red Rock

Abby found her nest in the rock at Zion

I couldn't resist what I learned from Grandma Ribbens, Abby got a snowball down her shirt while she was trying to pose for a photo.

February

For the record, I did predict that the updates to this blog would be spotty. I hadn't expected to leave it untouched for an entire month; I hope someone is still checking for updates every now and then.

So, February:

Started off slow; overtime for Laura, fruitless job hunting for me.

A few weeks into the month, Laura's parents and sister, Abby, came to visit us over a long weekend. I've long heard about the grueling nature of Streelman family vacations, but never fully experienced one until now. In 72 hours, we packed in more activity than I, left to my own devices, would engage in over the course of a month.

The family flew in Saturday afternoon, and after checking in at the hotel, we went for a hike in nearby Red Rock National Conservation Area. We hiked the Pine Creek trail, an interesting geological holdover from the ice age; pine trees don't generally occur in the desert, but there's enough water in the pine creek valley to have supported a pocket of pine since the region was cooler and wetter.

Day two was our day on the Vegas strip. We walked almost the full length of the strip, from Luxor near the south end, to Treasure Island and the Palazzo. In about 12 hours, we saw the lions at MGM, wandered through Excalibur, New York New York and Luxor, saw the fountains at Bellagio, explored Caesar's palace, saw the Eiffel tower at Paris, avoided the sleazy guys with the prostitute advertisements, and strolled the Grand Canal at the Venetian. We had dinner at a lovely outdoor cafe at the Palazzo before seeing Blue Man Group at the Venetian. I have to say, Blue Man Group is the single greatest thing I have ever seen on a stage. There are simply no words to describe it. It began with scrolling message boards that cued audience participation. There was paint, lights, food, audience members drafted and brought on stage, music, and a tsunami of toilet paper that rolled down from the balcony, passing over the entire crowd. We were in the third row, which was part of the "Poncho Zone". I was impressed that the show involved the entire audience; there were no bad seats. We crawled back to the hotel exhausted.

Day three involved a road trip to Zion National Park in Utah. We went to the north entrance first, and took in the view of the majestic peaks. We then drove to the south entrance and hiked the Emerald Pools trail, a beautiful climb up to a series of pools and waterfalls. Just before dusk, we drove up a dizzying series of switchbacks a tunnel through the mountains. Again, we were exhausted when we got home.

On Tuesday, we had the morning to fill before the Streelmans were scheduled to fly out in the early afternoon, so the decision was made to pack TWO adventures into the morning. First, we drove to the Hoover dam and took some dam photos. Then we went to downtown Las Vagas, the site of the early casinos. Mom Streelman had a dollar a friend had given her to gamble on her behalf, and Mom picked the Golden Nugget as the casino of choice. We found the slot machine that felt the luckiest (that is, we wandered until I pointed at a random machine), and Mom proceeded to win a few dollars! Laura and I have been to downtown at night, and the lights are nearly blinding, especially during the nightly light show on what is billed as "the world's largest LED screen."

So that was exhausting.

Since we're past the halfway point of our time in Las Vegas, Laura had been working with her rep to determine where we'll be going next. Our top choice is the Bay Area of California; we have friends there, and there's a little more culture (and coffee shops) than in Vegas. Laura had been told that applying for her California license could take weeks by mail, so we decided to take a road trip to Sacramento so Laura could apply in person, which we were assured was much faster. Since Sacramento is about an hour from our friends in Berkeley/Oakland , we stopped in to see them and crash for the night before going to the Board of Nursing in the morning. It was great to see my old roommate Tim, his wife Becky, and my friends Stephanie and Erin. The lack of familiar faces is one of the hardest things about living in Vegas, so even the few hours we had with them were great.

Visiting the Board of Nursing was about 90% effective. Because the state of Nevada hadn't yet sent confirmation of Laura's NV nursing license, we weren't able to walk out with license in hand, but we were assured that as soon as the confirmation arrived, the license would be issued.

So that was February. March will be just as crazy, and (hopefully) better documented.

-Matt