I can do it!

My little trip over the weekend served three main purposes. #1 An excuse to get out of the house on Memorial Day Weekend since my lovely husband was out of town at a conference. #2 To check out a new park that I had never been to before for the possibility of taking a small group sometime in the near future (either a group from school or church). #3 To prove to myself that I really do have the skills that I think I have. Thursday Night: I gave a printed itinerary, with tons of phone numbers and contacts, and a map to my good friend Denise (the mother of my God son) in case I didn't return on time. Friday Morning: Lazily roll out of bed around 8am when my husband calls me from Michigan. I took a shower, ate breakfast, checked email, got my food together, packed the pack and finally left the house at about 10:30am. Did some last minute food shopping, got some cash and filled up the tank with biofuel from our favorite place www.biofueloasis.com. I finally left Berkeley/Oakland around 11:30. Friday Afternoon: Driving around the Bay is a mystery to me. You never know when there might be alot of traffic of not. On the way south towards San Jose, traffic was wonderful until I actually got into San Jose, then there was construction. The other mystery is the lack of exit numbers and you never know which street or town might be listed on an exit sign so when you exit the freeway, you really are taking your chances. Unfortunately I guessed incorrectly and got off one exit too late. But I didn't realize it at the time because I thought I had seen the road I was looking for (it actually parallels the freeway for a short time and I got off at the wrong spot). My second mistake was not looking up the word names for the numbered routes I was supposed to take (like who knew Route 35 is the same as Skyline Blvd?) This is where I'm thankful that I enjoy driving my car and I kept trying to remind myself that this is all part of the adventure. When I couldn't get a hold of Grant, I ended up calling my mom for directions. She looked them up on Yahoo and tried to help me, but really all I did was make her worry. I finally made it to the park around 2:30pm and started to make my final preparations to head out onto the trail. Friday Evening: The hike in was beautiful and easy. It was about 2.8 miles to the campground. My pack was under 25 lbs. I felt good. I got into camp around 5pm and checked the place out before making myself dinner. By 8pm I was cold and bored. I had already set up the tent, cooked, cleaned, brushed my teeth, hung my food, and read for awhile. It was starting to get dark and I was cold so I decided to go to bed. Saturday Morning: I woke up a few times during the night because of the wind or being cold or restless because I had been laying down for so long. As soon as the sun hit my tent, I got out and started the day. It was about 6am. I was back to my car by 9am and home by 10:15. (Notice 3 hours to get there, 1:15 to get home-- yikes! What getting lost does to your travel time!) On this trip I learned that I can successfully take care of myself on the trail by myself. I also learned that I am alot colder when I'm by myself and that I get bored easier. I missed my husband greatly. Here are some pics. http://photos.yahoo.com/theaussiepea.

No matter

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome. Last Weekend on Life’s Journey I am the newest, proudest owner of a comma. (if you don't know what it is, then ask!) Grant and I went to our church's conference's annual meeting this past weekend. (The conference is about 150 UCC churches in northern CA and Nevada). The meeting was held at Asilomar, a state park on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is also a conference center. (I think it used to be owned by the YMCA or something and then it was donated to the state of California as a park, so the conference center was already established). The grounds of Asilomar were just beautiful. The coast alternated from rocky outcroppings to sandy beaches. Just inland there were small gently rolling dunes with sparse vegetation. About ¼ mile inland, the trees started and then the larger hills. Although we were there to be delegates from our church to vote whenever needed, I found myself dying through the legislation (this reaction really surprised me because I thought I would be interested in the whole process). At one point I just left to talk a walk and get a snack. Many other times while walking from one building to another we would see deer. They were the “almost but not quite wild” type of deer. They didn’t approach us begging for food, but they didn’t run away either when we were on the path right next to them. I guess they are just used to humans staying on the trail and not bugging them. Although, one doe did interrupt a meeting I attended on Saturday morning. The cottage had windows on all four sides. At first we just saw the doe walking around the building. Then she signaled to her fawns that it was safe. After walking all the way around the building, she stopped in front of a window and started nursing her babies. Needless to say, the meeting stopped and the whole group was surrounding the windows to watch this display. Months from now I won’t remember who was in my group or what we talked about but I’ll remember those deer and how I longed to just sit and watch them. Instead of pay $300 each for lodging and meals, Grant and I opted for camping in a city park about 10 minutes away from Asilomar. Camping doesn’t phase me at all anymore. But I did mind that we were on top of a hill. On Friday night I woke up to the sound of seals barking in the distance in Monterey Bay. There was a diesel engine running somewhere. There was the 101 freeway. And then there was the fog horn. Saturday night was slightly better. But Sunday night back in my own bed was the best. The theme of the conference was covenant. Covenant was the word heard most often from everyone who spoke or led worship. The word is so full of meaning that I’m still not sure all that it means. From the stories that I heard from other people, I feel that my church is really something special where covenant is lived out in the daily life of the church. I’m always amazed at how my church can exist the way it does and attracts the type of people that is does. It is amazing. I really wish all UCC churches could be like ours. Our church really is an exception to the rule. I noticed while at the conference that I couldn’t remember the last time I had been in a large room with so many white people. This made me slightly uncomfortable because I have grown more accustomed to being surrounded by people of all shades and the different energy that creates. This Weekend on Life’s Journey Grant is in Adrian, Michigan at a conference until Sunday. If you are near there, call him to see him. Grant’s parents are staying the weekend in Adrian to visit. I, on the other hand, am going to spend my Memorial Day weekend proving to myself that I can create my own successful solo backpacking trip. I spent this evening packing my pack of everything except food and my camera. The thing is up to 19 pounds now, so I hopeful that with food I’ll be under 25. I’m heading into the Santa Cruz Mountains to Castle Rock State Park. I hear it has climbing. But the climbing is close to the parking lot so maybe I just toss my shoes and harness into the trunk and see what happens. I’ll let ya’ll know how it goes. Two last Tidbits… First: 13 days left of school. I’m so excited. I can’t wait. I’ve never been so ready for summer. Second: I’m so in love with my car and the fact that we are buying little to no petroleum fuel. I love driving it, knowing that I’m not buying into the inflated gas frenzie. Although, I must admit that the car's exhaust has been smelling a little funny lately… like deep fried something…

The Weekend Report

Friday- Drove from Oakland to Sausalito through horrible unexpected traffic. We should have expected it but weren’t thinking about it because we never drive anyway around the bay at 5pm because of traffic! We ended up at our destination at 6:30pm about 30 minutes behind schedule so we really had to hustle to build our kayaks for a 7pm departure from the beach. Fortunately the other paddlers were happily milling around making final preparations and some other stragglers showed up at the last minute. About 7:15pm the Kinney’s were ready and all 18 of us stood in a circle to introduce ourselves and get a run down of the trip. We would cross Richardson Bay, go around Peninsula Point (on the Tiburon Peninsula) and then across Belvedere Cove. The plan was to head to a restaurant as the sun was setting behind us, arrive at the restaurant at dusk, then head back by the light of the full moon. On the way there, I got frustrated with myself because I was the slowest paddler on the trip. We never got lost but eventually everyone passed me. This is partly due to my inexperience and infrequent paddling and partly due to have a very stable boat that tracks well but doesn’t move a quickly as some less stable boats (http://www.folbot.com/kiawah.html (mine is blue) this is Grant’s https://www.folbot.com/cooper.html (in yellow)). But, as apartment dwellers with very limited storage, we don’t have as many choices for kayaks. We’re lucky that we’re crazy enough to enjoy such an expensive hobby. One member of the group got caught in some choppy water and flipped over. A swarm of 5 kayaks helped her get back in and in the process Grant and I caught up to the group. We all headed for a restaurant in a marina in Tiburon. All 18 of us sat in 3 huge booths, complete with wetsuits and paddle jackets. Everyone else in the restaurant was is suits and skirts ordering $20+ seafood dinners. We stood out just a little bit but the wait staff was not phased at all. After chocolate lava cake and a caramel apple crisp, Grant and I were ready to paddle back to Sausalito. We broke up into 3 pods, ours with 8 paddlers. Each boat had at least one light on board and we all shared the moonlight. The wind had died down a bit and the flood had slowed down making a wonderfully easy paddle on the way home. I look forward to going again sometime! http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/theaussiepea/album?.dir=/1b45scd&.src=ph Saturday- Grant finished putting together his newest recumbent and we took it for a ride around Lake Merritt (in downtown Oakland) in the early afternoon. At night we celebrated the 2nd annual Castleview Rooftop Kaboom Fireworks Show with Judith and Steven, our neighbors in Berkeley. KFOG 104.5 is a local radio station that puts on free concert and fireworks show on pier 30 in SF every May for the last 14 years. Last year I listened to the radio and heard the announcement of the fireworks show. We were skeptical that it would be any good but we went up onto the roof anyways. We ran an extension cord from the kitchen to the roof so that we could listen to the simulcast / soundtrack on the radio and make ice cream / banana smoothies. It was so cool. The booms from the fireworks were behind by a good 30 seconds (because SF is like 10 miles away) but we could definitely see the fireworks. This year we planned ahead a little bit. We made arrangements to go have dinner with our old neighbors and a new couple that had moved into the building (not into our apartment). We created the smoothies in the kitchen and poured them into yogurt containers for transport to the roof. We took a portable/battery radio so there was no extension cord and we remembered to bring chairs up with us. The fireworks got off to a late start which made me worried that I had the wrong time. They lasted about 25 minutes and then we just sat on the roof, soaking in the views that we have been missing since moving to Oakland. It was a wonderful night with old friends. Sunday- Super cool church, as always. The sermon was about loving your mom. The weather really warmed up today. Hopefully some time this afternoon Grant and I will take a walk to the rose garden. That’s after we call our moms… Happy mother’s day to you all!

26 school days left to go and we’re out for summer!

Ever since May hit I’ve been battling myself to get my work done. I’ve fallen into the trap of using my 4th period prep to plan for 5th and 6th period geometry. Since we’ve been having a hard time getting substitute teachers lately, relying on my prep period can be risky I never know when I might have to take care of a class unexpectedly. Fortunately for me (my kids would disagree) we’ve just started the CST (California Standards Test) today and I’m loving the change of pace. I have a great group of sophomores for testing and they seemed pretty satisfied today with the puzzles, snacks, and games that I brought for them for when they finished. I love how finally it is the time of the year when I can be more real with my kids, joke around, amaze them with Sodoku puzzles. (we’re starting out easy… http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sudoku_for_kids.htm) This year has seemed so full but still so empty. Grant just finished his internship at the Wesley Student Center at UC Berkeley. For a whole school year we cooked dinner every Monday night for a group of college students and then Grant led a program. We just had our end of the year graduation celebration and are now in the process of letting go of that group of people and the experience. On Tuesday nights I enjoy my LIFE group. I love the women in the group but I feel isolated at times, the next closest person to me in age is 10 years older. That fastest growing segment of our congregation is single people in their 30’s and Grant and I are really longing for people more our age, dealing with the “just out of college” life changes. Every other Wednesday night I’m taking a progressive theology class at church. The other Wednesdays will be filled with Deacon training for the next 2 months. Thursdays this year have been spent with my God son Aaron. Weekends have been spent everywhere and at home doing all the school work that I have no time to do during the week. So, we see the need for the school year to end! I’m trying to plan a solo backpacking trip to Point Reyes National Seashore for Memorial Day weekend. Grant is really supportive of this and totally trusts my abilities. The women in my LIFE group are freaking out and praying for my safety. I feel like they don’t trust my judgment and skills, but I know that they just don’t understand what I have already done and what I am capable of doing. (I’ve never seen any of them out car camping let alone on a backpacking trip) Plus, it’s only for two nights on one of the busiest weekends of the year in a small park with fire roads and the high likelihood that my cell phone will work! It reminds me of the Lake Tahoe trip last summer. We spent about 130 miles on the trail and nothing happened. We walk through a subdivision between trailheads and I get my hand smashed between the door of a truck and the side mirror of the car parked next to it. We truly are more in danger in civilization! I know some of you will understand. I hope that those of you out there reading this know that I read your blogs as often as you post new entries. I guess I’ve been a blog mooch. I take and take and take but don’t give anything in return. As the summer approaches, I’m going to try to write more updates. Please help to remind me!