Another one bites the dust

Did you know that Knoxville, Tennessee is about half way between Athens, Georgia and Oxford, Ohio?  I did.  Megan did. 

A few weekends ago, Megan and I decided to meet up in Knoxville.  Megan's my favorite coffee Friday friend.  Fortunately, even though there are many miles between us, we still manage (most Friday's) to skype a coffee date.  She's doing her Master's out at Miami and I'm so glad to be a part of her life and her journey into student affairs!

Anyway, here are some pictures (and stories) from the trip!

Friday=Meet up, eat dinner, a visit to the hot tub at the hotel, and quality catch up time.

Saturday morning we went to the Knoxville Zoo.  Despite it being cold and some of the animals being taken inside for winter, we still saw tons of fun creatures.  It's official, I now want to own a red panda.

Umm do you blame me?  Look at how cute he is!

So whenever we could, we attempted to find 'indoor' animals.  Although we found few inside, we did find a couple kids areas.  Here is me attempting to go down the slide.  It was too small, or I was too big.  :)

I love this sign.  Don't want to make the animals sick now, do we.

Not only is Knoxville, TN halfway between the two of us, but it also gave each of us the chance to cross off another state.  For me, Kentucky was the kicker.  Saturday night, we drove up to Kentucky to check out the Cumberland Falls. 

Apparently, on a full moon, you can see a moonbow from the mist.  The moonbow is the only one in the western hemisphere, and the waterfall is said to be the mini niagra falls (125 feet wide).  Although the full moon was 3 days later, we were hopeful.  After all, the website did say it can sometimes been seen 2-3 days before and after a full moon. 

Aside from it being beautiful, I also learned how to use the slow shutter on my camera.  The waterfall was amazing.  Unfortunately, we didn't see the moonbow.  Maybe next time.

Sunday we tackled a new state for Megan, North Carolina.  We headed to an Appalachian trailhead on the Tennesse/North Carolina border.  The drive was magnificent, the views were breathtaking, and the snow was white. 

North Carolina must be known for their tunnels.  When my mom and I visited in October, there were beautiful tunnels all throughout the mountain.  Different part of the mountain, different type of tunnel, but amazing nonetheless.

 

Megan and I decided we would hike part of the trail.  We tried to find the official markers on the trail, we did not succeed.  Either we didn't hike far enough, or maybe they were all buried in the many feet of snow.

Ooops, Megan fell.  Oh, right after she said, I think this is where I ... slipped last time.

Sunday night Megan and I ate at this place called, the Old Mill.  Need I say that the bread was delicious?  Three baskets.

Sunday night, Megan and I went to this place called Wonderworks.  It was actually more of an accident.  While driving through Pigeon Forge, we saw this wacky building that looked upsidedown.  After hiking, we decided we were heading back to the hotel and would finish the evening by relaxing in the hot tub.  We were both fairly exhausted.  We did, however, agree to stop at this strange building to see what it was before heading back to the hotel. 

Upon entering and seeing the staircase built on the ceiling, we were intrigued.  Apparently, the building is a sort of exploritory learning museum with over 120 exhibits and the largest indoor ropes course.  After some debate, we were sold.  Literally, they sold us two tickets.  :)  It was such a blast.  I am glad we did it.  Here are a couple pictures from some of the exhibits.

Megan in the hurricane simulator

 

 The earthquake simulator

 The ropes course.so.cool!

 Smart glass bathroom (frosts the glass when locked)

And this would be the building with us outside. So glad we went!

The weekend with Megan was fun!  It's always nice to be with people who really, really know you...and still like you anyway. :)

Ps. If you are wondering, I now have Connecticut, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Alaska left...woohoo, only four more to go!

30 Years Young

October 16th marked my 30th birthday.  In some ways, I already felt 30.  In other ways, I still feel like a kid in grown up clothes waiting for someone to discover the magic fortune machine I made a wish on.  Either way, I didn't panic about turning 30.  No pleas were made.  No tears were shed.  To be honest, 29 felt more odd than turning 30.

I am excited about my thirties.  I believe there are lots of things to look forward to.

For the last few years, my mom and dad have swapped coming into town for my birthday.  Since my dad and sister came out to Georgia to help me move, it was fitting that mom came for my birthday.

She flew in early Thursday morning and out early Monday morning.  We had a nice time celebrating!

Friday we toured UGA and all the important places in Athens...like Hobby Lobby ;)

Saturday at midnight, I opened my gift from my sister.  It had come a few days earlier from Target...tempting me to open it.

I was super excited about the espresso machine.  I had mentioned wanting one awhile ago, but my sister threw me off by asking me about everything else but the espresso machine on my list. :)  I LOVE it!

Saturday morning my mom made me breakfast, I opened some other lovely gifts and then we headed for the mountains of North Carolina!  Last year for my birthday, I crossed off a few states and this year...I crossed off a few more.  

As a side note, I'm down to ONE hand! Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut, Road Island, and Kentucky are the only states left on the list.   

Here are some pictures from our trip through North Carolina.  We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Asheville.  It was beautiful.  I would like to go back for an entire weekend. :)

 There were numerous tunnels.  They were a wonderful addition to the drive, minus driving out of the dark into the bright light...little hard on the eyes.

 I love fall colors!  I love brisk weather.

 Sunday afternoon we headed to Atlanta.  We were going to try and see Olympic park and the MLK museum.  Unfortunately, the MLK museum closed early AND Olympic park was kind of a bust.  I mean, it's a water fountain and a grassy area.

However, I had been craving some Panda Express and fortunately, Atlanta (unlike Athens) has one! Get excited, it's the little things in life. ;)

Sunday night was finished off with an ice cream cake.  I love ice cream cake.  It's the best of both worlds.  The selection was slim, but we found a supposedly delicious flavor.  However, when we cut into it, we were deceived.  White cake.  Boo.  It still tasted good, just not what we had anticipated!  We had the ice cream cake while sipping on lattes.  It was a wonderful ending to a fantastic birthday weekend!  I was glad my mom was able to celebrate the weekend with me and see my new home!

Two Less States

At the beginning of March, the 3rd to be exact, I left Waco, Texas and flew to Atlanta, Georgia. It was the first time I had been to the state of Georgia, minus an occasional layover. One more state down. I was headed to Georgia for a conference that a colleague and I were presenting at. I was also there for a doctoral interview. Both went well, the presentation and the interview. Here are a few pictures from Georgia.

This is the Georgia arch on the University of Georgia's campus (in Athens). A few weeks after my interview, I found out I was accepted and offered an assistantship. After contemplation, I accepted! :) Georgia will be my new home come mid July...crazy!
Larry (above) and Christy (below) are married and used to work at Baylor with me. They moved to Georgia last year so that Larry could start the program I will be starting in the fall. It has and will be such a blessing to have people in Athens that I know, and that know me!
After Georgia, I headed to Chicago for the NASPA (National Association for Student Personnel Administrators) conference. It was a wonderful time to reconnect with colleagues from all over the country.

So prior to all the traveling, when I was trying to buy plane tickets, I was stressing out a bit about arriving in the airport and using public transit to get to my hotel by myself. I found out when Tiffanie, a colleague, was arriving and tried to plan around her arrival time. My hope to was have someone to navigate Chicago with. Well, when I arrived, there were 7 other colleagues there. They were ALL staying at another hotel and said they had made other arrangements for transportation...I figured I was out of luck. Well, Peter, the ring leader thought we could squeeze me in the shuttle and see if they could drop me off at my hotel. Additionally, we knew the hotels were close, so I figured I could just walk from theirs to mine if the shuttle couldn't drop me off at my hotel.

Well, as we walked outside, David joked about going in a limo to our hotel...and...well...sure enough, Peter had indeed booked a limo. It was cheaper than all of us paying for a cab AND it was even cheaper per person then the hotel shuttle.

Here are some other fun pictures from the trip :)This is actually a picture of me and one of my current Community Leaders (CL...like RA) Gretchen. She lives in the Chicago area and was home for spring break. She came into the city one day to hang out with me for a few hours. LOVE her! Ps this is a giant silver bean in the city that reflects the downtown area. Strange, but neat!
Drew and I went and ate breakfast at one of the most amazing breakfast places I've eaten at! Yolk...yumm. It was great food and great company.
Stacie now works at Penn State and we were able to reconnect at the conference! :) She worked in CL&L my first year. We still keep in touch and still have a deep friendship! I miss her terribly!

Dave (former supervisor), Tim, and Megan, all ate crab at this great restaurant we went to. We convinced them to wear the bibs :)
A picture of the Baylor peeps at the dinner...I had flounder. Yumm. Most expensive dinner I have ever personally purchased. Yikes.

After Chicago, me and a few friends went down to St. Louis for a few days. I had never been to Missouri...check another state off the list. Woohoo. It was a great few days of touring and just hanging out with friends. Here are a few photos from that trip.

Washington University (WashU) is a beautiful campus. We had wonderful weather and spent an afternoon walking the campus and a large park across from campus. (Me and Tiffani above)

The background is a magnificent fountain/pool and an art museum (free) all located within the giant park. St. Louis seems to have lots of free things to do...and a fairly outdoorsy feel, despite the fact that they are located in the midwest ;)

The Arch. You cannot go to St. Louis and NOT see the arch. It was cloudy out and we got some neat shots of the shadow of the arch in the clouds.

The arch is actually a lot larger than I thought. Although you first think it'll be HUGE, you drive by and think...umm...kinda small. But then you get up close and it again becomes an optical illusion. I'm not sure how big it actually is, but one square is obviously bigger than me...and there were hundreds of thousands of these to create the arch.

Tiffani, Candice, and me at the arch. Brrr. It was cold, we grabbed our pictures, took in the moment, and ran back to the car where Matt was waiting for us.

The four of us went on the Budweiser tour. And by went on the tour, I mean, we went and saw the show room, saw the clydesdales, and then headed to the hospitality room. It was wet and cold out and none of us brought suitable jackets for the excursion.

The other notable thing would be karaoke. Tiffani and I sang...the other two watched. :) It was fun and a wonderful memory.

I was very happy to see my own bed after 10 days of traveling. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the time with friends, presenting, seeing new places, and learning how to be a better educator.