Yikes!

I know! It's been a really long time since I've written anything. It's been three weeks and a ton has happened. Basically what happened is that I got so far behind in my blogging that I kept thinking about the things I needed to write about three weeks ago. I've decided that if I don't jump back on board now, I'll never get caught up. So I'm starting from today. I'll try to work my way backwards over the past three weeks, but I'm not making any promises. For a quick review, I moved back to Seattle, found an apartment, starting coaching girls middle school cross country, doing administrative work for the middle school, and substitute teaching. Oh and I also did the Breast Cancer Three Day walk! So yeah... it's been a crazy busy few weeks. But that leads us up to today.

Today.

Today I finally got around to opening a bank account in Seattle. I have my bank in AZ but there aren't any branches up here. So I went to my new bank and opened up my accounts. It took an hour. Seriously. It took a full hour. I don't know if that's normal. It felt like forever. The guy at the bank was nice, but a bit chatty. He was really chatty. I didn't want to be rude, but I know more about him than I care to. We discussed Arizona, Russia (where he is from), his work with mortgages in Alaska, Feng Shui, my time in Spain, and his thoughts on McCain. It took a long time, but I finally have my bank accounts.

After the bank I went to the Middle School and did some work for Fleur. I blew through a massive "To Do" list that I wrote for myself yesterday and over all felt very productive.

After school got out the cross country team and I went to the park for a run. The rain ceased for the most part and the girls all felt good/tired after yesterday's meet. Cross country is going really well and I'm having a lot of fun and learning a ton.

After practice I went home where I started making dinner. Allison and I had dinner date planned. It was my first in my new apartment. While I was cooking/waiting for Allison I got a call from my old high school. Last week I substitute taught three full days at the school and apparently I did well. My old religion teacher called me and said that the teacher I had subbed for the week before was really happy with my work. Then she went on to offer me a long term sub position for two freshman religion classes. It would only be a week, since I don't have a degree in religion, but they would try to fill the rest of my schedule so I would have a full week of subbing. Also, I would be TEACHING, not just subbing. In most of the subbing I've done so far, the kids have their work to do and I just sort of make sure the volume stays down. But as the week long religion teacher they would want me to TEACH! I'm super excited. Subbing is fun, but teaching is so much more fun. I'm really hopping that if I do a good job they'll extend the gig, but who knows. Either way, it's a great opportunity and I'm super excited.

The rest of my evening consisted of dinner with Allison, watching the Colbert Report, and now hanging out with Flynn while he writes a short story and watches Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin. It's going to be a nice chill evening. Tomorrow I don't work. I'm going to submit my application for my teaching certificate, get a driver's license, and celebrate Flynn's birthday. I think it will be a fun/productive day. And I'll try to stay on top of this whole blogging thing again. Promise.

Point Arena Pictures

We didn't take many pictures in Point Arena. But here is a sampling of the ones we did take. Actually, these are all Flynn's pictures. My camera batteries were dead by the time we left San Francisco and I kept forgetting to charge them. Oh well. Enjoy.

Here I am with the Pacific Ocean. Isn't it beautiful... and windy.

Are we in Hawaii you ask? Nay! Point Arean, CA.

Our private, super secret, beach cove.

Flynn bowed his head in shame at having to be seen with a PT Cruiser. Mostly he was just making fun of his co-worker who has a PT Cruiser. Fun times either way.

Hey look! I'm a car model. Well... not quite, but let's just pretend.

Point Arena

After checking out of our hotel in San Francisco we took a cab towards the airport and picked up our rental car. Being on a budget we chose an economy car, Hydai Accent (or similar). But what we got was a PT Cruiser. We didn't complain. While a PT Cruiser is far from a posh ride, it was much more spacious than an Accent.

From the car rental place we headed North towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Then East toward the Bay Bridge. Then South again. Then North again. Then some more East. Then some West with some North and after about 30-45min we found our way to HWY 101. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, but were only able to get a picture or two while driving. There was a lot of traffic from an accident so we couldn't stop for a photo opp. Oh well.

We made our way to HWY 1 and drove up the coast. About four hours later we arrived in Point Arena, California. We found our Inn no problem and checked in without a hitch. The Inn was right near a pier and beach on an otherwise cliff lined coast. We relaxed for the evening, had dinner, and watched some of the Olympics (marathon runners are crazy!).

The next day we were told where we could find a quiet cove with sandy beaches. After tracking down a general store that sold a Frisbee (in the town up the road) we headed for the beach. Luckily it was sunny, it had been hit and miss the day before. We found the cove and had a small little beach all to ourselves. We played Frisbee, threw rocks, and watched the water. It was lovely. Eventually, we couldn't ignore the wind anymore. The sand was stinging our legs so we decided to pack it up and go find lunch.

Being a Sunday, most of the little places in town were closed. We were able to find a tasty pizza place though. After lunch we relaxed for a bit then decided to head back to our quiet beach cove. We crossed our fingers that the wind had died down a little and luckily it had... a little. We played some more Frisbee and got some sun. That night we had dinner, watched some more Olympics, and prepared for the next leg of our trip.

Our stay in Point Arena was short, but nice. The Innkeepers were super nice. (They let us use their laundry room and computer (since we had no wireless connection and no cell phone reception).) Next up, Gold Beach, Oregon.