Carmel River State Beach

This video captures that location where my fiancée and I will be married in July. It overlooks Point Lobos State Reserve, where we had our first kiss. Yes, a very romantic spot. The second half of the video contains a special 360º view of the beach, mountains, and lagoon where the Carmel River empties into the Pacific Ocean. It was here that the 1769 Portolo Crespi Expedition erected a cross to signal their supply ship that they'd gone back to San Diego. In those pioneering, something like a cross would be the only sign that Europeans would recognize as a message.

Double Yikes!!

Another month has gone by, and no posts from me. I've had some New Year's resolutions to get underway, so perhaps implementing them has put off my weekly reflections on the blog. Also, I've been keeping up a blog for a teacher research project, so that has taken priority whenever I have the time to blog.

I returned to Salinas from Chicago on Dec 27. I went to a friend's wedding in Stockton on Dec 29. It was good to see people I hadn't seen since college, nine years ago. I welcomed the new year with my girlfriend with quiet night at home. For the rest of that week, I slowly prepared for the resumption of school.

We had 2.5 weeks of classes until the end of the semester, which just occurred this Thursday. I was glad to see that several of the writing skills had "sunken in" over the break. However, some of the students resumed their old antics to disrupt the class. So I've made classroom management a priority for the new semester starting this Monday.

As for my New Year's resolutions, I'm off to a good start. I've visited two gyms to potentially join. I've joined the local Kendo club as a way to stay in shape and keep in touch with my Japan experience. I've also enrolled in a Spanish for Professionals course at the local adult school. The biggest impasse for communicating with parents is my limited vocabulary while talking on the phone. So I've set a goal of improving my skills in this area. Three New Year's resolutions seems like enough for me.

So far this year we've had some pretty dubious weather in Salinas. Rainstorms from the North Pacific have left snow on Mount Toro, leaving the impression that we're in more of a winter wonderland instead of a mild mediterranean garden.

We also took a nice little 5 mile, 5 hour jaunt to Garrapata State Park. The strenuous climb made the wonderful vista at the top all the more lovely. Photos are forthcoming, and won't take another month to post!

Wedding and Birthday Bash in Seattle

At first I was apprehensive about it. My cousin's wedding in Seattle coinciding with my birthday. I don't like to make a big deal out of my birthdays, so I thought my celebratory-loving cousin would try to make a big deal of it. In actuality, it turned out that David and Shelly mentioned it along with a few other birthdays of wedding guests. I wasn't the only one.

Seattle was a welcome respite from the routine of school. I took Friday off so I could make the rehearsal dinner. The area has so many trees and green foliage, it makes the Monterey area look quite dry in comparison. We were lucky to get some sunshine on the day we arrived. It was forecast for rain on the other two days of the weekend. That never panned out though.


We did the major tourist things in our free time away from the festivities: Pike Place Market, Space Needle, and Westlake Center. It was Gilda's first time, so we did those things as her introduction. I just happened to take this quick snapshot as we were passing by the skyline on our way home. JK! I'm too lazy to upload my pictures that I borrowed one from another site. Visit the School of Law at Seattle University as a courtesy for them letting me link to the photo!