My Recent Adventures...

I’m sorry that I haven’t put anything up on here in the past couple weeks….I’ve been busy… But I thought for my next post, rather than talk about a subject, I will just tell you what all has been going on over the past few weeks.

I left on Friday the 13th of April (ooohhh Scary…) and flew up to San Francisco. I was going to the Annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (read previous post to see the preconceptions). From there I met up with some friends from college. We stayed Friday night in Oakland with one of my professor’s sisters. The next day we left Oakland and headed to South Lake Tahoe. I have never been to northern California so I didn’t really know what to expect. But it was a really nice place (much different from the desert where I now live and also much different from the big city). We spent the weekend there driving and hiking around the lake. Oh and btw…Lake Tahoe was named by the Native Americans that inhabited the area. The meaning and pronunciation of the original name is debated but it is generally accepted to say that is means “Big Water.” It is also the deepest freshwater lake in the US (or so I am told).

This kind of trip was both relaxing and stimulating for me. I am reminded when I go to these places just how diverse the world is. As a geographer, I inherently have an interest in maps. So one of the first things I did was to purchase a good contour map of the area. This helped me to understand where I was at. I took my rock hammer along for the journey (but I forgot my hand lens which drove me insane!!!). The only problem was that we didn’t stop in very many places that allowed me to go “bang around” on the rocks (as Dr. G calls it). One other thing that was different about this trip was that I am used to doing this type of stuff with Dr. G who is a physical geographer. This trip I was with a political geographer (which is very different). So one time, when I got my hammer out and headed down a cliff to get some samples he threatened to make a citizens arrest on me for using my hammer on the rocks. It didn’t stop me, however, and I got a few really good pieces (and distributed several to my friends who are also interested in the rocks). Most of the rock in this area is granite. It is a mixture of feldspar, quartz, mica, and something else that I can’t remember right now. Also, most of the area had been glaciated which was different from what I am used to (the glaciers in the last ice age never made it past the Ohio River so you don’t see much glacial evidence in Alabama!).

We also made some journeys over into Nevada. We visited Virginia City which is very much like an old western town, full of Saloons and old timey gambling places. There was a magnificent cemetery which was also very interesting to me. The main entrance had the Masonic symbol over it and it was soon clear that this section was a Masonic place of burial (there was also a Catholic section in the Cemetery). One thing that I noticed in the cemetery (I like to say cemetery rather than graveyard…it just sounds more appropriate) was the direction the graves were laid out. Most of the graves were in a east-west orientation. I haven’t really done any research on this but it appears that this is done so that the feet are towards the East, so when Christ comes and the dead rise, they will be facing Christ (which is said to come with the Sun). The point of interest was that there were a handful of graves that were facing North-South. It makes you wonder why this is done…some of them had Christian symbols on them (such as a cross) so it wouldn’t appear to be the grave of a non-religious person that just didn’t want to be buried like other Christians. So it made me wonder if that person was buried like that intentionally or just inadvertently. I don’t know but im sure I will check it out…

After the weekend, we had to head back to San Francisco for the AAG conference. It was pretty much typical AAG stuff…a lot of people with big degrees telling other people just like them what kind of research they are doing. The disappointing thing is that most of it seems completely irrevelant to me. But I went to a few sessions that were worthwhile. I wont really discuss them on here because I think there is plenty to talk about without all that….maybe I will save it for a later time.

While in San Francisco, I couldn’t resist doing the touristy things….I went to China Town, walked all the way across the Golden Gate Bridge (and back across…whew!!!), went to Alcatraz, and took the public transportation as much as possible. For the most part, San Francisco is not a place I would like to live. It was ok to visit for a few days but honestly, it wasn’t my favorite city.

I left San Francisco and flew back to Alabama to spend my last weekend away from work there. I arrived on Friday afternoon and on Friday night I went to Caffeine High. Caffeine High is a huge party thrown by my fraternity (ATO). It is the largest substance-free party at UNA and all the proceeds go to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Shoals. I got to spend some time with a lot of my friends there. The only thing I didn’t like was that I was there until really late and the next day I had to get up really early to go fish a tournament. We didn’t win the tournament but I had a good time regardless. (and it gave me my ‘fishing fix’ for a little while). That Sunday I ate lunch at my Grandparents with all the family.

I flew back to sunny CA on Monday. By this time I was SICK of flying. That flight back here was probably the worst I have ever had. I was stuck between two relatively “large” women and was miserable the whole time. But now I’m back and it feels good to breath again.

I went SCUBA diving yesterday at Laguna Beach. I didn’t get to dive much but that is another story…after I got finished I just went to the beach and set in my chair for half the day. It was cloudy but I still got burnt. Such is life I guess…

I will try to get some more topics on here in the next few days. Hopefully things will continue to go well and I will have lots to talk about.