Day 20 - Back Home Again

3196 miles....phase one of the summer ends....left Houston at 6:30 (their time), and with 3 gas stops (and a record $2.99 a gallon in Alabama), a short 30 minute oulet break, made it back home by 11PM (real time). Finished Hunger games Trilogy...loved book 2, liked book one, and, like J.K.Rowling she messed up Book three. What a wimpy ending....

Now on to the next great adventure.....lots of pictures tomorrow!

Day 19 - The Long Way Home

2258.7 miles - Started the day with excellent closing speaker who preached "living on the fringe", which, as a teaching professional, is where I reside on a daily basis. Dick, from the Planting Science and Earthquake Engineering groups set up a Facebook group on the Next Gen Science Standards and the response has been incredible...like 10 hits in the first hour! I feel like a celebrity, and God knows my ego could use the boost! (Yeah, like the Pacific needs a water infusion...)

Lunch was the best of the week...Texas Brisket, bread pudding, a corn-black bean vegetable medley..outstanding. Made the trip to Houston Hobby Airport in less than 3 hours and am ready for departure from Texas....

By 10 AM I should be gone from the Lone Star State for the first time since June 10. I will miss her...she's a good state to visit!

Day 18 - Dinner is Served

After a thrilling day of learning how the plan will work for assessing the New Science Standards we were whisked away (the first time I was out of the hotel in 3 days) to a dinner sponsored by the Helios Foundation (the fine folks that paid my way here). Now lets talk about the food for a minute. The Foundation paid for breakfast and lunch daily...breakfasts were so-so with things like egg quesadillas and bacon, egg, sausage things on some kinda bread...but lunch was heavenly! Huge salad bar, 2-3 entrees, bread pudding, cherry cobbler, turtle cheesecake, mango iced tea....it was to die for.

And I get one more tomorrow.

Dinner this evening wasn't bad (but it wasn't lunch!) with the after dinner speech by the nation's foremost expert on string theory, Sylvester James Gates.

And a big speech by Larry Plank, which was, of course, exciting. Also we all lined up and took a picture of the group with Dr. Gates for the school district banner. Keep an eye out....it will be coming to an SDHC home page real soon.

The group flies out around 10 tomorrow, so I will be the lone district representative during the final 2 hours of the sessions.

Ultimate power is mine!!!!

Day 16 - Fire and Ice

Started the day with breakfast at the McDonalds with the biggest steer in all of Texas...and that ain't no bull! Included a few pics of the area around the hotel (the hotel itself) and the state capitol building.

Our first speaker was a movie stunt coordinator who did some cute things with fire and pulleys but I will be honest...I expected a lot more in the way of flash bang presentations. It was OK, but I have seen better, more pizzazy (Is that a word?) programs in science museums. Attended the social (without real food) and had nice conversations with teachers from Alaska (Anchorage, Cheryl), Arizona, Massachusetts, Austin, and Oklahoma. Met John Feiler's (my old Progress Village buddy) siste this evening and am ready to pack it in for the night.

To be honest, this stuff all seems way over my head, but I am grateful for a week in Texas and a chance to talk education.

Day 15 - Outlets and Austin

total miles to date - 2060.8 miles - Visited what has to be the world's largest outlet where 2 complete centers totaling over 270 stores lay side by side....you name it...it was there including a Jones New York where it was just wall to wall racks like the Coldwater Creek center in Orlando, Wedgwood (with an entire case of jewelry), hot topic, and I could have spent a BUNDLE!!!

But I would rather eat...

Am not impressed with the UT campus section I have seen...looks cramped, crowded, and not very green (as the hotel claims to be) Nice room, and the view from the window is included in today's upload as is the reception area.

Found out that Traci, from Oklahoma, whom I met at Planting Science at Texas A&M the first summer, will be here tomorrow for the festivities as well. It will be nice to see her again. Also my leadership strand will pull me out a few sessions with the group every day...I am excited about that!

So as long as I can afford to eat, my only real issue will be....how do I pay for the hotel room I will need on Thursday night after all of my money will be gone. (I don't get paid until Friday). Maybe I could eat in an all night buffet for 12 or 13 hours? I could do that you know...I could eat for 12 hours....if its not calamari....

Day 14 - Books, Music, Toys, and Schnitzel

Decided it was time to stop the touristing and get serious, so I headed out to explore 3 of the Half Price Books locations in the area, finding, as a jackpot, a CD Warehouse and a huge collectable toy shop called "Alien Worlds". On the way back I stopped at the Hofhaus, which was billed as a authentic German beer house...well they got the beer part right, with 7 German brews on tap, but schnitzel was the only German food on the menu, although I will admit the 3 cheese mac and cheese and bacon was terrific, as was the raspberry cheesecake (14 days - 3 desserts).

Now the packing has begun and I will take Miss Saturn (1934 miles thus far) back on the road tomorrow to Austin by way of not 1, not 2, but 3 outlet centers. My gosh I hope one of these workshops pays me before its all over....I have yet to buy a single pair of shoes!!!!

By the way...100 degree temps start tomorrow and are expected for the next 7-10 days...and I saved long sleeved shirts for the conference. Guess I am eating in house and charging all meals to the room!

Day 13 - Tourist Day

I started out walking over to the Alamo....I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how these guys held out against a force of thousands for 13 days. Santa Anna must be rated among the most incompetent military leaders EVER!!! Its an 8 foot wall around most of the compound that a good athlete could jump over, let alone need to scale. And the area they defended was spread out enough that 200 defenders could easily have been picked off by a few good sharpshooters without much trouble. Included are lots of pictures but only about 15-20% of the Alamo is the Alamo of the legend...the rest is a reconstruction. Nice gardens though.

Took a ride to the top of the Tower of the Americas (owned now by Landry's Restaurant Group) which was the cornerstone of the World's Fair in 1968. Spent a good 10 minutes at the top (I am a slow study) and headed to Riverwalk.

Loved the crafts village, LaVillita, right next to the Hilton...lots of really cool things to buy for astronomical prices. I will come back after the second Powerball win...I don't think one will handle it...Dinner at a little TexMex pub in the village that had the world's best nachos EVER!!! And for desert, I stopped in an ice cram store for a waffle cone with Blueberry cobbler ice cream. Outstanding!!!

By the way I did stop in the Mall along RiverWalk and saw a new pair of sneakers, just like my first day Asics from last year only in an orange scheme and were wicked cool. If only one of these workshops had paid me....

Tomorrow dinner at a German Bauhaus...I am excited!