Reporting from inside Caesar's Palace!

Would you believe it if I told you that we started the day in the middle of the Navajo Reservation, hit the Grand Canyon by 9:30 this morning, drove over the Hoover Dam, and ended the day in beautiful Las Vegas? Well, that is exactly what we did. Crazy? Yes. Fun? Absolutely.

Gotta go! Plenty more to do!

Viva Las Vegas!

p.s. To Regina: sorry I didn't let you know about our Grand Canyon appearance, but we were only there for about three hours, so it really wasn't worth your while to drive up from Tucson.

Slow internet update

Dane and I are currently sitting in a coffee shop in Moab, Utah sipping on delicious and overpriced fruit smoothies and using the slowest internet connection this side of the Rockies. I wanted to do a "picture blog," but this connection is going to make it impossible. I just spent 10 minutes sending an email with two photos. We'll stick with text.

Day 1: Bloomington, Indiana to Omaha, Nebraska.

We checked out of our apartment and left Bloomington about 10:30 am. The check-out went well. They were amazed we actually cleaned the place. We were amazed other people are so casual about getting their deposit back. We blazed through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. We were excited to put all the "I" states behind us. We ended the night by bottoming out the car in the Super 8 parking lot. I don't think anything got broken.

Day 2: Omaha, Nebraska to Fort Collins, Colorado

Nebraska was more interesting than I remembered. We spent a lot of time listening to country music and really enjoyed the hourly livestock price updates and herbicide ads and we smelled some truly foul feedlots. Even though we spent a few hours in Wyoming, I don't think we ever stepped foot outside the car. Dane's amazing friends from college were our hosts for the night in Fort Collins. They took us out from two-for-one tempe burgers and ice cream. So yummy!

Day 3: Fort Collins, Colorado to Some Random Piece of BLM Land 20 miles outside Castle Valley, Utah and right next to the Colorado River.

We started the day by stopping at REI to return a jacket Dane didn't like and buy a new Camelbak for me. Then we drove through the snowy mountains. It was a tad terrifying, but Dane did a great job at the wheel. There's something about mountain passes with a car full of valuable possessions, snow, ice, and speeding trucks that is the opposite of relaxing. I was happy when we made it to the desert flats of Utah. We decided to take the scenic route to Castle Valley, our proposed destination for the evening. The road was AMAZING with very few people, few signs, and steep curves right above the Colorado River. We came across a place to camp about 8 pm, a little earlier than we planned to stop, but the site along the river was so inviting that we called it a night.

Day 4: Some Random Piece of BLM Land 20 miles outside Castle Valley, Utah and right next to the Colorado River to Big Bend Campground about 5 miles outside Moab, Utah.

We spent the day in Arches National Park! Beautiful and breathtaking does not begin to describe it. Dane and I took turns driving so we could take in all the beauty. We did about a 3 mile hike up one of the valleys and saw about 10 different arches. Now it's back to our campsite for dinner and relaxing.

Graduation, Packing, Wine, Fire Towers, Ice Cream!

Graduation was a blast. We somehow entertained and fed 9 people in our apartment, got hooded as Masters, and packed 80% of our stuff all since last 5 days. We are tired. Dane is taking a nap as we speak. Here are some pictures of the last week taken on the brand new digital camera my Dad gave me for graduation. Thanks, Dad! It's working great!

It's hard to see, but I swear the picture below is me getting hooded with my Masters hood.

Dane is so excited about packing!

He seems more genuinely excited about climbing to the top of a fire tower. We are up above the trees.

We also went to Oliver Winery to sample wine and eat some tasty cheese.

We've also been taking frequent breaks for ice cream.

Done.

I am done with graduate school. My semester ended at 4:15 pm today when I pressed "send" on my take home exam.

So far I think life outside school is pretty great. I've already been out for ice cream, gone on a hike, climbed to the top of a fire tower, had dinner at a cafe overlooking Lake Monroe, eaten delicious calamari, drank fabulous fresh squeezed lemonade, and watched three episodes of Lost. Not too shabby.

I'm even more excited for tomorrow when the fun really starts and a few of my favorite people start showing up in town.

Tomorrow afternoon Dane's parents, sister, and two super cute nephews (they call me "Uncle Kate") show up. I love Dane's nephews. Every time we see them Dane has to talk me down from buying tons of gifts.

Later that night I need to go pick up my friend Noah up at the airport. He's flying in from Colorado to watch me graduate and help us pack just because he is that cool. He's also starting his PhD program in Chemistry at UC Berkeley next semester so he'll be our neighbor. I'm so excited to distract him from his important graduate school work!

On Friday morning my Dad flies in from Minneapolis and should arrive in Bloomington around noon. Since I won't see my Dad until next Christmas this is a major event.

Then it's on to graduation and waiting for my name to be called and smiling and cheering and eating and entertaining and drinking and sleeping very little.

I'm up for the challenge. So far post-graduate school is wonderful.

Thanks to all for your support and putting up with my bad attitude about the last two years. You are the best!

Getting nervous

Let me just start out by saying that I know everything will be just fine. We have a plan. We are smart people. We have an awesome road trip coming up. We almost have Masters degrees. We are prepared. We are planners.

BUT...

I would really like to have us (and all of our stuff) moved safely across the country and moved into an adorable 1 or 2 bedroom apartment on a quiet street in Berkeley less than 5 blocks from a BART station by June 26th. It also needs to have ample closet space, a well equipped kitchen, and parking. If we could have access to a yard and be close to a grocery store that would be amazing. We must be able to move in immediately. The landlord better be good. It must cost less than $2000 a month. Does such an apartment exist? I'm not sure.

I keep thinking of things, tiny things, we need to think about. For example:

- Do we need to get a parking permit for the moving truck to park on a city street?

- Did we insure our stuff for enough with the movers?

- Is it better to pack a bunch of valuable stuff in one box or spread over multiple boxes? What if that box gets lost?

- What is the likelihood my car will get broken into in a given neighborhood?

- Can we live in a first floor apartment or is that just an invitation to burglars?

- My health insurance is up on August 13th (a Friday, spooky). That's before I get back from field camp. Is this something I need to take care of before I leave?

- Do I have enough money to convince a landlord that I can pay rent even though I don't have a job after August?

- Was this move really a good idea?

Yes, it's true. I'm starting to doubt this whole move to California. It's just been the last few days. The reality of real life is setting in. I just want to get moving, get packing, and get on our road trip. This whole sit-around-and-study-for-finals thing is not the best thing for my busy, alway-thinking brain. I need a destination, an agenda, a goal--and soon.

The promise of family and friends at the end of the week is keeping me grounded.

Question of the Day

Why do baby carrots taste so much better than regular carrots?

Why I hate cooking meat: A brief story

I have cooked meat twice in the last week. This is unheard of. I attribute it to the warm weather. Warm weather makes me think about grilling and grilling makes me think about brats and burgers. I can't help it. So even though I don't actually have a grill I still want the meat part.

What is the number one problem with meat? I can never tell when it's done.

I just got done cooking chicken, but I'm still not sure I didn't poison myself. I cooked it in the oven for about an hour in about 1/2 an inch of water and it looked done in the center (very done), but the internal temperature never got above 150 degrees. When I opened the oven there was a bunch of steam, so that means it was boiling right? Agh. This is why I don't cook meat. I'm never convinced that I've cooked it enough and so I end up over cooking it.

I'll let you know if I have salmonella in a few days.