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Michigan Football - Days of Shame

Well, I was not sure if I would continue the blog into this year, especially since it is entitled, "michsummer.blogspot.com", but there have been a few things in the past week that have happened that I would like to share/document. So, I have decided to continue the blog, although I cannot promise how often the posts will be. But I will try to keep posting on a somewhat regular basis! And I start with an issue close to home at this moment...

Today was a sad day in Ann Arbor. After last week's historic loss to Appalachian State, a I-AA division team, Michigan lost to Oregon at home. Everyone entered the stadium hopeful to show the world that last week's game was a fluke - an aberration for the previously top-ranked team. However, judging from the half-empty stadium near the end of the game, the boos issued forth from Michigan students towards their own team, and the frankly embarrassing 39-7 score, this is shaping up to be a bad season. The only good player in the game was Mike Hart, with his drives through the opposing defense. It was pitiful that practically the only way we made it down the field was by capitalizing on Oregon's mistakes and we could not seem to tackle our opponents.

It was a sad thing to see students flocking out of the stadium, the Oregon fans cheering from across the field, and our silent retreat from the stadium. I still hold out hope for a comeback, and I will be there next week with maize a-blazin', but it was still pretty darn depressing.

Updates

Just wanted to let you, my faithful readers, know that I have posted a few things in the past week. I tried to get everything from this summer up there before leaving California, but I just didn't have the time. So, I will be posting the last stuff probably tomorrow or the next day.

New things from the past week: tubing in Bass Lake, videos from Yosemite, Colorado trip, and a day in Newport Beach.

To come: my last days in California.

My Day in Newport

My family was supposed to visit the last weekend in July, but unfortunately, they had to cancel their trip. I ended up moving out of my house that weekend into a hotel, and decided just to take it easy. However, I didn't want to just sit around my hotel all day, and I had the urge to go shopping. Now those of you who know me know that it is a rare occasion when I actually want to go to a mall, so I had to take advantage of the urge! I remembered that there is a well-known mall in Newport Beach called Fashion Island, plus I had been told by my bosses that I must go see Lexus of Newport, and I had wanted to revisit Balboa Island, also in Newport. Thus, I got in the car and headed south to Newport Beach.

I passed by Lexus of Newport on the way from the 405 to Balboa Island and I could see why my bosses made such a big deal of it. I don't know if you can really tell from this picture, but the dealership looks like an office complex in itself. It was HUGE, and just guessing real estate prices in this area, I don't even want to know how much money that cost to build! I didn't have time to stop inside, but I've heard it's very nice.


I parked on the main street of tiny Balboa Island and walked to the harbor to eat my lunch and look at the boats and then I walked down the sidewalk a bit looking at the pretty houses.

Some pictures of the streets crowded with cars and houses.

This is a view of the main street, which was lined with lots of shops and restaurants. It was a very cute little place and I felt like I was in some beach town in New England. Well, except for the palm trees. :-)

There was a wide canal running next to the main street. I stood on this bridge and took some photos.

Finally, I went to Fashion Island. It was quite the incredible mall. It was outdoors and had these little courtyards. This was the first one I saw, with a full carousel!

The next courtyard had a huge coi pond and was nicely landscaped.

The third courtyard had this cool fountain that would spurt water up at different intervals. The greatest part was the three kids standing on the right side of the photo. As the water went up, they were jumping up and down shouting "go! go! go!". :-)

Just another shot of the pretty mall. I was surprised with how many stores there were for dogs and kids in this mall. There were also lots of dogs everywhere. In SoCal, some stores let you take your dogs inside so I saw a lot of that. I also saw a lot of Botox! And a couple of people I recognized from TV or movies, but no one hugely famous.

Rocky Mountain High

Catching up on the blog now...one week ago I went to Colorado to visit John and meet his family. It was perfect! Our original trip to Colorado had been postponed, as you may know, so it was great to finally see him and where he grew up. I flew into Denver Friday night, but my flight had been delayed due to severe thunderstorms in Denver, so we just went straight back and to bed that night. The next morning, after a delicious breakfast with his folks, we set off to Breckenridge. This is John driving right outside Colorado Springs, with Pike's Peak in the background. By the way, I was greeted with a gorgeous view of Pike's Peak when I woke up that morning. :-)

We stopped at this pass, called Wilkerson Pass before entering the large valley of South Park before the mountains where Breckenridge and other ski resorts reside like Vail, Copper Mountain, and Keystone.

One of the towns in the valley was none other than South Park! So of course, we had to take a photo in front of the sign.

The mountains were just gorgeous!

We stopped at an overlook to see this beautiful view.

Then we went through Hoosier Pass, at the Continental Divide!

I caught John off-guard with the camera. :-)

We finally arrived in Breckenridge and ate lunch at this local brewery.

Then we went to the ski resort, where a chairlift was running on John's favorite peak, Peak 8. This is a shot from the car showing the mountain with "Colorado's largest human maze" in the foreground. Personally, I like the bush or corn mazes better.

John in his parent's Toyota 4 Runner. Good brand! I really enjoyed the smooth ride of this car.

Now we are riding up the chairlift, which was called the Colorado "Scenic" Superchair. I guess it's normally just called the Superchair, but they added "Scenic" to entice people to buy tickets to ride it. Isn't it cool how you can see all the ski runs?

Here we are on the lift.

Looking down at this pretty stream running down the side of a slope. We passed so many beautiful mountain streams on the way up, and this was a tiny one in comparison, though still pretty.

So you can't really tell the depth in this photo, but that darker patch of brush between our feet are actually little trees! It kind of freaked me out knowing that in the winter, people (like me!) ski over top of those trees and rocks!

Okay, here we are at the top of the mountain in front of the slope map. I must say it was also weird getting on and off the chairlift on just our feet instead of with skis. But we managed to make it off without falling!

We walked (s-l-o-w-l-y as I was easily breathless from the altitude) up to a spot to sit down and enjoy the view.

This was the slope behind us, part of the Peak 8 Bowl called The Contest. I couldn't believe that John has actually skiied and snowboarded down this. I think I will stick to my beginner slopes. ;-)

Even though this time I had John with me, I still had to take the requisite self portrait to be consistent with the rest of my blog.

We had so many nice smiley photos, we had to get in a funny one! And I think this is my favorite one! :-D

Then we made our way back down - on the chairlift! It was a first for both of us -- riding the lift DOWN the mountain. In this photo, you can see the town of Breckenridge.

Once we were down the mountain, we walked around the town of Breckenridge. It was really pretty with lots of colorful flowers and old buildings. Apparently, they refurbish the old buildings to maintain the original look of the town. Oh, I am reminded now of Alma, a little town we passed through on the way to Breckenridge where there was a little building that said "Fire House and Mining Museum". It cracked us up that they were in the same little building!

There is a pretty river that runs through the town.

Playing Forrest Gump outside the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory. Life is like a box o' chocolates...

There was a wonderfully delicious crepe cart that had a long line whenever we walked past. John's mom had also recommended it to us, so we had to try it. We got a crepe with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas. It was delicious!! The funniest part was that there were these three young men working there (like early 20's) listening to punk rock music making fragile French crepes! They serve it to you like an ice cream cone, so that is what I am holding in this photo.

Mmm, mmm, good!

Looking back at the mountain, you can see the slopes. In the foreground is the setup for the National Gold Panning Championships. They were closing down when we were there, but we saw one guy in the speed competition. It was interesting, but not the most exciting "sport" to watch.

We passed a bakery, and if I had not just eaten that crepe, I would have definitely eaten one of these bad boys. Check out the cookie sandwich on the top right. It's a wad of cookie dough in between two cookies!

This restaurant had beautiful flowers in front of it, a prime spot for taking pictures.

On the way out of town, we saw a fox running down the highway!

Okay, this was hilarious. Apparently, this A & W is run by a Jewish family and the inside is all decorated with menorahs and photos of Jesus. John said this sign out front is always hilarious to read and he had me read it out loud as we approached. I think my new favorite word is "cheese curds". (I guess that is two words.)

We went through a town called Dillon on the way to Denver (we were going to John's favorite sushi place for dinner) and it was right next to this beautiful reservoir. Can you see the sailboat out there?

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from dinner, but it was a really nice restaurant called Sushi Den with phenomenal sushi. I had eel for the first time! It was actually really good! Although I don't think I would be brave enough to eat it at just any sushi place. Only if I was sure it was trustworthy. We sat at the sushi bar, which was my first time doing that, and had a great time. It was fun watching the chefs prepare all the food and we got ours when it was super fresh!

The next day, John drove me all around Colorado Springs. I really like that town and it was awesome to see the places he grew up with. He took me by this artist's house, which reminded me of Edward Scissorhands. He did these sculptures and when he died, they left them in the front yard like this.

We also went to Helen Hunt Falls (no, not the actress from Mad About You, but a famous Pioneer writer). It was really pretty.

They asked you to put a pin in the map showing where you were from. So here I am putting a pin in Potomac!

Right outside the canyon with the falls was a neighborhood with lots of cute and interesting houses. This was the view the house at the end of the street had.

Our last stop on the Colorado Springs tour was the Garden of the Gods. I had been before, but it was neat to see it with John who grew up around there.

We then returned to his parents' country club for lunch and I had one of the best tuna salad sandwiches I have ever had. Then we went for a walk with his parents, youngest sister, and dog on the bluffs behind their house. I love the sun peeking through the clouds behind us.

Here we are with John's sister Anna and dog Ruby.

We went back to the house and looked through a bunch of photo albums. Then we sat down on the back porch to eat dinner. You'll notice I am in a sweatshirt in this photo. The reason is because we were eating in the midst of a HUGE downpour and thunderstorm, which I loved, but it made it a bit cool. I have missed those summer storms this summer! Since John's birthday is next week, his parents surprised him with a cake. This is just after singing "Happy Birthday".

Unfortunately, I had to jet back to the airport after this (pun intended). I really wish I could have stayed longer - the trip was way too short. But I will be back!