The early part of this week was all about running a half marathon, then recovering from last week and my half marathon, so pics were light after Sunday...until Friday and Saturday, when I took a gazillion of them on a trip to Chico.
Here we go, then.
Sunday:
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| Cali Swimmy waited in the car for me during the race. |
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| Gulp. |
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| Promptly ran into a student before the race. |
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| The starting line. |
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FINISHED!! I was JUST across the line in this one, still
dripping sweat, still red, still breathing hard, but all smiles. |
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| Ran into my student again, with her dad. |
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| I'll take it! About what I expected. |
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| These legs ran a half marathon! |
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| Puns abound... |
Monday:
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| Solfege and cowbells. |
Tuesday:
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| Duchess (long-haired cat) was here (my bed). |
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Some mornings, it's so hard to leave her...but someone's
got to bring home the tuna. |
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| "It's okay Mommy. I'll nap for you today." |
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My coworker, Bonnie, was having a rough morning, so
I did this. |
Wednesday:
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| Trading one lab (piano) for another (computer). |
Thursday:
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Stopped at the Halloween store...the options are dismal. No,
Spirit, I don't particularly feel like wearing a "naughty"
costume to SCHOOL. |
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I got the race photo email on Thursday. This is from Mile 8,
and it made me smile. I ordered one from the finish. I love
my swinging ponytail behind me! |
Friday:
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Because of midterms, I had to be at school
at 7:00 in the morning. |
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But in good news, I was able to wear my
choir hoodie for the first time in ages. |
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Our International Baccalaureate program held an International
festival after school. |
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Three muffins. Not sure if this is an art installation
commenting on wastefulness and consumerism, or just
lazy teenagers. Hmm. |
I'll just insert here that I went home for a bit on Friday afternoon, then drove up to Chico for an alumni band weekend.
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| Hello, Chico!! |
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The Bear. It's full name is Madison Bear Garden. I adore the
Bear and hadn't eaten there in years. |
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| So I stopped in for dinner and a pint of Angry Orchard. |
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If the Bear has changed, it's only been to add more crap
to the ceiling. |
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I finally got my post-race cheeseburger. There was a point
in the week where it occurred to me I ought to have said
burger at The Bear. DUH. |
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| Uh, Cali, you've got lettuce...just...there... |
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| Selfie with all the carved-in names. |
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So turns out, Chico's getting a new arts center! The current
Performing Arts Center is very out-dated. |
After dinner, I wandered onto campus before an evening band rehearsal. Chico State might be a "mere" state school, but the campus is gorgeous. There's a creek running through it, so many trees, a rose garden, art and sculpture...it's beautiful.
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| Kendall Hall, the admin building. |
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| Laxson Auditorium, behind the trees. |
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Close-up of Kendall Hall. I learned this weekend that this is
where the original Chico Normal School (a teaching college)
was located, but it was gutted by fire in the 1920s. Then
Kendall Hall was built. |
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Chico's motto, "Today Decides Tomorrow," above the
door to Kendall. |
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| The stories this old tree could tell! |
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| Along the creek. |
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| One of the foot bridges had collapsed. |
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| I stopped by the rose garden. |
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| ...With my duck. |
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| Trinity Hall bell tower. |
It was time to get to the rehearsal, so I wandered back to the PAC. Side note: PAC stands for Performing Arts Center, the name of the building. No one calls it "the Performing Arts Center." Some people call it the P.A.C., as in "pee-ay-cee." Insiders who spend most of their college career there call it the PAC, as in, "the pack."
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| Found some old friends in the band scrapbook! |
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Harlen Adams Theater. The last time I played in here was
2001. It's still purple, but happily, the orange, pink and
yellow chairs had been updated. |
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| This is why I was in Chico. |
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I've been back to Chico a few times since 2001, but the
ole Buffet had not. |
Saturday:
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I did not stay here Friday night, but I once did during Finals
Week after a nasty roommate situation got even worse.
Not the nicest hotel, but great old sign. |
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I can think of worse places to sip tea and eat a protein plate
from Starbucks on a Saturday morning. |
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| Class of 2001, baby. |
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| It's just so beautiful! |
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| Artsy shot of my French connections... |
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Five years at that school and I never once played the School
Hymn, or even knew its words. |
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| The stapler was gone. |
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Chico has many things to boast about. I believe this is among
the Top 10. |
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| I mean, I'm 5'2" so this sucker is well over 4 feet tall. |
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There was a fun Harvest thing going on where all the shops
downtown were having sidewalk sales. |
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Collier Hardware is a Chico institution. To the left of the
aisle, bottom shelf: Yes, those are KitchenAid mixers in
every possible color of the rainbow. |
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| Cookie Cutters. |
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I was happy to see that House of Rice is still around. It's
a packed-to-the-rafters Asian Imports store that reminds
of the Chinese population that lived in Chico back in the
days of the railroad and Gold Rush. |
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| I used to see movies here. It's not a movie theater anymore. |
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| Collier. |
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| Even the backs of buildings are adorable. |
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I had never been in here. Not much to it for the $5 "suggested"
donation that they pretty much insist you pay. |
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| An old church. |
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| This massive old redwood took over the sidewalk years ago. |
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Dismayed to see that Tacos de Acapulco (Tacos de, to us)
is now Tacos "Mary," complete with inappropriate
quotation marks. |
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| Five and I. |
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I had decided to walk out to my last apartment, where I
lived for my last two years. This was about three blocks
from there. I used to have to drive to school at night,
despite living so near, because I was afraid of being
attacked. Very, very profound. |
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This is half a block from my old apartment. You get used
to the train noise. |
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I loved living here. I had a one-bedroom apartment. It was here
where my parents surprised me with Millie in 1999. It was
the first time I truly lived on my own. |
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Number 25 (upstairs) was mine. It was a nice little home for
two years. I made it really cute in a "college chic" way and
I always felt safe there. |
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There are five streets in downtown, where a lot of students
live, and they go in this order: Chestnut, Hazel, Ivy, Cherry,
Orange. All tree names, and...do you see it?! They spell
CHICO. |
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I had a bit of time so I drove up the Skyway to the town of
Paradise. On the way back down, I stopped at this turnout. |
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| One last pic before the concert. That's the PAC. |
What a week! I ran a half marathon and had a great, busy weekend in Chico. Today is all about the laziness.
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