Feb 12 2007
Blowing Rock
Originally uploaded by elemak.
This weekend was the youth retreat in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. I took off Friday and today for trip prep and clean up. I think we all had a really good time, maybe not so much with the stuff they had going on for us, but our group its self.
The view in the area was wonderful. I did not have a whole lot of time to go and take pictures, but I found a few that are ok and posted them. I have some funny pictures, but they had kids in them and only special people get to see them, sorry.
We rented a 12 passenger van for the trip. It was massive, but handled pretty good. I whipped it around McDonald’s parking lot like a mad man and it went exactly where I wanted it to. It felt really strange getting back in to the truck and being all low to the ground and all.
Saturday night me and one of the kids got in a crazy/hyperish mood. Those of you who know me would recognize it as being close to the way I used to get with DP in the middle of the night on road trips. So we were jumping around in McDonald’s have a good old time. We were being so crazy that the rest of the group moved to another part of the dinning room. I think we even made a homeless guy go back into the cold so he did not have to listen to us. If you are not convinced I was in a strange mood then listen to this. I sang out loud in the van where everyone could hear me. I can’t sing. It was not good and I woke up Sunday morning embarrassed about it.
So we did a tubbing thing that was a lot of fun. I hate to brag, but I was awesome. Fastest on the slopes when on my belly and did the most spins when on my back. When going down on your back you can’t help but spin. When I would get to the bottom I would be falling down from spinning so much. Oh and the kids had a blast doing it as well. After being there I think I would like to try and ski at some point. It looks like a lot of fun.
Anyway good trip, good memories and it was so nice to get away for a weekend. I think I made it a whole 2 day without even thinking about work, which was wonderful. At some point I am going to take a fully week off. Just need to figure out where I want to go during that time, or if I want to stay home and hide.
Went and got my taxes done today. It sucked bad. Lets just say that what I had to pay is quite a bit more than I make in two weeks. Not happy about that at all. That computer I was talking about building is on hold for sure, well it was anyway since I decided I needed a car more than a new computer, but now both are on hold for a while. At least I had been saving for those things and had the money to spend. Next year everything will be better as far as taxes go.
I would just like to say that Mars looks wonderful from Blowing Rock, in fact the whole sky looked great. I kept going outside to look at the stars, would have stayed out, but it was cold! I stood in a stair case for at least thirty minutes watching the sun go down one night. I need to make sure I take time for things like that more often.