After a long June of Regents review and then Regents grading, I
looked forward to my summer of TWO vacations!
First, I went north to Portland, Maine! For the middle of July, it was only a high of 65 degrees Fahrenheit! I enjoyed a lot of tours of the city, including a boat ride to the most photographed lighthouse in the country, the Portland Head Light. I love lighthouses - I have been to about 20 different ones and I love climbing new ones! I am even part of a passport club where I get a stamp at each lighthouse I visit.
The sea food was great in Old Port. I took a tour of the nautical observatory
in town and got to see the tall ships, including a Spanish Armada ship from
Spain, come into the harbor. Our tour guide Stacy thought it was the
"treat of a lifetime." Sure! The trip would not have been complete
without seeing Lenny, a life-size moose made entire of chocolate. :)
For my second trip of the
summer, I headed west to Denver, Colorado! That's the furthest west I'd ever
been. It was a quick weekend trip with the one goal of seeing Peyton Manning
play in his home stadium at Sports Authority Field!
Since I was born on the 18th of
January, I have an affinity for that number. When 10 year old me found out new
rookie quarterback Peyton Manning wore my number on his back, I had to root for
him. Five MVPs, a record number of touchdowns and pass yardage, and a Super
Bowl championship later, it seems to me to be a good number. :D
Unlike Portland, Denver had a
heatwave going on, so most days were in the 90's. Besides walking up and down
the 16th Street Mall and trying to master the Denver public transportation
system, I was able to see the Denver Zoo and the Museum of Nature and Science.
The zoo had animals sculptures made from Lego's and the museum had a great mythical
beasts exhibit going on! The food in Denver was decent - the best diner was
Sam's #3 so check that out if you take a trip out there! Due to all the wild
fires out west, the atmosphere was particularly hazy, so the Rockies weren't
that visible. :(
However, I went to Denver to
see Peyton, not the mountains. I scored 4th row tickets from the 15 yard line
on the Denver sideline for the 3rd preseason match-up against the San Francisco
49ers. The seats were great. I can't believe I got to see Peyton Manning
that close! He and the other starters played for the first half, so it was
nice to see the whole team in action. Peyton Manning didn't throw any
touchdowns, but there was a safety and the Broncos won 19 to 12. It was a great
end to the trip!
After this summer, I am ready
to tackle (!) another year. I am teaching Calculus 1 and 2
again as well as Algebra 2 COMMON CORE. Stay tuned for updates on how all those
classes are going as well as any projects, crafts, or documents I make for them
along the way. Here's to a great year!
Miss Schuck
