Wonder Valley is a great place

Have you ever been to Wonder Valley? You should go. If not for the ranch resort itself, at least for the drive. I was there this weekend for a retreat for directors of Early Childhood Education programs. I love coming around the bend on Elwood Drive to see the valley before me.

A bountiful harvest...I hope

After visiting Death Valley, I took on projects around the house to finish out my spring break. I painted the office a nice taupe color and did a LOT of work in the yard. It's amazing how a lot of work in the yard can look like not very much in the end, but then it all grows and you see the results of your efforts. In our vegetable garden, I planted two kinds of tomatoes, green peppers, purple peppers, green beans, tomatillos, yellow neck squash, zucchini, cantaloupe seeds, spinach seeds, and green onion seeds. Whew! On top of all that, our cherry, plum, aprium, apricot, orange trees are blooming and the poimegranate should not be too far behind. Who knew I would someday be a farmer!

The next morning I sat on the back patio to eat my breakfast and watched a squirrel go crazy over the seed that dropped when my homemade birdfeeder broke. He even stood on top of the feeder at one time and ate off the bird stoop from the roof. I love having a yard full of life.

Death Valley vacation warms us up during spring break

I always say I hate the desert. Darrel loves the desert. It's not so much that I hate the desert, but I hate the way I feel in the desert. Bloated, dry and itchy eyes, dry and cracked skin, chapped lips. That's how I feel in the desert. We decided to go to Death Valley anyway because it's the right time of the year (weather in the 70s and lots of wildflowers) and Darrel has really wanted to go there with me. He thought he might convert me to a desert-lover. I still didn't love the way I felt, but it was a beautiful, interesting place to see. Everybody asks what there is to see and do in Death Valley...

You can hike in canyons that were formed by shifting earth and

water and material rushing down the hill.

You can drive by and hike in the "Artist's Palette" where oxidation of different minerals has turned the hillsides purple, blue, green, and pink. I tried to make a "snow angel" on the purple hill where it was fine gravel, but it didn't really work. All that happened was my clothes got really dusty. I had to try it though and it satisfied my curiosity.

You can check out the formations of the salt pan. I liked hearing the crunch of the salt under my boot. Darrel liked taking pictures when I wasn't looking.

You can go take a tour at Scotty's Castle.

You can take super zoomed pictures of your spouse when she's not looking and she is squinting into the sun while she waits for the tour to start.

You can hide behind forts in the rock formations when you hike in Mosaic Canyon.

You can visit the sand dunes at sunrise...my favorite.

You can have a contest with your spouse. Whoever ends up with the most sand in their shoes gets to choose when and where to eat breakfast. My boot is the one on the left. I chose the closest of two places to eat in the park. Darrel would have chosen the same thing, but I like to have opportunities to win.

You can visit a giant crater where it is REALLY windy.

You can walk out on the salt bed of the lowest point in the western hemisphere at Badwater...named for the bad tasting water.

You can take pictures at the signs like all good tourists. You can do many more things like see where giant boulders move on their own, visit ghost towns, see the 20 mule team borax mines, and lots more. Go visit Death Valley, but remember to drink plenty of water, take chapstick, sunblock, and slather every inch of your body in lotion.

Cori gets her butt kicked part 3

Sunday night Darrel's parents Elmer and Moira joined us for dinner and a game. After we had brunch for dinner, I was definitely planning to get my game on with Dominoes. Again, not so. Elmer and Moira dominated the board for sure.Darrel even had to get the calculator out to add up his points (lowest points win). I'm definitely on a streak. Anyone up for a game?

Cori gets her butt kicked part 2

Okay, so Darrel won Scrabble. That was a little hiccup in my gaming season (the season never really ends). I was ready to kick booty (Darrel's booty in particular) when we got together with our friends Evan and Ayako for dinner and a game Saturday night. Not the case.

We started out with a yummy dinner of sushi rolls, korean pancakes (the name escapes me), chicken rolls with veggies and cheese, miso soup, and a yummy beef chinese dish I forget the name of. I love a new food adventure. I learned that it's true that for the Japanese, presentation is as important as anything. Ayako served up those chicken rolls with a feast for the eyes!




I took a cue from her as I dressed up the dessert of almond shortbread tarts with chocolate-hazelnut spread and pictures made out of bananas and strawberries.

Dessert accompanied a hard core game of Ark of the Covenant. Darrel and Evan dominated the board to the point it almost wasn't fun to finish the game.





Evan and Ayako are quite the pair, always ready with a smarty remark to get a laugh, but Darrel and Evan definitely had the last laugh this time.

I'm just not that competitive...

Okay, maybe I am. Last night Darrel and I decided that we wouldn't turn on the TV and he wouldn't work on homework, but we would play a game together. Since I have been sickeningly addicted to Ticket to Ride, we decided to play Scrabble. I always thought I wasn't very competitive because I can't edge my way to kick the soccer ball when others are fighting for it. When I was 6, the ocach had to tell me to stop picking the flowers and go after the ball. Turns out I am plenty competitive, just not physically aggressive. I love trying to out-wit and out-smart my competitor across the table. My brother recently taught me that I should work a little trash talk into my game. Of course, the trash talk slows down when the table turns. Last night, Darrel won.