#SOL17 - 30/31 The Me I Used to Be, Still Am

 


         #SOL17 30/31 I'm writing for the March Slice of Life challenge with the Two Writing Teachers community for Day Thirty of Thirty-One.  Thank you, Stacey, Beth, Deb, Betsy, Lanny, Kathleen, Lisa, and Melanie.   
                            One Day. . .

The final Thursday, and the final "me I used to be", although parts are still happening.

           When I taught, I taught at a school that valued trips. Every class from the youngest on took extended trips in the fall and the spring. The very youngest's extensions were only till dinnertime on that given one day. Time away increased as students grew older. By the time they became my middle schoolers (6, 7, 8) we went for about a week in the fall and 10 days to two weeks in the spring. I've traveled a lot with my family too, especially when my children were older, but the most primitive trips were those with students to Mexico and Costa Rica. Yes, we traveled far into the state of Sonora, Mexico and we drove and we camped. One time we were so tired at arrival, we simply threw our sleeping bags on the ground and slept. I remember being thrilled some of the time to be able to grab a garden hose to wash my hair. I could write a lot about adventures we had in cities, too, but it is the focused nature trips that thrilled me. 


       I was fortunate that I had a trip planner/teacher colleague whose only job was these trips, with my academic, social and emotional prep of the class. And my husband, luckily, was always there except a few trips sailing when he had too much else going on. We usually had a couple of other adults connecting and helping us on the trips when we arrived. But the students were quite capable and did a lot, too. They took good care of themselves and each other, set up tents and cooked. Nothing daunted them. As I was, they were ready for adventure! There are so many places in the world I'd love to travel, and hopefully, I'll get to some of them in the next few years

    A few picks from Sonora on the Sea of Cortez:

one time to rest and smile!

 Journaling and sketching, preparing to enter the huge caldera. 

Eating lunch from a taco cart in one of the small towns we visited.

Such a discovery. This is a boojum tree, one of the
few that survive in the desert. Very Dr. Seuss, right?

One of the places we camped. You can see the Sea of Cortez in this one.

We rode in pangas across to Tiburon Island, a desert island that was the
original home of the Seri Indians. They were our special guides there.

And in the desert, many tarantulas. They are big, and not so scary as the
small scorpions we had to look for constantly. Aren't the rocks beautiful?

It was a wonderful trip, one I won't forget.