Revisiting Downtown Merced

Over the past several years, I have found my heart for art and culture nurtured in the Merced area. A few years ago, I attended Hamlet as produced by the Merced Shakes group. Over a year ago, the kids and I attended an Art Hop event. Last September, we headed out to Shakespeare in the Park to see Love's Labour's Lost. All of these have been fabulous experiences. The Art Hop was especially interesting for us, as we walked through Downtown Merced to check out different art pieces and then finished with dinner at Pinnochio's, as recommended to us.

I often read about interesting things happening through the Merced Multicultural Art Center (the MAC) but rarely do we get to take advantage of the offerings. Between schedule conflicts and the driving distance, it takes a lot to get us there. However, everything fell right into place for this week. The MAC is currently offering three one-week sessions of a Youth Art Camp. Each week has three sections per day. My daughter signed up for the morning Portraits class and my son signed up for the morning Comics class. I knew that once I dropped them off, my best option would be to stay local, so I asked about "coffee and WiFi" as I dropped them off the first day.

Turns out that within walking distance is a great place called Coffee Bandits. The coffee is delicious and they pride themselves in part on offering a place for creative souls to work and create. Perfect! I needed a place to write, work in my planner, and spend some time focused on important-to-me items while the two kids were up the street creating artistically.

The staff at Coffee Bandits is extremely pleasant and helpful. Each day I ordered a large cup of coffee, but tried something different for breakfast. The first day I had blueberry muffin. While it tasted good, I have had better. That told me to move on to something else. The next time in, I asked for some suggestion on what direction to go with my bagel. I listened, then settled on a jalapeno bagel with egg and pesto. It was absolutely delicious! I will make an effort to go back in the future if for no other reason than this delicious breakfast bagel! The third day I ordered food, I went with an "Everything" bagel, toasted with cream cheese. I wanted something simple. Let me say again, though, the coffee is outstanding.

According to their website, Coffee Bandits opened in 2011 offering local, organic, and healthy options, as well as offering a creative outlet "for energies in Merced." As we made the hour drive back to Merced for the last day of art camp this morning, the kids and I discussed some of the things we liked and still wanted to do. "I want to try Cinema Cafe," said CD. So, we have agreed that we will return and try even more Downtown Merced offerings in the future. I hope to catch a poetry night at Coffee Bandits, too.

As I walked through Downtown Merced this week, I felt the creative energy that fills it. Walking from the MAC to Coffee Bandits likely had a lot to do with that. We hope to return to see a movie sometime, as well. The historic theatres in downtown are enough to draw you in and the Art Hop events are held four times a year. If you need a place to feel your creative energy nurtured, you will surely find it in Downtown Merced.

Where do you go to get creative? And, why? Share your stories in the comments.

Want to check out Coffee Bandits for yourself? You can find them at 309 West Main Street in Merced. Learn more about them and check out their events calendar here.
Learn about Merced Shakespearefest's upcoming productions, including Songs of Illyria (Twelfth Night) on their website.
You can also see what's happening at the MAC, including the upcoming two weeks of Summer Youth Art Camp by clicking here.

The kids had a wonderful time at Art Camp this week and are now looking forward to showing off their work at an art show tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at The MAC.

Tips from an adventurous TeacherMom

Note: This particular post will appear here and on my education blog.

We are halfway through summer and our travels have only just started, but we are off on adventures and have discussed some ideas to make our experiences better, but also ideas to share with others in hopes we can help them enjoy their own adventures. These adventures may be family vacations, class field trips, or learning adventures. Heck, they may be all three rolled into one.

Combining my efforts

My grandfather would question my choices sometimes, but he eventually understood them generally and any time I could figure out a way to save some money, he would support it. The only one he never agreed with me on was my decision to rent a car on one of my trips to visit him. There was a trip where he supported my decision to rent a car, too, though. I travel to conferences and I travel with my children. It just makes good sense to have one help the other. I have joined rewards programs for Southwest Airlines (Rapid Rewards), Dollar Rental (Dollar Express), Days Inn (Wyndham Rewards), and my very favorite of all Hilton Honors. Every time I travel, I earn points, save money, save time, and find myself happier with the overall experience. Rapid Rewards with Southwest and Hilton Honors are the two I use most and have, as a result, benefited from most.

I only fly once or twice a year on average. but it adds up eventually. I have now twice used points to save on my airfare. I also appreciate the ease with which I can work with Southwest. When my grandfather died a few years ago, I had planned a trip to see him and instead that trip became a one-way trip to help my parents. Southwest was gracious and kind to work with in changing my travel plans. We worked everything out over the phone and there were no penalties. I can fly Southwest most anywhere I want to go or need to go and they do not charge for my checked bags. Their app is pretty fabulous too. As a tech-loving teacher, finding an app that works with relative ease is important too. I love that I can fly into Ontario Airport, rent a car, and drive to Palm Springs for the CUE National Conference. It saves me some money overall and the drive is beautiful. Side note: my two favorite airports to travel to and from right now are Sacramento and Ontario. Ontario is much easier to travel through than LAX.

I do stay in hotels several times a year. Last year, I stayed so much I earned my way to Gold status with Hilton Honors. This is a huge plus. This allows me to take advantage of additional perks here and there. Everything from little snacks to bonus rewards points to full breakfast. We have stayed at one hotel in particular so much that we have gotten to know people at the front desk, as well as some of the servers and managers in the restaurant. We treat them with respect and they always go above and beyond to make sure all of our needs are met. Because of that, we return to the same hotel whenever we need a place to stay in the San Francisco area. I have become better versed with how to shop for deals on rooms and I always book directly through Hilton, using my Hilton Honors information. If I don't find exactly what I am looking for on the website then I call the corporate number and if I still don't quite get what I am hoping, then I know I can call the hotel directly and often they are incredibly helpful.

By streamlining my preferred choice of air travel, rental cars, and hotels, with each trip, I am saving up toward future travel. This means my travel for conferences helps my adventures with the kids and vice versa. I view my traveling for conferences as an investment, but really, I am investing in several ways. One, the obvious, I am investing in future travel. Two, I am investing in myself as I continue to grow as an educator. I learn from others, collaborate with other educators, share some of what I know, and ultimately our students benefit. So, the third investment is the investment I make in my students and students elsewhere. Four, I see all of this as an investment in my own two children. We have started our #EdTechFamily podcast where we share ideas from a parent/teacher perspective as well as a child/student perspective. We grow together as lifelong learners.

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."

This is my approach both in my classroom and in my home. We are all on this learning journey together and the investments I make in our travels keep the learning going.

Get Outside

The perks of being a rewards member for airfare, car rental, and hotel stays are all nice. But there is so much more to see in the world. When we get outside, we learn so much! My children and I enjoy camping trips throughout the year, including at the NorCal Renaissance Faire in the late summer/erly fall. We also enjoy hiking. Sometimes I invite students and families to meet us on hikes and sometimes I record the hikes to take back into the classroom for different activities.

Hiking highlight of 2017

Last week, we added a new hike. We visited Point Reyes National Seashore. We stayed in a lovely little cottage about 15 minutes from the Bear Valley Visitors Center. My kids worked on adding another Junior Ranger badge to their collection and we enjoyed a short hike on the Earthquake Trail. This trail features information on earthquakes in general, the San Andreas Fault, and the 1906 earthquake. We saw where Point Reyes shifted about 20 feet as a result of the 1906 earthquake. The kids took turns reading the information posted around the trail. This trail offers just one of many hiking opportunities in Point Reyes. We returned to our cottage and enjoyed a light lunch outside before setting off on the next adventure.

This time, we left the car behind and walked a short distance to Chicken Ranch Beach. A nice trail leads from the road to the beach. We took off our shoes and enjoyed the sand between our toes, though this beach has some pretty rocky parts to it as well. Those rocky parts don't feel so nice on the bottoms of your feet. Still, we dipped our toes in the water, observed interesting shells and rocks, taking only photographs and leaving everything behind for others to discover. As we learned back at the visitor's center, Point Reyes has igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. We discovered a rock on the beach that had quartz and obsidian in it. When we finished on the beach, we made the return trip back up the trail to the road where we made observations of interesting growths such as lichen. When we returned to the cottage, we made a quick and easy dinner.

The cottages at Point Reyes offer a nice, relaxing place to stay. We enjoy cooking our own meals and appreciated having a kitchenette. Though it was a little more "bare bones" than we expected, we managed to make our meals and enjoy them just fine.

As we drove down Highway 1 toward Stinson Beach after departing, we had a chance to talk some and compare experiences. Here are the rankings (so far):
CD
1. Lassen
2. Pinnacles
3. Point Reyes
Miss Hollywood
1. Lassen
2. Point Reyes
3. Pinnacles
TeacherMom
1. Point Reyes
2. Lassen
3. Pinnacles
Though, all three of us could shuffle those rankings on any given day. I factored in the drive for mine which is the only reason Lassen ranks lower for me. I shuffled my list multiple times. The nice thing with all three of these adventures is that they all offer something unique while all having something in common that we three love: geology!

We will return to all three, but since we have already done two trips each to both Pinnacles and Lassen, we have set Point Reyes to the top of our list for next summer.

What's the tip here? Find something you like, find a place that offers it, and take that adventure. Also, never stop learning. Learn with your kids because it is fun. Learn for yourself because you can. Continue learning always! Take the trips and treat them as investments. Trust me, it is all worthwhile.

Whether you are hiking a new trail or watching a baseball game, get out there and make the investment.

Remember the words of Socrates, "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

America's pasttime: a local experience you are missing

I am constantly working on review ideas for this blog, but every so often one comes to me that is a "I need to write this now." While it has been nearly a year since my last post (where did the time go?), I find that my "write this right now" post takes us back to the ballgame. As you know, I love baseball and I always find myself on a quest for a great ballpark experience.

Last night, we had a family trip to John Thurman Field to support our local Minor League team: the Modesto Nuts. When we moved to the Central Valley in the mid-1990s, they were known as the Modesto A's as they were affiliated with the Oakland A's. They changed affiliation to the Colorado Rockies and became known as the Modesto Nuts. Peanut, the elephant, was replaced by Al and Wally (an almond and a walnut respectively) who were later joined by Shelly (a pistacio). This season brought about another change for our hometown team. They are now affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. As we watch Big League games with Colorado Rockies star Charlie Blackmon who once played in Modesto, we now have a new local affiliation. That's ok. They remain our hometown team.

Last night, they welcomed the San Jose Giants. You would think a game such as this would draw a crowd. Think again. As we arrived about a half an hour before the game, parking was a breeze. At first I was thankful.  Then I wondered if the game time had changed. We walked through the gate with ease and getting our food took almost no time. It became obvious that turnout was low, but only when we entered the stands did it become obvious how low. The entire left field side was near empty. In over 20 years of attending games at John Thurman Field, never had we seen such a low attendance. We have a mini-plan for the second year in a row and our seats are right along the third baseline.

The Sunday before Fourth of July probably means many people have left town, but it still seems more people should have turned out for this game. Where were you last night? You weren't at John Thurman Field and you missed a great night of baseball.

If you have never attended a minor league game, you should. It provides some of the best baseball you can find. If you have never attended a Modesto game, you definitely should. Why should you?

1. Parking costs just $6 and gets you right up to the ballpark. The parking staff is always courteous and helpful. (Sidenote: handicapped parking has no charge.)

2. You always get a program and it includes pages where you can keep score.

3. Ticket prices are very reasonable. Our miniplan is one of the most affordable investments in baseball I make each year and it guarantees we have tickets for some games each season. Extra bonus: if we have trouble making a game work, generally, we can exchange our tickets for a game more accommodating to our schedule. The miniplan includes tickets for five games.

4. The food! Menu items include standards such as hot dogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jack, but also chicken strips, pulled pork sandwiches, french fries, corn dogs, and so much more. They have ice cream and cotton candy. They have Slush Puppies, 7-Up and RC soda varieties, and a wide beer selection for the over 21 crowd.

5. See the next rising star or better. You never know when you may be watching the next Charlie Blackmon. You also have a shot at seeing a Major Leaguer on a rehab assignment. A few years ago we caught Pablo Sandoval on rehab in Stockton when the San Jose Giants came to town. Last night, Madison Bumgarner made a rehab start with the Sacramento Rivercats and on Wednesday he is scheduled to make a rehab start with San Jose. Mike Trout is making a rehab start this week with Inland Empire and in mid-June Hisashi Iwakuma made a rehab start with Modesto.

Tonight, I suspect the crowd will be much larger at John Thurman as they have their Independence Day fireworks show slated for after the game. If you have never been to a game, get out to one. If you go, but have missed a quiet Sunday afternoon game, try something new. Let's fill the stands, folks. Last night we cheered for both our hometown team and the minor league affiliate of our favorite MLB team both. We got great baseball, folks. Hits, catches, base running, and good pitching. Plus, you get an up close view of it all. The players are so much fun to watch as they interact with each other and with fans after the game.

One last bonus: The Modesto Nuts run a summer baseball camp. It moved from June to July this year, so it is coming up next week. It is so much fun for the kids! Speaking of the kids, if you make it to the end of the game, there may just be a chance for kids to run the bases. Another fun experience for them!

Take yourself out to the ballgame and cheer on our local team. Baseball is America's pasttime and we should preserve it. Apple pie, lemonade, baseball. Get out to a game. Fill the stands. And, go Nuts!