Let's see... I should start where I left off and work my way up to now. Sorry it's been so long. I have been busy (as you are about to see).
The trip to Natchitoches, LA was great! We left with plenty of time to enjoy the ride. It got a little tedious toward the end, but once we got there it was great.
Oh, we stopped along the way to have a break and some lunch. We ended up stopping in this place called Ruston, LA. I thought it was cool because apparently that is where the guys from Elephant 6 got their start, but there's more! It turns out that this little town is actually where my best friend was born!
Along the way, Greg would look up the towns that we were approaching and he would tell us all about the history of the place. He would also look up whether anyone famous was from there. It made for a very educational trip!
Finally arriving in Natchitoches, we checked in to the hotel and relaxed for a bit before heading to the downtown area to see what was there. Truthfully, it was a lot smaller than I remembered it, but it was still very pretty. We had hoped to have a cup of coffee and enjoy a relaxing moment before dinner, but as it turns out, very few places were open past 6:00. Hmph.
Dinner was excellent. We ate alligator and craw fish and fish covered in sauce. At the end of dinner we treated ourselves to some bread pudding. It was all very nice, and we ended up driving around a bit to see the town.
The next day, we finally got to have that coffee! We had a pretty view of the river that snakes around the downtown area, and then we headed to the Craw Fish Hole for an early lunch.
YUMMMMMMMM!!!! It was the greatest craw fish po-boy of all time.
After lunch, we headed to the Oakland Plantation. It really was beautiful. We went on a guided tour, and Greg and I both were a little surprised at how little they talked about slavery. Seriously, it was weird.
The plan was to eat meat pies for dinner before hitting the road, but the place we wanted to go to was only open for lunch. That was a little disappointing, but we ended up finding them at another restaurant, and they were pretty good.
Homeward through Shreveport, we stopped to pick up a gift for AMy who was watching the animals for us. We got her some Louisiana beer, and then we ended up in a traffic jam. Oh well.
It was a good trip, and it was just what I needed to be able to say that I had taken a break during Spring Break.
Sadly, Thursday and Friday saw me back in front of a pile of papers which is where I have been since. I was able to hand back lots of graded stuff on Monday, and I will be handing back more graded stuff on Wednesday. I keep reminding myself that this is a rare load of work, and if I can just get through what I have, I won't have this coming in again for at least 7 more weeks!
The one highlight over the break that I did not expect was a surprise trip from Sarah and Brian. They came into town for a late dinner, and they ended up crashing with us before they left very early in the morning. I was so happy to see them, and I hope they can come back soon.
Today, I am already at it. I worked on JSCC stuff for a bit of the morning. Now I am going to start prepping for the rest of what I am teaching this week. I am really happy to be covering Lit I really like, but it is also Lit that I need to teach a little bit harder just because it is very dense.
Drop date is Friday, and I have already lost one that I was pretty sure wasn't going to pass. There are a few more that I hope will try it again next semester. Our goal is to encourage retention, but there is very little I can do for a student who hasn't turned in work all semester. It's tough to see them making mistakes that they don't understand yet, but I also think that if they can learn the lesson, then it ends up being a lesson they don't forget. That's how it had to work for me. I hope it works for them.
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