Back from Mt. Mitchell Continued

More on the West Virginia State Hiking Program, which I discussed in my last post. I have found a state forest, Coopers Rock State Forest, near Morgantown, which is the same distance plus or minus a few miles as Tomlinson Run. They also have a small campground. This is the next place I plan to check out for a hike in order to log some miles for the hiking program. This state forest is on the Cheat River. The Cheat River eventually flows into the Monongahela River, which is the major river where I live. The Monongahela gets a lot of its water from the Cheat River. It gets quite a bit more water from the Youghiogheny. A good percentage of my walking and hiking is done on the Youghiogheny Trail. The Yough flows into the Mon at McKeesport, a city near where I live. This is what gives the Mon River its large volume to join with the Allegheny at Pittsburgh and form the Ohio. Of course the Ohio flows into the Mississippi. So this traces where some of the water originally comes from to make the Mississippi such a mighty river.

But back to everything that has happened since I returned. Friday night, I attended the Dean's List Reception for CCAC. It was a huge event and took place in a large ballroom at the convention center. Apparently some 50 students from the program I used to work for made the Dean's List. A small percentage of them attended, given that it's summer, people are away or working, etc. I had never been to a Dean's List reception before, and I had a wonderful time. I sat with Jamar and Ron and his partner, two of the students from programs I'd worked for at CCAC. I saw some of the other students from the programs, including Felicia. I set up an appointment to see Felicia for my math tutoring. When they called my name to receive my award, I got to shake hands with the new college president, Alex Johnson. He had formerly been the president of the New Orleans community college system and had seen them through Hurricane Katrina. I received a CCAC Dean's List pin and a pen and pencil holder.

After the program, there was a delicious snack, although not everyone agreed. They had prepared tables of all kinds of veggies, dips, and salsa. I really pigged out. I had a lot of raw veggies, then I had several servings of chips with tomato basil and Mexican salsa fresca. I heard many comments from people who don't eat vegetables, only eat meat, and went straight to the dessert table. Well, I guess my work is cut out for me as a future exercise physiologist and health psychologist! I'm going into fields that are greatly needed in this country!

I decided to wander around the convention center and check it out. It was very impressive. I ended up out on the balcony and watched the sunset over the Allegheny River, PNC Park (during a ballgame), and the trails across the river. I also saw some boats and trains, including one of the Gateway Clipper boats. It was a very beautiful, peaceful scene. After that, I checked out the bottom level of the convention center. There is a long, winding sidewalk down to the river underneath the convention center with pools of water on each side. You then come down to a platform right on the Allegheny River. There was a very strange and wild party going on. The party consisted entirely of men wearing various red dresses and their children. The children were also dressed entirely in red. I never figured out what group this was!

Well, anyway, I have much more to tell since I've been back, so I will have to continue for several more posts!