Purple Mountains Majesty

We made it back to Memphis this afternoon safe and sound. The heat and humidity welcomed us back as soon as we stepped off the plane. Most of us slept during the trip back to Memphis as we were exhausted after 3 days of ISTE and our amazing trip up to the top of a mountain range near Estes Park, CO.

Tim drove us as we were determined to reach the summit. Up, up, up we went, wide eyed and amazed at every turn. Our first stop was well above the quaint streets of Estes Park to get a closer look at a beautiful mountain stream. As Nancy, Tim, Heather and Tamika soon found out, the water was freezing. I decided to stay and take pics, which I did, but was almost carried off back down the mountain by mosquitoes big enough to make our Mid-South mosquitoes look like wimps.

The views were more amazing around every turn. We were all in awe of the beauty and majesty that surrounded us.

Every stop we made, was noticeably colder. The temp. in Denver when we left was a comfortable 84 degrees, at the top (12,184 ft), the outdoor temp was a very very cool 53 ! on June 30 and of course, we were dressed for typical June temps.

Standing 6 ft. from an elk grazing in a mountain meadow, and watching a moose near the Colorado River, playing in the snow in June, standing on the Continental Divide, I just don't have words to describe.

The trip back down the mountain was just as adventuresome. It's getting dark, we are starving, the van is low on gas, and guess what, our map ran out! Heather was a great navigator even when the map ran out. Thanks to the nice lady at Betty's Home Cooking, (I don't know if it was Betty or not) we were able to get gas for the van, have a nice meal and get directions for getting back to Denver. OK, to put our location in perspective, the waitress told us the nearest Wal-Mart was 100 miles in any direction!

We finally returned to our apartments around midnight exhausted but certain we had just enjoyed the most humbling yet fulfilling experience ever.

How to pack 3 days into 1 - Our last day at ISTE 2010

Our time in Denver is quickly coming to an end. The conference was amazing and we are filled with wonderful ideas to implement in our district.

Our morning started out really early as our first sessions began at 8am. That meant up and out, leaving our apartment by 7:30 to beat the morning rush hour traffic on the train.

My first session was about creating a Personal Learning Network. The speaker, a professor from Minot ND provided lots of great ideas and insight for developing your PLN. He provided several links that I was not aware of but will definitely be checking out once I get home.

I also attended a SMART presentation about utilizing interactive white boards in secondary science classes. The young lady taught in a small school in Minnesota and used every aspect of SMART technologies in her Chemistry, Physics, Forensics classes.

We met so many wonderful people, received outstanding instruction and saw so much amazing educational technology. I can hardly wait until next year. ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia is already in my calendar!

The conference ended at 2:30 and we headed out to take in more of the sights. What an adventure! More about this later as we have to leave for the airport so I'd better get packing.

Check out my video of the SMART Technologies booth! These guys are amazing.

ISTE 2010

Educational Technology is alive and well in Denver, Colorado! This has been the most amazing 2 days. To see what teachers and students are doing not only across our great country but the world makes me proud to be an educator.
Blogs, wikis, podcasts, vodcasts, social networks, digital textbooks and of course interactive white boards (SMARTBoard) seem to be the topics on everyones mind. I met a group of young ladies today from Centro Escolar Yaocalli a Mexican School just for girls that has been teaching in English for several years "Gastronomy Arts". Their project was a presentation of a gastronomic podcast made by the students, which focused on Mexican Fusion cuisine in order to demonstrate how their local food could be fused with ingredients from other countries.
Tonight we ate at Denver's Original Steakhouse, Buckhorn Exchange. It is a National Historic Landmark restaurant and Western museum near downtown Denver. I had Buffalo for dinner! Had to pass on the Ostrich and Yak though.
We are all exhausted and our brains are filled with so much information that we may not rest for weeks. Tomorrow is the final day of ISTE 2010 and we can't wait to get home and share everything with you.