Function Words

I've only put 9600 miles on her in a year. I still love driving slow to maximize my mileage. I think I probably irritate the other drivers with all my coasting. I love being able to go 600 miles between fill-ups. I've found that I get gas about every 3 weeks now. With my Neon it was once a week. My tolerance for stop and go freeway driving has increased too because whenever I am stopped, Rhonda turns off so I don't burn any fuel--no pollution, little cost.
I did get the stickers for driving in the carpool lane but I haven't put them on yet for two reasons. 1-people in the carpool lane like to drive fast and I would probably be a self-righteous obstacle. 2-those huge yellow and black stickers would deface my beautiful car. There has only been one occasion when I wished that I could go in the carpool lane because I was in a hurry and the other lanes were gridlocked. One time isn't enough incentive to disfigure my pretty car. Someone suggested that I could probably sell the stickers on e-bay. I don't think I will but it is an interesting thought.

My baby is pregnant and I hiked 10k on the Great Wall.

On Monday when I returned from China I got a call from my beautiful daughter who said that she figured out that the reason she has been feeling so crappy for the last couple weeks is that she is pregnant. I'm going to be a grandma! Fantastic!
Now I wish I had bought the adorable mandarin hats that they were selling for children at the Summer Palace. Ah well, there's plenty of time to find cute baby stuff. I had been jealous of people who were doting on their grandchildren. Now I can be one of them.

Meanwhile during our weekend in Beijing we arranged with a taxi driver to take us to one of the access points to the Great Wall near Beijing called JinShanLing (it's about a 2 hour drive into the countryside). The driver left us there and then drove to the nearby access point at Simitai. We walked along the Wall for 10 kilometers from JinShanLing to Simitai and then found our taxi driver and returned to Beijing. What a neat thing to do. It took us about 3-1/2 hours to hike the 10 kilometers along the Wall. It is a great experience to be hiking on this impressive structure. As you hike you can see it wending its way along the mountain ridges in both directions. On parts of the hike the Wall was fairly intact and in other places it had crumbled away so we had to scramble using our hands. It was just great! The hike itself was not that difficult. There are lots of steps and hills because it is following the contours of the mountain ridges. It was an exhilarating experience. I never thought I would be able to hike on the Great Wall of China.

I need to make the most of my almost-5 days in Beijing.
I plan to see the famous things like Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
I want to eat Peking Duck and see the famous tombs and temples.
But the thing I am looking forward to the most is the Great Wall.
There are at least 4 segments of the Great Wall that are near Beijing. I have decided that I want to go to Jinshanling and then walk 10k on the the wall to Simatai. It seems like the perfect China experience for me. Walk along the ancient wall. I've seem many pictures of it with stretching off into the distance with towers every so often.
I'm told that the landscape is fairly wild and beautiful. I hope that the trees are beginning to leaf out. It should be a very fun hike.