Livin' in Ashland

So...
Living in Ashland has been interesting in some ways and really great in others. I'll start with the interesting.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room on a Sunday evening around 10:30 when I heard a really loud BANG. It freaked me out so bad that I almost fell off the couch. About 30 seconds later another BANG, this one not quite as loud. Because I had my curtains open and my windows face right into the street, I jumped up and turned off my lights and peeked out the window. I could hear a big group of people talking just below me, one building over, but I couldn't see them. Not 3 minutes later 2 cop cars come flying down the street and park in the middle of the road. One cop gets out and yells, "Show me your hands!! Show me your hands!!", to the whole group. Then he says, "which way did he go?" and the group gave a description of a man and pointed in another direction. It was interesting to watch, but I didn't think a ton of it. I was telling my co-workers about it and joked that there was a shooting under my window. They all laughed and said shootings don't happen here. Well, the next day in the paper, there was a story about a 17-year-old who fired 2 shots at a group of people right on my street. Crazy! I guess I live in a rough neighborhood! Gotta be careful!

Other than that, Ashland has been nice. It is so great to be close to home (3 hours, which is much closer than Alaska) and to Duluth, where I went to school. I have been home a few times already and have been to Duluth three times! It has been so wonderful to catch up with friends.
A few weekends ago, my college roomates and I got together for our first "Christmas in July" party. We camped at a friends cabin and caught up on all the excitement in everyone's lives. Then two weekends later I had another girls weekend. This time with my teaching girls from college. We met in Duluth, caught up and went on some great hikes.

This past week, I went to New Counselor's Institute in Ripon, Wisconsin. It is like a 3 day conference for new admission counselors. It was really fun! I met some great people and am much more excited to hit the road this fall now that I know people who will be at the college fairs. Tomorrow we have a staff retreat with everyone from our office. This is when we will learn where we are going to be traveling to and we can start planning out the fall. Yeah!!!

I also got to go camping this weekend and checked out some great beaches along the way. It was a blast. I think I can get used to this "living in the lower 48 thing" again!