Not a country girl...

As you all probably know, I am not the most outdoorsy person in the world. Despite this, however, I went camping this weekend in Talkeetna. It was an absolutely fantastic group of people and the town was quite extraordinary. It is a very very small town - the downtown area is only two blocks long. And we camped in some grass on the side of the road right where the road ends at the end of downtown. I felt completely out of place since I don't camp and don't hike or do any of those outdoors activities.

Anyway, we went to this local bar on Saturday night and it was quite the experience - a bunch of drunk locals and crazy European climbers. We also hung out with some Germans (all the while I was thinking of Judy and Martin) who were bike riding as far south as they could get until their visas ran out or they ran out of money. Pretty crazy.

So the view of Denali (Mt. McKinley) was beautiful from Talkeetna. The weather was wonderful so we had a fantastic view of the mountains. I am trying to post pictures on flickr now, but I'm slightly technologically challenged. I'm still working on getting internet at the house (for some reason my laptop won't connect to the wireless network) so for now I am still only posting while at work.

Work is going well. I will do a hearing tomorrow by myself. It should be easy, but it will still be the first time I appear in court on my own as a (sort of) lawyer. I also will be calling kids and prepping them for arraignments that happen tomorrow afternoon.

I have noticed SO many differences in the delinquency system here compared to that in North Carolina. Just as an example, in NC when a judge orders that a child pay restitution, the amount is capped at $500 or $1000 (I forget which one, sorry Judge Fine). Here, there is no cap. So one of the attorneys was telling me about a case where a child was ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution. Luckily, the child's father's insurance companied paid it, but imagine if they hadn't. It blows my mind.

Like I said, I am trying to upload photos now and will try to get on the internet again when I get home. Miss you all.


Note to Sassy: Thanks for the comment and confidence booster. I love and miss you. :)