Carlsbad, a set on Flickr.
These are the photos taken at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, take it! It’s awe-inspiring!
Month: June 2013
ISTE…THAT just happened!
So yeah…about those daily postings/videos. That didn’t happen…but ISTE did!
I’m writing this post from our little hotel in Whites City, NM at what I believe is 7:00 AM. I have a feeling that I am going to be constantly confused as to what time zone I’m in, and I’m trusting my phone to adjust accordingly (which probably isn’t the best choice, but whatever!). For future reference, if anyone is planning a trip to visit Carlsbad Caverns, book your room in Carlsbad far in advance. Otherwise, be prepared to find yourself at the Whites City Rodeway Inn, with a questionable grocery and far more questionable buffett as your only dining options for 20+ miles.
But what happened in those missing days between my last post and now? ISTE happened! And it was awesome! You can see the post below for all of the photos on the SIGMS Flickr set.
Alaina and I did this video on Saturday as we made our initial journey to San Antonio, but it never went public:
On Sunday, Alaina and I went to the Alamo. And it looked like I expected the Alamo to look.
We also made the most of our time visiting with my dear friend Matthew Winner and his wonderful wife Aimee!
I was SO excited to meet Sherry Gick (@LibraryFanatic):
And I got to see my awesome friends accept their SIGMS Technology Innovation Awards at the Opening Ceremony! Matthew, Sherry, and Gretchen were the primary award winners, and my fellow Louisiana librarian Elizabeth Kahn and her collaborating teacher won the secondary award!
  
The SIG Open House was loads of fun:
  
The SIGMS Playground on Monday morning was HUGELY successful! You can find the links shared here on the wiki.
We had other great SIGMS events, including the Forum and Annual Breakfast & Keynote. It was such a great conference with amazing SIGMS events. I am so thrilled to be the new SIGMS President and work with an organization that supports the work that school librarians do in their schools with technology!
Our last night at the conference was Tuesday (although we had the SIGMS Breakfast the next morning), and Alaina and I had a BLAST at Ed Tech Karaoke with our new AMAZING friends Rose Luna and Margaux DelGuidice. It’s so great when you meet kindred spirits, and that’s exactly what Alaina and I felt with Rose and Margaux! They’re friends, collaborators, and travel buddies just like us!
We are off to see Carlsbad Caverns, then Roswell, then Albuquerque. Yes, that’s the agenda for TODAY! And we’re off…
ISTE13 SIGMS Photos
ISTE13, a set by ISTE SIGMS on Flickr.
These photos were taken by me of SIGMS events at ISTE13!
Let the ISTE Adventures Begin!
Tomorrow morning, I’m headed to San Antonio for ISTE13! I’m so excited that I can hardly stand it!! Not only will I be attending my fourth awesome ISTE conference, but it’s the first stop in an epic roadtrip for me and my BFF Alaina!
There’s so much to look forward to at ISTE, including some incredible SIGMS events! There’s a SIGMS event every day of the conference, which I love because the chance to be with my library friends and meet new ones is the best!
I’m particularly excited about the SIGMS Playground, which I’m coordinating this year. We have some amazing volunteers that will be presenting their favorite resources at the Digital Age Media Center Playground…so if you’re at the conference, please stop by on Monday morning from 8-11:30.
Check out the wiki for details on the presenters and links to their resources!
Here’s a complete list of SIGMS events:
SIGMS Open House (Sunday, June 23rd, 3PM-5PM)
SIGMS Playground (Monday, June 24th, 8AM-11:30AM)Â SACC Park View Lobby
SIGMS Reception (Monday, June 24th, 5PM-7PM) at Hard Rock Cafe
SIGMS Forum (Tuesday, June 25th, 3:45PM-5:15PM) with Shannon Miller, Michelle Luhtala, and their administrators. Moderated by Gwyneth Jones & Tiffany Whitehead.
SIGMS Annual Breakfast & Keynote (Wednesday, June 26th, 8AM-9:30AM)Â with John T. Spencer.
If you’re attending ISTE, please say HI if you see me! The best part of a conference for me is the chance to meet and expand my PLN!
I have a really awesome principal, and I wanted him to come to ISTE this year to present on the SIGMS Librarians & Admins Forum panel. Alas, he couldn’t make plans to attend because he’s becoming a daddy (congrats and YAY to Mr. Fountain and his beautiful wife)!! So Alaina and I had the brilliant idea to create a Flat Fountain (you know…like Flat Stanley) to come along on our ISTE and epic roadtrip adventures. I’ve started a Flickr Photo Set that you can check out…it’s where I’ll upload the Flat Fountain photos (I’m sure there will be lots)!
***Readers beware: Over the next two weeks, I plan to post daily (hopefully!!) videos to share what happens with ISTE and beyond as Alaina and I travel WEST! Some of these videos will not be library or tech related, so you have been warned! 
Road tripping it? Try Roadtrippers!
It’s summer and nothing screams summertime like a good old fashioned road trip!
My BFF Alaina and I had such a great trip last summer when we attended ISTE12 and explored San Diego and San Francisco around the conference time.
So of course we immediately started planning our adventures for ISTE13. San Antonio is within driving distance from Baton Rouge, so the idea of a road trip was easy! Alaina loves a good road trip novel more than anything, and I grew up spending 2-3 weeks every summer on the road with my grandparents in their RV (and they gave me the travel bug at a young age!).
We had a period of feeling extremely overwhelmed as we started to plan our travels. This is a serious (and seriously long) trip that we’re planning! I was so excited when I discovered this AMAZING site called Roadtrippers!
Using Roadtrippers, you can easily map out your route (easier than what I was trying to do with Google Maps). You can insert all of your stops, hotels, addresses of friends/family, and must see attractions. That alone would have made me happy! But then I discovered all of the awesome places they already have tagged.
It’s so easy to search for places to see along the way, including attractions, accommodations, entertainment, food & drink, history, nature, shopping, and sports. Within each of those categories, you can check the options that you’re interested in. Diners & drive-ins and local dining options? Don’t mind if I do! You can add these suggestions to your trips or pin them to a “Bucket List” so you can easily access them later. By spending time with Roadtrippers, I’m becoming more familiar with our route and travel options, while seeing what kind of fun and exciting pit stops we can add to our list!
I’m doing the bulk of my planning on the site, but of course Roadtrippers has an AWESOME app! I’ve downloaded it on the iPhone and iPad so I’ll have options to easily access the things I’ve saved and tagged as we travel.
 
 
I’ve been playing around with the app and it’s going to be such an asset on our major road trip. I’ve tried it out around town as well as on a mini-road trip to the beach…and it lead us to an awesome little restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives! Score!!
I can’t wait to share the adventures that Alaina and I have on our big road trip! Of course, I’ll be sharing things here, so don’t be alarmed if this blog goes in that direction for a little bit.
Along the way we plan to hit up: San Antonio & ISTE13, Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon (including a rafting adventure!), Las Vegas, Lake Mead/Hoover Dam, Denver, Topeka, Memphis…wow that’s quite a list, isn’t it?
Having a stay-cation kind of summer? Read an awesome road trip book! Here are a few of my favorites!
  
  
 
  
  ![WalkTwoMoons[1]](http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/WalkTwoMoons1.jpg)
What are your favorite road trip books? And more importantly, what songs should we add to our road trip playlist??