Cory in Oregon

The rest of summer 2011, Recovery

2011-08-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

It is amazing to be able to celebrate small milestones. 6 weeks ago today I had open heart surgery. That alone is incredible, but I will try and go through my feelings week by week.

Week 1: As I was in the hospital, and leaving I have these thoughts about the pain. Try to imagine you can't quite stand up straight, and you can only control your arms from the elbow down. Even then, you have no gripping strength, except maybe an eating utensil or a water bottle. I remember lots of spasms due to any muscle use, and would get hot and cold without warning. Mostly though, it was a lot of sleeping.

Week 2: As I stayed at the Schwartz's place, I think the biggest change was a little more energy, but the pain was different. I had the ability to move around more, and I could move my arms away from my body a little. I still couldn't lift anything. The first time I tried to pour myself a glass of milk, I remember terror running through my brain that I would 1) drop the milk, have it pour out and slip, or 2) pull on the chest muscles enough that it hurt my incision. At this point, I could only close doors from the front, not to the side at all. I couldn't open a bag of chips, any jars, and I could barely touch the top of my head.

One of the biggest indicators of feeling better was how well I could move to dry myself after a shower. The first shower after the hospital, I realized I had no way to dry off my back. It was a difficult task, and I don't remember how I accomplished it. I could not pick my arms up in a jumping jack motion, but I could bring them up in front of my body and dry my hair off. If I pushed too hard, pain would shoot through my pectorals and shoulders.

The other big pain at this time, was trying to sit up. I could only lay flat on my back. I could not sit straight up, as my abs were not strong enough, and my head was too strong for my neck and chest muscles to support like that. I would have to hug my heart pillow, roll to my side, and then push with my shoulder and side to right my self. The pain around my neck was fairly common. Trying to teach those muscles to respond to lift my head, made me feel like a newborn for a bit.

I also couldn't turn my head at all. If I was sitting in a chair with my back to the door, I could hear it open, but would have to wait for people to walk past my eyes for me to see them. I also did not have great lung capacity. I couldn't laugh loudly, and couldn't talk for too long. I improved daily on it, but it would hurt my rib cage to cough or laugh. The first time I sneezed, I was so worried about the pain, I was able to control the next one coming.

Week 3: This is when I returned to my apartment. I could walk more, and feel okay. A mile was pushing it and I would be sweaty and winded after wards. I slept on my couch and watched movies mostly, but I still had visitors almost everyday. Pain was mostly in my pecs, and my neck felt better. I was able to start laying on my side and get straight up instead of rolling. I still used my heart pillow constantly.

Week 4: This was the week, that I was truly bored. I really didn't have the energy to go for too long of walks, and I didn't have a project to keep me busy. I would get light headed after meals and exercise, but I could walk about a mile and a half. I couldn't stretch out my arms completely, and I couldn't pull them behind my body at all. Toward the end of the week I was finally able to lift them along the side of my body to my head, without much pain. I was cleared to drive this week as my neck muscle motion was much improved. I also picked up my guitar again!

Week 5: I finally started Physical Therapy and was able to raise my heart rate up enough to break a sweat. I had almost full mobility of my arms, but after using them, I would be sore at the sternum and need a nap. I was finally able to take really deep breaths without hurting here. Finally able to carry my own (limited amount) of groceries.

Week 6: This week I feel amazing. I have tremendous energy. I have thrown a frisbee, danced at a concert, and done physical therapy. I also vacuumed and moved my couches by myself. I also started chopping veggies, and cooking for myself again. Yesterday at Physical therapy I walked, biked, arm-biked and nu-stepped (a sitting eliptical) for 40 minutes with a pretty good heart rate. I get to start weights on Friday, and usually they don't start weights until week 8! I may even get to jog on Friday. I still take naps, and the only soreness I get is if I use a new muscle and it will hurt for about half a day. I think I will be all ready to go when the school year comes. It will be week 8 when I finally start. Usually Cardio rehab programs last months, but the nurses think I may be able to go to my regular gym by week 9. I will have to be careful about bench press and butterflies. Really I shouldn't do those lifts for a few more months.

My heart surgery- July 5-July 12

2011-07-30T11:09:00.001-07:00

On July 5th, I woke up late thinking I had a lazy day. I got a phone call from St. Vincent's hospital in Portland about 10am. They asked me if I could come in to visit my surgeon and get some tests done before my surgery on Thursday. I was a little shocked and told them I could be there in about an hour and a half. I then called my folks, who thought my surgery would be the next Monday, to update them. They made arrangements to leave early Wednesday morning to get to Portland.
I drove to Portland and met my surgeon-Harkness Storm Floten. He goes by Storm. He is a tall gentlemen with an air of confidence about him and a slight southern accent. I immediately was comfortable, but could tell that his speech was memorized and the script is not deviated from. There was also a PA in the room that asked me more questions. I thought I might leave, but then they gave me a map of the facility and 6 other tasks to take care of. I went down to the radiology department for an x-ray and then was sent to Pre-op for some information session. I then was sent to the Operating center for blood work, and more information of dos and don'ts as well as what to expect from recovery. As I was in the hospital, McMinnville called and asked if I couldn't come down and get some blood work done for my angiogram the next morning. I told them that I would be there by 5. I left St. Vincents about 3:30, and hadn't eaten all day. I was a little in shock from all the information that I wasn't ready for. I drove to the hospital in McMinnville and was told they can take the blood test results from Portland. They gave me instructions on how to prep for the angiogram. Basically, they took a tube full of radioactive dye, stick it into a main artery by my groin, and push it up to my heart and inject the dye. Then a machine reads the dye and shows a complete structure of my veins and arteries. Oh, the fun!

I then called some friends and was able to go out to a local pub to eat and have distracting conversations.

The next morning, my friend Pam drove me to the hospital around 7am. They shaved my groin area and gave me an IV drip. I remember them smoothly covering me with blankets and ripping off my gown as I was going under. It was quite the talent. I then remember them telling me that it would be warm as they injected it and I certainly felt that. I also remember them pulling out the tube. I then had to lay flat for 4 hours as my artery healed and they made sure my incision was safe. I was released but not allowed to drive that day. I was taken back home, and packed a small day pack. I was to drive to Portland to meet my parents and stay at my friend Talia's parents house for the night before my surgery.

My friend Ryan came over and helped me pack and move around, my right leg was sore and I was limping. I needed my car in Portland so Pam had to pick up another friend and Joe drove me in my car to P-town. We arrived at the house almost the exact same time as my parents. The house was a huge home with a pool, hot tub, a theater room and other amenities. I still was hobbling, but Mom, Pam and Joe went through the house enjoying the novelty. Talia came by and we took her out to dinner. My friend Daniel joined us as well. Great friends, family and laughter was present to celebrate my last day without a mechanical valve.

The next morning I went to the hospital with Mom and Dad and was taken into a room quickly. I changed into my gown, was shaved from my neck to my toes, but only the inside of my legs. I then had to shower with super antibiotic soap. I came back, took a pill and the anesthesiologist came in. I don't remember anything else. Mom has since told me that they put in my IV's and Mom and Dad walked me to the OR door. We squeezed hands and shared "I love you"s before I passed through the door. I of course remember nothing of about the next 36 hours, save a few painful moments. My heart was put on bypass for about 2 hours as they operated and I was then again pumping my own blood. Immediately after the surgery, my young heart was challenging the new valve.

I was told that it was normal, but my ventricle was trying to beat independently of the rest of my heart. It was used to such efficiency.

I was in the Cardiac Rehab Unit (CRU) until Saturday afternoon. I had two tubes from my abdomen, as thick as my thumb, draining fluid and a catheder. I had an IV in my left arm, one in my right hand, and a tube in the right side of my throat that connect very near my heart. They were able to administer drugs through that tube. I also had tubes in my heart and for a while, they thought that it was creating the problem with my heart, but when they took the tubes out, I was still having some electrical problems. I don't remember much. I remember the dark room, the sound of the waterbath bubbling with the tubes attached. I remember trying to eat my first few meals, and I remember a couple of the nurses. I also remember having a morphine button that I would push when I would wake up, and then I assume I would just go back to sleep.

I finally got all of the tubes pulled. I remember the pain of all the tubes being removed. Very interesting feeling of them pulling so many long items out of your body. I then was put in a holding room before making my way up to the recovery room. My friend Neil visited as I was in the holding room. You would have to ask him what we talked about but I do know he gave me a dinosaur balloon!

I was in room 601 West side from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday Afternoon. I remember my nurses making me feel comfortable, my great visitors, and my parents being there everyday. I don't remember much else. Oh, I guess there was pain too. Upon release, my parents knew that I was not able to take of myself. I was invited a month earlier to go to a house out in the country to recover. A family of a former student had a extra "apartment" in their garage. It had a large living room with tv, couches and recliner.

It had a bathroom and a bedroom as well. The family was amazing. They let me have as many visitors as I wanted. They took care of my pills, made sure I was walking and showed me love for a week. I stayed with them from July 12-July 20th. I don't think I will ever be able to pay back the Schwartz family. Thank you.

Here is the scar 3 weeks after surgery. Check out how high I can raise those arms!?

Gabe and John's Wedding- West side of the State

2011-07-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

The party left the farm on Wednesday and drove toward Whitefish/Kalispell. Each car going took supplies as well as friends who flew in. My ride consisted of great conversation and radio karaoke to the best of our abilities. I dropped off my riders and met with my extended family at my brother Scott's house. There was a celebration of milestone birthdays, anniversaries, and engagements. We then were treated to a fabulous dinner in Jamaican style chicken and goat. It was great.

That evening, it was decided that there would be a bachelorette party and a make-shift bachelor party. Most of the family and friends were staying at the Haymoon Lodge and resort. Both groups found themselves in Whitefish eventually, dancing to bar music and sharing stories over drinks. I found myself staying out with my cousins and sibling as the last car. We shared more stories and it was great just to be together as family. We got in late, but were ready to attack the tasks facing us in the day ahead.

We woke up Thursday and tents were delivered to be set up. There were flowers to be arranged and tables and chairs put in place for the rehearsal dinner. I was also assigned the task of practicing music for the service. My sister-in-law Kirsten, did an amazing job arranging and organizing music. We practiced for multiple hours, and it was fun playing with others for a change. In the mid-afternoon, we held the rehearsal just in the resort under the tents, and were able to move through it with limited interuptions.

Afterwards there was some fribee, croquet, and bocce ball that was played before the food arrived for the dinner. We were treated to great tex-mex and home brew provided by my father and brother. After the dinner, my sister and her groom asked if I would M.C. the toasts and stories/speeches. I happily agreed. I was able to tell stories, hand the mic over to others and even auctioned off a hat from Two Dot in the middle where the proceeds went to the happy couple. I was complimented on my auctioneering skills, although I don't know if I had ever done an auction before.

As we wrapped up the festivities, people found their way to the hot tubs, firepit and a few still tried to eek out the ends of croquet with the waning sunlight. Eventually the hot tub was cleared out, and the fire was put down as we knew we had another night of festivities after the wedding.

The day of the wedding, everyone was treated to a fabulous pancake breakfast provided by John's grandparents. All the visitors were invited to attend, and upon clean up, all the visitors helped set up for the reception. The tables and chairs from the night before were brought out of the pavillion and placed under tents. The table cloths were put out with a little help from an MIT grad engineer, who was able to teach a few a folding pattern that allowed for the white to not drag on the ground. The napkins needed to be folded and the party favors set out. A group of us found that our skill was more needed in moving picnic tables from around the resort.
Once that was finished, everyone went to their own ways and prepared for the wedding. I drove to the wedding with my parents and the bride and groom. We got into the park, and I always feel a sense of belonging at Glacier. I knew that I would only be there a short time, but wanted to soak up as much of the mountain air as I could.

We parked and prepared the amphitheater for the service as my sister and John had their photos taken. I was able to run through the music one last time and then the crowd came. John had written most of the service and it was great. Most people laughed and cried, and you can't ask much more from a wedding. Afterwards, some people chose to take a dip in the ice fed lake, and others skipped rocks and took a slow drive back to the resort.

We stopped to take a few photos and were able to make it back in time for the food to be delivered. The dinner was great. A veggie lasagna was the highlight for me, but I remember all the food was great. For dessert, my cousin who is a pastry chef, made 18 pies. Three types: rosemary infused honey apple, raspberry peach and mixed berry. They were amazing!

The reception also had a live bluegrass band. My family loves string music and the dance floor was well used by the end of the night. I loved it. I tried to dust off all of my jitterbug (western style) moves that I could come-up with from high school days, and was able to dance with the girls from the east coast effectively.

As the music was ending, some of the guests brought out sparklers and lit them on the dance floor. After some panicked screaming and quickly shuffling the party outdoors, we were able to have all of the crowd with at least one sparkler greet the bride and groom. It was awesome.

After the dancing ended, it was another night of hot tubs and fires. Everyone had a great time and the festive spirit died hard. The latest to bed were around 4:30am and we had to check out of the resort by 10:00am the next morning.
The next morning most people went to the park for a hike. I drove friends to the airport and took care of some loose ends for the wedding. I was able to return to the resort and eat dinner with most of my mother's siblings. It was a great time to chat about the future with them. I then went back to the resort, play a board game, said my goodbyes and headed for my brother's house. I left at noon the next day after saying goodbye to my immediate family and drove back to Oregon. This would be the extent of my travels this summer as I had to get back to prepare for a different type of big adventure.

The picture below is one of my favorites. It is of most of my aunts on my mother's side of the family. I feel like the smiles tell a lot about how the weekend went.

Summer 2011 -Gabe and John's gathering- Farm style

2011-07-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

I flew in from LA late on the 22 and decided to take off for Montana the next day. I did laundry in the morning and was out of the door by 11:00am. I drove my Honda with the hopes of getting to the farm in a straight shot. I enjoyed the drive through the gorge, but when I hit Spokane, I hit rush hour and construction. It took me an hour to get through the city. I stopped in Coeur 'd Alene for some Thai food and kept driving. I decided at the Montana border, that I probably didn't want to get home at 2am, so I called my cousin and was able to stay on Nate's couch. It was nice to catch up with him, as I hadn't seen him for 2 summers, and it was a brief visit then.
I woke up early the next morning, said farewell to the cuz, and then took off for the farm. I was greeted by Dad, John and Gabe. We talked for a little while and then tried to get some work done. I grabbed a weed eater to help beautify the yard. That afternoon, we drove to my uncle's farm and met up with some aunts and uncles and a few cousins. We walked out to the reservoir which was full due to the spring rains, and left the yard after a short visit.
The next day, my cousin Dylan came over and John, Gabe, Dylan and I mowed and beautified the entire yard.

That day, more family came by for visiting and laughter.
John and I on Saturday were on a mission to go to Great Falls to pick up pants for me, 3 friends from the airport, get me a haircut and get some printing done. We were able to pick up the pants for $4 at a thrift store quickly and we were sure something else would go wrong, for how right that turned out. The next task was trying to find a barber open in Great falls on a Saturday. We searched with my phone and drove by 5 places that were all closed. Finally we found one near a grocery store that was open. John was able to do some grocery shopping as I got my hair cut by a surly old man who swore about his granddaughter and schools. Very interesting. We were set up nicely to go pick up the friends from the airport(from Baltimore and Atlanta), and were able to take them to the sip and dip, dinner at McKenzie River Pizza and a view of the Great Falls flowing full force before we took off for the Fort Benton celebration.
We pulled into Fort Benton and found Gabe quickly. I had friends from high school there and was able to meet up with many old friends. It was nice to spend some time with a crowd and watch fireworks.

The next day was my sister's reception in our yard. We had a beautiful day, but the wind was a dampener of spirits. There were about 100 relatives and towns people that came out for a potluck, visiting and games. The hit was cross-country croquet, with hills and trees laid out as obstacles. My father showed John and Gabe the table that he was making for their new home and we had a great family photo, complete with cousins from the Czech republic.

The next day, we took tables and chairs back to town and toured Geraldine with the East coast guests. We then made our way out to my uncle's farm for a tour of the prairie. We took two truck loads of family and guests to seashell hill, our reservoir, teepee rings, and the Missouri River Breaks. A group of 7 of us went on a hike in the breaks. We were able to see many prairie flowers, a rattlesnake, sandstone (with active erosion) and almost stepped on a grouse.
We returned to the yard for a barbeque and more merriment. On the ride home, I saw something I had never experienced in all the 18 years I had lived in the country. As we drove, 9 owls took off from the side of road and flew in front of us. I had seen only 2 or 3 ever, and not on the same road on the same night. It was quite the experience. That night a few of us went out late and watched the sky. We were able to see many satellites (including a bright one I think was the ISS) and each of us saw at least one meteor.

On Tuesday, we took two truckloads (13 people) to climb the mountain in our backyard, Square Butte. The hike has no trail, and climbs about 1 mile fairly steeply.
We all made it to the top and made it down, though some of us were short of water on the return. We were able to see one mountain goat on the top.

We met the rest of our family at the Square Butte Country Club. We returned home in time for a thunder show and some wind, as we went to expel some gun cartridges at old bottles. Some of the people from Baltimore had no experience with guns and were able to shoot a few different rifles. The storm missed us and was able to give us a wicked backdrop for the evening. We packed up that evening for Glacier and we left the next morning.

Summer 2011 - LA

2011-07-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

My summer began early as I took some time off of work and left June 17 for LA. I arrived via airplane and took the bus into Hollywood. I was picked up by my buddy John and was taken to his work to meet his co-workers, and eat some of his delicious catered lunch. I was able to regain some energy and play on some ipads. John drove me to his house and I met up with some old college friends and was able to take a shower. John had a standup show at the Improv. We all attended and watched 7 comics. John did well and held his own against some professionals. The next day, we took it easy at the house and then John took me to the theatre to see Green Lantern in 3D. I enjoyed it. John also had another standup show in east LA that night. We drove out, all got uncomfortably full at Red Robin and went to the show. For a "Bar Show" I guess it was a good show. The comediens were terrible, but they weren't paid. John was in the top two for the night easy. His set was good. We went back to the house and relaxed again for the evening.
On Sunday, we went out for breakfast, and then John and I took two French girls, who are interns at his office, to thier first baseball game.

I had never been to Dodger stadium and was excited for a Father's day baseball game. I was able to see Tony Gwynn and Tom Gordan throw out the first pitches. The game was uneventful and the 7th inning stretch confused our guests greatly. We got to see a homerun in the 8th for the only run of the game and then we drove the girls back to Hollywood. Sunday night, we went to the planetarium and were able to see a great show about the history of astronomy and what we are still learning.
Monday John took the day off work, and we went to Disneyland for 12 hours. It was great. We did califonia Adventure and Disneyland. Highlights included the world of color and the new Startours. The startours was the best 3D I have ever seen. Crazy good.
Tuesday, John went back to work, but I was able to walk to the La Brea Tar pits from his house.
I spent 3 hours walking around and chatting with people. My friend Amber from highschool picked me up and drove me to Venice beach to walk around. We hadn't seen each other for 9 years and it was great to catch up. She also took me to her house to meet her dog and see her awesome backyard. Amber then drove me to Hollywood, where I met with another high school firend, Sara for happy hour drinks. John joined us, as well as a few of her friends and we spent the night out in hollywood.
Wednesday was my last day. I had john drop me off at Hollywood so I could walk around and then would walk up to his work for him to drive me to hte airport. Hollywood is dissapointing. There are the stars in the sidewalk and there was the Chinese theatre, but there wasn't much else to look at. I felt like it was the midwest version of Hollywood, kind of a trailer park 'merica type attraction. I wish it was a little more glamorous. I then started walking toward John's work and found that the sidewalk ran out most of the way there. I found myself walking along the slope of desert brush trying to avoid the "interstate" traffic to my left. As I walked off the off ramp, I was sweaty, dusty, and felt disgusting. I walked to John's work and everyone was curious what happened to me. I looked like I was rolled in dust after I was sprayed by a hose.
I was able to stay for lunch, and was able to change my shirt before John drove me back to the airport. It was a fast trip, but I saw everything I wanted to!

Spring Break #1.

2011-03-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

Spring Break started Friday afternoon. After a cold, wet baseball practice, I watched some of the varsity baseball game. I then returned to my messy apartment for the goal of cleaning and doing laundry enough that I could leave for a week. I continued the cleaning into Saturday morning and got ready for my vacation. I then went to Portland for a wedding and had a great time with friends. The food was fantastic and the venue was perfect size for the party and the occasion. After the wedding, I met up with my friend Daniel from college and spent a few more hours in Portland before crashing on his couch. The next day, we went to breakfast at Buffalo Gap (awesome) and took a walk in Tryon park in Portland with Dan's dog. Dan then did drove me to the airport for a late flight.
I got to the airport and just as I entered I realized that my flight was going to be delayed. My ride had already driven away so I went through security and found a place to watch basketball and get a bite to eat. I eventually found a place to sit with my laptop and watch a movie on Netflix. We boarded 2 hours late and then were stuck on the tarmac for another half hour before we took off for San Francisco.

I landed right around 10 pm and boarded the Bart to make it downtown. My friend James gave me all the info to find his place, and I made it to his neck of the city right around midnight. He walked out and met me a few blocks from his place and walked me in. He lives on a floating house. It is basically what it sounds like. It is not so much a boat, as it is just a house that floats. We stayed up talking and catching up into the wee hours of the morning. I finally fell asleep in the underwater room at about 2:30 am. James and his partner Susmita each had work on Monday so I was to meet the city on my own.

I walked out of his place and found that At&t park is right out of his door. I walked around the walk at McCovey Cove and down the Embarcadero. I had beautiful sunshine, and even with a slight sea breeze, I felt truly on vacation. I made it down about 3.5 miles to the Alcatraz tour dock and gathered information. I then decided to purchase a Citypass for $69 that included tickets for the aquarium, Academy of science, Museum of Modern Art, Legion of Honor, as well as free public transportation. I scheduled a tour of Alcatraz for 10:30 the following morning and took off for the aquarium located in Fishermans Wharf. It was a very concise tour of the Western coast but some pretty neat tanks that you walk through.

I then started walking down the street, looking for food and a better view of the Golden gate bridge. As I kept walking, I decided that I would end with a walk across the bridge. I was hungry, as I only had a banana and a peice of toast earlier in the day. I finally arrived at the Chrissy fields, part of teh goldent Gate Park system,adn enjoyed the green spaces. I walked further and was inticed by signs taht offeren food at a warming hut .5 miles away from the bridge. I finally made it to the hut and ate a nice salad with some water and a coffee. I then was refreshed and able to walk across the bridge. I recommend the walk. It was neat to see the ocean and had amazing views of the city. I then was able to hop a bus to get back to the north beach area to meet up with my buddy James. I changed busses and made it to happy hour at a bar called Kennedys. It was a great small pub with reasonably priced beer and a killer bartender. Attached, is an Indian restaurant. my friend James, who is Irish, and his girlfriend, who is Indian, claim the bar/restaurant were invented for them. It was great.

We then continued down the street and found the bar Vesuvio. It was a nice small bar with lots of photos of San Francisco, and a big emphasis on Jack Kerouac. We enjoyed another drink and then hailed a taxi back to the floating house. We cracked open the Trivial Pursuit and made it through the game with lots of laughter and stories. We played a quick bananagrams and then went to bed.

The next day, I woke up late, and ate another small breakfast. I enjoyed a quiet morning and then took off for Alcatraz. As I left the house, I was greeted by sunshine for a second day and enjoyed a nice walk by the water. I jumped on the Muni to make my trip a little faster and made it to the alcatraz dock a half hour before my departure. People watching was great. We finally boarded the boat and made it to the island.

I really enjoyed my time on the island. I was met by rain and it set the tone for a depressive Shawshank redemption type environment for a tour of the rock. I spent much of my next 2 hours in the cellhouse and took an audio tour.

The other parts of the island were mostly off limits for bird nesting, but I was able to snap some photos and watch some videos. I made it back to the city adn decided I will try adn see the legion of honor. I needed lunch as it was 2:15 and I had not eaten that day. I found a small cafe and enjoyed a quiet lunch.

I studied the map of the buses and realized there was no direct route to the legion. I took a historic cable car, walked around china town, switched buses, and found myself near the legion around 4:45. The museum closed at 5:15 so I basically ran through the rooms of the gallery and found the Rodin sculpture room the best. In the basement, the artifacts from Egyptian and Roman empires were very cool as well.

As the museum closed I realized that I was on the same side of the city as Haight/Ashbury. I decided to make my way down there. Teh ride by the Golden Gate park was nice, and the ride along haight justified my skeptisim that it had become a corporate area. I exited the bus after I thought I had missed the intersection and realized I was directly under the street signs. I took my photos and then ducked into a crepe shop to escape the rain. I bought my only souveniers of the trip in teh form of 4 buttons from a small shop.

I then tried to figure out what was the one landmark my generation would love to see. The key to pop culture in the 90's...DANNY TANNER'S HOUSE!

I made my way to Alamo park and was able to snap a photo of the Full house facade before the rain chased me back into the buses. I made my way back to the floating house for dinner and braved the rain. I scared one man who thought I was following him, and after he changed sides of the street, I did as well. I was not intentionally trying to frighten him, but I figured telling him that would only freak him out. I made it back in time to enjoy a fabulous pasta dinner at the house. My feet began to hurt, so I iced them and took some pain killers. Perhaps the 10mile walk in bad shoes the day before helped in causing me the discomfort. James, Susmita and I enjoyed listening to music and chatting about life and our generation again that night. James introduced me to an HBO series called Bored to death which I truly did enjoy.

Wednesday, I started with a run along the Embarcadero. I was not sure how my feet would fair with the rough shape they were in the night before. I left the house at 9:00 and got back at 10:00am. I ran through the shower to get to the ballpark for a 10:30 tour. I made it, barely, and was still recovering when we started walking around the stadium. Our tour guide was awesome, an old man who remembered watching Willie Mays, with great knowledge of the game. He was like a kid as his eyes lit up talking baseball with other fans. it was mostly a tour of luxury suites and pressboxes, but the highlite was certainly the Giants dugout. Very fun.

I then made it on the N Muni out to the California Academy of the Sciences. I alloted 2 hours for the musuem so I could return to downtown and see MOMA. The musuem was great about Africa, Madagascar and the Gallapagos. It also did a great job of exploring the rainforest and the ocean. I enjoyed it greatly. The strangest realization, was that all of the good looking women were pushing strollers and talking to toddlers. I realized they were not teachers but mothers. I was attracted to new mothers more than anyone! I AM OLDER! Can it be? College girls are too young and late 20 early 30 somethings were all mothers! oh man.

I then took the Muni back downtown to catch the Musuem of Modern art but was thwarted in my effort becuase it was not open only on Wednesdays. I toured the giftshop and looked through the books to get a sense of what I was missing. I then found a bar around the corner for a happy hour and rested my weary feet.

I met up with James as he got off of work and went shopping for groceries and dessert. We invited my aunt and uncle from Santa Clara for dinner, and Susmita graciously offered to make Indian food. it was amazing. We then played board games and laughed the night away. I then parted ways with James and Susmita and rode iwth my aunt and uncle to their home.

January 2011

2011-03-03T22:07:00.001-08:00

I started the year in the state of Illinois surrounded by my family. All of my siblings, their spousal units, nephew and my cousins, aunt, uncle, grandmother, and friends. We had a great celebration. The next day, I met some extended family and was able to add to my family tree as well as put some faces to the names that had been floating around in my mind. As I traveled home, I thought of what a rich vacation I had been having.
My students and I finished our semester strong. The failure rate was lower than in years past, and I felt like we had a good energy flowing. Best story of the month, Friday night of MLK weekend, stayed out late, was invited out Saturday but crashed early, but Sunday was the kicker. I was called by my buddy in Portland and agreed to meet him. I had driven less than 10 miles when I saw a car on the side of the road with flashers going. As I saw it, I thought, "I hope I don't do whatever that car did." As I thought that, however, I felt the car ram the passenger side front tire into a giant pot hole and then slowly deflate. I pulled over. I was blessed in the fact that the torrential downpour of the previous three days had ended and I was able to look at stars. I also had a tarp in my trunk to lay on as not to get muddy. As I wrapped up changing the tire, a policeman came by to check on me. He told me I was the third car that night to flatten a tire. I drove 2 miles to the next town turned around and drove back toward home. I decided not to continue to Portland with a donut. As I passed near the pothole, 7 other cars had their flashers on and were pulled over. ODOT came and patched it that night. As I returned to mac, I hit another pothole and felt the donut lose air. I was able to coast into a parking lot at the edge of town and walked home. The next morning a buddy helped me haul my tire to Les Schwaub and I was able to change the tire back to a full size, fully inflated tire. As I finished and threw everything in my trunk, I also put my keys in the trunk. I then got a ride back to my apartment searched for the super, called the office in Salem and was able to be keyed into my place to get my spare key to the car.
I was the girls basketball announcer at the high school this season and had fun doing that. I also joined an adult choir and practiced with them once a week. It was a great release. On January 31, I joined a gym to try and get into shape.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

I am writing this mostly as a journal entry for myself but if anyone cares to take a look into the world of my holiday travels you are more than welcome to read along. I exited the school on the 17th of December at about 4 o' clock. I had submitted my grades for the last grading period and then was out to celebrate the holidays. I hung out with friends Friday night and made it back to my apartment in time to enjoy holiday movies and drink warm tea and eat the end of my cookies.

Saturday morning I woke up early and drove to my friends house to go for a hike. They live in the coast range and as I turned the corner to get near their house, the snow began to fall and it was a beautiful start to my morning. My car tires were spinning out on the road, but I made it to their house safely. We took off hiking in the beautiful falling snow and walked through the woods. We saw many animal tracks and spent the morning in a winter wonderland.

I then returned to my apartment and cleaned it from top to bottom. Saturday night I wathced more holiday movies in anticipation of my travelling to see family the next day.

Woke up Sunday and I went out for breakfast. Just me, a cup of coffee, a news paper and a great amount of food. My friend came to pick me up around 1 and drove me to Portland. We walked around downtown for a while, entered Powell's books, walked through the lobby of the Hilton and played "Is this a good idea." She then dropped me off a the train station and I was only there for about one hour before the full trail left from the station.

I sat in my chair and started my book for the vacation. After Vancouver I went to the Lounge car, charged my phone and read more. As we steadily passed through the gorge and into Eastern Washington, I steadily turned page after page of my book and made great headway. I took out my laptop and played some solitare when my eyes needed a rest from the page turning. I stepped out of the train in Spokane, went through the station among sleeping passengers, luggage, and empty shops. I found a restaurant open that served pancakes and hashbrowns. Three dollars later, I ate my food back on the platform in 0 degree weather before reboarding and watching Youtube clips on my cellphone. I did fall asleep after we started moving but only for a few hours. I was awakened with a stiff back and cold shoulders. I moved back to the lounge car and proceeded to finish my book amidst intermitten sleeping periods.

I arrived in Whitefish around 8:30 am and was greeted by my brother in weather teetering around zero. He drove me to his work and then I proceeded to his house where his wife and son awaited my arrival. This is the first time I had met my nephew. At 7.5 weeks old, he spends much of his time in Mom's arms, getting carried up steps, getting moved through the air and also being fed.....every 2 hours. I enjoyed my time conversing with my sister-in-law and spending time around the baby.

Through the next few days we stayed at their house, with a tree, a fire and family. It was beautiful. We did go to dinner at a neighbors house and had a great time shopping for out upcoming road trip.

We then took off for the farm where I grew up. We made it in the late afternoon and were greeted by my parents as well as my Mother's sisters family. We ate a feast, and then retired near the fire for conversation.

The next day we went to my uncle's farm and skated on the reservoir. We had to spend about an hour pushing away the 5 inches of powdery snow, trying to make enough room to skate around. We hit around hockey pucks and rediscovered how to skate on frozen water. We had a blast. I then stayed over with my cousin to play pinochle with family before dinner. After dinner we played a group game of taboo with lots of cookies and laughter.

On Christmas Eve, we woke up and celebrated by opening our presents. We all then ate a great brunch and played games througout the afternoon. We then went to an evening church service and I was able to see some of my old friends. Although breif, it was great to meet a new baby, hug old teachers, and check in on family friends.

We then stayed up late playing games.

Xmas day. I woke up and helped cook a great breakfast, then proceeded to go x-country skiing through our yard(s). It had warmed up to around 40, and I was in a long sleeve tee shirt and did not use gloves. It was a beautifully sunny experience and made me long for more sunshine and winter sports in Oregon. As I returned to the house, my cousin and mother were beginning to build a snowman. They had great snow for it and used lots of accessories. There was some unsure participants when we brought up the idea of innertubing behind the pickup, a snowy tradition, but luckily most everyone decided to go. We had too much fun getting sprayed in the face going 25 miles an hour behind a pickup and rolling off giggling into snowbanks.

We got back in time for a delicious duck dinner. We all stuffed our bellys and played games and enjoyed each others company as the evening came and turned to night. We watched a few X-mas movies and everyone slowly dispersed packing for the next travel phase of the break. I am leaving for the Chicago area in the morning. I will be driving with my parents, sister in law and nephew. Aunts, Uncles and Cousins were all returning home and I am just recently the last one up. I have filled my winter cup but cannot wait to see my other siblings and aunts, uncles as well as my only living grandparent. We are gathering for New Years and it should be a great ending to my year. Merry Christmas and Peace to you all.

The Rogue

2010-09-06T19:43:00.001-07:00

From the Wallowas, I was home for one night before taking off for a 5 day trip on the Rogue river. A group of 10 of us with 3 gear boats and a paddle raft departed Almeda campground near Grants Pass. On the first day we were treated to Osprey and Eagles as well as Turkey vultures as we got on our way. We floated through the first few miles and got out to spot Rainie Falls. Two boats took the middle shoot which was of slightly more difficulty. The paddle raft and our other boat took the fish ladder. We went a few more miles to Whiskey Creek and pulled off for the night.

We had a great night with delicious food and appetizers and lots of fun with cards and conversation. We decided to leave fairly early the next morning and moved along the river. A perfect day led us to Battle Bar and we pulled off the river for a delicious Mixican night. Margaritas, Fajitas and chips and dip were the treats of the night, as well as an impromptu dance party in a shelter just up the trail from our camp. We stayed at the camp for one day. We all slept in and then decided to cross the river and hike to Zane Grey's Cabin. We then hiked back to the boats, grabbed lifevests, and headed up river about a mile and a half. 7 of us decided to jump in the river and float back down to the boats. It was great.
That night after a delicious chili, we relaxed playing cards and watched a bear across the river catch a fish.

We took off early the next day with the goal of putting lots of water under our oars and reaching Tate creek. As we began, we spooked a black bear from the edge of the river and watched it rush up through the bush. We then scared another, and another, ...and just when we thought we wouldn't see any more, a Mom and two cubs slowly made their way away from the water and into our view. We stopped at the ranch near Mariel and then moved on to Blossom Bar. It was flawless. All of us made it through like champions and then floated the rest of the way to camp. At camp, the males walked up the trail to a waterfall/natural water slide and each took our turn feeling the cold rush of the water. When we returned we preformed one of the most importatnt tasks ever, cheap beer taste off. The winners: Tecate and Pabst. I thought I loved Coors, now I know that I should be drinking Pabst. We again played cards until the light went away.

The next morning we awoke to the sound of a bear eacting blackberries on the opposite side of the river. As we watched, a cooler came floating down the river. It had been preceded by a few peices of debris that we were not able to identify. We jumped in our partially deflated paddle raft and gave chase. We were able to recover the cooler and brought it back to our beach. A dam had breached up river and the river level rose. We were lucky enough to be warned by boaters the night before, but a camp was not so lucky.

We then packed and took it easy on the way out. It was a great trip on the river with no hiccups. The group was close, the food and drinks were incredible and the water treated us right. It was a very laid back crew and trip.

We saw river otters, 5 bald eagles, 12 bears (3 cubs), deer, osprey and turkey vultures. There were also numerous jumping fish. We were also treated to meteors every night. I saw at least 5 each night. It was incredible seeing the sky with nothing to pollute it. We even had a new moon to boot. I forgot how full of stars the night sky is. The entire sky has light in it, and the milky way is an absolute full band of light that fills the middle of the sky. I slept in my sleeping bag everynight without shelter and was as content as any 5 nights of my summer.

Last day in the Wollawas

2010-08-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 7 and boiled some water for tea and warm powdered goats milk. I ate my breakfast and packed up camp. I filled my camel back and two Nalgenes and was on the trail by 8.
I decided to hike down West Lostine river, and that meant that I would need to climb up over a pass. I made it to the ridge at 8:40 and was down to the other side by 9:15. I walked along the bank of Miniam lake and was impressed by the size and beauty. I passed a few hikers that all made mention that I had made it an early start. The silence of the trees and the singing of the birds entertained me for most of my journey. As I approached the end of the lake, a couple that had just finished bathing were dressing and caught slightly off guard by me, the silent single hiker. I would not have noticed except that they audibly reacted to me. They were fully clothed, but just barely.

I then decided that I wanted to hike at a pretty fast clip, just to see how fast I could hike. I moved my sleeping pad to a more strategic location on my pack and started moving. I made it to copper creek trail and saw a family there at 10:33 and was at my car by 11:25. I was alone in the parking lot and actually found a beer in my trunk that I had forgot about. The best part is that it had stayed cold from the chill of the night before and not having direct sunlight on it. A COLD BEER! I changed clothes and snacked a bit as I cleaned my car. A few forest service workers came along and asked me about my trip. It was nice to have a conversation. I drove into Joseph to wait for my friend to come out of the wilderness.

I walked around downtown and looked at the little shops. I then drove over by Wollawa lake and found a public park/swimming area. At the park there were many families, sunbathers, a woman playing her guitar softly on a picnic blanket, and a group of high school kids swimming with inflated innertubes. I soaked my feet for a good thirty minutes and then went back to town. I then sat outside the bowling alley and watched a movie on my laptop as I borrowed their wi-fi network in the shade of their building. I then found a small bakery and ate a cookie and found that they had live music in the evening.

I went back and forth between town, the lake, Chief Joseph's grave, and snoozing for most of the afternoon. As the sun began to go down, I decided to go to the lake and enjoy it at dusk. I played my guitar in the stillness and had one audience member. An old man took a folding chair into the water and listened to me as he drank a beer.

I then went back to town and listened to the live music from 8-10. At ten I drove by where I picked up the book and my friend Talia was there. They were finishing up a bbq. I was given a plate of food and I shared with all present my dino bones and other rocks from my travels. As I went to leave, they invited me to stay in the bunkhouse. It was nice to have a mattress for the first time in over 25 days. I hung out with the forest service workers and it was like being amongst my brethren. I wish I could have spent more time there.

I woke up early and started by drive back home. I stopped in Portland to visit my friends and have food. I finally got home at around 6 pm for the first time since June 28. What a great vacation.

Backcountry Poetry

2010-08-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Morning Hike

Watching the sun paint the peaks in sunlight on an early morning hike. Trying not to be in teh direct beams yourself. It acts as almost a spotlight, illuminating the beauty of the moment. Finally it pours upon you, but it is okay, the amazing show is over and now that the house lights are up, you see you are among flowers , surrounded by trees and amid beautiful rocks.

Backpacking thoughts

There is a time while backpacking that the listlessness and the excited nervous enegy is over. you pack feels like an infinite weight, sweat is everywhere letting you know of any cut, scratch , welt, and abrasion, stinging its hello.
At that moment you wonder if you packed two Christmas hams or any other food you could magically eat and make the pack light again. no dice. Would you trade that moment? Not I.

Mosquitoes

The meadows in a glaciated valley are so quiet and so pure. The green is what suburbanites dream their lawn will look like, but they will never achieve it. The squeaking of ground squirrels lets you know you are not alone, even though you have not seen a human for a few hours. All at once you realize you have sat down and removed your pack to rest. you sit and drink in the surroundings. you sit on a rock and lean your pack against it. Maybe if you eat, the load will lessen. flies and mosquitoes buzz around you not biting, but checking you out. Two or three finally bite to keep you awake and you are up and on your way.

Eagle Cap Day 2

2010-08-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

8-3-10

I woke up at 7:00 to an alarm but stayed in the tent until 8pm. I at a breakfast of granola and powdered goats milk. I consolidated my bag, filled water, and was on the trail by 8:37. As I approached the ridge, there was a group of high school kids with one advisor sliding in a snow field. I hike past them and watched them hike up and slide down a few times as I took breaks on the steep slope. Once I hit the ridge at 9:15, I figured it would be easy sailing. It was gorgeous. I had a great view of the valley I hiked the day before and I was able to see all glacial features that I cover in my classroom. I really wished at that moment that some of my students were there to see. I hit the summit at 10:00. I stayed on top, and read my book, ate some snacks and watched some birds until 11. I then took a long break on the ridge looking south. As I continued down, I then found another group coming up the trail. They asked me a few questions and it turned out they were a high school group and they had me do a quick geologic interp for the group. It was nice.

I made it home by noon nad then I tried to get some sun and do a crossword puzzle. I finished my book as well. After I had overheated I crawled into my tent and slept until 3 then I decided to explore the meadow at upper lake. I walked to a waterfall and then layed in a bit of grass in the meadow. I looked around and found that there were shooting stars everywhere. The flowers are one of my favorites. I then put my feet in the lake and looked at the clouds. I hadn't played "what does that cloud look like" in a long time, but I really enjoyed it.

At 4:00 I went back to camp and took another nap. I slept until 7. I woke up and ate dinner. I had aquired two neighbors and one chose my same grove of trees. I watched the sky turn colors and just enjoyed being in the backcountry. I then stowed my pack and almost lit a fire to pass the time, but instead decided to write some poetic thoughts. I then went into my tent and slowly fell asleep.

Eagle Cap Wilderness Day 1

2010-08-13T18:55:00.001-07:00

On August 1st, I drove from Boise to Joseph and arrived around 4pm. I found the hurricane trailhead, suggested to me by my friend who was the ranger and also found a campground nearby. I debated hiking in, but I had no map. I decided to wait until 8 am and visit the ranger station and then hike into the mountains. I went back to Joseph and tried to find Wi-fi. I found it outside the bowling alley. Why the lanes have it, I wasn't sure. Just as I was ready to leave, I decided to call my friend one more time. She answered and told me that she had just returned from the wilderness. We met up in Joseph for a drink and dinner. After catching up, she told me that she would recommend a different trail. She said that if I hiked up the hurricane creek trail early for about 3 miles, there are great sites, and then I can drive to the Two pan trailhead and hike into the lakes Basin.
She told me to follow her back to her place and grab a map and book. We went to a local grocery and I bought two disposable film cameras. She led me to the Forest Service bunkhouse and told me that when I get out of the wilderness, I can come back and drop off the book.
I drove to the hurricane campground and then set up my tent and pack by headlamp.

I woke up at 6 and got to the trailhead by 6:50. For whatever reason I felt like running. I ran the first mile of the trail and then any uphill section after that. I made it to Slick Rock by 7:42 and then back by 8:35.

I drove through Enterprise on my way to Two pan trailhead, and got duct tape and jolly ranchers. The road construction slowed me down, but I started walking by 11:20 and stopped at 12:00 for lunch. I made it to Lakes Basin by 2:50 and realized I had forgot ropes. I finally set my pack down at 3:00. I set up at upper lakes and watched a group swim in a waterfall as I snacked on trailmix and jerky.

I took a nap from 4-6 then walked around Upper and Mirror Lake. I chose well. Mirror Lake was like a city. There were tents every 10 feet, and i had a grove of trees at upper lake to myself.

I finally cooked dinner at 7:15, but made too much. I had been laughing about fires in the backcountry, but actually made a fire to burn my leftovers. It helped with the mosquitos as well. I read my book and then went to bed at 9:00.

Last day and trip to Boise.

2010-07-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

There was a group of people going to a seperate dig site and camping out for the weekend, so there were some early morning goodbyes and then decided it was too muddy to hit the hill. Three of us walked around the gift shop adn picked out some posters, and found out that they were sold out except for the display. I bought them to put in my classroom. We did get up the hill for afew hour in the morning. I had the three of us work on trying to pedestal a few bones so that could get field certified intermediate, but a staff memeber came up and told us to work on something else. It is not the end of the world. We spent the last hour doing paperwork and mapping on the hill and I showed my co-workers how to take some readings.

At lunch I said goodbye to a couple others that were leaving for Denver, and then went back to the hill. In the afternoon, we finished our paperwork, and tried to take out some of the bones that had been photographed and mapped. I destroyed two of them that had been exposed to the weather. We were able to glue most of them back together, and I am happy that my co-workers were patient with me.
We wrapped up on the hill and then I went and broke the bank in the gift shop. My classroom will be fun next year.

I went back to my campsite and packed up my gear, but left my sleeping bag in my tent. I then drove into town and played cards, showered and ate at the intern house. I stayed up fairly late, and then woke up early Saturday.
I drove 4 hours to Jackson and had lunch with a friend from college. I chatted for a few hours and then headed to Boise. I was angered again at the lack of camera. There were moose and deer on the road as well as gorgeous views of the Tetons. The amazing sunset near the end of my drive made me happy as well.
Currently I am in my buddy John's house and doing a load of laundry before leaving tomorrow for Joseph, OR for a 3 day backpacking trip in the Wollawa and Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Thursday

2010-07-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, the water cooler we put in the back of the SUV leaked. I had my camera on teh floor of the back of the vehicle. For the morning, my camera was not doing well. In the dry, hot environment, by the afternoon it was working a little better, and was working perfectly in the evening. I took some photos of the moon over my tent, and then ran out of battery power. I tried to charge my re-chargable batteries, and put them back in, but the camera did not work. I also took a co-workers batteries and put them in the camera, and it still didn't work. I am pissed.

Thursday morning it rained so the roads were impassable. Our boss told us he had a project that needed done for a while. We were to dust all of the exhibits that are behind glass. The first 1/2 of the museum tour is a walk through time. It starts at the Pre-cambrian and goes to the Triassic. There were a couple dozen cabinets that had fossils in them and glass shelves that needed dusted. We got to hold all of the fossils that most can't and took some fun photos. I didn't because my camera broke! Luckily I have friends that will share. The afternoon we went up to WBS and tried to continue to pedestal.

After work, my friends decided that we should go to dinner. Some of them were leaving Friday and it would be our last night together. We all went to Butch's place in kirby and all six of us ate a buffaloe burger with cheese. It was delicious. We stayed chatting at the table until they closed. I then went back to the intern house and watched a video.

I asked my boss about getting an intermediate field certificate, but he said it would only happen if he watched me plaster something. Right now, there is nothing ready. We shall see. I did get basic certification today. At least I won't walk away empty handed.

Day 14

2010-07-28T16:51:00.001-07:00

Today, five of us went to WBS to try and pedestal and remove some bones that were in the quarry. Each of us took a seperate place and dug. I broke a bone into 7 different peices that were smaller than my hand, so I had a puzzle to put together early in the day. As I dug, I continued to find small fragment after small fragment and stopped my digging in case they were related. I literally could pick up two rocks and one of them had a frag. As I fought the bones, my coworkers found teeth of Sauropods and Therapods. After lunch we came back up and asked our boss to come and take a look. He told me that half of my pieces weren't that big of a deal and I could keep them, but a few looked like bones to keep. I labeled many and was not able to remove any, but I cleaned up my side of the quarry very well. Tonight I am going to a fellow volunteers house for dinner and conversation. I am excited about it. Tomorrow is my second to last day, and I may get certified in the field. Tomorrow evening we are going to barbeque together and then paint some signs late at night. Friday may be a shortened day and a few people are taking it off. I can't believe that I only have 2 days left. I love this work.

You can see how far you are moving each day. It sometimes is hard to see how far you have made a dent in the big picture, but it is satisfying to know that you are making progress toward your goal everyday. I enjoy the work and could see me getting into this work in the future. I have loved the workers here and appreciate every opportunity given me here at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

Day 13

2010-07-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

Today started with a group of us going to site BS and trying to remove bone. There was a DFD (dig for a day) of a father and son from Detroit. They were great workers and found a couple of bones, even one we couldn't identify that was good sized. The morning was taken up by completing the rest of the paper work on the bones: photographing, mapping, and total stationing. We finished all the paperwork at noon and went down for lunch.
After my peanut butter and honey sandwich, we went back to BS and took out 6 bones. We then brought them back to the musuem and put them into collections. I perused the gift shop after work today and I am pretty sure I am going to spend too much money my last day.
After work I had 4 co-workers come over and enjoy the pool at the campground with me. We then went out to ice cream, and came back to a full moon. As I am typing this, the wind has picked up and there is threatening lightening on the horizon. I hope that I will be able to get to sleep tonight though there is a chance of hail.
I was invited to supper by a fellow volunteer tomorrow, and am excited to to chat with them over a meal. I am pretty sure I will be at WBS tomorrow, and I hope to be certified in the field by the end of the week.

Hike plus day 12

2010-07-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

On Suday I woke up late and checked my email. As I did, a friend messaged me and asked why I wasn't hiking. I decided to go on a hike. I drove back to the paintrock canyon. I filled up 4 liters of water to take with me, and made a couple of peanut butter and honey sandwhiches. These have been my staple diet the last two weeks. I started the hike through a burned hillside made of silty soil and dry dusty tracks. I walked about a mile and then came to a ranch. The ranch looked like a paradice get away for rich people. There was a large building with walls of glass and little cabins that looked like tree houses attached to it. I really wanted to check it out. I walked by a rancher and kids loading hay bales onto a trailer and gave a big wave. They waved back and on I went on my hike. Trail started on BLM land and then it did 2 miles on private land to get back to BLM. I am going to write the ranch owners a postcard for letting me hike there. The trail just follows the paint rock creek as it cuts its course toward the bigger rivers.

The rocks were great. The formations with reds, blacks, oranges, yellows, and greens in the rock made me want to hike with my head looking up the whole time. Only toward the end did that become a problem when the trail became rocky and was full of tripping hazards. I was shocked that I did not see wildlife. There were fairly open hillsides in sun and shade with cliffs and trees to hide near. I saw nothing bigger then a meadow lark. The birds were great companions. Their songs kept me walking along at a fairly good clip broken up with slight interuptions when I would catch glimpses of the creek running swiftly.

I ran out of water in my camelpak about a mile before the trail ended. The only other water I was two Nalgene bottles full. I rationed on the way back. I was fine until I turned a corner and saw a black body that belonged to an angus cow. For some reason my body and mind were fine with the shady character until I saw the eyeball. It was like a slow motion video as my eyes scanned across teh body and saw the eye, I jumped and yelled. He was close enough to touch. As I jumped and yelled, the bull did nothing. I walked away briskly but really should not have worried about it. He was just eating his cud.

As I exited, there was a Dad with two girls going in with backpacks. I'll bet they had a nice and peaceful journey. I did the 14 miles in 4 hours. There was little elevation gain, and my body felt good the whole time.

I only stopped to eat one sandwich. I ran out of water before I got to my car too, so as soon as I reached my vehicle I went to find water. There was an archeological site near by and I decided tto check it out. It turns out there is a campground there with a beautiful snow fed creek and good drinking water. I drank two Nalgene's full of cool water and then dipped my tired feet in the creek. It was heavenly.

When I returned to Thermopolis, I went to the city park , made some phone calls and enjoyed the shade. I then went to the intern house and watched a video with co-workers.

Today I assisted on a dig for a day. I did like the family of four and enjoyed working with Kelsey. We gave the fastest complete tour of the museum I have seen. Go teamwork. I am now sitting in my campground soaking up the sun after I bathed in the warm waters to revitalize my weary legs and feet. I am going back to the intern house tonight to do my laundry and watch yet another movie. I have to decide what to eat. I am out of soups in a can and have just a cup of plain pasta left. Maybe I will go find a salad.

I only have 4 days left. I am going to try and get certified in the field and lab, but I may run out of time. We shall see. I am thouroughly enjoying the experience and may have to try and go back to school in the next 5 years for Paleo. It is a dream job.

kids dig.

2010-07-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today we had 11 kids and 6 adults at the museum. We started at the the dig sites and after we made sure everyone had a flake of bone to take home, we went to the Sundance and found belemnites and crinoids. We then went to a park for lunch. We had two kids get wet at puddles around the swing set, and one fell off the swing and cut his back pretty badly. We then took them to the casting and molding lab. I had not yet seen it. There are body parts of random dinos hanging out as well as a mold of a Triceretops skull. I want one. Supposedly we may be able to make some molds of smaller bones aor teeth. We shall see.
We finished the day in the lab. It was not too bad. I can definitely tell that I have educator training. Not that any of the staff on the hill didn't handle situations well, it is just funny how there are little things you can do to redirect a late elementary or middle school aged student without making them feel bad or alerting the entire group.
After the dig, we went to a health food store for fruit smoothies. It was heavenly. Tomorrow I am not sure of my agenda, but I think it will involve hiking.

Day 10

2010-07-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Today we had 4 dig for a days but one was late. I rode up with 2 coworkers and watched them give the tour of SI. Each of the 4 times I have seen the tour, it has been with a different staff member. It is fairly different each time. We then got up to the site and dug for a few hours. I also helped get teh total station and surveying done for the site BS.
The late arrival was a woman from Boulder Colorado in her late 20s who was looking for a dig but slept in. She and her host stayed on the hill alone and worked through lunch. I went down with the rest of the crew. After lunch, Hallie (a coworker) and I were dropped off at BS to finish collecting data and mapping. The late dig and host were still there. After finishing up our map and data, we decided to explore the opposite hill side looking for petrified wood and a blue bone oxydized by the sun. We found both, walked back and realized nobody had remembered to pick us up. Luckily Nick called the office from the hill as he found reception and they sent a truck.

As I left the center there was an impromptu meeting in the parking lot as our bossman Greg pulled up. He told me to go to the Kids dig tomorrow. I had planned a hike, but decided to get all the dino bones I could while being here. It should be a blast. There are 5 staff members to 11 kids. I think I will survive.

Day 9

2010-07-22T17:02:00.001-07:00

Yesterday in the morning I spent most of my time labelling bones on the hill and putting them in the book. Today my entire morning consisted of mapping the bones that we labelled yesterday. We set up the total station (surveying equipment) which gives the bones a 3-D place in the quarry and can be mapped as such. We then took measurments from 2 stakes and found drew them into a map of the quarry. I really enjoy doing this part.

In the afternoon I finally got to learn how to jacket. We took burlap sacks, papertowels, and plaster and went up to BS to plaster a bone. We wrapped it in wet papertowel, then drenched the burlap in Hydrocal (plaster) and basically paper mached it in.

We spent the rest of our time mapping WBS and trying to not break anything. You almost can put a brush in the ground and not find bone. I broke at least three today just by trying to move out of someones way. The bones are everywhere and fragile. I basically feel that the quarry will be half glue by the time we are done with it.

Tomorrow there are 4 dig for a day families, so all of us will be with one. I am happy to have had two days without the families. Tomorrow afternoon, I may skip the tour and move right into the lab.

I am leaving to go watch Toy Story 3 in the local theatre with co-workers. I can not believe that I only have a week left of this. I am almost sure I will come back.

Day 8

2010-07-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

I began the day with a field crew knowing we would not have to deal with a kids digs today. I started to dig, and then we all realized together that no body had kept records of the bones found in CB. I grabbed the notebook and went to town. It took 3 hours to label every bone and fragment with whiteout and sharpie and put them in the book. I also took a few photos with a ruler and a whiteboard identifying the sample as well as giving a direction on it. I finally ran out of white board marker. There is still about 3 hours of work to go into photos and mapping the site. That may take place next week.

A group of people went up and jacketed the bone I had been working on. Since I seemed to be very good with the bones records, I stayed behind and cleaned up the site.

I then rained right at noon. That meant that we would spend an afternoon in the lab. I finally got time to work on my airtool skills. I did carve into the bone (a camarasaur fallange) a few times, but did make lots of progress. It felt good to put 4 hours in on a bone. I love it all here. I wish I could work here everysummer.

Maybe someday, I will.

Day 7 - Dig for a day

2010-07-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

I tagged along for another dig for a day. I have now watched 3 co-workers host families and lead them through the different steps. The only problem is that it has been 3 days in a row. I would love a day with just workers again in the field so we could actually jacket the bones and/or give me a full day in the lab. As soon as the families show up, I turn into a teacher. Not that I mind that, and I have gotten many compliments on my work from families and from co-workers, I just want to spend my summer with dinos.
Today we didn't find anything new except fragments for the kids to take home. I did find tons of Belemnites at the Sundance and will bring them to my classroom for viewing. I also worked for about an hour on a bone with the dremmel. It was nice and relaxing to get off my feet and to tune out the world for the last hour.

Tonight a camper asked me to look up lyrics online for him to sing with the camp host. I think I will get some beer from the deal, and maybe get up on stage once or twice this week. Last night a family asked me if I liked spaghetti and dropped off an entire plate of garlic bread, spaghetti and green beans, plus a full glass of lemonade. I must look lonely here. I AM NOT ! I HAVE FOSSILS TO KEEP ME COMPANY!!!! (and my co-workers are cool too).

Day 6- Dig for a day 2

2010-07-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Today there were only three people at the center. Most of the full time staff went down the road to a site called "jimbo" where they are digging up a superasaurus. Nick, Amanda, and I stayed behind hoping to jacket a dino bone and get it out of the ground. We started the day and found out that there was a "dig for a day" scheduled, meaning there was a family of 5 that wanted to dig on the hill, tour the museum and get to see the lab.
We all started together and Nick decided to lead the DFD. Amanda and I worked on jacketting the fossil.

We started to work on the fossil but it was truly fragile. We were able to clear some of the rock from out below it, but kept having the fossil material crumble with the rock. We continued to glue and glue the fossil, but we never got the jacket on. The weather was beautiful.
After lunch, we went to the Sundance formation to look for marine fossils. Amanda worked in the lab. I found some clam remnents. Then it was time for lab work and the tour. We worked in the lab for an hour and then began to tour. The family was incredibly interested in everything we did. Thay asked all sorts of questions and the adults as well as the kids were eating up all the info we could give them. It was fun. At the end of the tour, it was 5:30. We are usually suppose to finish DFDs by 4:00 and clock out by 5. The family stayed in the gift shop until the musuem closed at 6 and the gift shop lady tried to get us to push them out the door. They were a great group(and tipped!) and it was fun to have a captive audience. They told us what wonderful educators Nick and I were. It has been extrememly warm the last couple of days and tonight I am planning on crashing hard. This week we should jacket to fossils in the field, and I should get some lab time to work with cleaning up fossils. Next week I will have to try and get certifide. This is still a dream. I can't believe I am able to handle bones each day and that the musuem is letting me use my knowledge of the Earth to pass along to others. It truly is a special experience.

Sunday- Thermopolis in all its glory

2010-07-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday I woke up at about 7 and decided to do a day in Thermopolis. I reorganized my car, read some of my book and fiddled around until 9 am. I drove into town to find a good breakfast. I found a little cafe that had ranch equipment and native art and clothing as decor. I had some very good pancakes and eggs. After breakfast, I went to Hot Springs State Park. It is local and free. I walked around the park, with the terraces of chemical deposition, the suspension bridge and the hot spring. The hot spring was reminiscent of Yellowstone, except that there was jus tone pool. As I was getting ready to leave, I found a sign post with a trail map. There was a 1 mile trail that wen through the buffalo pasture and climbed the hill. I took off on it and did about two laps. I was the only one I saw doing the trail. I hiked to the top of the hill and had a great view of the town below me. I hiked down, and just as I exited the trail, two other hikers started on it. I walked back to my car and decided to drive through the buffalo pasture to see the herd (they were a ways from the trail).
I then drove back to the campsite and decided to sunbathe while watching a movie on my computer. The internet connection was slow, so I would watch it 12 minutes at a time. Then the movie would stop for about 12 minutes, then back on. It took most of the afternoon. I then played a little guitar,read my book, etc. It was a relaxing day. I also showered and did some laundry. All of this I did shirtless and I sunburned the crap out of my back. Whoops.
I went to bed early applying aloe and meant to update but the internet went down. It was a nice day to recharge the batteries (my computers and mine)!

Saturday- day off

2010-07-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 6:30 with the train going by my tent. It wasn't too bad, because I had plans for Saturday. My bossman/friend Greg, told me of a hike to do about 1.5 hour drive away. I woke up and slowly got dressed then just jumped in the car and headed out. The road took me north through Worland then onto less travelled roads and finally to a town of Hyatville, pop.105. This town had 3 roads going out of it and I spent 20 minutes on the two wrong ones, before I found my road.
The road I wanted, was not what I wanted at all. It was 20 miles of switchbacks, and washboard gravel, with the occasional horse or giant rock in the way. I was going 35 but couldn't go faster if I wanted to, because my car didn't like the grade. I finally made it to the Big Horn Wilderness/National Forest and contined on the forest service road. I passed a camp site with a large pick-up a trailer and 3 four-wheelers nearby. The shirtless man gawked at the Honda Accord coming down the road and passing his temporary home. I continued on until the road was a clay trap with ruts in the middle and mud built up on the sides. I went a little further, and finally scraped bottom. With a little tricky wheel play, I was able to turn around on the two-tracks and make my way to a different forest service road going North (my ultimate destination was a campground up there). Again, I went about 4 miles and then found a wash out that my car did not like. I turned around (100miles into my day) and decided to search for a plan B. On my way back down, I met 3 other pickups on the road with campers and ATVs. All three drivers took long hard looks at me cruising down the gravel in my four door import.
I saw a trail head on the way in for Paint Rock Canyon, I decided, hey, Plan B. Except, I did not fill any water bottles and there was no water at the trail head. I decided to go find a park to fill water bottles. I went to Hyatville, no park. So on to plan -c, drive to Ten Sleep. It was on my way back and I could see some new country. Possibly at the library I could find a map of the Wilderness. I get to Ten Sleep (the drive is gorgeous by the way, geology abounds here) and found a city park with a free pioneer museum. I view the museum, but forget to fill my water bottles. I then drive through town and find the library: no maps. No problem, I guess I will go back to Thermopolis and view the local faire, and see if I had been missing something. Just as I turn on my left blinker, I view a sign that says "fresh bagels made daily", so I switch the blinker to right and turned in to park.
I found a coffee shop that was straight out of Portland. Even the patrons looked more like me than anyone else I had found in Wyoming. It turns out that Ten sleep is a big rock climbers mecca and they were in full force with laptops in hand and columbia, REi and other sports clothing on (I was also donning columbia and REI). I walk up and ask if they have soy, the lady replies yes. I tell her that I am shocked to find this type of shop in central Wyoming and she told me her daughter started it a month ago. She had been raised the daughter of sheep ranchers, but happened to Seattle and brought some Pac Northwest to the middle. I was pleased, and ordered a vegetarian breakfast sandwich (hummus, egg, cabbage, carrot on rosemary garlic toast) and a soy chai. Then the daughter says she is out of soy. BUT NO WORRIES! She asked if I would mind if she crushed up some hemp seed and put that milk in. She had never steamed it before, but I was fair game. Dee-lish. I then took my laptop in and was at peace surrounded by my type of people. There was even a teenage playing folk/accoustic tunes on the guitar.
On to plan D, I looked up trails online and found one south of Thermopolis that sounded interesting. The river goes through the limestone under layer in a cave and then pops out of the ground later. Plus, Sacajawea's grave was about an hour away. After I tipped my server, I got into the car and drove. I drove for 3 hours south. When I got to the Sinks (the river sinks into the ground), I found that my trail was just a boardwalk along the highway. No-dice. I ran to the visitor's center and asked for advice on a 2-3 hour trailwalk. She told me that the 1.5 mile trail to the Poco Agie waterfalls was great. Plan E. I ran up the trail stopping only to try and take 10 second delayed photos of me hiking. I placed the camera on rocks, hung it from trees, etc. ALSO, I still hadn't filled up my WATER yet, and was getting thirsty. I took two mouthfulls of water out of a stream near the trail (I know, I know...bad me) and went to the falls. FANTASTIC WATER! I ran back down the trail and it took about 1.2 hours. Now I was thirsty. I drove to the nearest campground and finally found a potable water pump. I sucked down a Nalgene and a half, before I filled two bottles for the drive.
I then drove and saw the two Sinks and Rises along the road, very cool. Now, on to Sacajawea. I found the sign for her grave on the highway and turned off the main road. I drove through the town and found myself on gravel again driving into a canyon. Luckily just as I thought it was hopeless I turned and saw a statue in a cemetary on a hill about a mile off the road. There was no sign to it out here, but luckily I had looked up images of the grave in Ten sleep. The graveyard was neat with a very nice statue and plaques talking about her life .
I then found a short cut on my map to cut a half an hour (yea right). Unluckily, the tribal roads were not labeled, so as I started out of town to the East (the correct way) about 13 miles onto the road, it turned south and eventually dumped me off in Lander near the sinks. This would not be too bad, except the road was under construction and it took me over an hour to get around this "shortcut" (backtracking would have been 30 minutes). I did see a huge gathering with lots of teepees and vehicles and it turns out there was a sun dance going on. I would have paid the admission except that I wanted to get home, so I could hike Paint canyon tomorrow.

So back on the road, as I approached Thermopolis (witnessing a great sun set framed by mountains and thunderstorms) I figured I could pay for a dinner out. I have been eating pasta, and soups out of my car for the last week. I stop into two restaurants at around 9pm and both said they were done serving. Plan - Y (or whatever hell letter I was on) I went back to camp to eat cheese and crackers and drink my beer. Of course it has all been in my car all day, so the beer was warm, the cheese (unopened) was mimicking Slimer from the ghostbusters, so I optrd for peanut butter and honey sandwich (my lunch the past 5 days). I do drink a warm beer, which had great taste, truly, and then ate some dried apples for dessert.

Overall, I drove over 400 miles and was on the road about 10-11 hours. I left at 7 am and got into camp at 9:15.
The campground I stay at has an owner that built a bandstand and sings everynight. Lately a mandolin player and tonight a harmonica player, who is staying in the camp, decided to play with him. It was nice to have more instrumentation, although Ron has a pretty full voice and plays well.
I wet down a hankerchef and wiped some dust off my limbs and am now typing this, debating whether to hike tomorrow, or tour Thermopolis after a big breakfast at a restaurant. When the train wakes me up tomorrow, I guess I will decide then. Good night.

Day 5 - first week done

2010-07-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

Today I tagged along on a "Dig for a Day" where families can pay to do what I am volunteering to do. My group included a Mom, Dad and two kids (fifth and second grade) from Pennsylvinania. We started at BS a site that I have not dug at, and soon found a nodule. This looks like a round rock. I pulled it out of the waste bucket from the 2nd grader thinking there would be a geode of something neat inside. Nick, a summer staffer, broke it open and found a Camarasaur Toe. These are tough to come by. We gave the kid credit and wrote it in the book, and he took a photo with it. Then, as we were cleaning our site, I swept by something and asked Nick why it had not been cataloged. There was bone sticking out. I had the fifth grader with me, and was so excited when he got credit for that bone. Mom and Dad struck out. Sorry. We then continued to dig and another family found a strange mix of bones ain one rock. Nick and the big boss man Greg (who happened to come up to see how everyone was doing) immediately began looking for crumb sized bone. We had four people on hands and knees looking for tiny bones. We found a "membrane bound" bone, instead of a cartilage one. The only two membrane bound are knees and skulls. We have found more skull material. Usually a bone fragment the size we found I would have not worried about especially if it was loose. But Greg spotted how it formed. Good thing he was there, but the kid didn't get to keep it. At lunch we travelled back to the museum, rehydrated and then went to Sundance. This is dusty hills that look exactly like the breaks from home (only from a different formation and about 200 million years older). In these hills we were looking for bullet type rocks that are hard pieces of old squid called Bellenites, as well as ammonites and crinoids. The ultimate goal is an ammonite. We found lot of bellenites, and some crinoids (tiny), and the temperature was 100 degrees. The dirt was almost too hot to touch. We then took the family on the tour of the museum and the last little bit of their tour, they get to see the prep lab. We even let the boys toothbrush a bone. After they left, I was able to stay in the lab and use a small dremmel tool to work on getting matrix off the bone. I like the airtools.
Tomorrow I have off, but Greg gave me directions to a great hike (14 miles roundtrip). I am going to leave early and try and get up there by 8 to start. My little computer has a hard time uploading pictures, so you will have to wait on that.

Day -4

2010-07-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Today we started by remapping the bones we mapped yesterday. We took pictures and then tried to continue to extract them. We worked most of the morning at the same site (WBS-West Beside Sauropod), Then moved to CB. At CB they have found skull material of an Allosaur. This is the ultimate in fossil hunting. Skulls are made of lots of little bones put together, so to find some that are whole are amazing. We certainly don't have a whole skull (yet) but we will continue to look.
In the afternoon, I had more or less pedestalled the bone I had been working on for 3 days, and the only thing left to do was to glue all the top together. As I worked under the bone, it would crumble. The only solution to allowing us to give the bone a cast is to glue it all together. Tomorrow it should come out. We were able to stop work early to explore the opposite hillside in search of petrified wood. I found a few peices and then went back to CB to pick up our commorades. There in the scree, I found a bone to take home.

Day 3

2010-07-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today we went back to the dig site WBS (west beside the sauropod) and continued to expose the bones and try to pedestal them. The morning was very nice, no WIND! The sun was not too bad and we found a few more bones on site.
In the afternoon we needed to map the new bones, and I was able to use techniques I learned in college on surveying equipment and with a Brunton. We were able to take the position, as well as the 3-D position in the quarry of the bones. We then hand mapped the bones and were they sat. As the afternoon wore on, I was sweeping my site and broke off a peice of unidentified bone. I was very lucky that I didn't shatter the bone and the matrix around it. I was able to break it cleanly from the pile. This is an easy fix; I wrapped the bone up and took it to the lab.
My time here is well spent and I feel like I am in a great spot to learn about Paleo. My legs are sufficiently sunburned after two straight days on the hill. Right above my knees are the worst. Last night I played soccer with the employees and interns and was able to get to know them better. They are a great bunch of people and bigger nerds than I am! Also, last night at the campsite there was a Peruvian bluegrass band that played. Muy bueno!

Day -2 Digging

2010-07-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Last night as I was cooking my dinner, the wind was howling and I heard cracking from the limb above my head. I moved my operation to the other side of the picnic table and 15 minutes later the limb came crashing down and landed a foot from my food. All my neighbors were worried, but my food and I were safe. Many people came to check on me in the next few hours.

Today I arrived at the museum and Greg sent us (3 interns, 2 summer staff, and 2 permanent staffers) to the dig site we were at yesterday. We began in the same places and were working on "pedestally" the bones. You dig around and beneath leaving them on a pedestal that you can then pour plaster around and "jacket" the entire bone.
It was windy and hot for the morning. At around 10 am, Greg and another boss type person came up and told us to move so there wouldn't be dust storms stopping our work every 3 minutes. Just at that moment I tried to clear some rock away and broke a bone!!! Greg showed me how to apply glue and label the bone so the lab can put it back together.
We all packed up and moved to a different location on the mountain ( I learned that there are over 100 places that bones have come from on the mountain, and each are named). We moved to a site called, Cheryl's blind or CB for short. Any bone that comes out is labeled CB, with a number and a date. We dug at the bone for a while. One of the staff members found some bone that was a high up vertebrate. Skulls are the most sought after fossil. So much so in fact, that they don't say the word, in case that saying it would cause it to crumble or dissapear. We may have "that which shall not be mentioned" of an Allosaur. We went down the hill for lunch and went back up after. My legs and arms are sun and wind burned. Later that afternoon I uncovered the first bone of my time here at the hill. It was at a site where we know bones are and they specifically told me to dig there, but still. I am the first human ever to see the bone, as well as the first living thing to observe it in 150 million years. Chew on that! however, ....I broke it. I needed to glue it again and the next rock I turned I had broken another bone. The experts weren't with us, so I went digging at another part of the hill. Today there was much more chatter. I learned about everyones school, and the geology programs they have gone through. There were also geology jokes, ....such as.....you want to find a mouse in this formation....HA! or....Your tetrapod and cterapod are no match for my saurapod,...idiot (and riotous laughter ensued).
I As I type this, the wind is so strong I need to hold my hat on everyonce in while. Let me just say ...that I was born to do this and I love it. I love it...I love it. Now to go bath in a sulfur rich pool to get the dirt out of my nose and ears.

Wyoming Dinosaur Center - DAY 1

2010-07-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Thermopolis at 6pm to claim one campsite in an RV park north of town. My tent rests less than 50 feet from the railroad tracks and less than a stones throw from a hot pool that smells of sulfur.
I set up my tent and ran to town to grab some neccesities and find the dinosaur center that I will be working with for the next few weeks. Immediately upon my return, I was invited to celebrate a neighbors birthday with cake, drinks, and cards.
I went to bed early and was awaken at 4 am by birds near sunrise. ...then a "light rain and thunder" weather pattern moved in. I was up out of my tent at 6 and showered and ate breakfast.
I went to the center and immediately was met by Greg, a man I had spoken with on the phone. He led me through the museum and gift shop and then into the lab. I was handed a bone promptly and told to "start cleaning." CAN LIFE GET ANY SWEETER!?!?!? I had a toothbrush and a dental pick as well as a bowl of warm water. I went to town clearing away glue and dirt from the vertebrate of a sauropod. WHOOT!
I picked on the same bone from 8:30 am until lunch at noon. I did graduate to using acetone and an exacto knife. After lunch in my car, I joined my fellow workers eating their lunch (nobody told me) on picknick tables IN THE MUSEUM. Parents and children can walk by and chat with us ...during lunch.

Beginning at 1, I was able to graduate to dremmel status. I was handed a piece of rock with a bone in it and told "don't hit the bone, but get it out." Man dream come true #2. I was working with goggles and a dremmel taking a bone out of matrix...AND it was in the window where patrons can watch you work. I scared a few little girls by waving. I don't think they knew I could see them.
At about 3:00 two gentlemen asked if I wanted to see the dig site. DID I?!?!?!?! OF COURSE! so I hopped in an SUV with 4 summer workers and drove up to an excavation site. The bones were under tarps and we were told to dig completely under the bone, so if we pour plaster, we encase it.
The two permanent workers left me and two seasonal staff members (both age 20) to the bones as they destroyed a hill side with bobcats and a backhoe. We didn't get very far on the bone, but the conversation was better than in the dremmel and dental drill cacophony. Most people in the lab had ipods....I will remember mine tomorrow.

I am now back at my campsite and debating whether or not to jump in the 100 degree pool to clean all the silt and sand out of my ears. I may wait for it to cool down slightly.

SUMMER AGAIN!

2010-06-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

School has ended and I have officially started my summer journey for 2010. I left Oregon the morning of the 28th and drove 11 hours to my brother and sister-in-laws house in Somers, MT. I travelled on interstate until I hit St. Regis. The drive north from St. Regis through the Montana wilderness was beautiful. I drove along a river looking at rock formations, railroad bridges, great tree filled valleys, and then to come upon snowy white peaks was just fabulous. My brother lives just beyond a stones throw from Flathead Lake. His house is surrounded by mountains on the horizon and is a beautiful mix of town and country. I enjoyed my time there, although short. I am now back on the farm where I grew up. Today we are going to move cows and then make it to a farm sale. I have not been to one in YEARS, and supposedly everyone that is anyone in town will be there. I will probably meet up with a few old friends. We'll see. Last night as I drove, there were beautiful thunderstorms and rainbows. I was never hit by the storms but drove along side them for much of my drive. The sky truly is as big as they say.

Memorial day hike

2010-06-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I decided to do the American thing and go camping on Memorial day weekend. I debated going Friday night or Saturday night, but my want to buy a new bike and to play frisbee won. On Saturday morning I went downtown McMinnville and test rode bikes. I decided to buy one and asked them to include a rack. They told me it would be a bit until it was ready. I then went to the farmers market to see some friends and eat lunch. Food of choice: Chili dog.
At 2pm I went and played pick-up Ultimate. We played for about 2 hours and change before I decided I should try and pick up the bike before their 5 o'clock closing time. I drove downtown, and rode my bike home. I then ran back downtown (it was a slow run) and grabbed my car. I drove home and packed the car for my camping.
I drove up to Forest Grove and decided to eat some food, so I stopped at a local Mexican restaurant for a delicious dinner. I had a camp site in mind half way between Forest Grove and Tillamook. I showed up to the campground at about 7pm and found that the 14 walk in sites were packed. Silly me to think that I could get a site Saturday night. I then kept driving praying for another campground. I drove by two that had closed signs up, but finally saw a sign for a campground so I turned off, relieved and ready to set up camp. I drove into the area, and there was nobody else there. I felt that it was strange because the other one was packed. I set up my tent, grabbed a beer and walked around the campground. I read some signs, looked at maps and paid my fee for the night. I was still weird-ed out being the ONLY person in the campground, but I grabbed my guitar and headlamp and began to play to the darkness. I slept through the rain that night and woke up to birds chirping in camp. I packed up my tent, grabbed some granola and decided to get to my trail head early. As I left the campground, I realized the sign told me it was closed as well. If the forest service wanted to, they have my name and the date that I stayed in the campground, but I am fairly confident I will be ok.

I drove to the trail head and filled water bottles and geared up my pack for Elk Mountian and King Mountain loop. I left the parking lot behind a group of 3 hikers as well as with a man and his two dogs.

The trail was pretty much a vertical gain of 2,000 feet in a mile and a half. I was sweating within five minutes and was feeling my legs burn soon there after. I eventually caught the man with the dogs, and discussed the trail and the hikes as we rested. I then headed for the top. The guide books said that you could see the coast and the Cascades on a good day from the top. I saw fog.

Not that the hike wasn't beautiful, it was, and the fog added a surreal silence to the adventure. After the top, the trail goes down 1000 feet and slowly moves toward the other summit.

I was by myself hiking through a gentle mist for the whole day. The backside of the mountains had nice rock outcrops, meadows full of wildflowers, and nice ridgelines that were surrounded on both sides by fog.

I met a group of backpackers who stayed the night on King Mountain the night before and were making their way along the path. It would have been tough to do all of the elevation gain with a bigger pack.

As I arrived at King Mountain, I met the group of hikers from the parking lot. They had missed a fork in the trail, so they went to the other way around the loop. We discussed the trails, and i ate my lunch.

I signed both registers on the peaks and put the names of people in my family who had died. It was a nice way to memorialize them for the year. I then headed down.
The hike from Kings mountain the Wilson river trail took me 45 minutes. Then I hiked the Wilson River Trail (3.5 miles) back to the campground. My feet were tired. I think that after the day of Frisbee, my body was tired. I hiked along the river and saw a few more hikers, but finished at 3:30pm. I was expecting to be done around 4:30, so it was nice to have a little more time.

I drove down to the Tilamook forest center and then headed back toward home because I didn't want to sleep in another closed campground.

Baseball

2010-05-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

This spring, I decided to try my hand at being a high school coach. I was asked to be JV assistant coach by my friend/co-worker/head coach. We had 13 students on our team, who may not have been the most naturally talented players, but enjoyed the sport. The team went 4-16 ish, but the postitives that came out of the season were the gains in attitude. The players began laughing and poking fun at each other whenever they would falter, even in a game. Our biggest job was teaching them to be a team, and to keep their heads up when they miss a ball or over throw. I feel that the gain in attitude was good, but the time commitment was intense. Will I do it again? I am not sure yet. It was a fun season and it is always fun to be around baseball.

Now it is time to concentrate on the end of school, and getting my students passing before summer. The sun is shining, and the weather is beautiful. I hope your spring is going well.

Final Day at the Olympics

2010-04-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

We woke up early and checked out of the house we were staying at. We drove all the cars down to the Tech college to board buses to get up to Whistler. We only had 2 prepaid parking passes, so I rode with my brother Scott and parked in the residential area near the college. When we all met up, I had left my bus ticket in the car. Scott and I ran(literally) back to the car, and decided to try and park without a parking pass. It was no problem. We all got on the bus and rode to Whistler. We had tickets for the men's 30 km race. Half of the race was to be classic style the other half is free style.

As we walked through the gates, there was a group from Sweden in front of us that all went through but one man. His ticket did not check out. The ticket taker told him that the ticket purchased was for an event held in the next couple of days. The supervisor came over, and let the man join his party for the event. Man, I love Canadians.

We walked into the venue, welcomed by sunshine and a crowd. We found a spot on a slope overlooking the stadium.

We put our coats on the snow to sit on, and got comfortable. Scott and Daimon found that there were trails to get to other parts of the course. It took a while to get to the other side, and you had to cross a few bridges, but you had a different view of the race, right near the racers.

As the race began, Carrie, Scott and myself ran to the other end to watch the skiers. I returned after watching the skiers go by once. We all exchanged turns moving from the stadium to the other part of the course.

The race was incredible, but so was the weather. We watched the Swedish team finish first.The crowd was incredibly pleasant, and people were sliding down the slope with giant smiles on their faces. On our exit, a group of Swiss fans had brought the large alpine horns you see in Ricola commercials. We stuck around for a bit, had our photo taken and had an impromptu dance party on the snow.

The bus ride home was quiet except for a few hockey fans listening to a radio and cheering every once in a while. When we returned to the cars, we decided to meet up in Washington for dinner and part ways there. The border crossing was uneventful and we met up for a decent dining experience. That night Scott and Carrie took off for Montana while the rest of us stayed near Sea-Tac airport. I drove home by myself the next day after saying my goodbyes.

Day 5 (Feb 19)

2010-03-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

We woke up with some time to chat with family, and then Dad, Scott, Carrie, Gabe and I took off to catch a curling match. We followed a giant crowd and made it into the Curling Center. We sat in the smallest seats I have ever sat in. All of us were touching shoulders and hips, but it was still very polite with the people in the same row. None of my group was well versed on every rule, but the people around us were very polite ot answer our questions. The Canadians love their curling. We were able to watch China vs. Denmark, US vs. Russia, and Great Britain vs. Germany. The three games went on at the same time and the crowd would cheer for all three sheets at once. It was fun.

Scott and Carrie left part way through to catch a bus up to Whistler to watch the Skeleton. As the games progressed, China defeated Denmark 11-1 in a shortened match. They ruled the ice. Great Britain defeated Germany with 3 points in the 9th end, and the US -Russia match came down to the last throw. The crowd erupted when it left the skip's hand.

Dad, Gabe and I returned home to pick up Mom and travel downtown. Daimon and Kirsten were traveling to the curling center to watch the Men's afternoon match. We traveled downtown and immediately noticed that the crowd was larger. We hadn't been downtown since Wednesday, and the crowd was twice as big. Each line was 10-15 people longer at least, but it still was polite.

We walked to the Native pavilion and listened to music and looked at art. We also watched some preliminary skeleton races. As we continued to walk downtown, we decided to go back toward the flame. We walked through the edge of Gastown and toward Robsen Square. On our way we found a "Green Living" type booth. It had games to help teach about energy conservation as well as a dance floor that was powered from the dancers, and a tent with comfortable reclining lawn chairs with a big screen.

We watched some skeleton and then decided to walk to the library and wait for Daimon and Kirsten to come downtown.
We found our way back to the library and found our way back to the pub we were at the on Monday. We had some drinks and appetizers to help us watch speed skating, and hockey on the screens. We met up with Daimon and Kirsten and we thought about moving toward a LiveCity place for another concert and night cap with fireworks.
We decided that it wasn't worth standing in line for hours and one had already started turning people away. We then walked to Gastown to find food. We wandered the streets and found some more olympic shops and shopped for a bit. We eventually found a great deli and watched some ice dancing as we ate.

We walked back toward the flame. From there we made our way back to the Green living place with the comfy chairs. As the TV switched from ice dancing to skeleton, we also played some of the games and won blinking lanyards.

Mom and Dad finally decided to go home. We stuck around downtown to find fireworks. We made our way to the water and found a brewery tent. We watched the end of the days curling matches on TV and tipped our glasses with the locals.
We all walked toward downtown to finish the night. We saw a few fireworks, but also were shoulder to shoulder in a giant sea of people. We decided to try and catch a bus, but waited for 40 minutes. We then decided to walk toward our house, and each stop was full of people. After an hour or so we finally found a taxi to hail. All others were packed. It was an incredible amount of people trying to get downtown to party with the crowd. We got home and packed for an early departure. We had to get back to Whistler for a cross country ski race.

Day 4 (Feb 18)

2010-03-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

We woke up extremely early to drive to BCIT campus to catch a bus to the Biathlon Venue on Whistler. We drove across town in the dark of morning, with little traffic. It was nice to be crowd free for a bit. We got to the buses, and they gave out free coffee and hot chocolate in the parking lot. The bus ride was nice, and we got to watch the sun rise over the islands of the west coast. The riders mostly slept, read, and were in awe of the scenery.
We got off the bus and had to walk about a half mile up to the actual ski venue. The walk was nice, and they had a snow sculpture and bathrooms about halfway up. As we approached, it was obvious that Scandinavia enjoys their x-country skiing. There were tons of Norwegian flags. We found a place on the hill overlooking the stadium and stood behind a french crowd for the first race, the women's 15km individual.
We watched the race from our spot on the hill, as well as from a trail along the last corner.
Each skier started 30 seconds after the next. They would ski 5 km and then come in and take 5 shots. If they missed their targets, they lost one minute on their time.
We watched a skier from Norway run away with the race. The crowd was fun. There were German's with old army helmets, robes, mustaches, and eagles. There was a French man with a trumpet who had a suit made out of feathers. It was great.
Between the races, there was a musician on the hill singing, and our group went into a warming tent to eat our lunch. About an hour later, the Men's race started. Again, the Norwegians were the team to beat. Bjoerndalen, the godfather of biathlon, skied the race 2 minutes faster than any other but missed two shots. A man from Belarus did not miss a shot and was tied for first at the halfway point of his last lap and crossed the line tied for silver with Bjoerndalen. Norwegians went for gold and silver. It was pretty incredible to see the crowd shirtless and cheering for their country.

The bus ride home, I am pretty sure everyone slept. We got back to the cars and drove home. We met my brother and his wife who had arrived at 3am the night before. They went downtown during the day and described the crowds and lines. We then had our Christmas. Not all of us were together for the holiday, so we exchanged gifts and ate a great lasagna dinner. We watched the results from the day and enjoyed some family time.

Day 3 (Feb 17)

2010-03-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

Day three started with me and my sister getting up really early to get on a bus to catch a train to stand in line for Stephen T. Colbert. As we approached the stage, we saw that a line had started to form from the stage, going along the sidewalk to the science center. It did not appear that there were any barriers, but we were looking from above in the skytrain.
When we exited, we saw a couple of bobwheelers (bobsled on wheels)

and quite a few other characters. Our view of the stage at this point was obstructed by a hill. We were standing right in front of Science world, and the police asked us to be the corner as the line wrapped back around. We were, at the time, the furthest from the stage. As we arrived at our place in line, we stood for a bit and started chatting with the group around us. They had friends go off and get coffee as we shared stories of Colbert and discussed politics of Canada as well as USA. The coffee came back, and two of our new acquaintances decided to take a walk.

They returned after we had been standing in line for about 45 minutes and they announced that they were unsure WHY we were standing in line. There were no barriers, and seemingly, no organizers keeping order.

They were "just being good Canadians and creating order." They told us they would hold our place in line if we wanted to walk. Gabe and I walked to the top of the hill and noticed that there were maybe 3 volunteers, and no barriers. We went back to the line, but decided as a group that we would try and get closer.

As we stood on the hill, we saw a group dressed as polar bears with an anti-global warming message.

We decided that we should get a photo, and we moved closer to the stage. After we took our photo, we realized there was a crowd (25 people) around us. As we stood there, a guy on a bike asked if there was a reason we weren't closer. he then rode his bike to meet with volunteers in charge. They simply asked us to stay off the field. He rode back to a certain point, but stopped right below the hill. We all moved up to be near him.
A man then got on his cell phone and told his friend, "we are having a weird red-light, green-light game going with the volunteers." As they turned their backs we moved forward slightly, and then stop. AS we stood there, a truck pulled up and the volunteers began to unload traffic gates. They then set them up against the line on the sidewalk. I don't think it would happen in the US to see the barriers being put up after the lovely line formed.
Eventually a woman came over and announced to no one in particular, that "would you please get off the field, there is a line over there." The same man on the cell phone called his friend. "A woman came over and politely told us to get off the field, we were too polite to move, and she was too polite to tell us again." In about 10 more minutes, they opened the front of the line, and my sister and I ran to the front of the stage!!!

We were front row. We then stood there for 45 minutes getting to know the people around us. We got to watch the crew finish setting up the stage and watched a video about Stephen's ride to the olympics.

We then watched Michael Buble', Mike Eruzione, and Bob Costas be interviewed. I was the only USA chat starter in the crowd. During the Bob Costas interview you can hear my voice when Stephen asks if he is impartial or not. Pretty exciting.

We watched filming from 10 - 11:30. We then walked back to downtown and met up with the family. We ate sandwiches agian and then I went with Daimon and Kirsten to Granville Island, and my sister went with our parents to Stanley Park.

Granville Island is a small area that has a public market, and lots of specialty shops. During the olympics, there were lots of tents with food and drink and information. We wandered around and found a lot of different types of art. There was a crazy mime through a window, two welders dancing, an art studio in operation, and murals.

We walked around and shopped, found food, and listened to some music. We also found some tvs to watch the days events with a beer in our hand.

As the sun went down, we found our bus and went home. We had an early morning to catch a bus to the biathlon venue.

Day 2 (Feb 16)

2010-02-27T20:09:00.001-08:00

We started the day a little later then the first. We had tickets for a Finland-China women's hockey match in the evening. We decided our first stop should be the olympic store. The line had been rumored at being over 2 hours in the afternoon. We figured we could get there early enough to beat that rush. We stood in line for about 1 hour. Right about the time we were thinking we were at a standstill, my sister got out of line for a coffee. Almost as soon as she left, we were let in. We then watched her walk to the door and walk in, in front of all the patient shoppers in line. We stayed in the official store for about an hour and a half. We were also impressed at how quickly the store pumped people through the checkout line. All of the people in the store were polite as well. It was a different shopping experience.
When we finished shopping and headed toward the hockey stadium and the Saskatchewan pavilion. We looked for a bathroom and the nearest out of our sky train stop was in a mall in china town. The mall had a stage set up for Chinese new year, and we sat nearby and ate a quiet lunch.

We then headed outside to beautiful sunlight. We walked right by the hockey stadium just as a Canadian game was ready to be let in. The crowd was impressive. We then walked around the stadium and landed near Science World. They changed the Science world into Sochi world for the next Olympic games in Russia. We walked into the Saskatchewan tent and found a tv showing the games.

We watched the female snowboard cross in the tent. It was fun again to watch in a crowd. We then walked into the food and music tent. We weren't too impressed, but I did get my photo with some mounties.

As we exited, we saw the flags of the olympic village.

The security was pretty tight. They put up apartments for the athletes for the games, and they will sell to people after the games. We then found the stage where Colbert was filming the next morning. We then made our way to the train station and made our way out of downtown, back toward the University. We got on a bus and headed to the hockey game. As we approached the stadium, the crowd buzzed. We had to exit the bus a few block from the venue and walked. There were great volunteers the entire walk to tell us where to go.

We all had tickets but we were not sitting in the same places. I was in the highest seat on the edge of the side of the rink. I was sat next to a group of college students who came from Toronto for the game. They were great fans. They had their beers, they picked their teams and only yelled encouragement. In the US, if we had a drunk baseball crowd, I would only expect negative yelling and jeers at the ref or the players that do not play up to expectations. These guys( and girl) were true hockey fans and only cheered for a good game.
We watched Finland own the puck. They put 43 shots on goal to China's 5 for the game, but the score was 2-1. It was fun.

We then headed home. My brother, his wife and I decided to try and find a bar and watch some highlights. We found a nice little pub with a great burger and brew special. We ate and laughed until closing. I then headed home for an early morning getting ready for Colbert.

Olympics Day 1 (Feb 15)

2010-02-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

We were suppose to have tickets for snowboard cross on Monday, but the weather caused the organizers to cancel all standing room tickets. The only good that came of it was that we were able to sleep in and we explored downtown. My dad bought a ticket from Stub-hub and there was a ticket location in town that we went to see if we would get reimbursed. We walked to the bus stop from our rental house and Dad gave us all change for the bus. We rode into town and were marveling at the crowd and the city. It is always fun to get the first glimpses of cities from windows of vehicles, and it is even more dramatic to get the view as you cross a body of water. I enjoyed my introduction to Vancouver in the daylight. We stepped off the bus and the first thing we saw down the street, was the Olympic flame.

After a brief stop where we were told that Dad would get reimbursed, we headed for the cauldron. It was a nice day, but overcast. We took photos with the scattered crowd outside the fence surrounding the torch. We then walked through town to find cultural pavilions and be apart of the crowd. We headed to the Northwest territories and Inuit pavilion. This was our fist line. We stood in line for only about 5 minutes and were let in. Inside there was lots of art and tools of people that live in the great white North.

There was also a small stage set up where there were demonstrations of Native games to practice agility and pain tolerance.

After a brief lunch, we walked toward The Bay. This is the Hudson Bay Trading Company, the oldest company in Canada and the exclusive Olympic Store. There was a line. We walked into a side door without a line, and saw a sign for the international clothes on the fifth floor. We went up escalators and took us a minute to find the section, but were happy to see clothes for all the countries as well as some Canadian and Olympic shirts and souvenirs. We stood in line to check out and then headed to Robsen Square. This was the hot bed of activity for the city. There was a free zip line (five hour wait) that crossed downtown, as well as an ice skating rink that went under the street. We found a big screen TV opposite of some stairs. We sat and watched the Snowboard cross, disappointed we weren't there. This was our first opportunity to watch tv with a crowd. Anytime a Canadian athlete came on, the crowd became alive.

As we walked around we found a bobsled (known as a bobsleigh in Canada) and went to take a picture. A line formed, which is a very Canadian thing to do.

The politeness was outstanding. The bus drivers would ask politely for people to not get on the back door, or to please move back. If they told somebody to "please don't" it was always met by heartfelt "I'm sorry" and no bad feelings. This is quite a surprise, especially coming from teaching 15-17 year old teenagers who feel entitled to everything and when you ask them to do something they don't always agree with, you receive eye-rolls and complaints.

We then decided to walk toward a Downtown Livecity, a place that had live music, food, and other entertainment. On our way we found the library. We went in and found two small shops that had trinkets, pins, postcards, and some shirts for the Olympics. We also took part in an art project promoting peace. The art was to get a crowd to write individually the ways they find and promote peace, fold the paper into the shape of a maple seed and send it into an air tube which launches it into the air and then catches in a net.

We then grabbed a drink and apetizer from a pub attached to the library. We were in a tent watching more TV. The sun went down as we finished up and we walked toward Yaletown Livecity. It was a free concert venue. We walked by CBC studios and waved our arms in the background of a broadcast. We then found block of food tents and found some additional food stuff to satisfy our consumerism. As we got into livecity (through metal detectors and pat downs, very polite patdowns) and were just in time to watch the first gold medal won by a Canadian on home soil get put around his neck on the big screen tvs. The crowd went nuts. We then went through the different tents set up and saw the future of 3D television as well as played some computer games. As we were waiting for one line (shocking) I saw a sign that said, "U-S-eh?" So I asked to get a photo. The man asked if I would want an olympian in the photo. So I said sure. It was Erik Fisher, but I had no idea until last week.

Matisyahu took the stage and was great. We danced in the rain and were wearing down when the concert ended. They then began some fireworks and a water show. The created a sheet of water behind the stage and projected images from the olympics to music. It was pretty neat. We then headed home on a full bus to crash.

February 13 and 14th

2010-02-23T21:30:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, I went to school to tie up loose ends before my week in Canada, and then I went to the barber shop for a haircut. I left town around 4pm and drove up to Seattle to meet with family. i drove to Sea-Tac airport and met my parenst who drove from Montana the night before. i hadn't seen my parents since I left Montana in early July. It was great to be with them again. My dad and I then rode the hotel shuttle to the airport to meet my brother, his wife, and sister who were flying from DC that day.

We met them at the gate and headed back to the hotel.
I think it started at that point: we attracted looks at our noisy laughter and good fun. This would be a reoccurring theme on transportation around the next week. We had a happy reunion as I hadn't seen my siblings since the previous Christmas.
Valentines day started with my parents, brother and sister-in-law driving to Vancouver as my sister and I drove to north Seattle to visit some of her friends. We were trying to delay our arrival in Vancouver, because we told the people we were renting from that no more than 5 people would be in the house at a time.

My sister drove to Green Lake and met an old roomate of hers.
We ate breakfast while sharing stories, and then we walked around the lake. It was a beautiful "spring" day. It was one of the first days of brilliant sunshine as well. We then walked back to the breakfast place and met another set of my sister's friends. We ate lunch and then, back around the lake we went. The park was beautiful, and there were a ton of people.

There was also lots of free hugs. We were all a little skeptical at first, but then we gave in and took hugs around the lake. Happy Valentine's day.

My sister dropped her friend off at her place and began to walk through a farmer's market. It was more of a artisans market with a bunch of vintage tee-shirts and trinkets. We also found an antique-ish shop that sold used items form the 70's in great shape. I found a couple of state maps from the 50's which had great graphics.

We then started our trek north. We made it to the border around 7pm and handed our passports to the officer at the gate. We were asked to get out, and have our car searched. My sister and I were questioned separately and after about 10 minutes, we were able to go. It might have been a good thing we stopped. In the customs office, the TV was showing men's moguls. We were able to watch Andrew Bilodeau earn Canada's first gold medal. I don't know if we would have had another opportunity (this sentence is suppose to have a sarcastic tone. For the first three days, ALL tvs had a clip of the bumpy skiing guy and his victory).

We arrived outside our beautiful rental home and we all had a great dinner. We watched some Olympics, and were preparing to wake up early, when we found out our snowboard cross tickets were canceled due to lack of snow in the viewing area. We would go downtown in the morning anyway and try and get refunds.

Olympic short update

2010-02-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

When I get back, I will put together a daily journal.

I have taken pictures with an olympian, although I have no idea what his name is. I was on CBC as waving hands in the background. I also took part in the first of two Stephen Colbert tapings downtown Vancouver. I love the town of Vancouver, and Canadians are super polite. It will be sad to leave. I am going to wake up tomorrow early to get to Whistler to watch Biathlon. It is a wonderful thing to be sharing space with so many nationalities in a peaceful competition.

Cheers.

End of Semester 1

2010-02-06T23:09:00.001-08:00

I am now over half way through my third year as a high school science teacher. There are always pros and cons in any job, and I am still finding many more positives where I am at. This year, I feel, like I am doing the best work and actually teaching well. I know what makes a successful lesson and what doesn't but I am still fine tuning the balancing act of grading, planning, meeting, volunteering, communicating with parents, and of course, classroom instruction.
I feel very fortunate that I am in a school with so many young teachers, but also, young teachers that are inspired in their work. I also love working with co-workers that have the same teaching philosophy as I do.
I feel some times as if I am an alternative ed teacher. I have homeless students, students with parole officers, students who have been abused, students with minor and severe disabilities, as well as students who have substance abuse problems. I really do enjoy my job and ffeel that I am teaching students to be better citizens more than I am teaching them science (at least my sophomores). The first half of this year I had 95 sophomores. My students earned 2 "A's" and 33 "F's." That is over 1/3 of all my sophomores. This means that I am pretty much guaranteed to teach another section next year for juniors or seniors who did not pass the first time through. I am currently teaching two sections of "retakes" with 9 and 20 students respectively. Next year, I know those numbers will go up.
The biggest issue with my students is not that they aren't smart, they can understand what I say. They may not be bale to turn on their critical thinking skills when I expect it, but the biggest issue is work ethic. Homework doesn't give them enough satisfaction. In class, they know if they tell a joke they will get a quick and positive response of a classmates laugh. They do not see the reason for working on a project from start to finish, or how effort translates into positive reactions from their teachers or how it has positive effects on their grades.
Part of where I think education is broken, is that when we were bringing our numbers forward of the failed students, we were asked how did we cover our bases with our parents. While I think this is important and if we had dropped the ball I would expect to be held accountable. However, when we bring up our concerns there is no answer given to us about what we can do. When I was in school (and granted I am a special case with 14 in my graduating class) there would have been a minority of students that had poor grades, or items of concern. If I spent as much time as I should communicating with parents when students do not show up, forget an assignment or underperform, or misbehave, there would be no time for any other tasks.
There is no perfect answer. One of the best solutions would be to lower class sizes. We would need to hire new teachers to offer more sections of the same classes. If not more classes, at least we need more resources for students who need an extra boost. Whether it is a classroom aide to help with skills or language, a substance abuse counselor, food, a school nurse, or any other type of support, we just don't have them in our district. With budget cuts in every school district in our state, there is not much hope in this front. The other issue is that we are being run like a business. Schools are not there for profit. If they were, a lot of things would be different, and many of my students would have been "fired."
For all of the disgust in this rant, I will say I love my job because of the great moments with students and the discussions and passion of my co-workers. If I was surrounded by a different mindset or different personnel, I could see me getting jaded quickly and giving up. I don't feel this way at all. I also work with students privileged enough that they need very little support in high school and have the ability to help other students. I look forward to the second half of this year.

Washer and Dryer

2010-01-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I went to price washers and dryers. As I walked through the aisles, a man walked over and told me he had just taken down the special sales signs, but they still apply until close. I found a high efficiency washer and dryer that were 50% off. They must have been a good sale. He told me he had sold more than ever before. I bought a brand new washer and dryer for under $1000. The sales man said it may be 2 weeks before the free delivery. I said thanks.
2 weeks later, I called, and they said it may have to be another two weeks, but it should be before the new year. I called again, they said they were backed up and won't deliver until the end of January. I finally got a call that said they would deliver it on Saturday morning. I woke up early to clean up a little bit and get ready for the call. The call came at 3:00 pm.
They showed up around 3:45 and put the washer in without a problem. They went to install the dryer, and they found the outlet didn't match the cord I purchased. They went up and down from my apt. to their truck bringing cord after cord, but it did not match. They called their boss, I will have to talk to my apartment manager to try and get a new outlet. So needless to say, I have been paying to do laundry at a laundromat for the last two months, even though I had already shelled out for a washer and dryer, and I STILL can't dry any clothes if I want to wash them. It is truly frustrating. I am worried the outlet is not wired for the dryer I have, even though it uses lower energy than most.

One good thing is they barely scuffed the front of my washer when they installed it, so they are giving me an extra 10% off. Maybe that will be enough to pay for an electrician to come in and swap an outlet.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T20:23:00.001-08:00

This is the first Christmas I haven't been with family. I have had time for reflection and relaxation this break. School got out Friday the 18th. I have bought myself lots of toys to play with. I now have a Wii with a few games. It has kept me busy for sure. I did go Snowshoeing on the 23rd with a co-worker who was waiting for family to show up.

My family has been very good about calling and making sure I am good. I have talked to my family at home who I miss, and they miss me.

One of the best things I did, was to go running on Christmas eve. I put my ipod in with a mix of holiday songs and ran around the neighborhoods of Mac looking at lights. The best part was actually running around dinner time and watching families gather. Each house that had a picture window, gave me a brief snap shot of that family's holiday tradition. I ran by houses that smelled of turkey, ham, lamb, and laundry. I watched laughter, dinner, grace, and games. I ran by carolers, runners, after meal walkers, and lots of holiday lights.

I am sitting now in my apartment under the glow of my tree, watching holiday specials, enjoying a holiday brew, and smiling with the warm thoughts that have been shared by friends and families. Merry Christmas.

H1N1

2009-10-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Our school has been hit hard by the artist formerly known as swine flu. We had 500 students absent one day (out of 1800) and rumors abound that they will cancel school. We have had half of the students in multiple classes absent, so it is difficult to teach when you don't know when the students will make it up, and you will have to reteach everything again to half the students. It is a new challenge for many of us at the high school. I am sick, but I don't feel queasy or feverish. I am weak though.

Fall has certainly arrived. I bought a light for my bike and now I am riding everywhere. I am loving it. I have ridden through the rain, wind, and falling leaves. Today is a beautiful fall day. I am going to relax and catch up on some grading before I watch the beavers play the Trojans.

School has begun

2009-10-15T21:22:00.001-07:00

School started the first of September. I am teaching astronomy, earth systems, and physical science. I am loving it. I have some students for the third year (which is how long I have been teaching). I have my own classroom for the first time as well. I have volunteered to be an adviser and data specialist for a group in charge of positive behavior systems at the school. I am also an adviser for LINK crew which helps freshman bridge the gap between middle school and high school. I started ultimate frisbee club again for this year, and I tutor after school 2 days a week. I don't have time to grade papers, but I love what I do. I have been running since my foot has healed. I went to physical therapy for a few weeks and strengthened my foot, legs and abs along the way.
I have been riding my bike to school most days but I do ride my car when I can't carry all my supplies. Tonight I played frisbee, and then drove home. I went back for volleyball decided I should just run. It felt good. I may start running to school every once in a while.
I bought tickets to three Oregon State games. I watched them beat Portland State, Stanford and I have tickets for Halloween against UCLA. Marie and I are going to a ballet tomorrow. I have started playing bluegrass with a couple of friends (banjo, guitar, mandolin).
Life is busy, but I am living well.

Rouge River

2009-09-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

When I returned to Oregon, I had x-rays taken (they were negative) and went on a 4 night river trip down the Rogue River with 13 other people. Two were teachers at the high school, the rest were their spouses, their friends and siblings. We put in at above Grave Creek and took out at Foster Bar. We had 5 boats: 3 rafts with oars and 1 passenger (room for 6) an inflatable kayak (1) and a paddle raft for 7. I was in the paddle raft. We had 6 people that had never been on the river and 1 who was our rudder.
The first day had a few small rapids and then Rainy Falls. Danger Dave, one of our leaders, had decided he would run the main chute of the falls for the first time. We got out of the boats and spotted with other rafters. We watched a few people go over the falls and then our party tried our hand. There were 3 routes, a fish ladder, a middle chute and the main falls. Two boats went middle chute with no problem, then the paddle raft tried. They approached slowly and got taken into some rocks where they were stranded for about 5 minutes. It seemed like forever. They finally ended up getting out of the boat (not recommended) and pushed off the rocks. They then entered the chute and somehow got pushed sideways in the middle and wedged the boat stuck in the middle of some falls. We knew that if they had the problems, Danger would get through easily. Danger's run was flawless.
We found a campsite big enough for two parties of 14. We shared our space with another big party. We both had our own sleeping area and kitchens, but shared bathrooms. We watched part of the meteor shower that night as a camp group.
The next day we stayed at the same campground and spent the day hiking, reading, swimming, etc. That night as Marie and I were at the river, I spotted some river otters. Rick, a member of our party who is most similar to Bear Gryls, swam up and interacted with the Mom and the two babies. It was pretty crazy.
The next day was the calmest day on the river. At one point there was a place to swim through rapids. I chose to stay in the boat, but next year I will go. There was some fun water but nothing two difficult. At one point toward the end of the day, I was able to rudder the paddle raft. I have been in canoes before but never in charge of a paddle raft. We stopped on a very rocky beach and my foot could not handle it. It was extremely painful. Everyone on the trip was great about me having a hurt foot. I felt like a free loader. I did not have to carry any heavy objects, and many times I was able to rest when other work was to be done. Next year I will be the pack mule I can tell. That night as people were playing cards, fishing, and snacking, a mother bear and two small cubs walked by the other side of the river. It was awesome. They stood on a rock posing for pictures before disappearing into the grass.
The next day, we had to try and go quickly to claim a camp site. We had our biggest rapids of the trip as well with a place called Blossom Bar. At the begining of our day, the first rapid we got into, we hit a rock and Jeff and I were both dumped into the water. I lost my sunglasses, my hat, and a paddle. We quickly got back into the boat and pulled to the side to see if we could find the paddle. As we waited, my hat floated by. It was about a foot under the water. Angela and I both dove in after it and recovered it. My sunglasses were gone.
We stopped at a lodge and waited for some of our other boats to catch up. While there we found out that our paddle was recovered. We all went down through an amazing canyon and had some incredible rock walls on either side. We then hit blossom bar. All of the boats made it through with no problems. At that point, I was able to play rudder again. It was great. We found our final campsite. It had a great beach, and nearby was a natural water slide. It took a pretty good hike to the top to get to the waterfall. I was feeling pretty good, so I made the hike putting the least amount of pressure on my foot as I could. It was a good workout.
The slide was incredible. It looked like there was an overhang that if you didn't duck, you would smash your skull against a ton of rock. You didn't have much time to think either, it was pretty steep. I was able to climp up to the top, using just a rope and walking up a rock wall. That was the part I was most nervous about. I made it down the hill as well, but very slowly. That night there was much celebration with wine and gin and tonics. We played cards, went swimming, and the likes. The most fun, however, was that when we arrived at camp, a 20lb salmon carcass was on the other side of the river. We saw a golden eagle swoop down, stand on the carcass and rip some flesh from it. Then two crows and 9 turkey vultures came to stake their claim. It took about 3 hours for the vultures to actually get to the carcass. To wake up some of our compadres, I yelled at their tent, "hey bear!!" At that moment a bear came around the corner and went for the carcass. Luckily it was on the othe side of the river. We watched it grab the carcass and move into the woods. A while later another bear came by and went to where the bear disapeared and we were able to hear a little of their scuffle. It was the greatest nature documentary I had ever seen. As we were going to bed, we heard a splash in the river. We all grabbed headlamps and scanned the water, thinking a bear would venture across into our camp. Luckily it was only a duck (we think). The last day on our way out, we had lots of Gin and tonic left. We filled Nalgenes and other bottles full. By the end of the morning, we had strapped the boats together and were all experiencing happiness from the drink. Our drive home was uneventful, except the car sickness mixed with a hang over. Youch.

Photos

Aug 4-8

2009-09-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

I flew back to Denver and was picked up by my cousin Kim. She drove me back to Rhonda's house and my car. I stayed one last night in Denver and left early the next day for Dinosaur National Monument. The drive from Denver through Northern Colorado to Vernal Utah was one of the most gorgeous geology I have ever seen.

I had my foot wrapped before I left Denver and wore the Ace bandage for a couple of days. I stopped in to the fossil quarry visitor center and found out the quarry building was closed due to the ground moving and making the structure unstable. I found a campsite in Green river Campground and decided to get some food from Vernal. I set up camp and then drove into town (mostly I needed cash to pay for the site). I played guitar when I got back and hit went to sleep early.
I was the first one up in the morning and drove to a cabin at the end of the road.

I then stopped at Petroglyphs on the way back toward the quarry. The only fossils visible were on a 3/4 of a mile walk. I would have hiked it easily, except that I had a foot issue. I took a shuttle to the top and limped downhill. Families with little kids were flying by me. It was a little disheartening.

After I got my fill of fossils, I drove to Boise. I had a little stroke of luck. Every year I had been in Boise, I was there for college spring break. Some of my friends had left after college, but there was a wedding and everyone was in town! I stayed there two nights and drove back to Oregon on the 8th.

Dublin August 3

2009-09-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Scott and I woke up early and boarded a bus to Dublin. We stopped again in Limerick. DIRTIEST BATHROOM EVER! I walked in looking for a stall. There were 4: two of which did not have a seat, one had half a seat, and the one I chose was nasty. I came out hoping to be hepatitis free. We got into Dublin at 3pm and I was hobbling around with my pack on. We went to a burger joint to eat. We watched part of a gaelic football match with Dublin and Kilkenny. Kilkenny was kicking butt. Scott and I walked to a statue, and decided I would wait there and he could run back and get bus info to the airport. We were looking to catch a bus to the airport at about 4 am. Scott returned and we wandered around the streets of Dublin. The host at the hostel that Scott went to get info, gave us lots of ideas for touring the town. We went to Trinity college from O'connell street to Westmoreland. We passed some professional street performers and an obvious tourist area. We arrived at Trinity college and walked through the big gates.

We walked around to find the bookstore. In the book store there is a museum which contains the oldest bound book in the world; the book of Kells. It was a very nice display and the book was incredible.
We then left through the hall of the oldest books at the university. This room was very impressive, and I am dissapointed we couldn't have explored more. As we stepped back into the bookstore we were told it was closing time and had to exit. This became a theme in Dublin.
We left the college and walked to St. Stephen's's Green. We walked through the beautiful park and then tried to walk to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

It began to rain right before we arrived. We stopped in the entry way, and the woman watching the doors asked us if we were staying for the service. We both said no, as the choir rushed through the rain into the cathedral. We started to walk around the corner, and it began to pour hard. I told Scott, maybe we should sit through a service. He agreed. We went back and the choir had begun. We went in for an evensong. We tried to walk quietly to the back, but our shoes squeaked quite loudly. At the end, the guard told us that we had made her day with our squeaky shoes. When ever I am in a cathedral, all I want is a large choir to sing. It was a very beautiful moment. We sat and stood through the 45 minute service. As the choir sang in Latin, Scott and I sat in silent reverence exploring the archetecture and statues with our eyes. At the end of the service we were able to look around for a brief while. We then were asked to leave as the building was closing. We exited to the garden behind, where St. Patrick baptized his followers. We decided to see the other cathedral, the Church of Ireland cathedral, it was closed. Castle of Dublin, closed. Most of the tourist shops were closed and we decided to find some Bangers and mash. We found a small restaurant called Gruel. It reminded me very much of a small restaurant that would be in Portland. The food was phenomenal. We then walked around looking for souveniers. We found a couple shops that were open. I bought a knock-off Irish soccer jersey. We then closed that place down. We walked and found the statue of Molly Malone

and decided to find a pub. We walked around the temple bar area, and were dissapointed by how touristy they were. We decided to wander across the river. We walked (I hobbled) down the street and found a nice bar with candles on the walls. It was the cheapest pint in town. The best thing about Ireland is that Guiness is the cheapest pint there is. Harps is 40 euro cent more. When the dark beer is cheapest,... I am happiest. It was funny to watch the rich Irishmen drink Budwieser from the bottle thinking they were posh.

After a pint, we decided to find a band. We walked back the route we came and found an upstairs bar with a band. It was the first non-traditional band we saw in Ireland. The lead singer specialized in American Folk and Blues. They played many songs, some originals, some by Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, etc. It was awesome. We again, closed the place down. We wandered to another bar, had a pint, closed it down. We were then directed from each door to another to try and find an open pub. We finally found a night club that was open. Downstairs there were blacklights and a DJ. The crowd was very diverse. It was the people who loved electronica and dressing up, tourists looking for the last open bar, and locals who were looking for the last open bar. We stayed there until about 3. We were walking out and had a girl comment about how good lookin' the tourists were. I gave her a kiss on her cheek for her birthday. We then were walking back toward the bus stop and met a group of teachers from DC looking for the party to continue. We all commented about how sad it was that all the bars had closed. Scott and I waited for the bus and finally rode to the airport.
In the airport, Scott boarded early, I tried to get my boarding pass, but they wouldn't let me get it untill 3 hours before my flight. I flew out at 10. We talked for a bit then Scott went through his gate at around 5. I paced the airport for a few hours trying to stay awake and ate something from every vendor. I finally did take a photo as the morning sun came up. I flew out and slept well on the airplane. Ireland was incredible and I would go back in a second.

Kilarney

2009-09-06T13:46:00.001-07:00

We ate breakfast and caught the bus early out of Fossa.

We talked with a German duo that were going to hike the Ring of Kerry for the next few days. We got off the bus and checked into our hostel for the night and left our luggage there. Then we went to rent bikes. My ankle was hurt, but it only hurt if I rolled my toes. I figured I could ride a bike if I put the pedal on my arch or heel. Luckily I was right. We found a hostel that rented bikes. The man was insistent that we return them before 6 or "my wife will have my balls."
He showed us quickly on a map how to ride around a lake in the National Park and see some neat sights. We took off toward the park and decided we were on the wrong path. We found the sister bike shop to where we rented and the man showed us again on a map where we should go. We started off in the nice cool, moist morning and rode most of the way around the park. We saw some ruins, lots of great plants and great views of a lake.

It was fun. The majority of people in the park were riding bikes or in horse drawn carriages.
We rode around and found a bridge and took a photo right before the rains broke loose.

Part of the trail is on the main road. Scott decided we should ride up the rode toward the mountains. We rode up the hill on the two rental bikes for a lot longer than anyone on the bikes should. We rode up to a mini pass with a chapel at the top. As we approached (again with large grins) two bicyclists with packs, road bikes, and helmets, were staring at us with "are you kidding me" type looks. I like to think we impressed people, but I think we just confused them.

We then rode back down and stopped along the way to take some photos. We ate our apples for lunch while cars drove by looking at our bikes then looking at us in wonder. We rode back down hill to a waterfall(my memory card was full) and we met up with the Germans from the morning. They told us that they were lost in the trails of the park. We showed them the correct way out. Then Scott and I discussed how it should be easy to get back. We rode through the park and found ourselves running into fences and trying a new trail, then finding a fence. We finally figured out, we left the falls on a walking trail and needed to return. We finally found a trail to the Muckross house. It was beautiful. We did not go in, because it cost money, but we looked in the window. It seemed to me like Mt. Vernon, with artifacts of different eras.

We then rode down the trail to an old abbey. It was dated back to 1550. It was a monastery. We wandered around and explored old stone staircases, and it was incredible. Very neat old building to explore.

We then rode our bikes to the Ross Castle. At this point, whenever we stopped, our butts hurt and our legs were tired. It took some effort to get started again. We rode to the castle and then around an old mining trail. It was a nice ride.
We decided to ride to the Cathedral and then relax for a bit. The cathedral was smaller than Galway's but it was still beautiful.

There were great stories about the bishops and the architecture.
We then delivered the bikes back at about 4:00 and then went to our hostel. We showered and changed into dry clothes, and then decided to find food and a pub with music. We went to a sports pub and watched some Gaelic football and I had a shepard's pie. We then found a nice little band with accordians and guitars. We headed back to the hostel (with take out fries in hand) and played a couple of hands of cribbage. We decided to pull an all nighter in Dublin the next day, so we went to bed.

To Fossa

2009-09-06T13:30:00.001-07:00

Scott and I boarded the bus early in the morning Aug 1 and drove toward Kilarney. We had a slight layover in Limerick. The bus station in Limerick was small but very busy. We arrived in Kilarney and decided to go upstairs for a meal. We were basically in a mall with a bus station on the end. The bus driver arrived early and told us we would have time to look around. When we returned for the bus, it had gone. We now had to wait a couple hours for the next bus out of town. Scott at this point, was dissapointed that I was injured. With two hours in a new town, the best option is to walk and explore. I was in no shape. I told him to go ahead. As I read in the bus station, Scott found a market, a place to rent bikes, our hostel for the next night, and a basic understanding for the layout of the city. A nice woman sat by us and talked with us when Scott returned and it was pretty much our first interaction with a local other than someone we were doing business with. We finally boarded the bus and drove a few miles out to Fossa. We got off at our hostel which was on a major highway with nothing else really around. We noticed the awesome land scape to the south.

The highest mountains in the country are near Kilarney as well as the largest National Park. Across the road from our hostel was a little souvenier shop filled with over priced and upscale sweaters and clothing.
Our hostel also was a campground. The last two we stayed at, were treated as a home away from home, a chance to mix with others, and a warm place to live for a day. This one was all business. We had to pay deposit on the keys, the man wasn't there 24 hour, internet was charged by the hour, the kitchen was very sterile and industrial. We decided to stay in and write some postcards and read. We did stop next door at a small convenience store and bought some pasta, wine, and pain killers.

We made a nice pasta dinner and decided to walk around the campground. It was basically for RVs, but they also had public showers, a game room with pool table and arcade, and a small take out restaurant. The arcade room had a claw game with plush dolls in it. I looked and thought they were the most unattractive prize ever.

I then recognized them as characters from BBC Comedies. Not my favorite.
After wine and some pain killers, we decided we could walk down the road and find a pub. Scott and I slowly moved down the highway and found a great little liquor store with bar. We had a pint and a shot of Jameson Whiskey. We decided to check the next bar down for music and then go home. We walked in and there was a guitar and us. It was great. We sat at the bar and ordered black and tans. The bartender was not sure what it was, so we described them. I was surprised, until a man asked for a soda and a glass of ice, and Rachael asked him, when handing him a soda and a glass of ice, " Like this?" She was very pretty.

We sat at the pub and delved deep into life, relationships, growing up, and the future. It was the best conversation I had had with Scott in a long time. I then hobbled back to the hostel (Scott walked) and we went to bed.

Current post

2009-09-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

The hike we did happened on July 31. Today is Sept. 2. My foot stayed swollen for 3 weeks and painful for 4. I just got finished with my 3 physical therapy treatment. I was feeling good, but the last exercise still sent pain through my foot. I have been taped and iced everyday so far I have gone. August has been a long month.

THE BURREN!

2009-09-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

When people ask me what was most memorable about Ireland, it was a day. Scott and I had to catch the 8:45 bus. We made oatmeal and mixed in peanut butter and jam for breakfast. We drank tea as we made our sandwiches for lunch. We each made 2 sandwiches and packed along bananas and an apple apiece. As we were preparing, Scott told me to look at the map on the wall of the hostel. "Try and memorize this," I believe I can quote Scott telling me.

We knew the bus would take us to the Blackhead lighthouse, we were to walk to a ring fort, find a cairn and then make it to the first peak, hike the saddle to the next and then make our way down to the green road that will take us back to Doolin. Karl recommended hiking to a coastal pub or Ballyvaughn and waiting for a bus there. Scott and I said,...noway. We are going to hike the entire 16 miles.
We climbed on the bus, each of us with shoes, shorts, rain coat, hat, cameras, and Scott had a small pack for our lunch and water. We told the driver Blackhead, and he said ok, but reminded us that no bus came back through there; we knew.
We were dropped off at the lighthouse. Before he let us exit, the driver, in a tone that expressed concern, asked if we had a map. Scott simply without blinking said, "It was explained to us." The driver reiterated, find a fort, a cairn and then the peak. We smilingly exited and waved.

We were alone. The was no village nearby, only donkeys with their tales to the driving rain.

We exited into a rain shower. The wind was blowing fairly strong and the rain was almost stinging. We were loving it! We ran up some rocks smiling the whole time. THIS is what we were looking for. A month earlier Scott asked me if I wanted to join him for 6 days in Ireland, I said yes. He told me he wanted to drink beer and walk through the country side. We were doing it.

We started following a grass lane, and knew we had to go up. We crossed a fence and found what we thought was the ring fort. It was actually neolithic ruins. We kept hiking up and across the hillside. The hike was beautiful. We saw the ocean, farms, fields, and stone. We were in a place called the Burren. It is characterized by rocks sticking out of green grass... Lots and lots of rocks.

We finally saw a small cairn and thought we should just go straight up from there.

We came over a small knoll and saw the fort. It was awesome.

I could see that it would be a great lookout on the hillside, for land and sea. At that point, the rain started coming pretty hard. We looked up and it appeared we were going to hike up cliffs.

As we hiked closer, it was apparent that the cliffs had lots of places to walk up.
We got to the "summit" of the first "mountain" fairly quickly. We were both surprised. On top, the wind was whipping our clothing and we were shouting to try and understand each other. We finally made our way, behind a cairn and laughed. I told Scott, "At least we won't see anybody else today. Nobody would be having as much fun as we are!"

We made our way through the saddle and up the other hill. As we approached the top of that one, there was no shelter. I looked out and saw a man hiking. He was followed by a group. We decided to hike to them. We started crossing on slick rocks and grass. We made jokes about twisting ankles. As we approached, the man came over and told us he was a tour guide for 15 dutch hikers.

He joked that we were experiencing a great winter storm. He told us how to go down and we parted ways. Scott and I started walking toward the next fence to cross. Somewhere on the top, my foot slid into a hole, my toe went between rocks, and I walked through my ankle, hyperextending my foot. I felt as if I had just twisted my ankle.

We kept walking, as the storm was fairly nasty (meanwhile we were laughing the whole time) until we found some trees. We were headed down the hill right into somones yard. We were trespessing to we decided to avoid their yard by walking through their shelterbelt. We found lots of briars and Scott put his legs knee deep into a mud puddle, MUD puddle. His first reaction was," s^&$! that was my only pair of shoes for this trip!"

We made it to the road and found our "green road" that was to take us home. It was also called the Burren Way. We stopped there and ate our first sandwich.
We started hiking up the road. My foot was doing ok, but I could tell it was going to be sore. I figured we had about 7km left on the hike(we had almost 20 km left). We hiked along an area basically between farmers pastures that was assigned as a hiking trail. We saw old cemeterys, corrals, and stone fences. We passed a place with pipes that sang in the wind.
We finally made it to a paved road and hiked along it for a while. My foot went from being painful in the front, to the back, to the side, etc. I kept changing my walking motion to correct for the pain. We were still making it back at a fairly good pace.
We hit another fork in the road and decided to take a left. I am not sure if we would have made it back to the right (I was voting left here and at the next place we turned). The left simply took us around a castle.

We then took a right turn at the next fork. At this point my foot was killing me and we were 5 km from Doolin. We then hit the last fork at 3km away. I felt a pop in my foot and had to stop for a while. I limped the last mile and a half and it took longer than the initial 5 miles to the peaks(or so it felt). Scott limped me into the hostel and then went to find me ice. I don't know what I would have done without Scott. I took a shower and sat by the fire. It was still raining hard and wasn't a very warm day. I sat at the fire and iced my foot. It was about 4:30 pm. Other guests checked in and looked at me in my pitiful state.

A woman from Australia and one from Canada talked with us for a while and Scott also secured a place for us to stay the next couple of days in Kilarney. That night I wanted to hear music, so I hobbled to the nearest pub (one block away) and sat at the bar. We heard an accordian and guitar that night. Thank you Scott for being patient with me. We went back and played some cribbage. That night we packed and I limped around the hostel. We caught the bus early the next day to go to Kilarney. It was a great day.

More Doolin Photos

2009-09-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

To Doolin

2009-09-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

Scott and I woke early and took a fairly empty bus to Doolin. We went through Ballyvaughn and Lisdoonvarna which were two of my favorite words to say on the trip. As we neared our stop I was preparing to get off and unstrapped my camera from around my neck. I got off and left it on my bus seat. I realized it when I was getting the tour of our hostel. Our host, Karl, was extremely helpful and called the bus as we stood there and arranged for a pick up as the bus came back through. Karl, by the way was the best hostel host ever. We stayed at the Aillie River Hostel, which was incredible. The kitchen was busy 24/7 it seemed and there was always people lounging about sharing stories and games. I think part of it was that Doolin was a small village and tourists were more apt to stay at the hostel than to try and explore a large town.
As we got there, and settled in, we asked Karl how to get to the Cliffs of Moher. One reason for our stay. He sat and drew us a map and described the walk to us. We walked out and waited for the bus and got my camera before we left for our hike. The day gave us brilliant sunshine and we took advantage of it.

We started on a road out of town and to a pasture. From there we hopped a fence and walked close to the water. We stayed near the water until the trail turned to look at an abandoned settlement. It was left during the potato famine.

We then walked along the cliffs the whole way. Along the cliffs there was a waterfall that didn't fall. It came over the cliff and was immediately blown back onto land. We saw a sea cave full of sea foam. The hike only became more and more exciting as we neared the cliffs. There was one point where the trail was a foot wide between fence post and a 300ft drop to the sea. The walk started at basically sea level and climbed to over 400 ft above the Atlantic. We were able to take all of the photographs that were on postcards.

Scott and I approached the visitors center and realized we would have to hop the fence. You are suppose to enter at a certain checkpoint and pay an entrance fee(if driving, after an 8 euro parking fee). We hopped the fence near many tourists and walked to castle that was at the top. We then ate a sandwich we had packed from our free breakfast in Galway and walked around the area. If you tour the way you are suppose to, you only get one view of the cliffs and you need to work your way above a giant fence to do so.
We hiked back along the road and saw some great local sights.

We found a jam shop and bought some delicious raspberry spread. We also found a small resataurant. We ate fries and drank beer. It was great.
We made our way back to the hostel and decided to sit for a bit. We knew the next day we wanted to hike the Burren and asked Karl what his favorite walks were. He showed us on a map where we should go. We rested and then went out to buy food. We toured the village and found a music shop, a small grocery store and 5 pubs. We bought some pb and bread, some oatmeal and a couple of bananas and apples.
We read for a bit at the hostel and decided to get dinner out at a pub. We walked down the road and stopped at the last pub we could find. I ordered an Irish Stew with Guinness sauce and Scott had fish and chips. It was delicious. We decided to wander while we waited for music to start. We found a very neat old cemetery just out of town. We searched for names of relatives (Carr, Higgins, Cahill and Donahue) but only found Griffin which was the Surname of in-laws.
We went back and saw a little band who had an accordion, a banjo, drum and guitar. We drank some more beer and ordered more fries. When we finished our fare, we walked down to the next pub. There a fiddler and a guitar were just taking a break. We continued our walk and found Fitzpatricks. There was two flutes and guitar playing.

They were decent. After a while we decided to head back to the hostel. We used the FREE internet(only place we stayed at that offered this) and checked the bus schedule and our email.

To Galway

2009-08-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

My cousin Kim drove me to the airport early on the 28th and I flew to Cedar Rapids, IA. It was small, but I think Great Falls is still smaller. I was there for 3 hours before a flight to Chicago. To fly international you need to leave the gates and go through security again. I got through in the nick of time and then was on my way to Dublin. I knew it was a 7 hour flight, and I landed at 8 am the next day. It was my only chance for sleep. What did I do? I watched the two movies on the plane and then cat napped my way in.

I got in at 8. It took until 9:15 to get through customs and immigration. My brother was suppose to come in at 10:00, so I tried to stay awake until then. I paced around, and finally slept near a bus schedule. Scott came in at the right time and flew threw customs. He came out at a different gate than I expected so it was good he decided to look for me before he went to the main terminal. We met up and got bus tickets, took some cash out of an ATM, and boarded a bus to Galway. We were awake through the city and for about 5 minutes on the open road, then we both slept almost to Galway (approx. 3 hours).

We left the bus station, and walked a few blocks to our hostel. We checked in, took showers, and were ready to hit the town. Scott had spent the last few years in Jamaica with the Peace Corps, so he was excited to travel, but he was not about to spend money he didn't have to. Thank godness. We walked around Eyre square, and found a crepe place for lunch. We then walked through the town stopping when we saw a good photo or when it rained.

We explored the Cathedral, walked out on a pier to the lighthouse, and then up a hill and found a cemetery and St. Augustine's well. We decided to go back to the hostel for a rest and then try and go out on the town.

We were in Galway during the Galway races, much like the kentucky derby back home. The place was packed. We finally found a bar that we could sit down in, and watched part of a hurling match on TV. Another TV was turned up REALLY loud on a nature documentary and the sound of crickets was being piped through the pub at unreasonalbe volumes. A man walked over and turned the power off to the cheers of his mates, but an old man stood up and threatened to throw a punch. The old man was calm once the young guy turned the tube back on, but I was, in the back of my mind, hoping for an Irish brawl. Could you imagine, the first night and a drunk Irishman got in a fight? I don't like stereotypes, but that would have been a story.

We turned in after one or two beers.

We were tired and sore and one guiness was enough for a buzz. We slept well, despite our roomates coming in at 3:15am and talking about their mis-attempts at scoring that night. We were awake early the next morning and the hostel had a breakfast ready for us. I was disappointed because breakfast at all the hostels meant toast and jam and cereal and milk. I can't have cereal with milk, so I was stuck with toast and jam.

It was fine because it was free. We then boarded a bus and were on our way to Doolin.

Kansas

2009-08-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

I drove to Manhattan Kansas the next day to see my friend Brandon. I met his wife to be, Lisa, and his best man as we picked up my tux. We then drove to the reception site and looked around and then to Lisa's house. I set up my tent in their back yard and they fed us a great bbq. That night we created the centerpieces and welcomed Brandon's sister in later.

The next day as all the others in the bridal party were coming in, we decorated the reception hall. It was fun. That night all of us went to Aggieville in Manhattan and danced and drank for the bachelor party. We had friends from all over the US and had a great time catching up. We drove back to the hotel and slept preparing for the big day.

On the day of the wedding we dressed at the church and took pictures before hand. The wedding was beautiful in a small Lutheran church in Wheaton. After the wedding, the bridal party boarded a bus and drove around taking pictures and relaxing. We then eventually made our way to the reception.

It was a great dance and we all had lots of fun. That night we also went swimming until about 3 am. I sweat a lot. During the dance I took off my bow tie and set it on a table. I forgot to get it, but the mother of the bride picked it up. The next day, I met up with her and she told me I dropped my bowtie in something, it was soaking wet. I told her that, no, I was sweating and it soaked the tie. She absolutely wouldn't believe that it was only sweat.

I dropped my buddy Nick off at the Kansas City airport the next day and was able to cross into Missouri to add another state to my road trip. I drove back across Kansas and only was able to get to Hays before I was ready to stop. I rented a hotel room and stayed there. The next day I drove to Aurora again, and stopped into the local library to check my email and look at my travel plans to Ireland. That night was my aunt Lillian's birthday. I went over to her house for dinner and met up with my other cousin Kim and her two kids. It was fun to see them again and play games and celebrate Lillian's birthday.
The next day, Kim drove me to the airport to leave for the emerald isle.

On to the next...

2009-08-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

I drove to Billings on the 21st and stayed with my aunt Mary. I had seen her at the reunion but was nice to spend time with her. For dinner she had five nuns from China and a nun from New York staying with her. We ate a great stir fry and had a house full of laughter. I sat and talked with Mary about my family history and showed her some of my work on an online family tree.
I then went and visited my cousin Daniel and had a great conversation. I stayed with my aunt that night and the next morning discussed traveling in Ireland. She had been there twice before and was able to give me some ideas for site seeing.

I drove to Aurora Colorado the next day, and on the way visited with my cousin Grant in Buffalo, WY. He was working at the newspaper where he is a reporter. We ate lunch and he showed me some fun spots around the town.
I continued to Colorado and missed getting into a severe thunderstorm by a few miles. I hit some rain but missed the large wind and hail. I stopped in and stayed a night with my cousin Ronda, who I hadn't seen in 8 years. It was great catching up and sharing family stories with her. We promised to spend more time together and get the cousins on our side together more. I then was off to Kansas for a friends wedding.

Thank God I'm a country boy

2009-08-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

When I returned to the farm, my aunt Veronica and uncle Bart were still around. We spent a night talking family and life. It was fun to see them. The next day I spent a day wandering around the hills in our pasture looking for rocks. I found great examples of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. I found some interesting sandstone layers and think I may have found small fossils in the layer. I saved many rocks for hand specimens in my classroom.
The next day I stayed home as Mom and Dad went to work. I continued playing with ancestry stuff on the computer and was bored in the evening
so I walked to Antelope butte from our house. It was probably about a five mile hike or more, but I really enjoyed the walk with our dog Molly. I saw hawks, deer, rabbits, and lots of meadowlarks.
The next day I decided I was going to run to my uncle's house. It has always been a goal of mine. He lives about 12 miles away. I went to his house for lunch because I was trying to find places to stay later in my travels and our internet went down. I ate great chicken dinner from aunt Jerri and then walked out to the reservoir and our families grave site. I drove home and hydrated for my big run. At about 6:45 I took off with a camel back, two cliff bars and a powerade on my back. I ran about 4 miles and started feeling my heart beat and began to worry. I drank some water and walked for a bit, and calmed down. At 6 miles I stopped and rested for a bit. I ran 2 more miles and began getting sore. I had blisters on my feet and a sore knee. I knew I needed to keep going and luckily my uncle ran from his house to meet me and met me at about mile 9. I ran the rest of the way with him and his dog Otis. It was great. I ran the 12 miles in one hour and forty-five minutes.
The next day my knee hurt, but I played 18 holes of golf with my friends Owen and Allyn and loved my day in the sun.

I then drove to my friend Nick's baby shower at his farm. I stayed there until 1 am spending time with neighbors and friends.

On Sunday, my parents and I were going to float the river but the wind was blowing really hard. Mom decided to go to church and told Dad and I to go by ourselves.

We borrowed a kayak from my aunt Jerri and another from our neighbors. We drove up to Carter to put in and I strapped 2 water bottles to the back of my kayak. We put in and I tipped not 50 feet into the river. The man watching us would have told us to take out immediately. I floated a little farther and tipped again. I told my Dad to take my water bottles and I stayed up for almost the rest of the few hour trip. I realized the kayak was too small. I couldn't fit my knees into the boat and they were touching the whole time. It really worked my ab muscles and balancing muscles. My mom came and picked us up and we enjoyed a root beer float at the tasty freeze.

The next day, my last day at the farm, I hiked square butte with my uncle.

We left at 9:30 and got to the top at 11:30am. We walked around the top for 6 more hours, before going home. I loved the few days home and all the energy I was able to exert. I saw lots of my home town area and loved it.

Bozeman

2009-08-18T22:29:00.001-07:00

I drove from Butte to Bozeman to visit some high school friends and see the museum of the Rockies. I had been when I was in 4th grade, but I don't remember much. The first night I was there, I stayed with my friend Taylor, who was a camp counselor with me in high school, and caught up on all our friends. I went bowling with her brother and his girlfriend, Katie, who I also counseled with.

We had a great time telling stories and laughing about the past. The next day, I went to the museum with Taylor. I remembered it being bigger, but I still enjoyed it. There were displays about the old west with Montana history and a great display of native artifacts. Then came the hall of the thunder lizards. For those of you who don't know, I love dinosaurs. I have been obsessed pretty much since 2nd grade. I loved the bones, and learning about the excavation process.

There are great displays of Triceretops, T-rex, and anklyosaurs. I was a huge fan. The next day I caught up with my buddy Matt over lunch and then drove back to the farm.

National Folk Festival

2009-08-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

The National Folk Festival was incredible. It made the weekend better to share it with friends and family, but I would have enjoyed it regardless. It was held in Butte on a hill over many city blocks. There were 5 stages and such variety in the music. The first band I watched was "The Spirit of New York" on the main stage. The main stage is under an old mining rig. I had quite the time just people watching in the crowd and enjoying the music. My cousins and I saw Otrov
which played Baltic strings, a 16 year old madolin player named Sierra Hull and her band, and finished the night dancing to Thomas Mupfumo on the lowest stage. The lower stage is the only one with a dance floor.

The next day we came when the festival opened to do the square dancing. It was amazing to see 200 people getting swung around, from ages of 8-80, and they all had the biggest grins on their faces that you would ever see. My cousins and I joined in and enjoyed learning all the moves. That day was a mix of international music from China, Columbia, Mexico, as well as some rockin' blues and finishing the night with a amazing creole band, Beausoleil, at the dancing stage.

There are all kinds of artisans as well who use a variety of the resources of Montana in their art. We also watched a black smith for a while fashion some amazing iron work. The type of people at the event were a variety of what I call "dress like a liberal." If you weren't wearing khaki shorts and chacos, you were in the minority. It was 3 beautiful days with diversity and fun. The only downside was there was no public water spigot, you had to buy it. I walked away from the festival and stole into local shops and used their soda dispenser water spouts unoticed.