Fall 2012 Road Trips Part 3 - Family Time in Oregon

Can it really, once again, be so long since I last updated my blog?  In part (other than pure procrastination and laziness) I think it’s because I was so busy the week and a half after I visited my church.  The reason my dad and I went on our road trip in the first place was because we were going to help my aunt and uncles pack up my grandparents’ house in eastern Oregon before the house closed around October 22^nd.  So the next 8 days I helped my aunt and uncles (and Dad!) go around the house, decide what each family wanted to keep, and what to do with the rest of the furniture and belongings around the house and the sheds outside.  We basically had a week or two to clean out the house of everything before the buyers of the house moved in – quite a feat!  Family heirlooms, furniture, kitchen goods, books, scrap metal, tires; things to go on Craigslist, things to go to Habitat for Humanity.  In the middle of it all, one of my uncles went to Portland to see a doctor about some heart problems, and ended up having quadruple bypass heart surgery the next day!  (the surgery was successful, and he is now on the road to recovery).  So we ended up packing up his room and belongings too, and storing them at different friend’s places.  My aunt and uncle from Alaska had just moved back to Oregon, and they brought their three dogs with them – two pom-poms and a bigger fuzzy dog (forgive me Aunt Dona, I don’t remember what breed Rowdy is!).  It was so much fun helping my aunt take care of those dogs, and I think everyone enjoyed having them around.

What a week – at long last, at noon on the 8^th day, we had the house clean, valuable possessions packed, and we said goodbyes to eachother.  It was the first time I had seen these aunts and uncles for 3-4 years, and it was delightful to hang out with them, and work alongside them.  Nice, fun, sarcastic Ratzlaffs!  At the same time, it was sad to know that it would be the last time I would visit my grandparents’ house as I remembered it (the new owners will probably make a lot of changes) – so many happy memories associated with that beautiful place!  A particularly good moment during this week was when Dad and I walked around downtown LaGrande while his car was getting tuned up – used bookstores, old buildings, good company – moments like that just don’t happen very often

After we left my grandparents’ home, Dad and I drove to Boise, where my grandparents now live with my aunt and uncle there.  My grandmother has dementia and can no longer move around without help, so my aunt graciously decided to care for her.  When my grandfather realized that his wife required full time care, and would never be able to move back home to Oregon, he too moved in with my  aunt and uncle to be with his wife.  It was so lovely to see everyone in Boise too.  My grandmother never did remember who I was, but she is a happy, cheerful person with dementia.  My grandfather, at 90, is (to me) still going strong except for his hearing, and I think he is happy to just be able to spend time with my grandmother. 

After taking five days to get to my grandparents’ house (road tripping along the way), it took my dad and me two days to get back home, driving straight through Nevada and Arizona.  It was an amazing trip and my dad and I got along fabulously.  We both hope that maybe someday we could do a road trip together again. 

Fall 2012 Road Trips: Part 2 - The Oregon Coast and My Church

After leaving Grant's Pass, Dad and I drove over to the Oregon Coast and drove that up to Lincoln City.  Along the way we had clam chowder at Mo's (yum!!).  Then we found a place to go out to the beach, where we walked around, saw birds, ate blackberries, and sometimes avoided getting wet.  Before Lincoln City we stopped by a glassblower's shop and  watched a guy make a glass lampshade from a ball of glass - pretty cool stuff.  Then we visited the beach one more time before heading back inland. 

Arizonans like the ocean. Seriously. 

After the coast our next goal was to visit my church, Grace and Truth Ministries!  We were offered a place to stay with one of the deacons and his wife in their lovely home, which overlooks a small forested valley.  We then drove to the church, which is occupies the entire basement floor of a bank building in Salem.  I got to meet several congregation members, and was reacquainted with several of whom I hadn't met in several years - including the pastor!  It was amazing to attend a prayer meeting, then a Bible class, and then a potluck dinner with my right pastor-teacher and congregation.  Everyone was funny and friendly and welcoming - I would be okay, even with the crummy weather, to get a job in the Salem area to no longer be an internet congregation member.  The next day Dad and I had breakfast with the pastor, his daughter, and one of the congregation members at a fine restaurant called Taters before leaving for my grandparents' place on the other side of the state.  It was a fine beginning to our visit to Oregon. 

Photos from my San Francisco Trips

Photos from most of my Road Trip with Dad

Fall 2012 Road Trips - Part 1

Has it really only been a week since I last posted?  It seems like so much has happened already since the Sequoia Kings job ended.  After leaving the park I spent the next few days with my friends in Marysville – a wonderful relaxing time with good friends, good food, and comfortable home (and a cat!).  These are friends from church who I had been writing all summer, and it was delightful to see them again and hang out.

One of the days we spontaneously decided to take a day trip to San Francisco and met up with another friend, Eric, who currently lives and works in San Fran.  We walked around Pier 39 – saw the sea lions, had some chocolate, had some ice cream, and went into an art gallery of Rodney Lough Jr. – it was an awesome day.

My sister flew into Sacramento, and after picking her up, we began the drive back to Tucson.  We drove to Flagstaff the first night (and stayed with a friend there), and visited the Grand Canyon for a few hours the next day before driving home.  It was Aimee’s first time to the Grand Canyon, which I can’t scoff at, because May was the first time I had been there!  We also saw elk on our drive out, which was cool – my first time seeing elk in AZ!

I had two days home before leaving town again.  Day 1 was spent sleeping in and never actually leaving my apartment.  My Siamese cat spent the whole day sleeping next to me while I did computer stuff, tv stuff, etc.  I think she forgave me for being gone!  Day 2 was spent doing errands – car emissions, bridesmaid dress fitting, etc. – before driving to my parents’ house to see them and my black cat.  Kimi (the black cat) did not seem to recognize me, but I did manage to get her to purr eventually.  I think it will take some time when I am finally home for good before she realizes that I am “her person” again. 

On Sunday Dad and I left for Oregon, by way of California (at my request).  On the first day we made it to Tehachapi.  Yesterday we made it to San Francisco to visit Eric again.  We made it to his place before he got off from work, so Dad and I walked to the beach (the ultimate draw for any Arizonan), and then down a Chinatown-like street, where the restaurants had cooked ducks, which the heads still attached, hanging in front of the windows, and where grocery stores sell 4 large avocados for $1, two cauliflower heads for $1, and the meat and fish section has a remarkable selection. 

Once Eric got off work, he showed us a bit of the town, taking us to the Haight Ashbury District for dinner and to the Ghirardelli store for dessert.  We then walked to see where Eric works (near Fisherman’s Wharf) before taking the bus back to his place – quite fun!  Today we briefly visited the Golden Gate Bridge before saying goodbye to Eric and parting ways.

Dad and I then drove to Marysville to see my friends there (again!), and then continued on to Grant’s Pass, Oregon, where we are tonight.  I think Dad is tired of the driving, but he enjoyed seeing San Francisco (Eric is an awesome tour guide) as well as seeing our friends in Marysville, so at least there is that! 

My camera is in the car – I will try and post photos tomorrow. 

Last Days at Sequoia Kings

Sean and I drove back around to the west side on Thursday and met up with Mary and Christi (who had also hiked back to the west side to get her car) at the office.  The rest of Thursday and all of Friday was spent cleaning gear (pot and pan sets, water filters, wader boots, stoves), patching waders, returning checked out gear (backpacks, sleeping bags, tents), and flagging anything wrong with any gear (ripped rain flies anyone?).  We also trooped around administration to pay for our dorm stay, close our internet accounts, etc. 

I won’t say too much about it, but our end of the season performance appraisals were also on Friday, and I got a very good review, as well as a “Hat’s Off” award for doing a good job this season.   It was really, really neat.

One of the last “tasks” of the job was to take the waders deemed too holey to be usable anymore and make “waderhosen” out of them for the wilderness department party Friday night (fyi, this was our idea and done not on company time; not an actual task given by the Park Service).  We then wore our waderhosen (pronounced vader-hosen) at the party – much to the bemused amusement of the party’s attendees.   

We had grilled tri-tip, chicken, five or so different salads, and desserts galore – the perfect way to end the season.  I also got to say goodbye to my favorite rangers – Dario, Rick, and Myrth, who were also present. 

And then, my second season at Sequoia Kings National Park was over. 

Pinchot Demobilization

Photos from the Pinchot Demobe

From Road’s End to Wood’s Creek is 15.1 miles.  From Wood’s Creek to Pinchot Pass is 7.7 miles.  From Pinchot Pass to Bench Lake Ranger Station is 3.5 miles.  Total = 26.3 miles.  You start at 8:00am and end around 8:00pm.  The best part is when you arrive at camp and have some friendly hikers already having dinner there, so getting in after hiking a marathon is broken up by some good company.  And the next day you are tired, but really not that sore.  Not too shabby.

We stayed at what is known as the Bench Lake Ranger Station, which is really just a collection of bear boxes next to a large wooden platform where the canvas-tent ranger station used to be set up.  The best part is the picnic table, completely unexpected and unnecessary in the backcountry, but totally welcome.  The lakes near the ranger station are known as the Pinchot lakes, because the pass close to them is Pinchot Pass. 

There is one lake with gill nets at Pinchot, and Mary had been to it once.  We promptly lost our way to it on our first day of work, and had some wandering before it was found again.  J  Of all the lakes I’ve been in, Pinchot was the deepest and perhaps the coldest (the wind didn’t help any).  In two days time, Mary and I pulled out all the nets, mended what was necessary, set winter nets, dried out all the nets to be stored, inventoried quite a bit, drew a new map of the lake, and cleaned all the dishes from the season (apparently no one cleaned their dishes at the site!).  An additional, unexpected, task at the site was that we needed to collect 15 live fish from a nearby lake, euthanize them, wrap them in foil, and do a lot of labeling, for a mercury study that some researcher is doing.  This task led to one of our days being a 12 hour day (and I am quite good at euthanizing fish with a sharp blow of a rock). 

It was so nice to work with Mary again, even if just for a few days.  It was just like last year, where we worked together really well, usually with little need for either of us to say what needed to be done, in camp or for work, because we were both already in understanding of what should be done, and when, and how.  We also had some pretty cool spiritual conversations, as well as times of companionable silence.  I simply love working with Mary – what a treat!  What an awesome person, and an awesome friend!

After our helicopter took our gear away, Mary hiked back out to the west side to get her car, while I hiked out to the east side (9 miles downhill – quite the slog), where Sean picked me up in my car and we had dinner at the Still Life Café one last time – fancy French food: roasted pork over pasta with caramelized onions with a fine house salad.  So, so good. 

Trail's End Party

For the first time in recent frog crew memory, our weekend off fell on the same weekend as “Trail’s End” – the big end-of-the-season party that trail crew throws each year. 

After this weekend, I was slated to demobe another site, Bench Lake (or Pinchot), with Mary – my field partner from last year – while Christi was going to Demobe Center Basin with Sean.  The rest of our crew had to leave to go back to school.  The trailhead to Bench Lake on the east side is Taboose, which starts at 6,000ft elevation and goes up to 11,300ft in 9 fun filled miles.  To get there from the west side (where the party was) starts at 5000ft and goes up to 12,130ft in 23 miles (and then 3 more miles downhill to the camp).  After much discussion and thought, Mary and I decided to drive around to the west side to attend the party and hike in from the west side to Bench Lake.

The party was fun.  All of the trail crew people I knew were there (which is quite a few at this point!) as were numerous people from other divisions.  Frog crew made an impressive showing, with all of its female members attending, as well as our boss Isaac and his girlfriend Stephanie.  There was a fire pit that pork was roasted in, there was a cross cut saw competition, an impromptu pull-up competition, mud wrestling, a dance floor, and much good food to enjoy.  More of an experience than anything else.  

The mud wrestling pit is getting prepped.

Kyle and Greg from the Rae Lakes crew compete in the cross cut saw competition.  The officiator, Tim from cabin crew, is on top of the log.