road trip home

I've been home for two days now, but I have been super super busy trying to get ready to go to a wedding and to Ecuador. It's been quite overwhelming.

The road trip to Colorado was lovely, and I am so glad I had a great travel companion! We took the scenic route along the 242 to stop at the observatory.

The observatory is in the middle of a lava field, and mountains rise from the horizon on either side. Below you can see a window in the observatory looking out to Mt. Washington.

Looking out at the sisters.

We drove to Colorado Springs to drop of the car. We were there for a night, so I threw a potluck together at the last minute. I got to see a few friends, which was very nice especially before going abroad. We stayed with my friend Natalie at the "deuce," an off-campus house that is known for its partying ways. Needless to say, my mother was a bit grossed out by the house, but we washed her sheets!

So now I'm home, and I have been so busy running around doing errands, seeing doctors, and adjusting to an over-stimulated life outside of the forest. Tomorrow, I leave for a wedding. The next day, to Crystal Lake. And on August 16th, ECUADOR!! I haven't posted anything yet, but here is the URL of my next blog: http://spsecuador.blogspot.com

Thanks so much for reading! I've really had a great time writing this and sharing with you!

Over and out.

i will miss these woods

Now, before I get all sentimental on my last night at the Andrews I need to tell you about what I had for dinner last night. Fish fajitas. Not just any fish...sockeye salmon. Delicious. Best idea I've ever had. Ever.

Homemade whole wheat tortillas, sockeye, peppers, onions, avocado, pesto, goat cheese. BOOM, you gotta try this

...and it was Erik's 21st birthday!!

...and we had another teeth-brushing party...

Today, I went out into the field to take down some flagging I had put up a few weeks ago while I was bush beating. It was so nice to get out of the apartment/computer lab where I've been cooped up for the past weeks working on stats and my project.

Wow. Lucky me to work in such a beautiful place! This is a spectacular view of the sisters from the 350 road.

Tomorrow, I am picking my mother up in Eugene, and we are starting the drive to Colorado. While I am beyond excited to see her, the rest of my family, and my friends, I am also quite sad to leave this beautiful place and the wonderful people I've met here. Endings are always bittersweet, aren't they?

Oh! I forgot to share that I had a video conference call on Wednesday with Mark and a bunch of important people at OSU who were interested in the results of my project. The group asked me a bunch of questions, and I answered them to the very best of my ability. I also got a lot of great feedback about what they were most interested in, which will help me decide which of the 25 graphs I made I should include in my final report. It was definitely intimidating to talk to the higher ups, but it was also nice to know that I had done them a service by doing this work, and it feels good to know that they will take my recommendations and ideas into consideration.

At this point, I'm just finishing editing my final report. Then I have to add the graphs, and formatting that should be a total nightmare...eeek! I probably should be done with the whole shebang by now, but I'm not. And that's all I have to say about that.

crater lake

Let me preface this post by a side note...

The entire time I've been in Oregon (9 full weeks now), I've known I wanted to go to Crater Lake. I put it on my must-do list the day I got here. To help build suspense, Ari has not let me see one single picture of Crater Lake. Not when Cristiana went, and not when Ethan and Andrew went. I was banned from all Crater Lake photo-viewing. Of course, I had seen maps of the area, and I had a general idea of what it looked like. BUT IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT ohhhh me o my, how beautiful it was indeed!

Also, before you look at the photos, consider if you would like to remain a Crater Lake virgin yourself. Of course, the photos don't even begin to do it justice, but keep in mind: once you look, you can't go back....

PREPARE YOURSELF

ARE YOU SURE??

Wizard Island--check out that reflection! owwww owww have you ever seen anything so magical???

Which way is up?! Clouds are reflected perfectly in the water.

Wizard Island again

Me and the Wizard

There's still a lot of snow at Crater Lake. Unfortunately, all of the hiking trails were still covered.

So we woke up at 4 AM (yes, AM) this morning to watch the sun rise over Crater Lake. We made pancakes at the overlook, as we were swarmed by some of the nastiest mosquitoes I have come across. WOW WHAT A BEAUTY OF A SUNRISE!!!

The Wizard in all of its glory

The sun, just peeking over the rim of the lake.

`

Ari, master of the wisperlite pancake

We topped our flapjacks with Molly's quad-berry jam...yummma nummmaa

We began the drive to the Umpqua Hot Springs (north of Crater Lake). We stopped at a few waterfalls along the way that were really majestic. The mosquitoes were terrible! I don't even remember it being this bad when I was in Costa Rica! But, I find that the less you swat at them, the less they buzz at you. Mind over matter, right? Right...

The mosquitoes kept getting in the car whenever the door opened. So, once the car started moving at a decent speed, we would roll down all of the windows and do a "mosquito flush" and swat them all out of the car.

And so begins my last week in the woods! I had to say goodbye to Ari today when we parted ways in Eugene. She is visiting family in California this week, so she'll miss the awesome meals I have planned (sockeye salmon, salads galore, pizza...). I hope that I meet at least some of my HJA pals again someday!

Believe it or not, I still have work to do! I have to make a couple of graphs, wrap up my report, and have a conference call with a bunch of important people to talk about what I have found, and about what I think should be done in the future. Cool, but a tiny bit intimidating....

But great things lie ahead! I am driving back to Colorado soon with my mama. And I am in the midst of planning a potluck for the night I am there! I'm very excited to be with old friends that I haven't seen in a while, and won't see for a long time.

pizza night

I've been chipping away at my final report. Even though I'm feeling overwhelmed by the statistical tests and amount of writing I have to do, I'm sure I can finish in time. As of today, 10 more days here! I can't believe how the time has flown by, especially in these last weeks. While I'm really excited to see my family and move on to the next adventure, I'll be sad to leave this beautiful spot and all of the friends I've made.

We had a pizza party for dinner last night with our neighbors. I made the dough with basil, garlic and pine nuts. I also made a dessert pizza crust with some brown sugar and pecans.Amy prepping her pizza
Dessert pizza #1: banana, apple, peanut butter, chocolate
Dessert Pizza #2: glaze, plum, peach, blueberry

Jessica prepping dessert pizza

And that's all I have for now!

weekend magic

Oregon Country Fair was this past weekend. It's a three-day event in Veneta, OR, though I only went on Saturday. It was truly a celebration of people, art, music, life, etc. Everything at the fairgrounds is handmade. The booths are made of wood, and the stages are beautiful and unique. It is a very exclusive group of vendors that returns every year. There are no new vendors because the spots are all handed down within the families.

It was a marvelous time.

pirates on stilts

A parade on one of the many twists and turns of the fair's paths.

hand puppets

lots of dancing

elephant revival on the main stage. great show!

the official peach entrance

bubble magic with tom noddy--he made a cube bubble!

And the food was absolutely delicious!

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The Oregon Coast

After the fair, we drove west to the coast and north a ways and camped near the beach. The next day, we went hiking and looking around. What a beautiful place!

Heceta Head

The view from Cape Perpetua

I have three more weeks left here, and I have a lot to do!

rockabye baby, from the treetop

A bunch of us (bird crew, Ari, Vera, and I) went over to Rob's (tree climber) house. He lives in Blue River in the old gas station. We had a nice BBQ--Ari and I made bison burgers and cookies...

There were rumors that we might get the chance to climb and sleep in the trees in Rob's backyard. So, of course, we brought along all of our gear just in case.

GOOD THING!!

Getting ready for the climb! 10 people slept in one tree!!

Climbing up the tree! Eyes closed because camera flash hurt!

Ari and I had to share a tree boat, and this wasn't the most comfortable of situations, but it was totally worth the pain of strained hips/knees and dead legs to sleep up in the canopy.

Apparently, I emit my nervous energy by laughing/giggling, so the whole time I was getting set up in the tree, I couldn't stop giggling to myself. Just FYI, you are strapped in the entire night!

The stars were marvelous, and somewhere along the way, I drifted off. I woke up with the birds when the sun began to rise. So beautiful!

I woke up in the tree (thank goodness), but my pillow fell out of the boat in the night!

Vera and April also shared a boat. They were all smiles in the morning...until we all had to pee. (You can pee in the tree into a Nalgene if necessary)

Rob handing out coffee--that's a good view of the boats.

Rob, tree climber extraordinaire

Ari

The descent. Surreal.

seattle

I went up to Seattle for the holiday weekend to visit Eric (CC pal I drove out west with) and his family. It was a long journey, but totally worth it. I was feeling a bit burnt out at the forest after 6 weeks, and being with a family in a home somehow always makes me feel better--especially when I am missing my own home and family like crazy.

I got a ride to Portland with Ari and her friend Chelsea, who were going backpacking in Washington with another friend. Then I took the Amtrak to Seattle.

The Puget Sound from the Amtrak

I took it easy in Seattle: I went on a few runs, watched Women's World Cup, played Wii, and tagged along chores etc. We went to Boom City on the Indian Reservation to buy fireworks. It was a strange, strange place--like a farmer's market, but for every kind of firework imaginable.

I am also probably the luckiest guest ever in their household: I have had Steve's famous lemon pie twice now! It's amazing. If you think you have had really good lemon meringue pie, you're wrong. Because this is the best. No question about it.

I took the train back to Portland on the 4th, and met up with Ari and Chelsea. They got banana splits after a long weekend in the backcountry.

Then we all hopped in the car, and headed to Corvallis to spend the night at Ari's house. The Portland fireworks kaboom-ed as we drove away, and we watched in the rearview mirror.

I am switching gears this week in the forest. Instead of continuing with my high frequency sampling, I am working on a little bush-beating project to see how that method of insect sampling compares to leaf-turning sampling. I'll say more about this later. I also have to start doing a lot more work on my main project. I have about a block's worth of time left here, so I'm not too stressed, but I definitely have a lot to do...