Hey All!!!
I finally made it home for the holidays...not without complication, of course. ; )
Give me a couple days, and there will be updates and pictures (and possibly videos) galore!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Chainsaw Training
And the fun begins! I am proud to say that I have now successfully operated a chainsaw without chopping off any of my, or any bystander's, limbs. Infact, I can actually take a chainsaw apart and put it back together in working condition! I can name over 20 parts on the beast as well. :) Myself, my teamleader Coli, and my teammate Lindsay, are the only ones allowed on our team to operate our chainsaw, since we were the only three trained. I'm kinda pumped.
Day one of training was incredibly painstaking. Especially being the morning after Halloween, a much celebrated holiday for Americorps members. It was a full ten hour day of sitting in a classroom. It felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone at times, as the instructor ran on and on about "the bad monkey cage"...still not sure what that was all about. Oh yeah...I just remembered that I already wrote about this. Oh well.
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| I think this is called the "pie cut." The tree will fall towards us. |
The morning consisted of taking chainsaws apart and then putting it back together again. The afternoon consisted of each of us taking turns to saw small clumps of brush down. We learned some technique and just got comfortable holding the dangerous thing. It wasn't has heavy as I expected. To end the day, we watched the main trainer fell a tree. I hoped that the next day would bring some felling (cutting a tree down) or at least some bucking (chopping up an already downed log).
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| We used the smallest on in the back of the photo. |
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| Brain, the main chainsaw instructor. |
Unfortunately, this was not the case. Day three consisted of sitting around. I held the chainsaw once but only for pictures sake. The picture a total fraud, fyi. (I didn't take any actual action pics the first day because I forgot my camera.) The entire morning we talked about and watched the technique of the main trainer felling a tree again. Then we split into groups (40 people split up into 3 groups) with 2 1/2 working chainsaws.
Yep. 2 1/2 working chainsaws. Our group got the 1/2. What this means is that it would start and stop quite frequently. First, the faceplate fell off. Then the chain and bar. We actually got a video of this. Then we wondered if it ran out of gas...nope. It was the spark plug that kept falling off. We tried to fix it and then lost the bar nut somewhere in the wilderness. The duct tape from the back of my boots was utilized without success at one point. Right. The design or our particular chainsaw was meant for cutting limbs high up in a tree (landscaping), not working on the forest floor, so we blame that...at least partially.
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| The chainsaw stopped working. |
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| The chainsaw started working. |
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| Now we're trying to fix the chainsaw... It had stopped working again, go figure. |
The best part of the third day was actually the ride there. We took a more efficient route there as to avoid the cheerful mountain men with their roadrage and stopped at a different gas station/grocery store to wait for our host. Once again, we had over an hour of downtime. This time because of rush hour traffic? Eitherway, I actually have no complaints, because in my opinion, this was the most beautfiul part of California I have seen yet. I'm not entirely sure where we were, but the pictures speak for themselves. If only they could capture what it actually looked like!  |
| Lindsay and I |
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| Coli (our team leader), Lindsay and I |
Random Addition:
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Our super-sweet raingear for Catalina. It smells bad and makes me itch. |
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Chainsaw Training
Lecture:
So today was the first of three days of chainsaw training. I absorbed two interesting things: 1) Chainsaws are very dangerous. 2) For the next two days I will be chopping down trees, practicing how to deal with malfunctioning chainsaws, and learning how to properly maintain a chainsaw. All of this will take place in the mountains. And I really mean in the mountains... If I understand this correctly, the area that we will be working in didn't receive landlines for telephones until a year or so ago. I have a feeling I will meet some interesting individuals! I can't even imagine.
Until today, however, I didn't realize how dull sitting in a classroom learning about chainsaws could possibly be. This is why the following story was created. It may or may not have been written during the presentation...as a future teacher, I can't let myself admit to being a bad student and not paying my utmost attention though. In the event that this story was written during training, it is likely that my teammate sitting next to me and I would write a chunk each, leaving the other person to add the next line. (The gray lines were written by my teammate.)
The Story:
Once upon a time there was a barn owl. And this barn owl had a hidden power that nobody knew about! Late at night, when the moon was high in the sky, this owl could turn his feathers into scales. The moon would cast a silvery light onto his wings and his whole body would transform into a shimmery blue gale. Every night he would return to his favorite pond to swim with his under water friends. But the real reason this owl continued to swim was because of a special lady blue gale. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She had eyes as green as emeralds, gills as delicate as lace, and fins as strong and graceful as a dove's wings.
The first time he ventured into the water, she was swimming so wonderfully she looked like a leaf blowing in the wind. When they first locked eyes he felt such a rush that he hardly remembered to breathe. The bubbles in the water seemed to sparkle more than ever before as they danced up to the surface of the pond. Even the muted glow of the fireflies not far above matched the warmth in his heart. This bliss was cut short, however, when all of the sudden a worm abruptly dropped into the lake and grabbed her attention. During the day the owl would watch people fishing on the lake in the cold and crisp mornings. He tried to warn her but her ambition exceeded his speed. She went for the worm and was scooped from the lake along with his heart.
This is where his journey begins.
With lightening speed he leapt out of the water and took flight. His scales returned to feathers and little droplets of water fell back to the earth. Never had this little barn owl been so twisted in anguish. He watched in horror as the fisherwomen (changin up the gender roles/stereotypes) grabbed his princess from the water and tossed her in a bucket full of water. He needed a plan. This scared, lovesick barn owl was circling the scene and letting out distracted "who's" when an idea suddenly hit him.
He decided he would follow their boat and try to be caught by the same boat. There was a little bit of time before sunrise, and he just had to do it to save his girl. Hope began to rise when the engine started slowing down and the fisherladies grabbed their poles. As the owl ferociously (sp?) dove deep into the cool water he knew not only that he was changing into a fish, but he was changing into a creature in love. (haha, that's golden!)
He swam with all his might, dodging kelp and sleepy salmon, bursting through schools of minnows and crabby crayfish. At last he saw the boat.
...And that his where our story currently leaves off. If we pick it back up, we have a slight plan for the ending. I don't want to spoil the fun, however, so I will leave it up to your information for now.
So today was the first of three days of chainsaw training. I absorbed two interesting things: 1) Chainsaws are very dangerous. 2) For the next two days I will be chopping down trees, practicing how to deal with malfunctioning chainsaws, and learning how to properly maintain a chainsaw. All of this will take place in the mountains. And I really mean in the mountains... If I understand this correctly, the area that we will be working in didn't receive landlines for telephones until a year or so ago. I have a feeling I will meet some interesting individuals! I can't even imagine.
Until today, however, I didn't realize how dull sitting in a classroom learning about chainsaws could possibly be. This is why the following story was created. It may or may not have been written during the presentation...as a future teacher, I can't let myself admit to being a bad student and not paying my utmost attention though. In the event that this story was written during training, it is likely that my teammate sitting next to me and I would write a chunk each, leaving the other person to add the next line. (The gray lines were written by my teammate.)
The Story:
Once upon a time there was a barn owl. And this barn owl had a hidden power that nobody knew about! Late at night, when the moon was high in the sky, this owl could turn his feathers into scales. The moon would cast a silvery light onto his wings and his whole body would transform into a shimmery blue gale. Every night he would return to his favorite pond to swim with his under water friends. But the real reason this owl continued to swim was because of a special lady blue gale. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She had eyes as green as emeralds, gills as delicate as lace, and fins as strong and graceful as a dove's wings.
The first time he ventured into the water, she was swimming so wonderfully she looked like a leaf blowing in the wind. When they first locked eyes he felt such a rush that he hardly remembered to breathe. The bubbles in the water seemed to sparkle more than ever before as they danced up to the surface of the pond. Even the muted glow of the fireflies not far above matched the warmth in his heart. This bliss was cut short, however, when all of the sudden a worm abruptly dropped into the lake and grabbed her attention. During the day the owl would watch people fishing on the lake in the cold and crisp mornings. He tried to warn her but her ambition exceeded his speed. She went for the worm and was scooped from the lake along with his heart.
This is where his journey begins.
With lightening speed he leapt out of the water and took flight. His scales returned to feathers and little droplets of water fell back to the earth. Never had this little barn owl been so twisted in anguish. He watched in horror as the fisherwomen (changin up the gender roles/stereotypes) grabbed his princess from the water and tossed her in a bucket full of water. He needed a plan. This scared, lovesick barn owl was circling the scene and letting out distracted "who's" when an idea suddenly hit him.
He decided he would follow their boat and try to be caught by the same boat. There was a little bit of time before sunrise, and he just had to do it to save his girl. Hope began to rise when the engine started slowing down and the fisherladies grabbed their poles. As the owl ferociously (sp?) dove deep into the cool water he knew not only that he was changing into a fish, but he was changing into a creature in love. (haha, that's golden!)
He swam with all his might, dodging kelp and sleepy salmon, bursting through schools of minnows and crabby crayfish. At last he saw the boat.
...And that his where our story currently leaves off. If we pick it back up, we have a slight plan for the ending. I don't want to spoil the fun, however, so I will leave it up to your information for now.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Updates on Catalina Island
At dinner tonight we had an informal Q&A session with a member who had gone on this trip last year. Here are 15 updates, in no particular order:
1) It's possible to walk into town since it's just 4 miles downhill.
2) You can stay overnight at the community/teen center in Avalon for free if you don't have to work the next day.
3) They like us there and take us scuba-diving and kayaking...for free!
4) Apparently there's an old man named Donald who will take us fishing.
5) Avalon, the touristy city is 1 mile long.
6) It is very expensive. We will probably try to bring some food in bulk with us from the mainland.
7) The backpack we bring has to fit into our duffel bag. How do you spell that? Duffel/Duffle...I think duffel. And our boots, rain gear (which will consist of boots, pants, and a jacket), and sleeping bag all have to fit in it!
8) We're here to work, but we've come to an agreement that time will be made for fun!
9) The last team to go there did not catch pnemonia, nor did the one before them.
10) The last team there was attacked by a bison that felt trapped during their very first invasive species removal project. Apparently the lady talking to us had to jump across a ditch to get away! Otherwise they're supposedly pretty chill animals.
11) Rainy season, unless it's unusually rainy like for the last team who had monsoon-like weather, consists of about 2 inches a year. That's nothing! I'm wondering if it comes more in the form of a mist rather than rain showers.
12) The noteworthy weather she warned us of was the wind. The chilly wind.
13) There are actually two showers, one indoors, one outdoors. The outdoor one has a view of the stars at night!!!
14) We will have bunkbeds in our tent, a fire pit, and a camping stove.
15) The lady that presented said she did take her laptop and just used it when she went into town.
...This is all sounding so much more manageable! This Q&A session took away a lot of my stress about this adventure and added to the excitement! Also, I apologize for the lack of pictures in the last few posts...they're not very aesthetically pleasing.
1) It's possible to walk into town since it's just 4 miles downhill.
2) You can stay overnight at the community/teen center in Avalon for free if you don't have to work the next day.
3) They like us there and take us scuba-diving and kayaking...for free!
4) Apparently there's an old man named Donald who will take us fishing.
5) Avalon, the touristy city is 1 mile long.
6) It is very expensive. We will probably try to bring some food in bulk with us from the mainland.
7) The backpack we bring has to fit into our duffel bag. How do you spell that? Duffel/Duffle...I think duffel. And our boots, rain gear (which will consist of boots, pants, and a jacket), and sleeping bag all have to fit in it!
8) We're here to work, but we've come to an agreement that time will be made for fun!
9) The last team to go there did not catch pnemonia, nor did the one before them.
10) The last team there was attacked by a bison that felt trapped during their very first invasive species removal project. Apparently the lady talking to us had to jump across a ditch to get away! Otherwise they're supposedly pretty chill animals.
11) Rainy season, unless it's unusually rainy like for the last team who had monsoon-like weather, consists of about 2 inches a year. That's nothing! I'm wondering if it comes more in the form of a mist rather than rain showers.
12) The noteworthy weather she warned us of was the wind. The chilly wind.
13) There are actually two showers, one indoors, one outdoors. The outdoor one has a view of the stars at night!!!
14) We will have bunkbeds in our tent, a fire pit, and a camping stove.
15) The lady that presented said she did take her laptop and just used it when she went into town.
...This is all sounding so much more manageable! This Q&A session took away a lot of my stress about this adventure and added to the excitement! Also, I apologize for the lack of pictures in the last few posts...they're not very aesthetically pleasing.
Our First Spike!
Let's just say we're the talk of the campus. While 8 teams are staying on campus to do work in Sacramento, and some are venturing to places like the lovely Salt Lake City and Seattle, my lucky team will soon be floating away to an island!
Our team leader sat us down, gave us an envelope, and then walked away. Inside the envelope was a children's pirate book in which she taped over some of the words to create her own story. The three clues she gave us to google were "Wrigley's, Bison, and The Bachelorette." We were stumped. We called her. She told us to try harder. We searched the web for a little longer on someone's cell and then found that the lovely Santa Catalina Island is owned by the Wrigley's family, has free-ranging bison, and...well, I'm not really sure how The Bachelorette became invovled. Maybe they were there for a season. Either way, Catalina Island, here we come!
We're stoked! I'm stoked! Six week on an island that has a multitude of plant and animal species found no where else in the world! And we're camping. Yep. We're in platform open-air tents from what I understand, with a shower, an outdoor stove, and a cooler. We will have two vehicles, but are only allowed to drive into town a maximum of twice a week for laundry, food, cell phone reception, and adventures. I'm guessing this is partially due to the fact that the roads are similar to the ones that brought us to Camp Mendocino, and also that gas is $7 a gallon out there. The main town/resort is only about 4 miles away, or something to that affect, but because of the road conditions, it's supposedly quite a journey.
We will be working with the Catalina Conservancy rebuilding trails out in the wilderness that were damaged by a recent fire. Technically this is classified as Natural Disaster Relief.
I have never gone camping for this long. It's going to be rainy season. Temperatures will be ranging from the 40's to the upper 60's. It will be foggy, damp, and there have been many cases of pnemonia in past groups that have gone there. Needless to say, we are going shopping for synthetic layers and other necessary items! This will be tough. It will just be the 11 of us...and my guitar. We reached a group consensus that it will be brought and passed around...and hopefully stored in one of the cars at night.
From November 4th until December 14th you won't hear from me. Except for a few phone calls I'm going to try to make when we go into town. Although, you do have to wonder. The island is only 22 miles long by 8 miles wide...wouldn't one cell phone tower be enough for the whole place? Maybe I'll have reception at the camp, but I'm not going to count on it. And I don't currently plan on bringing my computer.
We're allowed our red issued gear bag, (and will hopefully be issued some sort of rain gear), a duffle bag, and a backpack. Maximum.
I will try to update you all as I learn more. You should google some pictures, it's beautiful!!!
Our team leader sat us down, gave us an envelope, and then walked away. Inside the envelope was a children's pirate book in which she taped over some of the words to create her own story. The three clues she gave us to google were "Wrigley's, Bison, and The Bachelorette." We were stumped. We called her. She told us to try harder. We searched the web for a little longer on someone's cell and then found that the lovely Santa Catalina Island is owned by the Wrigley's family, has free-ranging bison, and...well, I'm not really sure how The Bachelorette became invovled. Maybe they were there for a season. Either way, Catalina Island, here we come!
We're stoked! I'm stoked! Six week on an island that has a multitude of plant and animal species found no where else in the world! And we're camping. Yep. We're in platform open-air tents from what I understand, with a shower, an outdoor stove, and a cooler. We will have two vehicles, but are only allowed to drive into town a maximum of twice a week for laundry, food, cell phone reception, and adventures. I'm guessing this is partially due to the fact that the roads are similar to the ones that brought us to Camp Mendocino, and also that gas is $7 a gallon out there. The main town/resort is only about 4 miles away, or something to that affect, but because of the road conditions, it's supposedly quite a journey.
We will be working with the Catalina Conservancy rebuilding trails out in the wilderness that were damaged by a recent fire. Technically this is classified as Natural Disaster Relief.
I have never gone camping for this long. It's going to be rainy season. Temperatures will be ranging from the 40's to the upper 60's. It will be foggy, damp, and there have been many cases of pnemonia in past groups that have gone there. Needless to say, we are going shopping for synthetic layers and other necessary items! This will be tough. It will just be the 11 of us...and my guitar. We reached a group consensus that it will be brought and passed around...and hopefully stored in one of the cars at night.
From November 4th until December 14th you won't hear from me. Except for a few phone calls I'm going to try to make when we go into town. Although, you do have to wonder. The island is only 22 miles long by 8 miles wide...wouldn't one cell phone tower be enough for the whole place? Maybe I'll have reception at the camp, but I'm not going to count on it. And I don't currently plan on bringing my computer.
We're allowed our red issued gear bag, (and will hopefully be issued some sort of rain gear), a duffle bag, and a backpack. Maximum.
I will try to update you all as I learn more. You should google some pictures, it's beautiful!!!
Team Related Activities
Team Bonding:
The high ropes course at Camp Mendocino was just the beginning of group bonding. We decided to step it up a notch and have our entire team (plus some extra friends) have a night out on the town together. This past Saturday night the 10 of us convinced our team leader to drop us off down town at an 18+ dance club. Things didn't exactly go as planned. For one thing, it was gothic night. This meant some very creative outfits, and interesting music that doesn't qualify as what I typically bump and grind to. We made the best of it though, and all cut loose! Also, I was offered a hit of LSD for as little as $7.50! No Mom and Dad, I didn't accept. :) We taxied back at the end of the night, after spending way more money than I should have. Downtown Sacramento is far more expensive then the dive bar right outside campus! I woke up 11am on Sunday morning to my alarm going off, which I was laying on top of, and still wearing my friend's dress. Totally worth it!
Team Roles:
We were recently (last night) assigned our official team roles. Most people have two roles, but the position I tried for is such a task, that it's the only one I have! I am the Service Learning Initiator, and I'm pumped! Here's the official description:
"Americorps NCCC incorporates a Service Learning methodology to assist members in acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to perform community service projects and to gain an in-depth understanding of the value and impact of their service. The goal of Service Learning is to facilitate the team's understanding of personal, social and community implications of the service in which they are engaged."
Of course, I picked a education-related role. :) For each project I will develop some sort of service learning project. From what I gather, my main purpose is to help people reflect and get more out of their experience than just the physical work. I'll share more after my training on Thursday.
And let's not forget the fact that little Jenny will be trained in using a chainsaw next week! Yep. Lindasy (one of my teammates), my leader, and myself are going to receive training and certification in the use of chainsaws...and then show the rest of our team how to use them. Haha! I just hope I can pick one up. My leader is as nervous as the two of us, but she said that supposedly anybody can do it, and apparently the training will be intensive. Yikes!
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| My roomie Sarah and I getting ready to hit the town! |
Team Roles:
We were recently (last night) assigned our official team roles. Most people have two roles, but the position I tried for is such a task, that it's the only one I have! I am the Service Learning Initiator, and I'm pumped! Here's the official description:
"Americorps NCCC incorporates a Service Learning methodology to assist members in acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to perform community service projects and to gain an in-depth understanding of the value and impact of their service. The goal of Service Learning is to facilitate the team's understanding of personal, social and community implications of the service in which they are engaged."
Of course, I picked a education-related role. :) For each project I will develop some sort of service learning project. From what I gather, my main purpose is to help people reflect and get more out of their experience than just the physical work. I'll share more after my training on Thursday.
And let's not forget the fact that little Jenny will be trained in using a chainsaw next week! Yep. Lindasy (one of my teammates), my leader, and myself are going to receive training and certification in the use of chainsaws...and then show the rest of our team how to use them. Haha! I just hope I can pick one up. My leader is as nervous as the two of us, but she said that supposedly anybody can do it, and apparently the training will be intensive. Yikes!
The Redwood Forest!
Our drive to the camp (on Tuesday) was slow and uneventful. I take that back. We rocked out to some awesome 90's music. I had planned on sleeping most of the ride there, but I got too pumped up with all the great music and didn't sleep a wink!
The ride home from camp (on Friday) was a different story. It had been raining since dinner time the night before, and all through the morning (we left around 10am). This did not make for good road conditions. Our team leader, who took the responsiblity of driving on the dirt portion compared it to driving in the Wisconsin snow, ice, and slush. The speed limit on this portion of the road was posted at a whopping 15 mph. After we fishtailed the first time, we dropped it down to a meager 5 mph. Nobody complained. There was a great amount of nervous laughter followed by cheering once we reached pavement!
Sleeping Conditions:
We slept in open-air tents that were raised on wooden platforms. Somehow there weren't enough bunks, so my team leader took it upon herself to bring a mattress to the middle of the floor. What a trooper! A bunch of the girls decided to do a spider check when it was still decently light out to ensure a Black Widow-less night's rest. I was very supportive of their endeavor.
I slept in my underarmor the first night, covered up by my sleeping bag and an extra blanket that a friend had given me with I first got to Sacramento to use as a comforter. Even with that, I woke up twice in the night rather chilly. The second night, I slept in my underarmor and absolutely passed out. I'm not sure whether that was due to the slightly warmer temperatures, or because I was absolutely exhausted! Night three, I slept in my underarmor bottoms and a tank top. I think it's safe to say I was getting used to it. Also, the cloud cover and rain helped keep in some of the heat.
The First Full Day:
Day one started at 4:55 am to get ready for physical training. It was cold. It was dark. Secretly, it was kind of exciting! After breakfast and changing into our full work gear (coveralls, hard hats, safety goggles, steel-toed boots) the 70 of us split up into our 10 person teams to get to work. My team emptied and reorganized a paint shed for the entire morning. It doesn't sound like much, but it took us all the way up until lunch. Pain fumes are dizzying, and rusted out pain cans are tricky to open. We did this work because there are only so many paid staff at the camp, and this job wasn't high on their priority list. Not the most glamerous or gratifying task.
Oh, by the way, this camp is run by the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. This is the off season, when all of the maintenance happens.
After lunch (all of the food was amazing!) we started a different task: trail maintenance. This was a bit more fun, but slightly back-breaking. Shoveling and raking gravelly dirt up and down hills isn't exactly easy. My back definitely felt it the next day. Our path was quite beautiful by the end of it though!
I took a rather heavenly shower after this while the warm sun was still up.
After dinner one of my teammates and I decided to go on an adventure up the mountain. We left camp via a swinging bridge and started hiking up the logging hill. My sweatshirt, underarmor, second layer of pants, and work boots were a bit of an overkill. It was dusk which made it all the more creepy and mystical, and added to the eeriness of seeing some random contraption off the beaten path that had a face of some sort. We decided to head back. When reaching the main road again, we about gave one of the Team Leaders a heart attack though, as she thought she was alone on the road. We were carefully watching for the path we needed to turn onto to get back to camp, and thought we had found it. I personally felt like we should keep going a little, but my buddy (who claimed to have a far better sense of direction than me) directed us off the road. Right...We did end up finding the camp, but came back a completely different way about a half of a mile past where we should have been. Oops.
After another early morning pt (this time it was running around our camp) we had an absolutely amazing day! From 8 am to about 3:30 pm my group romped around a low/high ropes course. This, in my opinion, was our first real team-bonding time. I honestly cannot say how much it did for the cohesiveness of our group, and boosted our team morale! We did team-building activities, enriched with lessons in communication, cooperation, laughter, and encouragement, we climbed a rock wall (which I made it to the top of, thanks to my college rock climbing class!), and we did a high ropes course. My teammate Chris and I partnered up for this adventure and followed each other through the various challenges. At one point, we came from different ends of a swinging log and crossed in the middle. We were supposed to go no-handed...I definitely cheated and held onto the ropes that were attached to my harness. We tried to balance in the middle without holding on. He did it, but I could only get one hand off my rope given how much a swinging log shakes with two people trying to balance on it. It was very fun! The best part, however, was the zipline through the Redwoods and over a little creek! It was awesome! It was actually kind of relaxing!
I got my second and last shower in after all of these adventures, but was completely covered in dirt within ten minutes due to a very dusty volley ball court.
That night I went on another hike. This time we went up to a helipad landing in the rain. There were 10-20 of us who all walked up the dirt road to the landing. About half-way there (it was about 3 miles round trip) we saw a bear! Or maybe a hole in the tree that was the shape of a bear... Or maybe not. The black shape didn't move, but that doesn't mean it didn't enduce a slight adrenaline rush. This adrenline rush was revamped when we got to the top of the helipad. This was the only area in the camp that got cellphone service so a bunch of people were making phone calls. I, however, had no idea where my phone was. Go figure. So me and 5 other guys decided to venture off into an uncharted path. We told the group we'd be back within five minutes, and to wait for us. We made it about a minute and a half in when we heard a rusteling in the bushes next to us. With all flashlights aimed at the bush we back away. Rattle snake. Maybe. Or maybe just a chipmunk. It's hard to say. We weren't going to mess around though, so with me clutching whoever was next to me we started walking away. Then one of the macho gentlement asked how we all felt about running...before the words left his lips we were all in a dead sprint, laughing at how ridiculous we were. The rest of our group was a little confused when we got back.
The Last Morning:
It rained. We did pt yoga-style in the dining hall, packed, cleaned, and then had Ameri-Olympics. My participation consisted of a three person four-legged race. We didn't win, but we didn't lose.
Big Trees and Other Random Pics!
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  It's not a sequoia, but yeah, it's big! Takes about 15 people to wrap around it! |
The Drive:
So, the drive was a little intense. It took about five hours to get from North Highlands, CA to Camp Mendocino due to a few conditions. 1) We have to switch drivers every 2 hours as a NCCC driving policy. 2) The last few miles are on a single-lane dirt road in the mountains...and there are logging trucks.
One of the vans that left for the camp the day before I did was actually run off the road by a logging truck. It's not quite as dramatic as it sounds, although I'm sure it was scary. The road system turns from a paved road, to a gravel road, to a dirt path. The walls of the mountain are on one side of you, the drop-offs/cliffs are on the other side, and extremely tight turns that make it impossible to see for any distance. Let's add to the mix that loggers apparently don't get paid by the hour, they get paid by the volume of wood that they transport. Thus, they can drive a bit recklessly. The van that was run off the road met a logging truck at a turn in the road and veered off into some gravel. The gravel wasn't sturdy enough, and rumor has it that the van sunk down and got a bit stuck. Everyone was fine, there was no dramatic scene of a 15 passenger van rolling down a mountainside, but the van did have to get towed away.
Our drive to the camp (on Tuesday) was slow and uneventful. I take that back. We rocked out to some awesome 90's music. I had planned on sleeping most of the ride there, but I got too pumped up with all the great music and didn't sleep a wink!
The ride home from camp (on Friday) was a different story. It had been raining since dinner time the night before, and all through the morning (we left around 10am). This did not make for good road conditions. Our team leader, who took the responsiblity of driving on the dirt portion compared it to driving in the Wisconsin snow, ice, and slush. The speed limit on this portion of the road was posted at a whopping 15 mph. After we fishtailed the first time, we dropped it down to a meager 5 mph. Nobody complained. There was a great amount of nervous laughter followed by cheering once we reached pavement!
Sleeping Conditions:
We slept in open-air tents that were raised on wooden platforms. Somehow there weren't enough bunks, so my team leader took it upon herself to bring a mattress to the middle of the floor. What a trooper! A bunch of the girls decided to do a spider check when it was still decently light out to ensure a Black Widow-less night's rest. I was very supportive of their endeavor.
I slept in my underarmor the first night, covered up by my sleeping bag and an extra blanket that a friend had given me with I first got to Sacramento to use as a comforter. Even with that, I woke up twice in the night rather chilly. The second night, I slept in my underarmor and absolutely passed out. I'm not sure whether that was due to the slightly warmer temperatures, or because I was absolutely exhausted! Night three, I slept in my underarmor bottoms and a tank top. I think it's safe to say I was getting used to it. Also, the cloud cover and rain helped keep in some of the heat.
The First Full Day:
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| Why wouldn't there be a street light tree in the redwood forest? |
Oh, by the way, this camp is run by the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. This is the off season, when all of the maintenance happens.
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| Also, why wouldn't there be a turkey wandering around? |
I took a rather heavenly shower after this while the warm sun was still up.
After dinner one of my teammates and I decided to go on an adventure up the mountain. We left camp via a swinging bridge and started hiking up the logging hill. My sweatshirt, underarmor, second layer of pants, and work boots were a bit of an overkill. It was dusk which made it all the more creepy and mystical, and added to the eeriness of seeing some random contraption off the beaten path that had a face of some sort. We decided to head back. When reaching the main road again, we about gave one of the Team Leaders a heart attack though, as she thought she was alone on the road. We were carefully watching for the path we needed to turn onto to get back to camp, and thought we had found it. I personally felt like we should keep going a little, but my buddy (who claimed to have a far better sense of direction than me) directed us off the road. Right...We did end up finding the camp, but came back a completely different way about a half of a mile past where we should have been. Oops.
That night we had a camp fire near an ampitheater where each team put on a skit representing themselves/Americorps NCCC so far. We knew of the skit since the night before, but of course didn't come up with any ideas for it about 20 minutes before performing it. Our skit was a representation of a little something we call "AmeriLove." AmeriLove is the epidemic that hits groups of 18-24 year olds all living in one place in which romantic connections are sped up and love is around evey corner. It's ridiculous, funny, and a very real concern.
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| The railroad tracks in daylight. |
Later that night I went on three hikes. The first hike was more of a night walk down some railroad tracks. We lost some people when we got back near camp, but about half of us continued on a nature trail that lead to the river. (I donated my socks to the person who fell in!) The last portion of the hike consisted of myself, one other girl, and about four guys. We decided to go up a steep incline that required holding on to a rope to kind of pull yourself up. We found a mountain road that we followed for a while until we hit a small camp area complete with an outhouse, a loaded firepit, and two overturned bath tubs. It was straight out of a horror film if you ask me. Fun!
The Second Full Day:
After another early morning pt (this time it was running around our camp) we had an absolutely amazing day! From 8 am to about 3:30 pm my group romped around a low/high ropes course. This, in my opinion, was our first real team-bonding time. I honestly cannot say how much it did for the cohesiveness of our group, and boosted our team morale! We did team-building activities, enriched with lessons in communication, cooperation, laughter, and encouragement, we climbed a rock wall (which I made it to the top of, thanks to my college rock climbing class!), and we did a high ropes course. My teammate Chris and I partnered up for this adventure and followed each other through the various challenges. At one point, we came from different ends of a swinging log and crossed in the middle. We were supposed to go no-handed...I definitely cheated and held onto the ropes that were attached to my harness. We tried to balance in the middle without holding on. He did it, but I could only get one hand off my rope given how much a swinging log shakes with two people trying to balance on it. It was very fun! The best part, however, was the zipline through the Redwoods and over a little creek! It was awesome! It was actually kind of relaxing! I got my second and last shower in after all of these adventures, but was completely covered in dirt within ten minutes due to a very dusty volley ball court.
That night I went on another hike. This time we went up to a helipad landing in the rain. There were 10-20 of us who all walked up the dirt road to the landing. About half-way there (it was about 3 miles round trip) we saw a bear! Or maybe a hole in the tree that was the shape of a bear... Or maybe not. The black shape didn't move, but that doesn't mean it didn't enduce a slight adrenaline rush. This adrenline rush was revamped when we got to the top of the helipad. This was the only area in the camp that got cellphone service so a bunch of people were making phone calls. I, however, had no idea where my phone was. Go figure. So me and 5 other guys decided to venture off into an uncharted path. We told the group we'd be back within five minutes, and to wait for us. We made it about a minute and a half in when we heard a rusteling in the bushes next to us. With all flashlights aimed at the bush we back away. Rattle snake. Maybe. Or maybe just a chipmunk. It's hard to say. We weren't going to mess around though, so with me clutching whoever was next to me we started walking away. Then one of the macho gentlement asked how we all felt about running...before the words left his lips we were all in a dead sprint, laughing at how ridiculous we were. The rest of our group was a little confused when we got back.
The Last Morning:
It rained. We did pt yoga-style in the dining hall, packed, cleaned, and then had Ameri-Olympics. My participation consisted of a three person four-legged race. We didn't win, but we didn't lose.
Big Trees and Other Random Pics!
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| This old bridge is the reason these trees survived the logging. They served as the support basis for the bridge. |
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| Is this creepy to anyone else? This was located right outside our open-air bathrooms. |
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| No, I did not crawl in, this was the home of far too many black widows. Or so I was told...I didn't venture in to check for myself. |
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| Had to throw in one more shot of the random turkey! |
Monday, October 18, 2010
The San Fran Weekend
Friday Night Move:
Sidenote: I was initially supposed to do van training on Saturday, but something didn't go through with my paperwork and I'm not allowed to drive the van until/unless I get it sent in correctly. I did send my driving history in though, so I'm guessing the whole snowstorm accident had something to do with my disqualification. I'm alright with that, as is the rest of the West Coast I'm guessing.
After settling in a little bit, my old crew of girls and I were trying to figure out what to do. Amanda had duty and wasn't able to leave campus. We seriously considered staying in and watching a movie so she wasn't left by herself, but our adventerous side got the best of us and we met some friends in Sacramento to go to a show. I'm not sure I can adequately describe the type of show it was...besides AWESOME! Five dollars well spent! There was a hippie band that supposedly sang in Indonesian. (We're not entirely convinced it wasn't all just jibberish.) Needless to say, very cool sounding noises were coming out of the main singer's mouth, who at one point wore a crazy mask and hung from the ceiling! Us girls were so pumped up after it all that we blasted music and danced the whole carride home. :) We didn't make it a late night though, since our Sunday was to be filled with...
San Francisco!
The drive, which began around 8:45am (our original intention was 7am...yeah right!), only took about an hour and a half. The crew consisted of Michelle, Katelyn, Kelsey, Amanda, and myself. Once the GPS, Jason, got us to the heart of San Francisco we realized we had no idea what we wanted to do. But have no fear, Amanda's here! She had a full list of activities and locations she wanted to visit, and so we googled addresses on our phones and relied on Jason to get us there. I'll let the pictures tell the story with minimal commentary:
TTYL:
As for the next four days, I will be out of touch with the world, at Camp Mendocino. I have a story to tell about it already, but will wait to share until I get back...gotta build some supsense to keep you all reading!
After enjoying a brinner (pancakes, eggs, and bacon for dinner) with my kitchen-mates, all 300-some NCCC members had to move. Yup. All at the same time. That wasn't chaotic at all... I moved from the very end of the third floor to the first floor in the next building. I'd just like to brag for a second and inform you all that it only took me two trips! No help required...except for lifting my suitcase about shoulder-height down the hallway, which was necessary due to all of the other bags in the middle of the hall. Roller wheels don't come in handy where there's hardly ground to walk on. But I'd like to say that I carried it down all the stairs all by myself! In all honesty, it wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be. I have two roommates now, Sarah and Lauren who are very sweet, laid back ladies.
Saturday:
Let me tell you how AWESOME it felt to sleep in and have the only scheduled activity for the day be dinner! I woke up when my phone went off with a text message from Katelyn. As a result of going to Harvey's on Friday night, I ended up sleeping in my clothes (which I continued to wear for most of Saturday) and sleeping on top of my phone. I called her back and Katelyn, Kelsey and I headed to the cafe just off campus to get some yummy breakfast, and do some housekeeping...letters, emails, leisure reading, etc. That within itself was phenomenal. Down time. I almost forgot what it felt like! Afterwards, I sat in the grass under a tree with my ipod, guitar, and friendship bracelet stuff. Once again, I can't stress how amazing this felt.
Sidenote: I was initially supposed to do van training on Saturday, but something didn't go through with my paperwork and I'm not allowed to drive the van until/unless I get it sent in correctly. I did send my driving history in though, so I'm guessing the whole snowstorm accident had something to do with my disqualification. I'm alright with that, as is the rest of the West Coast I'm guessing.
After settling in a little bit, my old crew of girls and I were trying to figure out what to do. Amanda had duty and wasn't able to leave campus. We seriously considered staying in and watching a movie so she wasn't left by herself, but our adventerous side got the best of us and we met some friends in Sacramento to go to a show. I'm not sure I can adequately describe the type of show it was...besides AWESOME! Five dollars well spent! There was a hippie band that supposedly sang in Indonesian. (We're not entirely convinced it wasn't all just jibberish.) Needless to say, very cool sounding noises were coming out of the main singer's mouth, who at one point wore a crazy mask and hung from the ceiling! Us girls were so pumped up after it all that we blasted music and danced the whole carride home. :) We didn't make it a late night though, since our Sunday was to be filled with...
San Francisco!
The drive, which began around 8:45am (our original intention was 7am...yeah right!), only took about an hour and a half. The crew consisted of Michelle, Katelyn, Kelsey, Amanda, and myself. Once the GPS, Jason, got us to the heart of San Francisco we realized we had no idea what we wanted to do. But have no fear, Amanda's here! She had a full list of activities and locations she wanted to visit, and so we googled addresses on our phones and relied on Jason to get us there. I'll let the pictures tell the story with minimal commentary:
Welcome to San Fran!
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| Kelsey and I at an overlook after taking a wrong turn. |
The windiest road I have ever seen!!!
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| This is Jason's view of the road we CAREFULLY navigated down! |
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| This is the road in real life! |
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| People taking pictures of us as we neared the end of the windy road. |
Native to Cali, In-N-Out has only fresh fries and burgers.
Nothing frozen = no stomach ache!
Some Random Sights
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| Alcartrez Island, the famous prison! |
The rain got the best of us for a while...
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| The girls were not impressed with the rain... giving up on walking for a bit and taking a bus to chinatown! |
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| The atmosphere of the bus and personality of the bus driver was not overly friendly. |
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| Once again, we were not in the best of spirits at this point of our adventure. |
China Town! We had some issues with which bus stop to get off at, haha.
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| Chinatown...yum? |
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| Forutne Cookie Factory!!! Free samples!!! |
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| Chocolate-covered fortune cookie...of course! |
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| Problem: The fortune was stuck to the chocolate, and I ate half of it. |
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| Pretty graffiti. |
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| A typical Chinatown street. |
Danny, D.J., Stephanie, Michelle, Rebecca, Uncle Joey, Uncle Jesse?
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| Michelle Tanner, are you around? |
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| Yup, that's right...I'm standing right in front of the Full House house! |
The Ride Home
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| Good Bye San Francisco! Until we meet again...which hopefully we will. There are many more adventures to be had in this town on a day with better weather and more time! |
As for the next four days, I will be out of touch with the world, at Camp Mendocino. I have a story to tell about it already, but will wait to share until I get back...gotta build some supsense to keep you all reading!
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