Resent Adventures

Anza Braggo State Park- Anza Braggo is the largest state park in California and only hours south of us. It was the first desert camping I’ve ever done. It was really fun and made for some great stories to share on Monday. We pulled in just before sunset on Saturday night. We made it to the wind caves to watch the sun go down. It was beautiful! The sun was pretty and the caves were so cool! It was basically this sand hills that had been carved out by the wind so it sort of looked like huge coral holes that you could climb in. They were really neat. We hiked to the top of the peak and watched sun go down then it was time to cook dinner and set up camp.

Here's a picture at the top of the wind caves.

No one was around us so we thought we might as well stay where we were and camp right there. It turned out to be the best place we could have picked. The stars were AMAZING and it was like we had the whole place to ourselves! We woke up to the sun rise the next morning and made breakfast. Jessica got greeted by an eight legged friend while she was changing behind a bush. It wasn’t on her but definitely gave her a fright. It was actually a tarantula! It was about the size of your hand if you can believe that! The boys picked it up but I didn’t really come that close to it. :)

Here's the tarantula Jessica found! Yikes! She's obviously a like scared of it in this photo. :)

Once we all were ready we set out to see a few sites before heading back. We went to the park information station to check out a few things and then decided to go hike to the Palm Oasis. I had never seen an oasis so I didn’t really know what to expect but once we got there I was quite impressed. We hiked about 8 miles of hot, dry weather to get there. Once we got there we found these huge palm trees that were growing in this small space together. There was this strange water source from under the water that allows these huge palm trees to grow in this desert area. Once we got there it offered some nice relief from the heat and the sun. I was laying on a rock and just happened to fall asleep while the rest of the group made its way. It was pretty cool.

Here's a photo of it from a distance. Pretty sweet huh?

Our next and final stop was to see The Slot which was supposed to be this cool rock formation off of the highway, but we didn’t quite make it. Our car got suck in the sand ditch. We tired avoid a part of the road that dips really steep but ended up off the road and suck. Not good. First we tried some techniques I new from getting stuck in the snow banks of Minnesota but that didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped. Then we tried to pull the car out using Christy’s Explorer. This strategy only led us to almost get her car stuck too and we ended up popping her tire trying to get her car out. This was not looking good. The first thing we did before all this was to call AAA so Drew, MaryHelen and I went out the highway to meet them. Once we got out there we called them again and they told us they wouldn’t come because they knew the off road we were on and didn’t want to take the tow truck on there. No what? This was not good! We only waited hopelessly for about 3 minutes when a huge white truck pulled over. I think they were stopping to go to the bathroom but saw use and asked us if we needed any help. (our guardian angels) It was two dirt biking guys and their dog. We explained the situation and they said they could just pull us out. It was pretty amazing because they did just that. They hooked us up bumper to bumper with a strap and gave it some gas. It was crazy! They were great! Thanks to them we weren’t late for work on Monday. :)

This is us trying to push Drew's car out. It didn't work. That's me by the drivers side window. :) Good memories.

John’s visit- A couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to have John came out to visit again! This time he didn’t have to work. I picked him up at the airport on Wednesday night and them he came to work with me both Thursday and Friday. Thursday he got a taste of my classes and a day in the field and Friday we put him to work in out project areas. He was great! He was helping in the kitchen and every where. It was fun! (I don’t know if he would exactly say the same.) Then we went on a road trip with some of my friends to Sequoia National Park.

Sequoia National Park- This Park is huge! There is so much to see and do! We all said we’ll have to go back in the spring. John and I road with Ange and Drew. It was really fun with crosswords and conversation the whole way. We made a few stops along the way and here’s a photo from one stop. The cow was along the highway on our drive and so we thought we needed a picture.

We all got there early enough so we didn’t have to set up in the dark. It was really nice and out site was amazing! Honestly I would recommend it to anyone! We stayed at Potwisha which it the lowest site on the mountain. The ranger suggested for us to stay low because most of the other places had snow. We were prepared for cold but not quite snow. Potwisha turned out great! The weather was fine and was the best was the small river that was right next to our site. We got to listen to the water flowing over the rocks all night. It was beautiful!

In the morning we go up, made breakfast and headed out to hike. We all started out hiking up to the summit of Moro Rock. Here's our group at the top.

This is a picture of me with Moro Rock in the background so you can see how far up we hiked. It wasn't as tough as Half Dome but still just as sweet.

Our group split in two after this so we weren’t so big. Some wanted to hit up the elevation and do a more intense hike and others wanted to just explore the park. I had a pretty bad sinus headache so John and I decided to check out the park. It was really fun actually! The hike wasn’t intense but the sites were beautiful! There was just a small blanket of snow on the ground which was really pretty in the sunlight and it was neat to watch the trees steam when the sun hit them just right.

We saw the Giant Sequoias, General Sherman Tree, Chimney Tree, and Tharp's Log. It was great! We all met back at the site to get dinner started and to sit around the campfire. It was a great day and a wonderful evening.

Then the next day John and I got up super early to hit the road so that we could get him to the airport on time to catch his flight. Ange was nice enough to let us drive her car back which was fun to have a little road trip together. We actually got to the airport early so we had lunch together and then said our goodbyes.

Teaching Pictures

When John was out in the field with me he was kind enough to take some action shots of me. Here are a few pictures of me while I was teaching with students. They are fun to look at because they are a progression of shots along our hike to Jenks Lake. The kids love to go out there but it is quite a hike for them.

This is me at a stump circle by a big sequoia tree with my students.

This is a picture at Jenks Lake. We stopped here to have lunch.

This is the Jenks Lake trail. It's pretty steep in some places which makes it a pretty tough walk back for many of them.

This is another favorite place to stop. It's called Burnt Flats. The over look is beautiful and it's a great place to teach about forest fires. There was a small fire in this area about two years ago and so now there is a lot of fire weed on the ground. The kids find it really interesting.

On our way back I tried to find some good places for me to teach and the kids to catch their breath. They were quite tuckered out by the end of the hike.

More catching-up… High Trails

I thought instead of going week by week with the little things about my days, that I would just tell you about a few of the big things that have been happening out here in California for me and share some more photos.

High Trails Update:

Belay Specialist- At work I’ve been getting more comfortable with our tasks, the classes, and the students. It’s starting to feel more like a routine and it doesn’t stress me out too much. I was on cabins for a while straight which was fun because one of the weeks I got to be Belay Specialist. This means that while I am with my cabin group at night, during the day I have to set up and take down the climbing wall. I also stay for each class to be an extra belayer. It was a lot of work because I didn’t really get much time off that week but I had fun and it was nice to see the extra money on the pay check.

Moving on up- Also at work I have finally moved up a level. I’m not at Level 2 which means that I completed a certain number of work days and experience days, I’ve done a number of observations, and I’ve written a book report. (sounds like homework huh?) Because I’m now at Level 2 I’m eledgable for pro-deals, I got a t-shirt, and I get a little more of my health insurance paid for. Pretty good huh? It was a lot of work but now I just need to move up to Level 3 that’s when the real bump is. I get $5 more a day in pay! Woohoo!

Line dancing twice- This past week our staff changed around our evening programs so that the students cold be inside for a period of time each night. This meant that both groups have line dancing on the same night. I taught line dancing this week and it was actually really fun to do it back to back. I felt much better about my teaching this time than when I taught for the first time. I was much more relaxed and had a lot more fun. I still need to work on counting them in to start at the right spot, but that will come in time.

Observation- At High Trails we get observed twice each season. One is a full evaluation and the other is a flash evaluation. On the day that John was going to come out to the field with me they told me that I was going to get evaluated on one of my classes. Talk about pressure huh? I was pretty nervous and John helped me study the night before but it’s a good that when I’m teaching I can usually block out any observers. The person coming out to watch me was Dawn. She is the boss, Drizzt’s wife. I’ve worked with her through my project area and line dancing. We have a pretty good relationship. She’s actually from Minnesota and told me she sees a lot of herself in me. That’s nice. I wasn’t too worried about the whole thing but I wanted to be prepared and do my best. After the class I felt okay about it. I taught the Earthworks class which is all about Geology. It’s certainly not my strongest class but I felt I gave it my best shot. Dawn and I met the following day to discuss the feedback. She made some good observations, some that I was already aware of and gave me some great suggestions for the next class. Over all she said I was doing well and that she’s excited to see how I progress through the year. My score wasn’t high enough to move to a level where I can rewrite lesson plans but that’s okay. I had a lot of odds against me with the class, the location, and the students. Just ask John. J

I’ll let you know when I have flash evaluation. That’s when the administration can evaluate you with out warning on any form of job task. It could be when we are running a meal, belaying, something in the cabins…. It’s usually not class related. I don’t know when that will happen. Hmm…

No water pressure!- Last week had a bit of a catastrophe in the middle of the day. On Wednesday my director made an announcement on our radios that they were having trouble with the water pressure at camp and that we weren’t allowed to use certain bathrooms. I didn’t think much of this since I had taken my group away from camp for the day and if they had to go to the bathroom they would have to go Happy Tree anyways. Then later he came on the radios to say again that the problem on effected all of the bathrooms and that we should start to be more conservative with the water that we had with us. Now I was a little more concerned. This was obviously a big problem. I decided to take a second to make this a teachable moment for the kids to think about water concervation and to tell them that there isn’t that much clean water for us to drink in our world. They listened and it maybe stuck with a couple of the students. I think it was more of a scare for me because this is where I live and if I don’t have water??? That wouldn’t be good!

Once we got back to camp for switch over is when I really saw the problem hit the hardest. My director was telling the cabin instructors that they couldn’t have their students shower that night and that all of the toilets had to be flushed the old fashion way with a bucket and water.

Dinner time was interesting. We had enough water to cook with but we couldn’t wash any dishes because of the water pressure and there wasn’t hot water to wash them by hand. Some how we still got dinner out to all the students but ended up using every dish in the kitchen.

Thankfully the problem was solved by morning so we were up and in business to go for the day. It was quite the reality check for me and now is just another reminder to conserve water where you can. If you need any ideas of how just talk to my students, they come up with some great ideas. Shorten the shower, turn the sink off while you’re brushing your teeth, save the water while the shower water is warming up and use it to water your plants. They are only 6^th graders but they’ve got some good ideas!

Old Pictures

I now have pictures from John so I thought I’d share them with you. They are from when John was in Santa Ana for work.

Here is one of us at New Port Pier. It was a beautiful day at the beach!


When John and I were in Redlands we did some costume shopping before heading up the mountain. We tried on a few hats in the store to see if we could make them into costumes. They didn’t work but provided a great laugh. This is the one I picked out for John. It was a little small.


This is the one he picked out for me. Bo-peep?


Here are is a picture of our final costumes. We ended up being “unknown heroes”. Hehe. We were inspired by the silver vest top that John found. It turned out well.


Here’s a picture of my girlfriends. They are zombie Spice Girls and MaryHelen in the middle is a zombie Willie Nelson. “Zombie” was the theme obviously. :) They were great!

Bits and pieces

This update will have to be in bits and pieces. I have scattered free time to I will try to update as much as I can when I can and soon I will hopefully be up to the current date.

Enjoy!

Week 1 highlights: 10/19-10/25

This week I worked a “Time and a half” which means I had my own cabin group but split a field group with another person. It’s kind of fun because you get pick the days/classes you want to teach. I shared a field group with Drew which worked out well. At the end of the week it had been a lot of work but the extra money on the paycheck was nice.

Since we all had had such a long week, as we normally do, we were all looking forward to going to Seven Oaks on Friday. Seven Oaks is this bar that is connected to a seasonal camping resort that is only ten minutes down the mountain. Because it’s so far up here they don’t get a whole lot of business but when our hole crew files in we practically own the place. J It’s really a lot of fun for us and the bartender really makes a point to meet the new High Trails crew every year. The place has a lot of character which makes it great! It is totally decorated with hunting and log cabin type décor. It also has a juke box and two pool tables. I play pool pretty much every time we go and get a few pointers from people each time. It’s a great way to hangout and relax after a long week, plus the have the best bacon cheese burgers around. J

On Sunday I went on a hike with Ange and Jessica to South Fork. This is a trail we are allowed to take our kids on but we hadn’t been there before so we thought we’d check it out. We had heard from many people that it was just really beautiful and since it was such a nice day we thought, why not? Here are a few pictures from the hike. Isn’t it pretty? And I live here!!!

This was on our way out. Jessica is on the left and Ange is on the right. It was so pretty to look out at the trees finally changing colors. It was beautiful!

We finally got there to see this cute little creek. We had fun playing in the cold water and taking fun pictures.

Here’s one of me after I climbed out on the log pulling Dirty Dancing walk move.

And one last one. Smile! It was so great to be outside in our own backyard and appreciate it! The girls were great company and afterwards we were so thankful that Ange pulled us out the door.

Week 2 highlights:

This week I was on cabins again but just a single this time. It was nice to have time off and I took it as an opportunity to work on moving up levels. It worked out well but meant I didn’t have time for much else. The big thing about this week was that I was going to teach my first Line Dancing class! We had tryouts the week before and I guess I did pretty good because I was one of three the pick out of all that tried out. We had our in-service about how to teach the class the morning of the day was going to teach. Yikes! Talk about pressure huh?

I went back to practice a little in my room so that I could feel prepared, but then soon it was go time! I brought my cabin to the dining hall for the snakes class. I’m not sure if it was the nerves from teaching line dancing or what but I held a snake for the first time! Wow! I know! Me, Sharon, holding a snake?! What? It was only a little one who actually was just like a huge night crawler. His name is Bubblehead and he’s a Kenya sand snake. I was pretty proud of myself. Then towards the end of the class I had to get things ready to teach line dancing. I got the songs lined up, my head set mic on, and wore the crazy hat that Carolyn had got from a rugby game when she was working in London. It was a hit!

The class went fine and the kids had a ton of fun. I know there are things I can improve on and I wanted to get more comfortable with doing the dances facing them. I taught three dances, The Macarena, The Hitch Hiker, and Thriller. They love Thriller and especially since it was so close to Halloween. The funny part about the night was the call back that I used to get the kids quiet. I would say “Bragg” and they would respond with “Bobcat.” This was the schools name and their mascot. The only problem is that because I’m from Minnesota I said Bragg with a long a sound instead of a short to sound more like Bregg. The kids thought that I didn’t know the name of their school, but really I did, I just was saying it with a Minnes-o-tan accent. J

Then on Friday I got to see John! His was work flew him out to Sana Ana which is only about 2 hours away from here. He decided to stay through the weekend so we could hang out. I met him in Big Bear and we drove back to Sana Ana. We stopped for dinner at this pizza place which reminded me of Broadway on Friday nights, but it wasn’t as good of course.

Then we had a lazy morning watching the Hawkeye game while I caught up on emails with the fast internet in the hotel. We eventually had to check out which was a good excuse to get us up and out to see the sights. John took me to the New Port pier that was just a short drive away. We had brunch at this little restaurant called Charlie’s Chili where we split this deluxe chili omelet. It was the restaurants specialty and was really filling.

Then we took a walk along the beach. The sand was soft and the water was cold. We didn’t take a dip because I forgot my swim suit but I that was okay with me. The water was really cold! John would have gone in even though it was so cold. J Then we started our drive back to the mountain.

We stopped in Redlands (one of the closest towns down the mountain) to grab something to eat and to search for a Halloween costume. When we got into Redlands we found that the town was having a huge trick-or-treat party where the kids could go from store to store down the main street of town instead for going door to door. It was cute and we saw some really good costumes. We also drove by some very decked out houses! They were incredible! Even better then the one by my house on James. Crazy! Redlands apparently goes all out for Halloween. John and I just went to a couple of thrift stores and found some sweet articles of clothing that we just couldn’t pass up. They didn’t really work but we came up with a way to put them together. We found some little kids funky superhero tops and some doctor scrubs bottoms to match and called ourselves “unknown heroes”. It was original was going to work for the night.

Then John and I drove up the mountain to get dressed and ready for the Halloween party at Nawakwa. When we arrived at my room, my roommates where already dressed. The girls I normally hangout with decided to be Zombie Spice Girls. They turned out pretty gory and good. Once we were all dressed we all went over to the Square House (the community area housing) for the party. It was a great time and everyone came in some sort of costume. When John comes again I’m not sure if he’ll be able to recognize people because they won’t be in their costumes. J

In the morning I took John to the Oaks. This is a restaurant that is just 15 minutes down the mountain. It’s great for breakfast and they have the best coffee around! We weren’t the only ones who wanted to get breakfast so we joined up with the rest of the gang. Then we came back to camp for a short walk before it was already time to head back to Minnesota! So short!

What around for a bit…time to goL I left my camera in the rental car, but no need to fear I get to see him in 2 weeks! (actually he’s flying in this Wednesday! Can’t wait!)