Way back in June I wrote that I was going to post at least once a week during the summer. Obviously, that plan fizzled out in a big way. I should have remembered that I feel less inclined to write during the summer months. It's either because of the warm weather or increased outside activity. I'm not a fan of warm weather, and I think it takes its toll on my creative juices, causing them to evaporate into near nothingness. That doesn't mean I don't take advantage of the situation and do the usual summer kinds of things, but there's just something about inclement weather that inspires me to reflect and write.
At the moment, I'm on the cusp of the 2011/2012 outdoor school season, ready to go back to my nighttime schedule overseeing sleeping science camp kids. We just had our set-up week, during which we transformed the site from a summer camp to a science camp, digging things back out of storage, renewing our enthusiasm (and our CPR/first aid certifications) in preparation for the first group of science camp kids, who are due to arrive tomorrow.
Before that, I had two weeks off, during which I barely did anything productive. I finished a couple of novels, slept in late, went on a whole lot of walks with Jeanine, and saw some movies, but paperwork piled up, my apartment got messy, and other projects languished. I guess the walking counts as being productive though. Jeanine and I are in the middle of a challenge in which we are trying to each walk 100 miles during the month of September. I've already walked 61 miles this month, 10 of which I did yesterday when I walked to and from Willow's first soccer game of the season. Willow is back in school too, of course, and is one of the only kids I know who is actually happy about that.
I'm also renewing my attempts to teach myself guitar. I slacked off during the summer because I broke a string and it took me weeks to get around to buying new ones. I've got a long way to go before I'll be able to call myself a guitarist though.
As for the summer, it is well documented in photos, but I never did make time to write about it. I worked 8 out of the 9 weeks of summer camp and saw a lot of familiar faces among the campers and volunteer counselors. Some campers have moved up to become counselors now, and they were welcome additions to the program. Due to an increase in paying campers (we went from 150 to 162 campers a week), I was limited in how many weeks I could bring Willow and her siblings to camp (excepting Alex, who is now a counselor, and a good one at that). Willow, Sophie, and Nathan only got one week each, but in some ways that probably made their camp experience more special (as a decrease in quantity tends to do). The Summer was another relatively cool one, and it even rained once (the day I rode my bike of course). There were no more critter discoveries to match the finding of a Snapping Turtle in the pond, but there were a few really cool finds, the best of which was discovering a large Pacific Giant Salamander in the middle of eating a Banana Slug, something I'd heard they did but had never witnessed before. I found a large Mountain Kingsnake stretched out on the trail too, and a big pile of Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes under a rock up in the chaparral, not to mention various other reptiles. The reservoir was so full of frogs and tadpoles that when we got close to the water, their rush to deeper regions made it look like the water was boiling.
The highlight of the summer for me was the vacation week. Last year, Jeanine and I took Willow and Eva to Disneyland, so this year we went in the opposite direction, heading north to Lava Beds National Monument. We stopped at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo so the girls could get their amusement park fix, and then visited my dad in Citrus Heights, staying in a couple of crappy Motel Sixes for the overnights. Then, it was a straight shot up to Lava Beds where we spent several days exploring the high desert and crawling through lava tube caves. I hadn't been sure how the girls would like doing this, but I needn't have worried because they loved it, worming their way through holes in the ground like gophers. We used bicycle helmets as headgear, except for Willow, who used her softball helmet. There is something really appealing to me about caves. Strangely enough, I feel quite safe underground, almost like I'm calling up an ancestral memory that equates caves with security. The geography of the region is compelling too, with acres and acres of lava creating alien landscapes, and frozen drips of lava creating a chocolatey veneer to the insides of many of the tubes. One cave had a wide opening and seemed to end, but after seeing a couple of other people disappear down a small hole at the back, we followed and discovered a sub-cavern floored with ice. On a couple of occasions, we entered one cave and wormed out way through crawlspaces into another cave. The only developments or modifications done to the majority of these caves were entry ladders or stairways. A few of them had bridges or internal stairways too. One had ancient paintings on the rocks. Only Mushpot Cave, near the visitor center, had any sort of interpretive materials and lights. At night, the stars glittered in their thousands, and the Milky Way swept from horizon to horizon. I finally found a Solpugid in the wild (in the bathroom, strangely enough) and witnessed a Jerusalem Cricket attack and eat a scorpion (it happened while I was trying to photograph the scorpion). We subsisted mainly on road trip food until we finally broke down and drove 40 minutes into town to buy additional supplies. We also surprised a Pronghorn Antelope, which barked at us in disgust. At Petroglyph Point, a cliff covered in ancient petroglyphs made when nearby Tule Lake licked at its base, we discovered the ground carpeted with rodent bones and owl pellets. A woman with a spotting scope showed us a Barn Owl sleeping in a crevice in the face of the cliff, and we found a fledgling raptor dead on the ground as other birds, ravens and raptors, wheeled above us.
On the way back, we visited Shasta Caverns, which were impressive but not quite as fun since free exploration is not allowed. The tour guide was good though, much more entertaining than the guide who led us on the one guided tour we did at Lava Beds (there is a big difference between being led by a college intern and a professional tour guide). We had intended to camp in Calistoga, but when we arrived we discovered that our chosen campground was full, so we ended up staying at a really nice bed & breakfast called Mountain Home Ranch, which had a hippie utopia vibe to it. The cabins reminded me of science camp and the breakfast was fantastic. The girls spent a lot of time feeding the farm animals, including one rude horse who kept violently chasing the other animals away. The girls weren't as impressed with our visit to the Petrified Forest, but Jeanine and I were really into the fossil Redwood trees. We also visited Calistoga's Old Faithful geyser and found some letterboxes in the Pioneer Cemetery before hitting the long road home. My mind is already churning with ideas for next summer, or maybe even before then. I want to explore more caves. As a friend recently posted on Facebook, "someday is now". Inspiring words. The trip was photographically documented, of course.
Hopefully it won't be months before I update this page again. There is Autumn energy in the air though, so I have a feeling I'll be back here typing away sooner rather than later.
No comments:
Post a Comment