Photos!

Here are some pictures of fun things in Oregon! Enjoy! Sorry, it always takes forever for pictures.

Swinging at the Takilma Folk Fair

Oregon Caves!

Butterfly Pavillion

Hopefully, more butterflies soon!

I know it's not much, but just a glimpse of what's been happening! More removing invasive species(pulling weeds) in the morning!

Birthday week

Since I last wrote, I turned 21! Yay birthdays! It was a Monday but luckily we had the day off and some teammates and I went bar hopping around Grants Pass. I was quite a fun day! Then this last weekend Allie and Jeff came out to visit. It was awesome to spend time with people from Colorado, I missed them! We had quite the fun filled weekend. On Saturday we went to the Great Cats Park in Cave Junction. I thought it would be a bit of a sketchy place but it ended up being really awesome. They had everything from a giant lion to an african wildcat (looks just like a house cat!) Then we went to a vineyard in the area for wine tasting. It was a really nice place and I think we all found a new favorite wine. Sunday began with the off trail caving tour in Oregon Caves National Monument. It was so intense! There were places to climb up and to crawl under. We got all kinds of muddy but I enjoyed it. Next we drove right over to the treehouse resort to ride their ziplines. We only did the basic package but that came with 5 zipline rides! And we decided to try the "tarzan swing" after that. We really only got talked into since they said I could go for free for my birthday. But Allie and Jeff tried it too and it was so scary! They strap you to a swinging rope, then you grab two handle and they pull you up into the trees. When you're at the top you just have to let go and you free fall for a second before the rope catches you. We each got to go twice and it may have been even scarier to let go the second time! Throughout the weekend we also went to some neat restaurants and bars around town and met up to hang out with my teammates a couple times. Overall, it was definitely a fun time....but as of now I have to get back to doing laundry...fun.

One week down....7 to go

I survived my first week of camping! Although there were some moments that were questionable. The other day we returned to camp and the tent Ashley and I are using had collapsed, but we were able to get it back up and stabilize it. Some people at the field institute also found a rattlesnake off of a trail near our campsite….I check my sleeping bag every night now. Other than that I have yet to get poison oak or find a tick on me so that’s a good start I guess.
Our weekend for the first month is Sunday and Monday, so on Sunday a few of us headed to Grants Pass. We wanted to walk around downtown but of course, things aren’t open on Sundays. So instead, we walked around for a bit and headed to a movie. Four of us went to watch Bridesmaids, it ended up being a pretty funny movie. We also ate lunch at a pizza place that’s all over town called Abby’s Famous Pizza. It was delicious! I also had a delicious meal of Ramen the other night that I cooked over the fire. I was pretty proud of myself.
…Not too much else has been going on. The project work has been good. I did a lot of debarking trees. It was kind of a relaxing job and a few of us did that for most of last week.
Today we went into Grants Pass again, but today it was to take the van for a check up and go to a Laundromat. It was the same Laundromat that I went to during Drum Corps! Crazy stuff. But this time I didn’t lose my wallet there. Now we’re about to drive about 10 miles to Cave Junction where some other members are gonna do their laundry and then we’re going to check out some shops around town. Should be fun!

The big old tent in the front is mine (and Ashley's)

Our campsite and lovely view

My Ramen cooking over the fire

Yum!

Behind me are some of the logs after shaving the bark off

OREGON!

I can't believe it always takes me so long to remember to post. Hopefully I'll be better. There is more to talk about this round than just tutoring students every day.
We arrived in Oregon yesterday afternoon. It started sprinkling when we got here so we quickly just wanted to set up our tents and get everything settled. Then we had a bit of an orientation with our sponsors from both Rusk Ranch Nature Center and the Siskiyou Field Institute. Most of what we talked about was safety stuff.: Don't go near bears, check for ticks (Abby had already found 2 by that time), avoid poison oak, and don't startle rattle snacks. Ya know, lots of good nature stuff. Then thankfully they held a potluck for us and we all gathered at some tables under a tent/tarp and ate together. Then it unfortunately rained ALL NIGHT LONG. Since I was near the wall of my tent I woke up with a soaked sleeping pad and pretty damp tent, thankfully I was mostly dry....we're working out the kinks but I think I have a better sleeping place now.
Today we headed off to work at the Rusk Ranch Nature Center for our first day. Again, it was mostly orientation and touring the 50 acres of property. As it turns out the Nature Center is very new, and hasn't even opened to the public yet. Hopefully we can help them out and they will be opening their butterfly pavillion while we are here. They have lots of cool things going on there like a garden (there was a fancy word for a self sustaining garden that I don't remember). They also hope to have a natural playgound, campground, and lots of other little things.
Other than the rain it has been beautiful here in Oregon. It will be nice when it is just slightly warming but overall it's been good. Hopefully I can load some pictures on here (internet is a bit slow). Although I am sitting outside while on the computer which is kinda nice :)
Nevermind...the internet is too slow (or I'm too impatient). But just so you can picture it, our tents are set up in a large field next to a hostel type building which is the Siskiyou Field Institute. My new tent is a big green fabric type one that looks like it could belong to the army. Hopefully things stay dryer tonight. Wish me luck!

This is a blog about spring break...

This is a blog about spring break and all of the delicious food I ate.
Immediately after I arrived in Colorado and suprised my mom at home, my mom, sisters and I decided to go get lunch at a delicious Mexican restaurant just down the street. Just for the record, Colorado has THE BEST Mexican food.

I believe this was called Ricardo's Special, or something like that. It's potatoes, chorizo, and cheese smothered in green chili. Tortillas on the side. Yum

Next, I had to surprise my dad since he was at work when I got home. So the perfect place to do that is out to dinner right?! We all met my dad at the usual Adelita's. Also a delicious Mexican restaurant.

This is a chorizo and egg burrito....smothered in green chile. So gooooood!

The next day I had plans to hang out with Ross in Boulder. We wandered around Pearl St and came across this pizza place. I think it's called Pizza Coloure...or something. They have cheese, pesto, and....some other kind of pizza by the slice, then you add your own toppings.

This is my pesto and artichoke heart pizza. Good stuff.

And as usual, Ross and I had to go to Maggianos (my all time favorite restaurant) for dinner. So we drove to Denver just for this delicious meal.

Chicken and spinach manicotti. I've had it once before and it was just as good as I had remembered.

The final meal I have to mention is Easter dinner!

We had delicious options of green rice, ham, twice baked potatoes and green bean cassarole. The last one isn't in the pic (sorry Allie!)

Overall, a good Spring break! :)

So there have been lots of things going on since my last post but I want to write about the most recent, first. The Indoor Percussion finals were this weekend in Dayton, OH. Blue Knights had an awesome show (yes, it's already on YouTube) and I wish I had been there to see it...or perform in it. They got 6th place with a 92.025 and they won fan favorite. Cuz their show is basically the coolest thing ever.
Anyways, My team found out our 4th round project! (before me since nobody noticed that I wasn't in the room at the time!) We will be traveling about 6 hours to Cave Junction, Oregon. I need to check back into the details about who our sponsor is, but we will be clearing trails and camp grounds, and building playgrounds, information kiosks and possibly an ampitheatre too?! Our housing will be either tents or yurts. We'll be in a pretty small town. But not too far away is Grants Pass, OR.
Funny story about Grants Pass...I think that's where my wallet disappeared about a year ago during drum corps. We had a laundry day there when we were staying in Hidden Valley High School. My next round is about 35 miles from that school and it was one of the prettiest places I've ever been so I can't wait to see the area where we'll be!
Of course, as always, I'm hoping to cross a few items off of my list. Prospective options:
#29. Camp in Oregon (crazy right, I get to do it for 8 weeks!)
#74. Go spelunking (Cave Junction...there really are caves around)
I can't wait! Should be a fun an interesting end to my time in Americorps!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/vq1-_gkUUv8 -Blue Knights at finals!

Gov. Shut Down?

On Friday night we were all here watching CNN off and on waiting until the countdown to midnight (9pm pacific time). But as it turns out there is one more week off temporary budgets. Although the government shuting down wouldn't ultimately be the best thing, a few of us were secretly hoping it would happen so all the teams would be back on campus and it would be a crazy story to tell. Oh well, I still have a "job".
I just got back a few hours ago from visiting my uncle Frank in Berkly, CA. It was a fun weekend full of lots of delicious food, some shopping, the Walt Disney museum, and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. It was nice to hang out all weekend and we ended up spending time in Berkley, San Fran, and Oakland which was fun.
This was the first week back in school after spring break. Each of us got assigned to classes that we help out in. I have Geometry and Algebra 1 which I go to every day. Since there are 4 class periods that takes up about half of my day. I really enjoy being in the classes. I'm sure that I can always help the students with their work since I'm there for the lessons and it's nice to be getting to know the students instead of always working with someone completely new.
Overall thing have been going well! Just 4 more weeks left of this project. Time flies!