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!