a little visit to Michigan

In the short space of time between coming home from California and heading back to Pennsylvania (which flew by wayyyy too fast) Ben and I made a roadtrip to Michigan to spend a few days at his mom's new home.  It was a perfect mini-vacation, filled with sunsets, ice cream, blueberry picking (and of course pie making), beach walks (so cliche but nice), and new kittens.  Michigan in the summer is pretty amazing, and the blueberries can't be beat (by PA's blueberries, at least).

late summer

You know when you come home from a giant trip and you have one week to see all your friends and family, unpack, take care of appointments, and reorganize before jetting off onto the next journey?

That is what my life has been lately.

I have lots more gorgeous photos and tales to share of California and now Michigan as well, but they will have to wait a bit because the internet at my house is deathly slow and won't upload pictures. 

Today I am packing the remnants of my summer life and tomorrow morning bright and early I am making the dreaded megaroadtrip back to Pennsylvania to start the new school year.

I am very excited for this year. I have the feeling that it is going to be one of those years that is absolutely amazing, even though I know it will also be super challenging in a lot of ways.

This is my second and last year of my masters program, so I will be writing my thesis and getting ready to look for big girl jobs !! I am also going to be the teaching assistant for an undergrad course in climatology, which will be an adventure in itself.

The part I am most looking forward too, though, is having Ben around. He is finished with his Teach for America stint in Baltimore and his MAT at Johns Hopkins and is moving up to State College so we can fiiiiinally be together, after two years of long distance. I know that we have been making the right decisions for ourselves, but these past years have been hard. Luckily I feel like we have grown closer together and have learned to appreciate our relationship so much, and it is going to be so amazing to have him in my day to day life again.  Aaaaa ok time to burn some CD's for the drive.  See you from PA!

the hiking profession

[view from the top of Mt. Rose, NV]

One of the best parts about hiking every single day for field work (aka literally bush-whacking through steep high elevation backcountry wilderness) is that you are pre-conditioned to tackle whatever gorgeous mountain you choose on days off. 

Our first big hike adventure was Mt. Rose on the Nevada side between the lake and Reno. 

The elevation at the top is 10,700-something feet, the third tallest mountain in the basin, but you start at 8,000-something feet so the total elevation gain isn't too extreme. Actually most of the trail is a pretty gradual incline until you get near the very top, where it is tight switchbacks that pretty much go straight up the rocks and you feel like your leg muscles are being ripped off your body and you can't possibly make it one more step even though the peak is still out of sight, but hey. That part is easily forgotten for views like these.

[Reno from almost 11,000 feet]

The only trees that can survive on these steep rocky slopes are scraggly twisted lodgepole pines. I always wondered why the latin name for lodgepole is Pinus contorta, since they usually grow straight, tall and the opposite of contorted like, well, lodgepoles, but then we saw them in their high altitude habitat.

Oh and in CA there are gazillions of super fit old people. I saw more old people out running and hiking than young people. Like, a super tan and ripped 70 year old man wearing spandex zoomed past us, trail running UP Mt. Rose. It is over 11 miles round trip. Psycho.

So basically, hike Mt. Rose if you get a chance.

Not until July though because there is tons of snow on the trail before then (although it is very fun to slide down). 

life in the woods

So I spent the last two months camping in the woods on the west shore of Lake Tahoe in a tent, and it was awesome.  California is definitely THE place to be if you are living outside for extended periods of time... dry weather, endless sunshine, minimal bugs, giant trees, hiking galore.  Coming back to the steambath of Illinois in full swing summer has been quite the shock to my poor abused body. 

I am still not sick of camping, although I am glad to be finished with shoving all food and toiletries into a small steel bear box.

le bear box

[this was taken as we were packing to leave. now imagine box chock full of a week's worth of groceries for 4 guys/2 girls. a stressful organizational nightmare]

The importance of the bear box was impressed upon us our very first night, as we woke up to find our neighbor's car windows smashed in from a curious bear investigating her empty toiletry bag on the passenger seat.  In the midwest, we have campground and park racoons. In the Tahoe basin they have campground black bears. Harmless if unprovoked, but very very annoying.  We had a running tally of about a bear a week passing through our campsite. 

I will admit that it is also nice to have unlimited showers and access to a full kitchen again. 

We woke up every day with the first light and caws of the divebombing motorcycle gang-like shrub jays and went to bed with the sun, and spent all day in remnant old growth forest on the sides of mountains measuring giant pine and fir trees like these

I ate mass quantities of delicacies such as granola bars, bagels, Nutella, m&m trailmix, mac n cheese, and chili.  The only things from that list that still sound edible are granola bars and Nutella. Ok mayyybe just Nutella.

Except for one weekend in which we vacationed from hiking and camping by driving to Yosemite to (what else??) hike and camp, we did all our work in areas around the lake, which sits right in the vertex of the angle between California and Nevada.  It is ridiculously gorgeous, blue, ice cold and completely empty in June, but full of speedboats, sailboats and yachts during the (much warmer) vacation season in July.

  Beaches+Mountains in one location=happyhappy Anna

It's almost too good to be true, except that you can really only own decent property if you are a multimillionaire.  Luckily there are several really nice lakeside state parks to camp in.  We stayed in Sugar Pine Point State Park, which used to be the vacation home of rich Victorians. The historic mansion and beach are now open to the public.  If by chance you are ever planning a camping trip to Tahoe, I would definitely recommend this park, as well as D.L. Bliss and Emerald Bay which are down the road. 

My number one tip for long-term camping: Invest in a quality air mattress. It makes all the difference.

down from the mountain

[they have circle rainbows in CA]

I'm back!

I had an amazing summer camping in Tahoe but now I've returned to lovely civilization with a California tan, legs of steel, and lots of tree data. 

I'm spending a few days in Michigan at Ben's mom's new house with two psycho kittens, but I am super excited to share some pictures and stories and catch up on life!

I hope you had a beautiful summer too.

I can't believe it's almost back to school time again. aaa!

Regular blog posting will begin...soonish?