"Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life."

The day started early in the morning as I kissed Silas goodbye in Albuquerque and headed on my way. Our day today began with an elderly woman early in the morning carrying a Netflix envelope home from her mailbox, and ended with the I-19 exit for Vicksburg Rd. Glorious bookends right there, folks. I'm sure I forgot/didn't do many things at Bandelier (get my volunteer pass, bookstore credit, and box name tag; obtain my NPS cowboy hat, find my headlamp in my car, bring Rebecca a tshirt and mug, check my mailbox, say goodbye to Shannon, Dennis, Tori, and many others, oh, and checkout of my house!--I bribed Maddy with cookies today but she suggested I send them to you, Beth). As Virginia said, my departure was like ripping off a Band-aid. I couldn't get myself to leave the house, where I was hanging out so comfortably with Beth and Gini and I eventually looked at my watch 15 minutes after I told myself I was going to leave. I stood up and said "see you guys later" and walked out to my car. Their rousing complaints lulled me back inside to give them hugs (2 each, and just kidding, that was all part of my plan, but I needed to somehow rip that band-aid off even if I did intend take the last little bit off carefully). Above is the photo of the beautious ("crazy-beautiful") moment that I texted many of you about---the rainbow over Black Mesa.

Leaving the Great Outdoors, Headed to the Urban Outdoors

It looks like I will be moving back to DC for 6 months starting in January. This is a big jump, but I'm confident it is a good one--be it stepping stone back out west or stepping stone to something else or a whole new door open.

For the record, these are the boots I wore for the past 9 months. Every day for 5 months at Wupatki, plus my whole backcountry season at Bandelier, during which I hiked over 250 miles in these suckers.

D. and I ventured to Amarillo (Armadillo?) spontaneously to pick up car parts and visited the Ft. Sumner area as the sun was setting, the moon was rising, and Venus and Jupiter were making themselves known.

The next day, D., V/G., and I proceed on an epic adventure a la "Portage up Mt. Washington" (see Chubbers, every summer). We salvaged a flotation device, paddled is downriver, and carried up the F.Trail. It was epic, the F. Trail surprisingly felt shorter than ever, the rapids were fun and I finally used my lifejacket that I have carried around for 17 months, I got to sport my hiking skirt in the park and feel cute and outdoorsy at the same time, and

Quote of the trip, repeated with all sorts of fill-ins: "Eww! I've got Rio in my _____!"

Did I mention?

I've been at Bandelier National Monument for a month now, and I'll be here for only 2 more (into early-mid November). I hike every day, which is an ecclectic mix of amazingly wonderful and very challening--mostly for myself, not physically.

I spend a bunch of time based out of a little backcountry ranger cabin, where I get to explore and check people's permits and monitor arch sites. But really, I tromp around wherever I want. I miss talking to people, so I enjoy the chance to come into the frontcountry or connect with the interp staff.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Holy Moly, How Long Has It Been?

I went to the east coast.

Attended a wonderful wedding.

Had a tree fall on my car (in Phoenix!?)

Drove 20 hours in 4 days to visit Pam in Sequoia.

Saw a Black Bear.

Discovered there will be black bears at my new park.

Am completely somewhat overwhelmed by all I have to do.

And in 4 days I'm moving. Oh and did I mention my car is in the shop for another 3 days?

My new mailing address at Bandelier National Monument is on facebook, my alum-blitz auto reply, or you can contact me for it.

I would like to end with a poem a visitor wrote for me last week:
Many many years ago
you weathered timeless, Knowing winds
here we are, upon your steps,
standing near your kin
were you proud of your great masterpiece?
or were you just living day to day
We are truly in great awe of you sacred space
Many years have passed between
yet, were our places to be switched-...
would you be so awed of our sacred space as we are of yours?

RotDNtHNY

Reasons of the Day Not to Hate New York:


Wildlife--normal squirrels, sort of


Little birdie


Blooming


Community gardens


Water, and it's easy to be car-free

country girl in the city,
and of course, gfra!!!!
(photo to come)

6 Word Memoir

Exhaustion and Oblivion. Passion. That's all.

The six word memoir rules are:write your own six word memoir.post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.link to the person that tagged you in your post.tag five more blogs with links.leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Tagged: OliveB & Parents, Laura, Mary?, Dave?


Ok, so I'm exhaused after training, but a part of me wants my memoir to be:
"Lions and tigers and bears, oh--"

"You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle." -Mal, Firefly

"Listen, boss, I learned one thing at Harvard. There's one thing wrong with always fighting for freedom, and justice, and decency. And so forth."

Burns looks up at the blazing sky. "Only one thing? What's that?"

"You almost always lose."

-Good News by Edward Abbey (p. 222, Sam & Jack Burns)

Today was an interesting day. Or shall I say, today's meeting resulted in an interesting feeling. It furthered the love-hate relationship I have with Headquarters. I like the folks that work there, I like schmoozing with them, I like seeing the ones with whom I am friends; but I often feel this tension. Towards me? It shouldn't be, but I feel some sort of tightness, like I am way too happy for them. I feel like when I walk in I will learn cool, new exciting things, and that I will enjoy the meetings as much as I enjoyed the DOC bureaucratic meetings. And the ones at HQ are okay--the Wilderness portion of today's was particularly good--but I don't feel nearly as much like I am fighting the good fight. I feel like I should walk in, enthused by my contact with the visitor, and perhaps they could be invigorated by that, but alas. They're all nice people, they just.....need to get outside more often. ALL OF THEM!

And back to the Wilderness portion of today's monthly all-staff meeting. It was great to get a thorough refresher of the history of wilderness things. The wild started off scary, a place that challenged the original settlers and a place that needed to be wrestled and harnessed. And then somewhere in there, it became a place of beauty, and then a place that distinguished America from Europe as a vast landscape including this unique, untrammeled country. And then somewhere in there, it because a place to maintain rather than tame, and then eventually a place to preserve and protect in addition to maintaining. And in that same time, Teddy Roosevelt made huge initial strides in protecting the type of places that rejuvenated him, and encouraged others to be rejuvenated by these places as well. How did our land go from a place that challenged us everyday to survive, to a place that challenges to express itself everyday that we live on it, and where we must ask, "is this acre of land special enough to be able to live on its own as it always has?"

And I started to wonder, is the Park Service really where I want to be?

I love the mission, the Organic Act of 1916, and everything that drives all employees in the back of their minds whether they like it or not. I love the community. I love the high density of citizens concerned about the land and concerned about getting other folks to love the landscape even for a brief moment. However, could I make a similar impact working for the Arizona Wilderness Coalition? The Wilderness Society? The Sierra Club? The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance? Heck, a solar or wind power company? Could I have more freedom, more positive political surroundings, and a greater likelihood of fulfilling those dreams that may be more grandiose than those I might propose to NPS? Or is it just as important to be willing to go "into the belly of the beast"? And is it not still a beast to work for something like a Wilderness advocacy group in Arizona or Utah? So why am I so fixated on the Park Service? Especially if, as I lose some of my bright-eyed-bushy-tailed-ness, it's going to start feeling like it does when I walk into Headquarters.

"sorry, babe, i'm into wilderness" -me, at the suggestion that i move to brooklyn and work for it's parks

Cuando me pongo a pensar,
se que el calor en mi corazon
es el amor que siento para todos
aquellos que han llenado mi vida de felicidad
---
When I pause to think,
I know the warmth in my heart
is the love I feel for everyone
who has filled my life with happiness.

~Calor by Pena y Alba

Half Way Point: 6 Month Anniversary

As I approach March 19th, I want myself to keep this quote in mind:

Adventure is stepping through brand-new doors with your mouth shut and your eyes wide open. -Barbara Kingsolver

Good times, Good times

"In the end, wilderness is not defined by the absence of certain activities but rather by the presence of certain unique and invaluable characteristics. The answer to the often-asked question, “why do you want this area to be wilderness?” is, these areas already are wilderness, we simply want to preserve them as they are andas they have been for generations.”
– Subcommittee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), during his opening remarks at a February 26, 2008 Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands hearing on H.R. 5151, legislation introduced by Chairman Rahall that would add an additional 47,000 acres of wilderness within the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.

Over the past month or two, my life has been both adventuresome and calm, stressful and absolutely wonderful. Perhaps I will look back and see change? Who knows. But here is some documentation of the recent past:

1. Canyon de Chelly with Mom: I took a 3 day weekend and went on an adventure through Hopi and over to Canyon de Chelly (aka Tsegi Canyon, or Canyon Canyon). Momentous? Developing a strong desire to keep living in the Four Corners area.

2. Farewell to Arms: Friends/Coworkers M. and S. both went on their way to bigger and better places. In other words, promotions! Yay--never forget the wonder that is Wupatki. I swear we're not drinking in uniform in the office.....or are we?

3. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument: A 24 hour adventure down to blooming poppies and encroaching heat led to seeing a dead bobcat in the road, meeting a nice SCA, and making a non-work friend in Flag (8 hours in a car is either awkward or, as in this case, leads to getting to know someone pretttty well). Momentous? Realizing Flag is a very, very small town....as everyone seems to know someone I know, despite my knowing (k)no one.

4. SNOW! It snowed, Allie didn't come to visit, I was restless, and Erica embarked on skiis again for the first time in forever and revved up to leave Flag. Oh, and I schmoozed with Peace Corps folks and Et. continues to be my confidant.

5. LAME! It never gets old. I went to visit Mw. and F. at their desolate yet beautiful homes, 106 miles apart. It was the most exhausting weekend in a long time because of the driving, mostly, but it was also really good. I spent a bunch of time with Mw which was super-fun, and we had a chance to meet up with F for lunch, who alas had to work. Lots of driving. Good stories, guns, some chilling out. The "lake" was beautiful, so were the flowers, so were the petroglyphs, and so was the homeyness that was Cottonwood. MB, Can I Get a Hug? The drive back involved multiple napping stops and a not-so-good subsequent week. But I'm so glad I went. We'll see if those guys ever come visit me like they promise....

6. Manny!!!!! That's right. and George!!!!! L. came to visit AZ from NYC. Holy moly, perfect timing, as we both really needed each other this week. It was stressful and tough this week and I needed something to distract me from my distraction. She came on my Discovery Hike, we explored some favorite places, found a perfect little place to recline at Wukoki (a depression for your butt and everything!), watched sunsets, went to bed early, got wasted as usual (aka joked about it and definitely didn't), and more. On Sunday we met up with one of my bestest friends from college and his friend, made them see Wupatki briefly, and then went to the Grand Canyon around 3 pm and for sunset. I hadn't been there for 3 years, and it was actually nice to be back. Remind me never to go during hunting season (aka tourist season). Laura and I stopped by Arcosanti on the way down to Phoenix, got spontaneous massages (what else do you do with an extra hour among the strip malls of the swealtering city?), found and sat on the same patch of grass along Peoria St. that we sat on together 3 years ago, and then I powered home at 9 pm to get away from the heat. See L's Flickr for more photos.

Below are highlights from a fantastic opinion article in the Miami Herald, Allowing people to carry guns in national parks is a bad idea (by Chester Allen, McClatchy Newspapers, Wed., Jan 23, 2008), regarding a recent effort by 47 Senators to allow loaded, reachable guns in National Parks. Note, guns are allowed on other federal, public lands, such as Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and others where the focus is recreation. The mission of the National Park Service is to Preserve and Protect certain pieces of land of cultural, historic, natural, and scenic significance. Hunting is not allowed, and there is no reason to have a loaded weapon in a National Park.

"It's easy to transport a pistol, shotgun or rifle in a national park. All you have to do is unload the weapon - that takes less than a minute - put it into a case and then stow it in the car trunk or some other secure place that isn't easily accessible to the people in the vehicle. If the senators think that all of that is a chore, they must really chafe when they're in a city - where most of us have to do the exact same thing when taking a firearm from one place to another."

"Or picture pitching your tent in a big campground and seeing your neighbors walk around with handguns strapped to their hips - or target shooting at a stump. Would you feel relaxed and safe in those situations? I've owned firearms most of my life, but I wouldn't feel safe in those spots."

"If you want to carry a firearm in the outdoors, just head out to the millions of acres of national forest or Bureau of Land Management land that allow firearms and hunting. Our national parks are sanctuaries for wildlife - and people who are weary of the perils of modern life. We don't need to carry firearms in national parks. We just need to carry along some basic knowledge and awareness. Come to think of it, that's something that those 47 senators need as well."

PLEASE vote on Senator Coburn's (R-OK) website regarding the gun carrying issue. Note that by carrying, he means on one's person, loaded, as one is currently allowed to safely transport a weapon through a National Park as current law stands.

Surprise! Part 2 ~ REAL Snow

Ok. About 18 inches in Flagstaff. A real winter storm, wahoo! We got about 5 inches at Wupatki, but I was not present (I was on my way to training at Montezuma's Castle, and therefore in Flag...in fact, I got stuck in Flag for a wonderful extra 36 hours). Oh wait, and I skiied the streets of Flagstaff. And the front yard of the county courthouse :)