Where does the time go

Morning

Navajo Bridge

Cruising down the river

I always have the intention to blog pretty regularly, but I’d much rather live life than talk about it sometimes. A lot has happened since the last post when I mentioned I was going on the Colorado River. For one, I went on the Colorado River and there are no words to describe the beauty of the river and the landscape. It made me feel so small, and so unimportant. The Grand Canyon will always be something people hear about, know about, and have visited. It’s so old and unique. When other people have pictures that say things like “the so-so Grand Canyon” I always look and go, “how does that compare to the real Grand Canyon?!”

At Camp

The trip was wonderful. I was sick for all of it, but that didn’t stop me from helping hoop new and trammel net fish. We got stormed on the first three or four days we were there, often leaving me really cold and wet. Luckily the group I was with took really good care of me and when we got dumped on, they pulled me up and made me change into dry clothes. The one night I participated in Trammel netting we got DUMPED on to the point where our boatman couldn’t drive. So we just sat there in the rain. Thankfully, the boatman had a HUGE umbrella that we were able to hide under, but that didn’t stop us from getting soaked.  The Colorado River got pretty muddy and dirty and we didn’t Trammel net the rest of the time (thank goodness, cause trammel netting sucks). But, I caught my first Flannel mouth sucker and gave it a kiss, caught a humpback chub, bluehead sucker, and a lot of trout. It was so cool to be part of that. I hope to go back this spring for another trip.

Red Wall

The hike out of the canyon wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, it was a steep elevation climb (1 mile up, to be exact) but luckily the 8 miles it takes to climb up that 1 mile elevation change is spread out. I did it in 4 hours, which was my goal. I wasn’t sore afterwards, which is really shocking! I was expecting to be really sore and in a lot of pain. But, I guess I am in better shape than I though. Once we got up the Bright Angel Trail, there were SO MANY PEOPLE. After being on the river and only seeing the same 10 people, coming back to civilization was a bit overwhelming.  But, the memories that I made on that trip will always be in my mind. I can see why people get addicted to the canyon—there’s something so magical about it, something so enlightening.

I returned from the river trip, and then I started planning for Florida. I attended my first conference ever (talk about feeling like an adult) on Science Writing, which was so much fun. It was great to meet other people who do the type of work that I do, as well as learn about new science because I get wrapped up in Grand Canyon stuff that I forget that there are a lot of other really cool things happening in the world. The conference was five days, and then my partner and I traveled all around Florida for the following three to make a mini vacation out of it. We went to St. Augustine, The Everglades, St. Pete Beach, Saratoga, a lot of places. I tried alligator, which tastes just like chicken! It was our only trip we took this year!

Deep sea catches!

We even went deep sea fishing! I puked my guts up and caught one fish, and my partner caught 6! I am not so much a fan of the deep sea fishing. I get pretty awful motion sickness, and let's just say it was really bumpy out there. And to add insult to injury, as I was making my way to the bathroom, I fell and injured myself pretty badly--I forgot that boats have little ledges at the door to prevent water, and I was so determined to puke IN the toilet I forgot and fell really hard. Ugh.

 

 

 

 

Springs!



Kayaking on the Itchatucknee River!

There was a field trip at the conference to Ginne Springs and the Itchatucknee River. We got to go kayaking down the river, and then the springs, which are always 72 degrees, we go to snorkel in. It was SO cool, and I am so glad that my parnter got to attend this awesome field trip too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a small and delicious Thanksgiving. We didn’t get out of our pajamas until 2! I had done most of the baking Wednesday, so the only thing we needed to put together was the turkey and potatoes.

Now it’s December 3, 2013 and the year is coming to an end. I am excited for what 2014 holds for me (planning on a month long Euro trip to visit my partner’s mother in the UK, head up to Scotland, and then hop on over to Ireland). I am attending my first Metta retreat this weekend and I am so excited. I have learned so much by meditating, and how hard I am on myself. I have become better at forgiving other people, loving other people, but I am so hard on myself. I try and love myself fully all the time, but sometimes you just forget to because you work on other things. So I am looking forward to not only sending the love to those in my life, but also being willing and open to receive love, which is sometimes hard to do.