Bonham State Park

We chose a rainy Saturday to go visit a nearby state park - Bonham. We hiked around the lake and then Kristyn and Josh went for a cold swim.  We finished the day off with Pat Thai!

At the Lake

Swimming

Washington- The Move

Utah-> Idaho -> Oregon ->Washington

Jake interviewed for a job on Tuesday, got it on Wednesday, bought a truck on Friday and we were on our way on Saturday.

He moved to Forks, WA to work for the Department of Fish and Wildlife for Washington State. He'll be marching around doing research and collecting data about the Juan de Fuca Watershed Complex (at least something like that).

I was terribly sad to see him go, but I'm also very excited about this sweet job and even cooler move. Maybe I'll end up there soon ;)

Our trip was event-less (which is what you want on the road). We spent the weekend camping in his bosses back yard in Olympia which is the capital of Washington. It's not my favorite place. We went to the coast and the rain forest and got to know the area a little bit. I flew home on Monday night but I can't wait to visit again.

The new truck - packed to the hilt.

On the road: Entering Oregon, and finally hitting something green - the Columbia River that separates Oregon and Washington. 

Getting to the coast- it was so cold!

The best fort I've ever seen

The Beach

The rainforest. We wandered up to Lake Quinalt that is on the edge of Olympia National Park and wandered around in the forest a little bit and saw some waterfalls and enjoyed the change of scenery.

  

Bug Lab Zion Trip II

This was the second research trip I took to Zion National Park this year. It was a quick, three days, in and out and a whole lot of miles. Ryan and I found a spot to pitch our tents on BLM land just outside the park. We got up early, marched around, and collected samples for two days. One night the wind was so bad that it left layers of dirt on my stuff inside the tent.

Our first site on the Left Fork

On our way to the Grapevine site, before our misadventure.

After the picture (above) was taken, we had to make our own trail. We came to a part of the river in which we could either go through the water or crawl up and around to try and get down the other side. We opted to climb. BAD idea. I ended up sliding down a really steep face and tearing the skin up on my arms and legs. Ryan lost his camera and one water shoe. Needless to say, we had to backtrack about an hour and ended up walking through the water, which we should have done in the first place. The misadventure left us shaky and exhausted. Even though we had another day of work, we were just ready to go home. However, we did have success and ended up with some great samples of insects from Zion.

High Creek Lake

I went backpacking to High Creek Lake. It's in Cache Valley, past Richmond and up the canyon. If you didn't know what you were doing, you'd probably get confused. Anyway, its about 5 miles up to the lake 3.5 of which is a nice leisurely climb. After that its death. I'm not even kidding. The climb is up the mountainside, not even switchbacks, and it seems like the destination could be around every corner, but it's not. However, getting there was well worth the climb. It was beautiful, especially with autumn sneaking up on us.

This is me trying to push rocks off of cliffs. It wasn't my idea, but it was fun.

High Creek Lake

Jake and I at the trailhead.

That's me at the trailhead!

Made it to the beaver ponds.

Both of us still looking happy because we don't know what is coming.

Beautiful landscape.

We set up camp, made dinner and hung out before we fell asleep around 10:30. The wind didn't stop blowing through the night, and the morning was no different so we cooked breakfast (omelets) in the floor-less tent. Awesome! Jake convinced me to climb the cliff/mountainside and push rocks off. I know, it seems like something a fifth grader would do right? I can't even tell you how much fun it was! I laughed so hard every time one would fly off the cliff. I hope people on the trail weren't too annoyed with us. We headed down after that and enjoyed a Subway sandwich and called it a day!

Cassidy Arch

With my flexible job I get to play. My dad called me up, saying that he was going on a canyoneering trip and that I was invited. I met up with him in Provo and drove down to Capitol Reef with his class. We did a hike through Sulfur Creek, camped in the park and then did Cassidy Arch. It's named after Butch Cassidy, who was an outlaw in the Wild West.

We had about a mile and half walk to the top of the canyon. Isn't the landscape just awesome? It was great weather in the end of September.

This is the first 150' rapel. You rap down the side of the arch, if you look closely you can see the person in blue rappelling.

Right after the first rap, getting ready for the second 150 footer. There were seven rapels in all.

Probably one of the cooler canyons I've done. It would be ideal with a group of 4-6 instead of 26 but hey, I got to do it so I can't complain.

South Pacific Study Abroad; Fiji

FIJI

Okay, so FIJI was amazing! If you EVER get the chance to go, GO! I'd highly recommend it for a honeymoon or anniversary trip. It's beautiful, not very commercialized, you can find any level of adventure you want, the people are friendly and its tropical islands -

how can you go wrong there!

It's a ten hour flight from L.A. and you land on the big island. From New Zealand we flew to Nadi Airport and had a briefing for our trip and stayed the night at the Nadi Bay Resort Hotel. The next morning we (32 of us) got onto an old bus and drove to the airport w

here we took off in three tiny airplanes to fly to Kadavu Island, about a 45 minute flight.

We got to Kadavu and got on these open air, fiberglass, fishing motor boats for a choppy, windy 2-hour ride to Kenia Beach Resort. We had a huge welcome dinner and got some time to get oriented in the jungle of Fiji. The next day we sea kayaked in legs to an uninhabited island called Vurolevu. We set up our tents and hung out in the shelter that was built for us. A nearby village brought us dinner and we had a sing a long in the jungle. Pretty cool.
The next day we went out from our campsite a few minutes on the motor boat, jumped in the water with our snorkel gear and watched the huge, majestic MANTA RAYS. I can't tell you how cool they were - they're about as big as my arm span, so about 5.5 feet. They were torn up a little because they are gentle and get pestered. They stay and hang out in this one area in Fiji because there are wrasse (which are little fish) that swim into their

mouths and clean them out. Its a symbiotic relationship and it happens at the island where we were. After that my family and I went out on the motor boat to another spot where we SCUBA DIVED (finally all that work during the summer paid off!) The dives we did were through valleys and almost caves and arches. There were so many fish and the water was warm and clear. I was nervous at first for my first dive, but it was amazing once I got down there! After our dive we met the rest of the group back at Kenia for a few more nights.
The next day was Sunday, so a rest day, we had church, I washed my clothes and read a book. We also went to the jumping rock (thats what the Kiwi's called cliff jumping) which was really cool because it was perfect for climbing and the water was clear for jumping.

(I know this is getting long, but deal with it!)

The next day we sea kayaked to our village stays. We snorkeled along the way with beach stops and beautiful weather. Our group was split into two and the half t

hat I was with hiked over hill tops and had a 360 view of the island, to a village called Vacalea (pronounced Vatha-laya). We were given a warm village welcome and ate fresh sea food and fijian earth oven food. The next day in the village we had a basket weaving lesson and with the baskets and our native Fijian guides we went and found wild food in the jungle. It was cool to be able to identify which foods we were eating and which were not good to eat.
The village has tons of roosters and chickens and they crow with the tides, so basically they crow ALL THE TIME. So, that afternoon we took a nap because the roosters had kept us up all night. We had a village farewell and the kids from the school there sang us a great song about a grandpa. Thats about all they could explain in English for us. But they danced around and put on a great show so it was fun for everyone.
We left the next morning after a huge breakfast and a tour of the school (75 students from Vacalea and neighboring villages) and the medical center (1 certified nurse with a generator and a building). We set out on more sea kayaking adventures to the chiefs (the chief of every village is called Ratu, but this was the chief who was also a business partner) house for lunch. I met his little 4-year old daughter named Wendy. She really liked me and dragged me around her house telling people in Fijian (since she didn't speak English) that I was her new friend. I was offered a spot on the last boat for Scuba diving so I took it. These dives were down shark alley and another reef dive that was nearly out in open water and the current took us inland. We saw 6 or 7 nurse sharks, a sea turtle, a blow fish and a nuddy branch (w

hich are really rare I hear). I think diving is really cool.

That night we all ended up at Waisalima Beach Resort. It was a pretty primitive resort (which means something different in Fiji than it does in America, so keep that in mind if you're ever planning a trip there). But, I finally got to take a short and cold shower and sleep on something besides my camping mat - a bed!
The next morning I woke up around 5 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep (things were scurrying across the walls) and so I got out of the bed and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful. We left Kadavu that day after hour 2 hour motor boat ride back to the airport. We landed in Suva (which is the biggest city in the South Pacific) and headed to the temple accommodation. It was the best shower I've ever had! It was hot, clean and I finally got to shave. We had pizza for dinner and everyone slept happily and hard.

We went to the University of the South Pacific the next day and had a lec

ture about ecosystems and how to sustain them in the south pacific islands. It was really interesting. The whole campus had so many different kinds of people from all over that area. I liked visiting there. After that we headed to Suva City to do some shopping. The handicraft shops reminded me of shopping in Tijuana, which was too bad but I bought a hot pad so I was happy. My family and I headed to the produce market after that. The structure that it was in was HUGE. I would say nearly 3 football fields big and there was produce everywhere. We ended up buying a few pineapples for later. I also found a Fijian mat I loved and purchased. It's about 8x14 ft. so pretty big, but its exactly what they used as their floor covering and fu

rniture in their homes. I'm happy with my purchase, and I only had to carry it around Fiji for a few days.

We spent the next day at the Fiji Beach House between Suva and Nadi. We just relaxed, played in the pool, did crafts and I got a massage. It was a day to unwind before returning to the exhaustion of the real world. On Sunday we drove to Nadi and went to church and then we repacked all our stuff to get it back to the U.S. What a madhouse! We had a farewell dinner with our company guides from New Zealand, where there was a lot of thank you's etc. We got to the Nadi airport at 8 p.m. or so and it was a MAD HOUSE. We didn't have any time to wait around after checking in, saying goodbye and going through customs and security. I fell asleep and ended up in America.

I'll put a plug in for Tamarillo Fiji Sea Kayaking Adventures now - th

at was the company we went with and they were amazing!! They took care of 30 of us, plus their 8-10 Fijian guides and all the women and men who moved us around and fed us. The trip was next to flawless and they were helpful and happy to be serving us. I couldn't have asked for a better experience with them!

So here are the pictures - again, in no particular order, but I'll try to explain and link it to what I told you already!

Sea Kayakers coming in to Verulevu

The beach on Verulevu

Sunset from Verulevu

Our campsite on the uninhabited island

Kenia Beach Resort - looking out over the ocean

The bathrooms at Kenia

Getting briefed on the next two weeks with Tamarillo

The flight to Kadavu (pronounced Con-Dah-vu)

Our campsite at Kenia

Mariah and I getting ready to sea kayak the first day

Kalli and I on the flight back to the big island - we felt like Bond because we could have knocked out our pilots and taken over the flight.

Ratu (the chief), Tony our Tamarillo man, and Gus, one of our Fijian guides

Hanging out with Kalli and a cat at Kenia after dinner

Our lovely cooks at Kenia. They cooked over open flame.

The beach at Kenia

Our make-shift shelter at Verulevu Island

Looking out from the village.

A Fijian foot. They are great at climbing coconut trees. They don't wear shoes really either.

Playing with a little one

The jumping rock

Looking out from our hike to Vacalea village

The village at dusk

Breakfast one morning in the village

Making baskets for food gathering with the family.

With our food finds.

Me shelling a coconut

Getting ready for the sunrise at Waisalima at 5:30 a.m.

The crew at Waisalima right before we left

The 'special' bus we had in Suva. This is stopping at the University.

I know that its not really complete coverage but its the main points and great photos for your viewing and reading pleasure!