Mushrooms and amphibians and cabins, oh my!

I moved to camp on Thursday, and by now I think it is safe to say that I'm settled in. At least, I have enough damp clothing and rodent-chewed fabric to show that I've been here a while.

I'm feeling lucky about quite a few things regarding my current living situation.

1. Free room and board-- always fun to have, and we eat quite well. Roasted turkey and mashed potatoes one night, baked chicken and fresh-picked morels another night... mmmm mmm. We took a couple of hours off from work to hunt for morels on the hills, and we found a good number of them.

2. Close access to salamanders. I can just turn over pretty much any log around and find them-- it's been super rainy and perfect for sals! Stay tuned for way too many pictures of salamanders.

3. Sharing a cabin with my friend Bridget. We live in Heights, aptly named for how it's the the farthest cabin up from the lodge. It's my favorite place to live at camp, because it has a big porch with a swing, and because I feel like I'm sleeping outside. We get lots of deer, spider, flying squirrel, and moth visitors.

My pet cactus isn't as happy about the living situation-- it had been super cold and wet-- not a good time to be a cactus. But tomorrow is May, so all hope is not lost.

The Ups and Downs of D.C. Biking

Biking in this city is like riding a roller coaster, both emotionally and physically. I've had my share of highs and lows of biking around D.C. on my work commute over the past few months. Highs include cruising down Pennsylvania Avenue at sunset with the capitol building in front of me, and taking the long way home through Rock Creek Park on a sunny winter afternoon. And getting to the top of the long hill on the bike ride home, I suppose.

My all-time low occurred last week, when I got stopped by a police cruiser on Connecticut Avenue for running a red light. Here's most of the exchange:

Cop: What were you thinking, running through that light after waiting so long? It was about to turn!
Me: Well... the cars stopped turning so I just went.
Cop: You know it's a $25 fine for running a red light. Bikes have to obey the same rules as cars.
Me. Oh... I uhhh didn't know that.
Cop: (waves and gives me a look to imply that I don't have to pay... this time)
Me: I'm sorry officer, I won't do it again.
Cop: (gives me a very disbelieving look)
Me: Ok I will Try to not do it again...

But aside from the occasional brush with the law and the frequent stink-eyes I give to motorists and dumb pedestrians, city biking gives me great joy. I notice a lot more on my bike, and I gain new skills all the time. Recently I discovered that I can eat a sandwich while biking! It was a proud moment (don't worry, I wear a helmet). D.C. is also an exceptionally great biking city because you never know what you might come across on an innocent pedal through the streets. One Sunday I biked to the farmers' market and stumbled upon a flash mob of musicians dressed as chefs, then biked to the Keystone XL protest at the White House, then went to the capitol where there just happened to be a dance troupe preforming on the lawn. I probably would have seen only ONE exciting thing if I had ridden the metro, plus on my bike I could feasibly eat if I wanted to.

When I'm biking, I pass places that are significant both in my personal life and the life of this country. I mostly bike alone, and thus never can share the significance of whatever landmark I pass. Which is why... I totally want to start a bike touring company. Who is with me?? We would definitely wear neon safety vests, and practice turning signals before going out on a tour. It would be gloriously dorky. Stay tuned, Paris and I both are seriously considering if when we need a change of pace in life.

This would be part of our route, in case participants get hungry and need them some Jumbo Slice.

Need Some Butter with that Corn?

Things I am obsessed with, not necessarily in this order:

• Jr. Ranger badges
• National Parks
• Snail Mail
• Postcards
• Public transportation

This post is about postcards.

My postcard collection was probably a side effect of my packrat tendencies to collect everything-- bottle caps, rocks, quarters, flat pennies, boxes, Coke bottles, you name it. But postcards hold a special place in my heart, because there is no better feeling than getting something in the mail. As much fun as it is to write postcards, it's much more fun to have a pen-pal situation. Especially pen-pals who appreciate a good ol' corny postcard. In fact, due to different pen pals traveling and living in the midwest, I'm discovering just how many postcards involving corn exist out there!

My first pen-pal was a girl named Dawn. She was from Kansas, and my third grade class exchanged letters with her third grade class. I didn't like her, because she wrote about how much she loved pink. Our exchange didn't last long.

I currently correspond via postcard with a few regular pen-pals, spread across the country. I find that it is the best way to keep in touch-- more thoughtful than sending a text, less time-consuming than writing a four-page letter. Most of these pals are camp friends who always seem to appreciate snail mail the most, having lived in a place with limited internet for weeks at a time.

Pen-pal Story Time:
This one time, D-Rod, Maia, and I were headed out of the backcountry of Denali on the bus. We trooped to the back to sit with the other dirty backpackers, and met two guys who had also just come out of the wilderness. We shared stories and met up for celebratory we-didn't-get-eaten-by-bears pizza, then traded addresses. I didn't know then, but one of these guys turned out to be a stellar pen-pal!* You never know where you'll meet a new pen-pal!

Here are some corny postcard winners, if you are wondering what constitutes a good amount of corny:

Over the years of collecting and receiving corny postcards from all over the country, I have compiled some take-aways.

1. The best states for corny postcards are: Alaska, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, and South Dakota.

2. Common themes for corny postcards are: cute animals, large vegetables, bears, jackalopes, factoids, cowboys, and hillbillies. 

3. Always check out the postcard section in thrift stores.

4. One dollar is way too expensive for a corny postcard, but is legit for an arty postcard.

5. Old Western postcards can be found in most gas stations out west, and they crack me up the most (ahem*send them to me*ahem).

*Note: To reach the level of Stellar Pen-Pal, you must sent postcards often, and they must be corny.

Sometimes...

...I kind of miss being on the dock at school.

That is all.

All the rooms

I spend excessive amounts of my free time on decorating my room, in part because I have way too much stuff that can possibly fit into it, no matter what size. So I just move it around from wall to wall, and call it 'organizing'.  What follows are some of my college rooms. It's like a game-- can you spot all the same items in different locations in each room?!

First year- Dorm explosion.

Second year- The house on School Street-- my attic cave.

Third year- Prescott semester-- when I didn't bring everything I owned.

Fourth year ish- Tiny cabin on the hill, Calypso Farm in AK.

Fifth year- Cottage Street with slightly less shit.

Not pictured: Pleasant Street room, Cleftstone Room. Don't worry, I still had all of the same things.

This is just to say

I have eaten
the cake
straight out of
the to-go box

from Guapos-
Tres Leches Cake
on my front porch
in the sunlight

it was delicious
so full
of sweet milk
for lunch

Prime Campsites

I've never been one for planning trips in advance (who does that anyway?), so I continued in this fashion and did not plan one bit of the Utah trip, aside from the national parks that I wanted to stop at. While I'm not going to actually recommend this technique to anyone out there planning a trip, it worked out okay for us. We were a group of three who knew nothing about any campsites on BLM land or National Park land. Yet we went camping for five weeks and still had a spot to sleep every night. Here is the highlight picture reel of these campsites:

Campsite: Colorado River Recreation Area site, just outside of Moab

Date: 10/11/2012

Result: Stunningly gorgeous landscape, and incredibly crazy thunderstorm at 5 am.

Campsite: Arches National Park backcountry site @ Clover Canyon

Date: 10/13, 10/14

Results: We Love Clover Canyon, and had it completely to ourselves... Wilderness

Campsite: Cowboy Camp, BLM land by Canyonlands Island in the Sky

Date: 10/15/2012

Result: Stupendous views! No cowboys though.

Campsite: Whistlewind BLM, somewhere towards the Needles District

Date: 10/16/2012

Result: Wish we'd gotten here earlier in the day, but perfect. And a good spot for bucket showers.

Campsite: Canyonlands NP backcountry, Devil's Pocket site

Date: 10/17/2012

Result: High walls and creepy vibes, also cold. But nice meadow in the morning!

Campsite: Canyonlands backcountry, on the slickrock

Date: 10/18/2012

Result: Luv n' it, caught the last of the sun and some sweet moon action.

Campsite: Canyonlands Backcountry

Date: 10/19/2012

Result: Beautiful redrock hike in, found a toad, got pretty creeped out at night.

Campsite: Capitol Reef NP, near Halls Creek Narrows

Date: 10/24/2012

Result: Hard slickrock, the Waterpocket Fold is SWEET

Campsite: Paria River BLM site, cottonwood "grove"

Date: 10/27/2012

Result: So relaxing, laundry in the river, burritos.

Campsite: somewhere in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

Date: 10/28/2012

Result: Juniper fires and Stickwiththeplan Soup, tryna be like Ed Abbey

There ya go, the unplanned campsites of Utah! Sometimes it works to have no plans or expectations. Then you can be pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the most perfect campsites of all time.