Another Girls Trip - To Middle-Earth!

Yeah, I bet you didn't know Middle-Earth is in British Columbia, did you?! Ha! It's here, and it's only a 5-hour drive!

Actually, no, Middle-Earth isn't, but Brandywine Park is. Brandywine was the name of one of the rivers in the Shire, which is why my two cousins and I pegged it for our destination for our second girls' trip.

Two years ago, before I began at SPU, two of my cousins and I decided to take a day to go exploring some part of the PNW. This year, we decided to do that again, and I fortunately didn't have a broken toe this time.

We decided to head up to Vancouver, British Columbia, first. This was kind of a rest stop, but it was also a souvenir stop. There are some beautiful little stores in Gastown, a neighborhood there, that have unique and local souvenirs. So we spent some time shopping there.

Anyway, we then drove another hour and a half or so to get to Brandywine. The area we drove through is part of the Sea-to-Sky Corridor, and we drove on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. Now, I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think it's called Sea-to-Sky because the mountains and the ocean are right next to each other. The mountains just fall straight down to the water, with no valleys and not much beach in between.

Pictures from the way up:

Right around here, we drove by the Sea-to-Sky Gondola. I had never heard of it and wanted to go on it, but it was something like $30 per person, so we passed it up. Next time...

Anyway, then we got to Brandywine. The link I gave to it before says the picture doesn't show the falls' height accurately. Here are my pictures:

We were definitely in some hills, if not in the mountains themselves, so we found some other beautiful distance views:

It's worth mentioning, by the way, that height isn't the only thing that comes with hills. Another aspect of hills is the wind. The insane, wild, strong, push-you-back-if-you-jump wind. How strong was the wind? 

This strong:

My hat is not attached to anything. The wind is holding it up.

Of course, there's also wildlife. Like this snake!

I like snakes! I think they're cool. I did try to catch it, but it was too fast for me.

See how he's weaving in between the fence?!

It turns out there was also a scenic railroad. So, pictures there, of course!

After this came our full-blown exploratory hike!

The youngest of us really wanted to stop at Capilano, where the world's longest suspension bridge is, but it was out of our way and crazy expensive, so we skipped it. For the record, a "suspension bridge" is basically a rope bridge. It means the bridge is supported by being "suspended" by two high points on either side of what it crosses, rather than being supported by pillars. Capilano has the longest one in the world, but we didn't see it this time. 

But the trail we took at Brandywine promised us a route to a bungee bridge. All of us - all three of us - thought that meant we were going to a suspension bridge made out of bungee ropes. We all thought that. 

Well, we got to the end of the trail and saw that we were all wrong. It was not a bridge made out of bungee ropes. It was a bridge for people to bungee off of:

Looking down

We did not. We watched about three people bungee jump. That basically solidified my determination to never do that. Oh no. 

Anyway, then we stopped to eat a snack, and then we started the drive back.

I didn't get too many pictures, like I did with last time, because my phone battery was needed to navigate. But I had a good time, as I always do with those two. Nothing beats cousins!

Mount St. Helens!

If you've grown up in Washington, you have heard the stories of St. Helens' eruption in May of 1980. It was a massive volcanic eruption that caused about a third of the mountain to fall off in the largest landslide in recorded history and sent ash about fifteen miles into the air. I remember hearing once that the ash wasn't burnt wood, but rather little pieces of lava that had been blown into tiny little particles by the overheated volcanic gasses in the eruption. The lake at the foot of the mountain completely changed shape. Old growth forests several hundred years old simply vanished, or got knocked over and strewn about like twigs. Old glaciers melted in an instant, sending water into a giant mudflow that swept across acres and acres. Even today, the mountain itself looks almost like the surface of the moon. Ash from St. Helens circumnavigated the globe, and today in Pikes Place Market and elsewhere, you can still buy volcanic ash sculptures, or just jars of volcanic ash, from the explosion.

Amazingly enough, over the course of 1980, fewer than 60 people died from the eruptions. I know that sounds like a high number, but, if I remember Professor Finnigan's class correctly, the St. Helens eruption was the same kind of eruption as Vesuvius in Italy, which wiped out two entire towns. So to me, the St. Helens story is both an indication of just how immensely powerful nature is and how you do not mess with it, but also how humans can be smart, adaptable, and determined to survive.

I bring all this up because while family visited, we decided to take a day trip out to St. Helens. I'd been there before as part of the yearly sixth grade overnight field trip there, but that was before I even started writing Darkwoods, so let's just say my memory of it is iffy. What I do remember about that time was that the mountain was going through a second series of eruptions around the time we were there; they were comparatively minor, but the year after us, the field trip was cancelled because it wasn't safe. Ah, volcanoes!

Anyway, on the way down, we stopped off at Olympia, because it was on our way, and my youngest cousin wants to get his picture taken in front of every state capitol (why didn't I think of that when I was a kid?). I wasn't going to mention it, because I already have a post about Olympia on my Travel Blog, but Google photos decided to stylize one of my photos from the trip. I think it looks cool, so:

After Olympia, we drove another hour and a half or so to get to Mt. St. Helens. To be clear, when you "go to Mt. St. Helens", you don't actually set foot on the mountain itself; what that actually means is that you go to the national memorial park, which has a couple of observatories, vantage points, and scientific exhibits that tell you about the mountain's history.

So - cue the photos!

First are some pictures from the car. See that gray in the middle of this first one? That, we think, is one of the stretches of land devastated by the mudflow:

For context, here's a picture of the forest on a nearby mountain:

Here is the mudflow scar again

And now, the mountain itself!

The snowy mountain to the far left is Mount Rainier, the one you see from Seattle (and on the back of Washington license plates). On a good day, you can see St. Helens from Rainier, too, and you can sometimes see Rainier, St. Helens, and Mt. Adams from a plane. 

The thing about St. Helens is that it is, in fact, still an active volcano, which means there's still a lot of very hot and pressurized activity inside it. The good thing is that there are enough vents on the mountain to let off some of that pressure, so the odds of another explosive eruption happening anytime soon are slim. It also means there are clouds of steam coming off the mountain:

To the right, down the slope in this picture

On the lower left side of the crater in this one

Lower left side of the crater

Can you see the bulge inside the right side of the crater in some of these pictures? It shows up very well on this one:

That bulge is the lava dome. As in, there is live lava pushing up under that rock, that will one day rebuild the entire dome. I think St. Helens lost about a thousand feet of height, but from what I can see, that dome has made pretty good progress in less than 40 years. Who knows when it'll all be made up?

By the way, if you ever go to the observatories, be prepared to be as familiar with St. Helens before the eruption as after. It's pretty mind-blowing how much a mountain, a mountain, can change in just one day. I do highly recommend going to the observatories, because there is so much to learn there. I've hardly touched on the story of the mountain, and the observatories show the equipment they use to measure volcanic activity, a light-up model that shows all the different stages of the eruption, and a lot of information about the forests around the mountain and how the eruption affected them. It's a spectacular learning experience.

Plus, you get to see cute guys like this!

SPU Graduation!!!

For the first time since Kindergarten, I am not enrolled as a student in any school. Not gonna lie, I was too exhausted to really appreciate this until recently, but the joy is just beginning to bubble up.

YAAAAAAAY!!!

Back when I was in high school and about to graduate, Mom told me, "It's all over but the shouting". In other words, all that's left is to party. So, here are some pictures of my graduation ceremony:

Before the actual graduation, there was a ceremony called the hooding ceremony, where one of the faculty members put our masters hoods on us. At WLC and for doctoral students at SPU, this is part of the whole graduation ceremony, but I guess when you have about 200 graduates, that can get long, so they have a separate ceremony for the masters.

Me looking for my favorite professor to hood me

Me getting hooded!

After hooding, with my dad

That light blue around my neck (the hood) is the color for education. Academic masters hoods are designed a certain way: the outside of the hood is the color of the discipline (education), while the inside of the hood are the colors of the school. The hoods are generally turned a certain way to show both the university and the discipline (there's one of me with the back of the hood below that will show you). According to SPU, the academic garments (hood, robe, hat, etc.) are based off of ecclesiastical garb (church clothes!). 

After hooding, with my mom (some of you have definitely met her)

This is after the graduation ceremony. That lei was a gift from a family friend. I guess leis are very popular for graduation this year! That thing smelled so beautiful that I wore it through dinner. :) 

Out in front of SPU! See the sign? That's the entrance to what I think is the oldest part of the school.

And here's the picture showing the school and the discipline. 

The best part about all of this, though, is that I officially have my first teaching job. Where? Teaching what?

Well, let's just say...

It's back to my Travel Blog!!!

My Case for Dance

For over two years now, I've been pondering what I reealllly want for a graduation present. I never asked my parents for a major graduation present after WLC because I really couldn't think of anything I wanted that much. I've been bouncing the question around in the back of my mind for the last two years, but I had no more real wishes for a grad present.

Not until tonight, anyway. About half an hour ago, I went straight downstairs and said to my mom, "I know what I want for a graduation present. Wherever I wind up teaching, I want a membership to a local dance studio."

One thing I've learned from doing my Travel Blog is that when you have some kind of adventure, it's important to take some time and think about what you learned from it. It's a way to put the memories in your long-term recollection, but also to associate it with what was most important and what you gained from it. I didn't just have an adventure so much as an experience, but I think it was almost as important as anything in my Travel Blog, so I'm reflecting on it now.

I don't think it's been a secret that I've been under a lot of stress with my Washington teaching certificate (despite the fact that I'm about 100% determined to find a teaching job somewhere other than this state, and therefore about 95% sure that it will happen), and I haven't been dealing with the stress very well. I actually may have lost weight due to stress, which, if you've seen me, you know I can't afford.

Now, my problem is that I didn't really have a lot of coping mechanisms. Writing was never a coping mechanism for me - oh no, that was always its own adventure. I've heard that, generally speaking, exercise is a good coping mechanism, so I started taking walks around my block, that just kept getting longer and longer without actually helping me at all. I tried listening to different music. YouTube has all kinds of options for de-stressing music (some of which apparently cleanses your cells - who knew?!), so I tried listening to that. I tried listening to some of my old favorites that I used to find comforting. I tried getting extra, extra sleep. None of it really helped - in fact, my coping mechanisms turned into escape hatches, where I would run from the problems causing my stress rather than face them head-on.

Today, I remembered out of the blue a quote from Martin Luther on one of my desk calendars that the more work he had to do, the more he would begin praying. So I thought, okay, let's try what I definitely should have tried first. I'll say a prayer. So I shut off all the lights in my room, got down on my knees next to my bed, and tried to spend some time in prayer.

As I was praying, I remembered that this wasn't the first time I had been under a lot of stress (or the worst, frankly) - it was waaaaay worse when I was working on my various thesis projects two years ago, my senior year of college. And during that time, a thought had occurred to me that I really couldn't act on back then: I never had this kind of stress when I was in dance. Had dance been my way of dealing with stress before I ever realized it? I wasn't sure back then, but this time I decided to test my theory out. I went out to the living room, put on a song, and tried some of the old stretches that I remember best.

The effect was almost instantaneous.

In the space of one song, stress was reduced; three songs through, I felt calm and ready to tackle my project again. Strong, even.

I'm not especially surprised, and I'm annoyed at myself for not thinking of this sooner. If you've ever gotten me on the subject of dance, I've probably mentioned how healthy and important it is. Music, discipline, exercise, and the feeling of accomplishing a small task are all considered highly important for mental and emotional well-being, and dance tackles all of that in one. It got me back on task, and it settled my stress and anxiety to vastly more measurable levels.

I quit dancing after high school because I was diagnosed with Freiberg's Infraction, which can't be cured and which causes varying degrees of pain in my right foot. Sometimes it could get pretty bad. But I think the pain in my foot is far more manageable than the stress in my mind, so when I get the chance, I'm getting back on the dance floor.

Who knows? That might make me a more productive author, too. Remember that Graystone was slowly finished after I quit dance...

One of Those Random Updates

I think after last fall, when I kept myself sick and burned myself out over school work, I may have used up what little dedication to school I have left. Maybe not, since I've turned everything in so far, but you get the idea - SPU is sort of fading into the background.

Hey, that works solidly for me. I actually like what I'm doing these days! I've been researching the Russian Revolutions for my history class (I know the basics, but that was never my strongest suit, so I had to supplement my knowledge, which means research, which I honestly enjoy). I've also been reading and researching Lord of the Flies for my English class - not my favorite, but the writing style alone is very interesting and really grabs the reader, so I enjoy this too.

And, of course, I enjoy working with the students I have. As cliche as it is to say, all of them have some kind of unique gift that really does make for interesting class sessions. Teaching has been quite a bit of fun!

Anyway, I will admit I haven't spent much time writing lately, because I've been writing lessons, but that's how it goes, right? I'll have to find time to work on the books, but I probably won't get much done until after I graduate. We'll see. But, I am tentatively setting this August (before I start a full-time teaching job) as the deadline for getting my draft to Julie, my editor. Will that happen? Meh, who knows. Books tend to proceed at their own pace, so I might not finish until December. But, hope is eternal, and I am more than ready to dedicate a summer to writing. We shall see!