Working in Sequoia NP

A couple weeks back I was tasked with helping a coworker wrap up some winter prep down at some sites in Sequoia NP.  I was excited because I'd never been there and would get a chance to see some sights (sort of).  There was 6-10" of snow on the ground so I packed all my winter gear and headed out early on a Monday morning to meet my coworker down there.  On my approach to the park I got a phone call from the coworker telling me the road I was going to take was closed due to snow (it was being plowed).  We turned around and drove around to the southern entrance, which added on another hour+ to the drive.  On top of that, there is on-going construction that causes road closures for 2 hours at a time so we had some time to kill when we got into the park...

This is a swimming hole we visited while waiting for the road to open back up.

After we got through the construction we finally reached our destination (about 3 hours later than anticipated).  The first 2 days and the last day we stayed down in the lower basin.  Here's some photos from those areas:

One of the stream sites.

The area where the cabin we stayed at was.  The clearing in the center of the photo has instruments in it as well that are monitoring groundwater levels.  The fog is blocking out most of the scenery.

The third day we went to the upper basin.  The trailhead started around 7,800 ft and we we hiked up to 9,300 ft.  I thought it'd be a really tough 3.5 miles but it didn't end up being too bad.  The worst part was the hike back in the dark on the icy trail.  My knee/hip didn't like that very much.  This is what we saw when we got to the top of the ridge:

This was my first view of the High Sierra and the Great Western Divide.  Most of those peaks are between 12,000 and 14,000 ft.

Recent Weekends- Part 2

Saturday, October 29:

A pastor in town is heading a grass roots organization aiming to polish up the city and help give it a better image. He invited a few other churches in Merced to get involved a couple weekends ago by gathering some volunteers to spend a morning doing some cleanup at designated spots. Patrick and I joined about 20 others from our church to head up the effort at a downtown transit center.

We spent a few hours picking up trash, trimming the vegetation, weeding, and sweeping.

Proof of the difference we made, measured in trash bags. Our Pastor is the 2nd person from the right, standing next to Patrick (just an fyi).

What's neat is there was a gift shop in the transit center that sold something we've been on the lookout for! They only took cash (which we didn't have on hand unfortunately) but the station is only about a 5 minute walk from where I work so I was able to return via a quick stroll during my lunch break later in the week.

Sunday, October 30:

We know we're married now, but we dated a long time before the ceremony so it seems odd to wait to celebrate 2 years together when we've been together 9! Until we've been married a couple decades, this date will always be as momentous an anniversary to us.

We celebrated by walking to an Italian restaurant near our house for dinner that is a little pricey but serves delicious food. Our first week in Merced we ate there, but hadn't been back since so it was a nice treat. Before the indulgence though, we visited The Vista ranch for some fall fun.


No offense to our Missouri pals, but there's a reason MO is the Show Me State and not the Show Off State when it comes to apple cider. :-/ In Michigan we are raised on some pretty fine unpasteurized stuff (I think that's the difference), so I was skeptical yet hopeful of what CA had to offer after being in withdrawal the last couple years. It was a LOT more expensive, but the taste did not disappoint!

No need for a 3rd person or a tripod- a nearby leaf on a corn stalk provided a nice place to hang our camera. :) Patrick and I were surrounded by walls of the corn maze on the premise. We took it very seriously since I didn't want to cheat to get out (I had to find the official exit!) but it was also a pleasant laid back affair.

After emerging from the labyrinth, we hopped on the tractor-pulled trailer for a hay ride around the grounds. It was a short ride, but long enough to learned a sports bra is a necessary piece of equipment for a farm's potholes. :) Still, we enjoyed it- I haven't been on a hay ride in ages!

These looked rather lovely on the brink of sunset to be simple irrigation ponds for the gardens.

It was intriguing to observe the many shapes, colors, and textures of pumpkin varieties. We've got a creative God!

There was an enormous flower garden we didn't have time to walk through, but we were on higher ground so we could still admire it from a distance. Plus they had smaller patches surrounding the cornfield that we could ogle while waiting for the hay ride. I was pleased to find a basket marked $1 for a bunch, on our way out of the ranch. My 2 sunflowers faded after a few days, but the other 3 flowers I bought are still looking decent after 2.5 weeks! Probably one of the best dollars I've spent, I'd say, and anniversaries too. :)

Recent Weekends- Part 1

Most weekends Patrick & I devote to housework, garden maintenance, and errands. But the last few, we've broken up the routine with several out-of-the-ordinary activities.

Saturday, October 22: we attended a coed baby shower for Patrick's coworker- Ryan- and his fiance, Alisa. We played some games, ate WAY too much food (at least, I did), and stayed a few hours longer to just hang out a bit with a small group from the university. After the party the guys mingled while the ladies dabbled with henna!

For those of you who don't know, henna is a dye made of crushed leaves that makes a temporary tattoo on your skin. It's traditionally worn during festive events in Middle Eastern cultures. Gayatri (holding the henna) was adorned in decorative patterns during her recent wedding. Alisa had hoped to imprint her belly during the "bachelorette" party (when the girls attending the wedding applied the henna) but since it didn't happen, Gayatri offered to do it for her baby shower.

Gayatri started with inspiration from a photo online, but improvised as she went along. Ryan & Alisa's names are woven within. It's pretty sweet (I love the peacocks) but unfortunately I didn't get to see it once the dried henna flaked off.

It took quite a while to finish Alisa's pattern, but once she was done, Gayatri offered to put some simple designs on the hands of any interested parties. I, of course, was fully compliant!

The finished artwork after I scraped away the caked paste. It remained fairly bright for about 4 days, then the lighter areas started fading away.

October 23: Our California Blackberry Ale was crafted by the formerly cut-up hands of my fine husband! Our abrasions from the thorny patches have long-healed, but I do have scars on the back of my leg from a particularly nasty bramble! It was so worth it though for the crumble desserts we've already eaten and the special libation on it's way!

Prepping our home-grown hops for brewing.

I gave Patrick a propane tank for his birthday so he could heat up the water more quickly. He finally got to test it out!

Steeping the grain filled sock is starting to darken the water.

Cooling it down with the wort chiller to add yeast and pour it in the pail for primary fermenting. Check out part 2 to see what else we've done lately while waiting for the beer!

Lake Tahoe- Yes there's a difference!

Last month, Patrick and I decided to check out a bouldering competition up north. (Bouldering is rock climbing on short routes- such as boulders- not requiring any equipment other than a pad to land on if you fall.) We didn't compete but thought it might be neat to scout some places to climb, observe the local talent, and check out the vendor booths/food/brewpub gathered for the event.

The climbing ended up being scattered around town and allowing competitors to travel independently, scoring themselves with a card, so we didn't really catch too much action and didn't want to look like stalkers taking pictures of strangers. But the day was gorgeous for leisurely strolling, and we did discover a super delish homemade meal bar at the vendor fair (we ate them all in a week- we should have bought a whole case!).

The event was just outside of Lake Tahoe, so afterward we figured we'd make it worth our long drive and try to get closer to the famous landmark (or rather- watermark?). Neither of us had been there yet (Tahoe National Forest is a different spot that does not contain the lake, in case that is confusing.) We didn't really know where we were going or the best observation point, but the short overgrown path we chose did provide a nice secluded place to enjoy nature and catch a decent view.


This was our first glimpse of Lake Tahoe, coming around a hilly curve on our way to the festival.

The white patch on the water is a bunch of sailboats. We weren't down too close to the beach but the area we drove through contained cute log-style buildings and a lush wooded bikepath. Since it was only a day trip, we definitely plan to come back for a full weekend to explore more, dip our feet in the water, and of course- get ice cream from a shop that caught our eye. :)

Work (for Patrick) & Play (for Atalie) in Tahoe National Forest

I'm not even sure where to begin, it's been so long since we've posted! Between weddings (see facebook for photo albums/info), our jobs, and the everyday hub-bub, I guess it just fell through the cracks in my memory and motivation. Time for me to remedy that though!

Might as well start with our overnight trip to Tahoe National Forest back in August. Patrick had been wanting to take me up there, and scheduling field work over the weekend made an economical and practical time to do it.

We arrived late Friday night and couldn't quite tell what our campsite looked like until we had breakfast. It ended up being the perfect size for us, had vegetation giving us privacy from the other campers on one side, and was close to the outhouse & water pump- all making it a penthouse for car camping. :)

No need for Patrick to follow the rules- he set them!

Beautiful day for adjusting a solar panel.

I pretty much just retrieved items for Patrick when he needed them, and spent the rest of the time at this site (and others) taking photos or loading the truck with wood for our fire pit (we don't own one yet, but we WILL!).

An interesting flower in a pretty color that caught my eye along the forest floor.

These looked so much like edamame or some sort of pea. I was really excited at the prospect of collecting some once they matured more, but I couldn't verify what the plant was when I got home. I spent a decent amount of time trying to identify the plant by its leaves online, but edamame leaves don't look like that and the closest results that came up were marijuana! To be on the safe side, I shall refrain from foraging for now. :(


We passed this whisky bottle hanging in its cradle from the tree limbs on the edge of the main road. What the heck? Are we in Arkansas again?

Drilling a hole to run tubing/wiring to the land-based instruments from the sensor in the water.

Wait- where's water world? I don't remember warping to this level in Super Mario Bros!

We had a spectacular dinner when we arrived back to camp that night. Chicken always seems best when cooked over a fire!

While we waited for our corn on the cob to cool, we trekked to the top of a nearby hill to observe the sunset.

There's just no competing with the color spectrums that appear in the sky!

Time to finish our meal, enjoy the warmth of the fire and our view of the luminous moon (it was huge & bright that night) before going to bed.

The next day while Patrick was hooking up some wiring, I got distracted by a visitor crawling between his computer and the bucket it was set upon.

I transplanted the creature to a nearby tree via floating stick. I imagine that would be a rather terrifying form of travel but it didn't seem to phase the caterpillar.

We didn't complete as much work as hoped for due to forgotten objects, a few obstacles and random circumstances. For instance, we found ourselves in the middle of a mountain bike race routed on the back-roads we used to access Patrick's sites, and later that day we nearly collided with a motorcyclist hugging our side of the road around a corner. His bike tipped over and he skidded beyond our view under the front of our truck. Luckily Patrick wasn't going too fast- all his speed was in his reaction. We patched the fellow up and had an interesting conversation, and later he mailed us a replacement first aid kit. It was a rather odd but rewarding weekend as I went to Tahoe National Forest for the first time. :)

Locks of Love & Love of Grillin'

A few weeks ago I finally tamed my mane! Patrick was getting his hair tidied up, so I decided it was as good a time as any since I wasn't going to be one of those people who lets it grow to their knees and get dried out over 30 years' time. Besides, there are some peeps in this world whose circumstances have left them a bit short changed- and face it, I had plenty to share!

Quite a bit past my waist and nearly to my butt! Most days it took me 10 minutes to comb my hair after the shower, and it often got pinned under Patrick's elbow when I'd be rolling over in my sleep. There are definitely some perks to shortening things up a bit.


Unfortunately when I held up the chopped ponytail, it was thick enough that the center just slid out onto the floor since there wasn't enough tension from the rubberband. The hairdresser retied it and told me that even without the stuff that fell out, it was more hair than a lot of donors' locks.

Take 2- it's not falling out this time! I guess there's still a lot of hair there, but it was annoying that another chunk coulda been added to a wig. There's still quite a bit of hair on my head too- nearly enough for a second donation! I can put my elbow over my shoulder and not touch the bottom.
Modeling my new haircut, and our new grill! Thanks to my birthday money, we were able to enjoy grilled pizza, chicken, corn on the cob, zucchini, homemade soft pretzels, brats, and fruit over the course of the week. Delish!

The grill came with free installation from a cute chef. He set it up and made me dinner- that's the best deal out there, no doubt! :)

Britt and Mom's Visit

During the last week of June, my mom and one of my sisters visited us, but the corresponding blog entry kinda fell through the cracks since we left for MI ourselves just 2 days later! Well, it's about time I catch up and show a few pics from their time here:

Mom & Britt arrived on my birthday. I was a bit downcast because I realized I officially entered my late 20s, but Patrick made me dinner and cake, and I was spoiled with presents and my special guests so I didn't stay too depressed for too long. :)

Angel food cake from scratch- it turned out perfectly!

The next day we showed Mom & Britt Glacier Point and the valley floor at Yosemite. It is ridiculously busy there during the summer, but it's basically impossible to spoil the beauty of the park.

The ice cream was overpriced, but Mom said when else would we have the opportunity to enjoy a drumstick or ice cream sandwich/bar at the top of Glacier Point? It didn't take much persuading for the rest of us to give in.

Interesting lichen/branches, especially with a perfect sky backdrop.

Lovely flowers cascading over a rock ledge on the pathway to Bridalveil Falls.

The waterfalls are super-swelled from all the melted snow, so the splash/mist at the bottom was not forgiving! But the weather was nice and it gave us a thrill, so we didn't mind. In fact, it was mom's favorite part of the day!

I don't approve of the people who carved into this wood, but I did revel in the coincidence of their initials.

Our guests showed themselves around during the week since we had to work, but we did get a second Saturday to hang out together in Fresno. There was a lovely courtyard near the place we ate dinner, and later we went to a Shakespeare play in a park. Having Mom & Britt here was a real treat for Patrick & me!