Alright, while all of my Baylor friends and family are at the football game against TCU, I will sit here and attempt to get my blog caught up! Sic 'em, Bears! That's my alma mater!!!
So, let's talk about Saturday! We got up really early and got ready to go white water rafting. Before we went, we stopped at the Wake and Bake and had some breakfast burritos and belgian waffles with strawberries and bananas on top. YUM!
Adrift is the name of the company who took us rafting. We hopped on the bus and prepared ourselves to face the frigid Colorado river. Some of the people who were on the raft with us were from across the pond, and they were hilarious. One of the girls was a drama major and so here we were, floating down the Colorado, with this Londoner reciting lines from Shakespeare's As You Like It. It was awesome, to say the least!
I finally convinced myself mentally to jump into the water. It was like jumping into freezing cold chocolate milk. You could not see through the water at all. I cooled down, and hopped back into the boat. Dad, however, stayed in the water and at the advice of our river guide, went over a small rapid. All of a sudden, all you can see are his feet sticking up out of the water. He resurfaces (we all had life jackets on), sputtered out loud, and coughed. Erin and I could not stop laughing! He 'bottomed' out and it was absolutely hilarious.
It didn't end there! We hit another rapid a little later and Erin had her leg hanging over the side. The raft hit a rock just right and sent her over the side. Luckily, she didn't get hurt and did not get her face wet! She got a much needed dip to cool off and then got back into the raft. It was very eventful!
On the way down the river we got to see a baby coyote, and a lot of old movie sets. They said that some of them were from movies that John Wayne had been in. There was so much beautiful scenery around us, it was almost surreal. Here are some pictures. Keep in mind, I saved the best pictures for last. :)
Sunday, August 28th:
Today was pretty chill. Dad and Erin left for grand junction after we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the local Pancake Haus. I had french toast, and it was delicious. I have not had a bad meal here yet!
I went back to the house and arranged my room and my part of the kitchen, trying my best to get situated. I finally got comfortable, and made dinner in the freshly cleaned kitchen.
1 (10.75 ounce) can of condensed Cream of Chicken soup
1 (8 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups cubed chicken
1 (8 ounce) package Jiffy’s corn muffin mix
¾ cup milk
1 egg
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Heat the oven to 400 F.
Stir the soup, corn and chicken in a 9 inch pie plate.
Stir the muffin mix, milk and egg in a small bowl until barely blended.
Spread the batter over the chicken mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Sprinkle some cheese on top. Voila!
Monday, August 30, 2011- My first day of work!
I woke up bright and early at 7:15 to get ready for work. I was so nervous and excited the night before that I barely slept! I felt like it was the night before my first day of school... Dressed in regular clothes, I walked to the historic Rock House. This is where I will be working most of the time during my internship.
I opened the door and slowly crept inside, since I was a few minutes early. I peeked around the corner and saw my boss, Heidi Wainer, sitting at her desk. I introduced myself and 5 minutes later Danielle came inside. She was the other CCOE intern. She is from Buffalo, New York but drove to Arches from Mississippi. We introduced ourselves, and then dove into the mountain of paperwork we had. Welcome to the government!
Around 11:45 am, we went to the Visitor's Center to meet everyone. However, a lot of people were missing so we met a few people. I still meet someone new almost every single day! We went back to the Rock House to do more paperwork and check out our books and reading materials. We have so many books to read that I feel like I am back at Baylor!
Heidi showed us around town and guided us to all of the schools in Moab. We will mostly be going to the huge, new Elementary school. We went inside and she showed us how to get around. The school is so nice! This is where we will be spending a significant amount of time during pre-trips and post-trips.
Heidi pointed out the good places to get certain things in town, and told us what food wasn't good and where not to go. She had a surprise for us, so we went with her down this gravel road out of town and she showed us where some of the petroglyphs are. I didn't have my camera at the time, but I went again today and will post the pictures on today's blog. They were so cool! I think if anything, they made me believe in aliens. Just wait until you see them.
We went back to Arches and it was time to search through the uniform cache to see if we could find any shirts that fit us. I found mine on the first try, and was very happy! Poor Danielle, she can't really find one that fits because she is so tiny. I wish I had that problem!
Before we knew it, it was time to head home. We took our heavy books and boxes and walked home. Then, I called my dad to tell him about my day.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011: My First Hike
I met Danielle at the Rock House bright and early at 8 am. We prepared our backpacks and water bottles and hopped in the government car. We were off to Balanced Rock so I could get a grip on hiking for the first time on an easy trail.
Around lunch time, I was getting hungry and was almost out of water so we headed back to the Rock House. There we unpacked our lunches, talked to Heidi about what we learned and saw, and met the other new CCOE Ranger. After lunch, we spent some time looking through the field guides and books trying our best to identify the plants and animals we had seen that day.
Then it was time to go gas up the government vehicle! We rode into town and filled up the car and brought it back. Then if was off to the Visitor’s Center to work on our Arches Scrapbook. One of our tasks is to shadow the Rangers/SCAs at the front desk for 2 hours. We stood, learned, and realized that people ask about the same 10 or so questions every time.
I snuck off for around 20 minutes to watch the introductory park video because the room they play it in is so much cooler than the open visitor’s area.
Once the time came to be off for the day, we headed back to the Rock House and gathered our belongings. By then it was extremely hot outside, so I went home and cooled down for a little while before going into town. The other SCAs and Danielle had suggested that I purchase a water bladder for my backpack so the next time we do a more strenuous hike I won’t run out of water. Excellent idea! I went into town and bought a platypus 3 liter bladder and am excited to use it next time we go climbing.
Here’s a little lesson about the Arches:
How are arches formed?
A natural arch or natural bridge is a natural geological formation where a rock arch forms, with an opening underneath. Most natural arches form as a narrow ridge, walled by cliffs, become narrower from erosion, with a softer rock stratum under the cliff-forming stratum gradually eroding out until the rock shelters thus formed meet underneath the ridge, thus forming the arch. Natural arches commonly form where cliffs are subject to erosion from the sea, rivers or weathering; the processes "find" weaknesses in rocks and work on them, making them larger until they break through.
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