Powdery Wet Mammoth

Negotiating wet, thick powder was a new challenge for me. At one point everyone watched as I dragged myself from out of the feet of snow just to fall back in it and get buried anew. Thankfully the mountain later got easier to navigate and I was sad when we finally had to go. The sucky thing about short weekends is that a person only has one chance (Saturday) to get the most out of them. We tried our best by boarding, hot tubbing, and eating yummy food. As one can see from our facial expressions, we were quite successful.

Upper Owens River Gorge and June Mountain

Thank you MLK weekend. In honor of the man, we exercised our freedom by climbing some fabulous routes in the Upper Owens River Gorge on Saturday. The next day a few of us went to June Mountain. Even though the area hadn't received any new snow, we still had some great runs on the groomed trails. I'm not that great of a snowboarder, so I wasn't too disappointed that we couldn't navigate through the trees.

Routes Climbed at the Upper Owen's River Gorge:

1.  Machine Gun Jumblies (10a)

2.  Dr. Evil (10a)

3.  Grindrite (11b)

4.  Double Flipper (9)

5.  10b (can't remember the name)

The Perks of Living Close to Hollywood

I randomly checked my myspace last Thursday afternoon and saw that the Watkins Family Hour was having a few special guests.  Not only that, but the concert would be only ten dollars.  I ran upstairs and asked Olivia if she was interested.  Being the awesome spontaneous friend she is, she decided she wanted to come along and our friend April did as well.  Twenty minutes later we were on our way to Largo at the Coronet in Hollywood.  It was our first week of classes so we figured we wouldn't be too hard off missing one night of studying.

Our last minute adventure was well worth it.  Jon Foreman of Switchfoot opened with his celloist (I forget his name, but my housemate knows him...he's SDA)--it was probably my favorite part of the show because it was so simple and yet Jon's lyrics and voice were, as usual, amazing.  

After Jon, Sara and Sean Watkins (of Nickle Creek fame) played a few songs then were joined by numerous other musicians together making up a group called the Works Progress Administration.   We were the lucky members of their first audience.  A few of these players I hadn't heard of before--Pete Thomas on drums, Davey Faragher on bass ( from Elvis Costello and the Imposters), and Luke Bulla on fiddle--but they were all super talented. Davey is a willowy towering man who wore a fedora and created the quirkiest facial expressions. April and I were fascinated watching him.  He reminded me of the bass playing bear at the Country Bear Jamboree in Disney World. I wish my dad could have seen it--the Jamboree is his favorite show.

The fiddle player, Luke, at one point plucked a song with Sara. They said they used to play it by the Fire in the Hole rollercoaster at the Silver Dollar City amusement park in Branson, Missouri. When they couldn't remember the exact name of the ride, I boldly belted "Fire in the Hole!" Of course they could hear me embarrass myself. We were in the second row and at a small venue. But Fire in the Hole was one of my cousin and I's favorite rides, and I was probably the only person in the audience that has heard of SDC, much less visited it. I had to give the place some love. Luke and Sara's song adroitly reminded me of the hillbilly foot stompin' good times I used to have there.

Beyond these players, the massive group includes some more famous musicians (at least to me) like Benmont Tench, the pianist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; and Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket. The latter is not my favorite singer (I have heard him play with Nickle Creek and the Watkins a few times in the past), but I do like a few of his songs from the 90s. 

While not part of the Works Progress Administration, David Rawlings and Gillian Welch came out and joined in a few songs.  I had seen on the Largo schedule that they had played the previous night and was hoping they would be there.  Happily they were!  I love that so many bluegrassy musicians seem to love jamming with each other--and at small venues.  During the finale, there were probably 13 people on stage.  

After the concert the musicians mingled in the lobby area.  I always feel silly talking to famous people.  I ended up mumbling some porquerias and taking a picture with Sean Watkins. I almost wish I hadn't.  I find it strange trying to find common ground with strangers I'm not sure really want or care to communicate with me.  I felt a little icky after speaking with him, but it was a fantastic concert and I left with overall happy emotions. The experience made me feel better about my temporary stint here in Southern California. We sometimes get very cool, unique opportunities.

The Holidays

What did happen? It is all sort of a blur. Here is a fast brainstorming for now.  I don't have a lot of pictures because I didn't have a camera.  Boo.

-Stayed in Placerville, CA for my second Practicum with Darren's parents and with his sister and brother and their families nearby. Spent one weekend in a cabin near Tahoe and the other with Dannon, Kim, and Larry in San Francisco.

I loved Placerville.  It may be my favorite town in California so far.  The town is small with character due to its history as an old mining town.  My favorite coffee shop, The Cosmic Cafe, is an old mine.  The first week I twisted about in a yoga class and the second I watched The Cup, a movie about exiled Tibetan monks, in this place.  The latter was especially interesting because I was the youngest person watching amongst a gaggle of middle-aged and older hippies.  

The hospital I worked in also had some older hippies.  One physician would come to work in shorts, sandals with socks, and long flowy white hair.  Another wore tie-dye scrubs.  It was awesome.  

-Spent a week at home visiting friends and family

We chilled 3 1/2 ish hours at the Yellow Deli until Cliff, Viren, and Julie puttered off in their RV to go West.

-Traveled a week on a cruise to Honduras, Belize, Mexico, and the Bahamas.  We were on the boat in which the woman went overboard. Yikes.

Giving the camera "bedroom eyes" while SCUBA diving in Roatan, Honduras

We didn't see any big sea creatures (i.e. turtles, eels, sharks, etc.), but we had great visibility, saw fantastic sponges and coral of all types and colors, and, of course, lots of fishies.

Mandy and I's thumbs were frozen by the time we had finished floating down Jaguar Paw in Belize

I had been to Jaguar Paw with The World Mission Tour back in 2005 (I briefly talk about it in my blog from then I think), but it was fun to experience the place with Darren and my family.  I had forgotten how fabulous it was floating through the ginormous caves with our headlamps.   The water was sort of cold, so I was belting out various operatic tunes probably to the chagrin of the hoards of people floating in front of us.  There were so many more people than when I had been here previously.  Darren and I just jumped in the water and swam around while waiting for them all to pass in their groups of 30 people or so.  I was so glad our group was just us.  I was also relieved to have our guide.  He was fabulous because he didn't have any qualms about Darren or I cliff jumping, nor attempting to clamber up the slippery limestone.  I also enjoyed his intelligence, his view of ecology (he studied it in the U.S. and is all about smart ecotourism), and his humor (except for when it got a little racy).  

-Chilled a couple days at home hanging with other friends and with more family

Sailing with Dave by Chickamauga Dam, getting chai at the Yellow Deli with Dave and Aaron, having long chats my grandpa and his wife, extended family dinners, playing Guitar Hero with Joel, Mandy, Dave, Bess, and Aaron...

-Flew to Las Vegas for New Years and rock climbing in Red Rocks

New Years in Las Vegas was surprisingly lame.  The strip consisted of a countdown on a big screen and a bazillion drunkards stumbling about the streets.  Supposedly there were fireworks, but we couldn't see them from our position near the Bellagio.  Lame.  

We stayed at Hooters (not my choice) for a shocking $200.  That experience was sufficiently traumatic and disgusting.

The next three days were exponentially improved, however, staying at our friends' house and climbing in Calico Basin even though I was a bit grouchy.  I led my first chimney which was scary because I was being wussy, but thankfully with the advice of mis amigos I climbed my way to the top safely.

Routes Climbed:
1. Beulah's Book (5.9)
2. Byrd Pinnacle (5.7+)
3. Classic Corner (5.8?)
4. Cocopuss (5.10b)
5. Gold Bikini (5.10a)
6. Atman (5.10a)
7. Working for Peanuts (5.9)
8. Sport Chimney (5.8)



-Visited Stella and her family Saturday night and Sunday

Embarrassing old videos, good chats, plans for Spain, three cups of cappuccino, pupusas...wow wee!