Yosemite: Day 1

We drove from Sonora to Yosemite and back both days which takes awhile...and no matter which road we took it was so incredibly curvy and windy...me with bad ears got pretty nauseated. There was a good 20 miles of it! Blech! That was the low point of each day, the two hours in and out. I was really nauseated the first four days of the trip what with flying and then these roads.

We spent the first day in Yosemite in the high country- we got up to like 7000 feet! It was a little hard to breathe. We had great weather, it was warm and sunny but not too hot, though I did get a bit pink.

In Yosemite you can drive around in the park and and get to most picturesque spots without having to do too much hiking. There were trails to waterfalls but we didn't do them. Plenty to see already!

It's so pretty there, basically everywhere you look is snapworthy. That's an understatement. I took so many pictures!

See for yourself...

There was this cute lookout building at Glacier Point, I loved the stonework:

Laura got some shots of me being a tourist:

We finished the day by seeing the giant sequoias, they were so neat!

This was the root ball of one that had fallen a long time ago. I liked this fallen sequoia, it was huge! I loved the texture of the roots. Who knows when it fell, but troops posed for pictures (they rode horses onto it!) with it from 1891 to 1914. Sequoias have tannin-rich wood, which gives them their orange color and helps preserve them from decay and insects. It’s been on the ground for at least a century, and it’ll still be here for a long time to come.

There was a lot of fire damage in the area- sequoias need fire to release their pinecone seeds, but not this much fire. The park does controlled burns for this purpose. It was interesting to see the trees that were burned at the bottom and fine at the top.

We saw the “Grizzly Giant” tree that is the oldest and estimated to be 1790 years old. We saw the surviving tunnel tree (there was another one that fell in the 60’s) that was tunneled through in 1895! We also saw deer while walking through the sequoias, they were scrawny little things in comparison to our hefty PA deer!

Funny story: When we stopped to eat our picnic lunch, Mom opened the mustard for me (my hands were full!) and the mustard exploded due to the high altitude and got ALL over me! She only got a drop by her eye, I got it all over my hair and face and glasses and shirt and arm AND it splattered up onto the open hatch of the car! We just laughed- I wouldn’t have cared so much except I liked that pink shirt! Thankfully I had a shirt to change into- and thankfully it came out after a couple of washings!

This photo doesn't even do justice with how much mustard was on me!

Laura was cute too:

 

It was a fun day and neat to see everything together as a family.

Stay tuned for Yosemite: Day 2!

California: Days 1&2

We actually traveled to California together as a family this year, the last time that happened it was 2005! My parents have wanted to take us to their honeymoon spot, Yosemite, for quite some time and this year it worked out- we had the time and money and Dad could get time off so off we went. My grandfather was also turning 80 and my aunt and cousin were coming down from Alaska as a surprise so we decided to surprise my grandparents as well.

Day One was pretty much spent traveling- we hopped on a plane from Erie to Philly ( that's right, we had to fly East to go West!) and had a long layover til our flight from there to Sacramento. Our flight was supposed to have taken six hours but instead took EIGHT hours as we were stuck on the ground for over two hours because there was something wrong with a radio.

US Air then had the gaul to then charge us for food- and they didn't even have enough food for everyone! I was sitting clear in the back and was worried that I wouldn't get something substantial to eat (I really needed some protein for my migraine) but thankfully got the last sandwich box. Sometimes God's tender mercies include sandwiches, I'm telling you. Did they show a movie? No! Nothing!

I was basically nauseated all day from lack of sleep, turbulence, headache and a weird eating schedule. Laura got the dry heaves next to me on that long flight, I jumped up in a hurry! I felt so bad for the guy on the other side of her! She was ok though.

It then took forever to get our luggage and our rental car and to get checked into our hotel, we didn't get to bed till 2am, Western time! My body was thinking it was 5am.

The next day was calmer. We had intended to go to church in Sacramento, but we got in so late that that wasn't going to happen. We had a great hot breakfast at the Hilton, they had a short order cook! Best freebie hotel breakfast ever!

We were able to find the Sacramento temple and it's tucked away but oh so lovely. It stunk not being able to go inside or even inside the gates but we got some nice pictures. I would love to go inside someday. The flowers were beautiful and it was so nice and peaceful there.

We drove from there for several hours to Sonora, which was somewhat close to Yosemite. It was neat seeing parts of California that I'd never seen before. Many of the towns look very "Old West" with their false fronts. We passed through gold country. Our hotel in Sonora did the job fine.

We got settled in and got some rest...the next day was Yosemite!

Stay tuned!

Really!?

I have to say, it's interesting being like the only single gal at these kind of aforementioned church functions. By now there's little that people do/say that's offensive, I'm pretty used to it. But good grief I have been asked if I have a man/kids quite a lot in the last few weeks! I found it to be rather amusing.

During the first day of camp there was a gal from one of the other wards that was sharing our tent platform at camp, I'd met her once before and didn't know her well. She'd brought her 3 year old girl to camp for the day. We're sitting there and out of the blue she asks "Do you have kids?"

"Um...No...."


"Really!?"

I cannot emphasize how high the last syllable of "Really!?" went up as she said that, it was so funny. At least to me.

"Really!? You don't have any kids?"

Why did she not believe me the first time? I really wanted to be a smart aleck and say "Yeah I'm pretty sure I haven't pushed a watermelon out of my body, but let me check."

Later that same day she started again:

"So, are you married?"

"Um...No..."

"Really!?"

"Um...yeah...No..."

"Really!? You've never been married before?"

"Nope..."

"Really!?"

As if I would forget that I was married now or in the past. I'm not on a soap with amnesia!
Couldn't she see I wasn't wearing a wedding ring...or any rings at all?

I think the conversation would have continued, but we were interrupted. Why did she think this was her business? I don't know. It was all very funny. People crack me up sometimes.

The next day someone asked where my little girl was- they thought the aforementioned woman's little girl was mine! That gal isn't old but is older then you would think would have a three year old so they thought she was mine (I had played with her for awhile).

Um...Nope...not mine.

And this woman asking me about the little girl was surprised to find out that I was not married/no kids, though thankfully she didn't say "Really!?"

She said it was surprising that I didn't have children because she thought I was good with children...a very nice compliment considering she doesn't know me well either. She went on to say that she didn't see very many people like me in the church, so it was surprising to her. I wanted to argue with that but opted not to. There are a lot of girls like me. There are many singles in the church these days, whether they be never marrieds, divorced or widowed. I know quite a few wonderful gals in their thirties who have never married. I wanted to tell this woman that in my travels I meet quite a few gals who would make a wonderful wife for someone.

Both before and after trek, when people found out that I was going or had gone, they would ask "Oh, were you one of the Ma's?" I have been asked that quite a lot lately.

Um...No. Photographer. Not Ma.

Did they think about what they were saying as it came out of their mouth? What did they think? That I was a single Ma on the trip? They knew I wasn't married, who did they think would be my corresponding "Pa"?

My wonderful unmarried friend did tell me that last year she was asked to be a Ma for their trek...and they got some single guy to be the Pa. Well now it's not kosher to pair up two unmarried people on these things so the stake roped another single girl to join in to offset things. Apparently that made things kosher. They joked that they were the polygamous handcart family!

I have to say that when I heard they were planning trek I thought, "They can't ask me to be a Ma! Yes!" Being single does have its perks every now and then. I still got roped in though, so the joke was on me.

Right now I'm writing to you from good ol' SF and I can't escape it here either. My aunt's down from Alaska and as I'm fixing salad she says "Well I have to ask, Liz...are there any nice boys in PA?" Rather awkward but I handled it with a bit of grace. "Just Amish ones," I said.

Well, just because some boy is nice doesn't mean I want to marry them or them me...

I was able to joke around with her but wouldn't ya think she'd hear it through the grapevine if I had any options? My dad talks to her all the time.

I also recall all the people who said "Maybe your future husband is in PA!" first thing when they found out I was moving. They practically jumped up and down with excitement. It was almost as if they thought that that had never crossed my mind! Trust me, it had...though I never really felt like that was going to be the case...and it's been three years here people. So far I win. I don't know where he is, but so far he's not here. And I've been looking.

I have to say that I'm pretty careful what I ask people- I don't want to say the wrong thing. I know what it's like to get crap from people. Like how I don't bug people about when they're going to have a baby- I assume one will come when it's supposed to. I also assume that they get enough crap from other people, they don't need it from me. 

I try to take people's crap as a backwards compliment...they want me to be happy and to have blessings that they enjoy. It just doesn't always come out right.

Well, in amidst the recent wedding announcements from girls back home that were either little children when I was in YW or who I visited in the hospital when they were born (both true stories!), there is a ray of hope...my aforementioned "polygamist" friend is getting married- and to a really nice guy who is a good member of the church to boot. She's a couple years older then I am and a very sweet girl, so I'm pretty excited for her.

Someday I'll be able to answer "Yes!" to those kind of questions, but in the meantime I'm just trying to do what I'm supposed to do- school and my callings. I'm happy and having fun. And I want the same for you, too.

Really.

Survivor: Panama

You read the stories about pioneer women who carried their babies or a rolling pin across the prarie- my baby was a Cannon D-SLR! I had been asked previously to attend and photograph trek and I won’t lie- I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. I knew it would be hard. And I was right.

Someone was giving me a bad time saying my camera wasn't "period authentic" and I retorted "I have antique cameras, but it'd take a lot longer for you to get your pictures!"

And so began trek- the youth were assigned into families, and the 6 Ma and Pa couples were introduced. They each did a little intro cheer. All six were great for the trek. Each family had 7 or 8 kids. The kids got some instructions, and then their “parents” checked through bags. We got loaded into cars and made it to the Fred J. Cusimano Western Overland trail in Panama, NY. I was told to have my stuff in one of the handcarts, and so I became “Auntie Liz” to that family.

The handcarts were loaded with our things as well as a dutch oven, a lantern and some snacks. I wrangled everyone to have family portraits and a big group photo, and then they were off! They started through a field, it was fairly easy- and then it got more difficult once we entered the forest. Puddles, mud, roots, and creeks abounded. They had “hardships” too- one family had to bury their beanbag “baby”, another had to wait for 20 minutes under their handcart to wait out the “snowstorm”. Another family had to walk for twenty minutes without shoes. Thursday’s hiking was the longest and hardest- it had the most hills (and the steepest) up and down to get the handcarts through. I was quite tired by the end of the day, somehow my hips kept making my legs move.

We had delays and lost light and didn’t make it to where we were supposed to camp (and have dinner) so we wound up staying in a someone’s field. We had snacks (jerky), but not dinner because they couldn’t get it to us- a tree was down on the road. My girl, Katie had to go home (other kids went home too for medical reasons) because she had a bad asthma attack and her ankles gave out. She was a trooper, she worked hard pushing that handcart. Well, lucky Katie- she missed the thunderstorm. I slept on a tarp (it’s amazing how great the ground can feel when you’re tired!) and had a tarp over me but my sleeping stuff still got wet. Thankfully my duffle bag and camera bag were in plastic, they were fine. Families put together lean-tos with tarps off of their handcarts to huddle under, but I knew there wouldn’t be room for me. I wound up running to the pickup truck used to haul the porta-potties and sleeping a little bit in there. No one got more than an hour or two of sleep.

Breakfast was jerky again and the rain died down. I made the mistake of changing into dry socks…and then it opened up and absolutely monsooned! It was so depressing! It poured and poured and the wind was up, too. I had a long poncho but still got drenched. At one point I had one of the girls under it with me, she didn’t have rain gear and was getting soaked. I have never been so wet in my entire life, taking a shower would be drier! And I’m a Washingtonian! I’m used to rain! My skirt was soaked, water squished out from my shoes as I walked. I was so miserable and depressed. We finally left the field after we got packed up (wet bedding was taken to a Laundromat to be dried- it would never dry outside with all the humidity) and headed for the wooded trail. After a couple miles, we made it to where we should have camped had we made it that far- a site that had two covered lean-tos! Arrgh! We waited there for awhile, tried to dry out. I was very happy to get a biscuit with jam- my blood sugar had dropped from not having dinner or breakfast and I felt like crap. The sun came out, we were a bit drier, and definitely happier.

Most of the trail is through the woods- more humid, but I don’t deal well with a lot of sun, so I was happy. Lots more hills and water crossings while we hiked. Luckily for me, I had bridges, but a lot of the time the hardcarts wouldn’t fit so they had to be pulled through. In the early afternoon, we made it to another field where we were to camp. We rested for awhile, I got a nap in the grass which was great. We set up shelters for the night (we got help building a fabulous one for us gals in my family) since it would likely rain again and helped make chicken/vegetable stew in dutch ovens that was very good. After dinner somehow the kids had energy to do squaredancing and they loved it. Squaredancing ended early as the storm was coming in.

We had been promised the barn in case of bad weather and good thing because a thunderstorm came right over us. I grabbed my things and ran over to the barn and got there just in time before I would have gotten drenched! We got bales of hay down and made a layer on the floor for sleeping. Boys on one side, girls on the other, with Ma and Pa’s in the middle. I wound up in the back corner as the dividing line between the boys and girls. Oh, and I wound up sleeping on straw that was on top of a conveyor belt! I was on the same level as the girls, but was afraid I’d fall off the edge onto the boys that were two feet below! The hay was kindof a Craftmatic adjustable bed for me (ergonomic to my body) and I did manage to get some decent sleep- without killing the boys below! My legs got all scratched up from climbing to where I was to sleep. It didn’t help that I got moved several times by leaders.

You see the hay on the conveyor belt? That's where I slept!

I was thankful for the barn- it really stormed! The wind was up, it poured, and the lightning flashed brightly through the cracks in the barn. The thunder was really loud, right over us. And hey, now I can say I’ve slept in a barn!

It stopped raining in the morning and we awoke to find our leaders cooking breakfast in dutch ovens- eggs, potatoes, cornbread and leftover peach cobbler. Totally yum. After breakfast, each person got to brand their name onto their family’s handcart and off we went. More wooded trail for most of the day. I lost track of how many times the kids pushed the handcarts through creeks, it was so many. The boys were called away to the Mormon Battalion and for about an hour (and a little over a mile) it was just the women pulling the handcarts. Instead of having 6 or 7 people to push a handcart, they were reduced to 3 or 4. It was great to see the women and girls band together to get each handcart over a bridge (having to line it up just so or else it would topple off) and then through a big creek. There were hills, too. They were exhausted, but great. You go, girl!

The guys came back grouped together singing “Army of Helaman”, it was great. But even after they came back, they couldn’t help or speak to the women, only watch. Many spoke later about how hard that was to watch and not be able to help. Later they were allowed to help and we continued on. Later in the afternoon, each youth had time to go out into the woods and write in their journal.

And then we made it to the finish line! Happy Day! The youth had testimony meeting (accompanied by a girl who played the violin) which was great. Parents and leaders came to congratulate them. Afterwards, I wrangled families back together for an “after” picture and everyone grabbed their gear and headed for home. It started raining again once I got in the car!

At the beginning of trek, everyone was handed a piece of paper with a pioneer’s name and age on it. Mine was named Mary- and she was 64! I was like Hey! I’m not that old! It was hilarious to hear the youth ask each other how old “they” were- some were 25 or 30 and saying they were old! I was like, just you wait! At the end of the trail you got information saying what happened to your person on the trail. I was hoping that Mary had been tough and made it to Salt Lake, but she died along the way. She too was known as “Aunt Mary” and she pulled a hardcart in the Martin company with a young woman named Elizabeth. Elizabeth made it to Salt Lake and married Mary’s nephew who was already there. I joked to myself “That Elizabeth got a husband at the end of her trek, where’s mine?”

Was trek hard? YES. I was tired enough from walking (about 16 miles in all), I don’t know how the kids survived pushing a cart through the muck. This trek was more difficult than the one I went on as a youth. The rain on Thursday night/Friday morning just about did me in, I so wanted to go home. But then I pushed through that and felt so much stronger. I think this was a great lesson to the youth that they can do hard things- and thrive. It was a great experience for everyone. The youth really loved it. The youth in the stake are already close, but I think this definitely helped cement them together even more. It was really sweet watching them help one another and to watch family help family- we had to yell at the kids to stop helping and move on because they were so bent on helping.

I came home so disgusting and dirty! Truly revolting! Not to mention I had hay everywhere from the barn- in my hair, in my bedding, etc. I’m still cleaning up! I was very thankful for a shower and a nice bed! And shelter from the elements!

Girls Camp

Well, the week I have been planning for since March finally came- the week of camp and trek. It was a good but long week. It was a jampacked, really crazy week- and we had a new camp director to boot. Oh, and did I mention that half the girls were first years? I spent the week before camp worrying about prizes for girls who memorized scriptures- which included making 60 clothespin dolls. I was also altering skirts for me, finishing bonnets for the red family, making 2 aprons for me and Katie, and a bonnet for myself for trek. My sewing machine got a real workout!

Monday was a full day-it started with getting up really early and picking up my two girls (one a YCL, the other a first year), then having to go to Walmart because they weren’t fully prepared despite my efforts. We got the gear up the hill and then had opening flag ceremony. We also had certification and some of the wards taught about their “Occupation” identity.

Other units had occupations like weavers, potters or candlemakers. Our branch was the Limners- which are people who draw and paint. We taught about oil painting, watercolor, and drawing. We were also to teach about how the pioneers did the occupation and if there were ways to do the occupation using items from nature. Somehow I found myself doing this “book report”. I had found a book from the library about artists of the old west, we showed the girls drawings and paintings of the pioneer era. Explorers would bring along an artist to document the new sights, creatures and their dealings with the Native Americans. I also found an Ensign (July 2000) that had an article about Frederick Piercy, who was a member of the church that traveled out West in 1853 to document the pioneer’s journey and also Salt Lake City in drawings. He came back East to have the drawings published as engravings in a book entitled Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley, which has become a valuable aid for historians. His drawings are really incredibly detailed. As far as using items from nature, it’s possible to make your own charcoal, but you’re probably not going to be mining your own minerals for pigments.

After dinner, we had skits. Ours was short and sweet, with Katie as an artist that “was good at painting people”….and painted her volunteer by applying a wet paintbrush to them. In years past we had longer, more elaborate skits but this year I just didn’t know what to do nor did I have the energy. Ditto for our cheers. There were several other skits that were clever- a funny riff on Twilight and another ward that did a Pioneer version of The Dating Game. After all of that, I was pretty tired.

Tuesday started off with breakfast- cleaning up after syrup while camping is pretty disgusting. The girls went on a hike for the first part of the day. I didn’t go because I needed to have my knee last all week, plus it gave me a breather. The girls did more certification and learned about other unit’s occupations. That evening was Bishop’s Night- our branch president and his wife brought us pizza and he gave a little devotional. We also did Singing Trees when it got dark- units take turns singing their hymn. It was all dark except for when a unit was singing- then they’d have their flashlights on. I like this tradition.

Wednesday was the big day- my birthday! It was a fun day. I didn’t know how it would turn out- after all, camp is not exactly where you picture spending your 30th. I’ve had my birthday at camp before (as a youth)and it’s not always so great. And then there’s the whole dilemma of telling people- if you don’t tell people then you get no love, not to mention people get mad at you when they find out afterwards… but it can look really “look at me” if you go around telling people and expecting something. My girls knew and they spread the word, sparing me from having to tell people. I got sang to in the morning, hugs all day and people wrote me little notes via camp mail. The girls went canoeing most of the day, and since I don’t canoe and wasn’t needed to shuffle cars, I got to hang out and have laughs with some great people. When some of the groups came back having had DQ, my pal Elyssa and I were jealous so we snuck off and got some ice cream too. We had taco salad for dinner (my fave) and I didn’t even have to cook- the stake made it. The girls even sang my fave camp song (“Anne-Marie and John-Pierre”, per my request) and my dad came to see me for a little bit. Laura was gone at play practice and Mom was still in CA, so it was a nice surprise to see him. My birthday card had a wet-nap in it, a great gift. I had brought my other cards to open, I felt loved. Later that night was testimony meeting up the hill in our own Sacred Grove, complete with campfire. It was great.

I joked before camp that all I wanted for my birthday was a hot shower- and I got it! This year they hooked up the showers so that they would be warm. AND I got a bonus gift- they hooked up a sink to the warm water too! This makes a landmark First Sink at camp. Most were happy with the sink, but some adults scoffed at it, saying “What’s next, a hotel room?” I responded by stating that it wasn’t luxury but basic sanitation- in the past the girls relied on hand sanitizer instead of rinsing their hands in the spigot and then they’d touch my food which equaled food poisoning for me (I’m more susceptible than most). Yup, that happened the past two years. The year we got a sink with warm water and soap? No food poisoning! Go figure. What a great birthday gift.

Thursday was pretty crazy- we were transitioning from camp to trek. Since trek was only for those over 14, I had to take Ryley home and get back to take down camp. I decided to dash home and shower rather than fight 20 other girls for a shower at camp, which was a good call. The other ward made off with some of my stuff because I wasn’t around when they were packing, sigh. I did buy hot pink cooking utensils for camp- easy to know they’re mine!

Camp had been smushed into 3 and a half days to accommodate trek and flew by in a whirlwind. It was a fun time. Our theme this year was “Surviving the Journey- with Joy!” Seriously! When I heard that, I was like is this a joke? But I did survive the weeklong journey- with joy.

 

Some of the 60 clothespin dolls I made- each one had a different fabric pattern!


Stay Tuned for Trek!