Paychecks and Adventures? Yes Please!

I finished my first week of working at the Rec camp! It was a pretty good week, quite exhausting but also fun. Tuesday was our first day with the kids so we had a morning of name games, rules, orientation, etc. which wasn't too extensive since the kids pretty much already knew everyone and knew what to expect. It was me who needed the orientation. I'm still figuring out how things work and what to do. There have been a few surprises I wish I'd been told about ahead of time but even with the staff, they'd all worked at the rec before so training and orientation wasn't very essential except for me...it feels a little strange to have wandered into this community where everyone knows everyone else due to the small size of the town. All the kids go to school together and all the staff have grown up together. Then there's me. And the other new person, Josh. Despite being the new person, I do feel very welcome in the camp. Everyone's really nice and the kids don't hardly seem to notice that I'm new. Every once in a while I get a little homesick for Sonlight, because for 14 years that was the only camp experience I'd ever had. The camp here is definitely different and those differences seem to blare out at me especially when I get frustrated or confused. BUT, I've already had a chance to do some pretty fun and awesome things and I'm getting paid for it! And for that I'm grateful. Tuesday after the get-to-know-you games we took the kids to the beach and spent the rest of the day there. Then on Wednesday we went to a camp ground about 30 minutes away where there was a pool, volleyball nets, basketball courts, paddle boats, and mini-golf. That was a fun day too! And then Thursday was my very first experience with playing paintball! And Friday we went to a water park in New Hampshire. I mean...I got PAID to go to a water park! :-) This coming week we are going on an overnight camping trip and I think that will be pretty awesome! I'm excited for that.

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened this past week. I've just been getting used to the routine of getting up early, going to work, and then coming home. I was thinking about it and decided this is the first job I've ever had with regular-people job hours. I work 8:30-4:30, and I've never had such normal hours at any job! Haha. Weird. Anyways...a few evenings ago I went for a bike ride to the beach with Jess and her dad, and these are a few of the photos I took. It was right at sunset, so it was just gorgeous!

Day to Day in Maine

Here's a couple photos of my cute little garage-room that I'm living in all summer! What incredible friends I have to let me live in their garage for the summer. So what have I been up to since my epic hiking/camping trip? Well all kinds of random things I guess. Last week was training week at the camp I'll be working at although "training week" is an overstatement. It lasted three days and only a total of about 12 hours. We got lots of first aid training (a review for me, since I recently already got certified, but review is always good I suppose), we got our staff T shirts and awesome jackets with our names on them. We played a game of ultimate frisbee which was my first time. We learned the general rules of the camp, then Friday evening the parents and campers came for an informational meeting for about an hour. In all fairness, I suppose, I was one of only two new people on the entire staff so not a whole lot of training was necessary, plus we were required to watch several hours of training videos online before last week so that took care of a lot as well. Anyways, last week I met with my other three "Junior Leadership team members" and we did some planning and such. Our first group of kids arrive on Tuesday and I think we're ready to go!

Besides work-related things I've just been having random adventures such as the fiasco last night in which there was a chipmunk brought into the house against its will by Jess and Ben's cat, then it took four people and one cat to get the chipmunk to go back outside. I've also started reading the book Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I have been meaning to read this book ever since I heard about it on my Semester at Sea trip almost two years ago. I have lost count of the number of people who have recommended it to me and said I would really enjoy it so it's about freakin time I read it! Previously I was reading Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman which is a GREAT story about their motorcycle trip around the world. I am currently in the process of watching the TV mini-series of this journey which is just great! They've also got a second journey called Long Way Down which is about their trip down Africa. Both are pretty awesome stories, and I recommend you watch either one (or read the books-although you can't hear Ewan's cute accent if you read the book...) if you are at all interested in travel, motorcycles, adventures, or attractive Scottish men!

Another hobby I have picked up as scratching and counting mosquito bites, as I seem to have hundreds. I even had one on the palm of my hand for a while. How does that even happen?! Maine seems to be the land of not only vacation and pine trees but also of mosquitos. Yikes! Oh, and speaking of hobbies, I've been working on my slacklining skills which is starting to pay off! Yay! Someday I'll see about taking a short video of me traversing the line.

Fun photos!

For your entertainment, here are three "photo essays" that are really cool/funny!

Dirty Car Art

Crazy Custom Bikes

Funny Protesters

New Blog Layout!

I've changed the look of my blog! Thought it might be time for something new! Hope you like it.

Your Mountain is Waiting

Okay okay...I admit it, I was skeptical at first. Maine? Mountains? Are you sure they're not just hills? I mean I like to think I know mountains when I see them. Even as we were driving into Baxter State Park in northern Maine I still wasn't sure what loomed ahead were actual mountains. It was beautiful up there but the magnitude of the mountains wasn't immediately apparent. Maine's mountains are very sneaky. They don't give even a hint of foreboding nature until you are right there. I have been told that Maine is 90% forest and that it is the "pine tree state". I believe it. I have never seen so much green! We drove into our campsite after driving for 6 hours and finally set up our tents and made the area home for the next two nights. Jess reserved a group site so there were 14 of us total, most of whom I'd never met before but everyone was great! Five of us got there early, the rest came later that first night. I borrowed a little one-person tent from Will and it was the cutest, smallest tent I think I've ever seen! Me and my tent became the joke of the trip but really I fit in it perfectly! I could just lay down completely with my head touching on end and my feet touching the other end of the tent. Since I will be doing a lot of camping this summer with the rec camp I might look into buying my own cute little tent once I start getting paid. Anyways I was totally content with my little humble abode for the weekend. It was all I needed and it allowed me to fit everything I needed for the weekend into two backpacks of modest size. I'm trying to be all about simplicity these days, having only what I need and very little else so I tried that out this weekend.

We got to the campsite in the afternoon so we had several hours to set things up and hang out and enjoy the natural that we were in the midst of! We went to bed not long after the sun went down but I didn't fall asleep until maybe midnight or so. I got a few hours of sleep before waking up at 4:15 with the sun and some very loud and persistent birds. I can't even remember the last time I was awake at 4:15am! Yikes. I didn't actually get up though until about an hour later. So we had breakfast, got ourselves ready for a day of hiking and set off for the start of the trail and were on our way by a little after 6.

The first part of the hike was along a trail that led to Chimney Pond, a beautiful area with Mount Katahdin as the backdrop. This first part took us about three and a half hours, making frequent stops to accomodate for the varying degrees of hiking levels we were all at. I didn't mind the extended time spent on this part of the hike because it allowed me to conserve energy for the more strenuous part of the hike after the pond. The only part that I found extremely unpleasant were the flies that seemed to follow us everywhere and swarm around us. There were also plenty of mosquitoes. BUT an amazing thing happened within only the first hour or so of hiking! We saw a moose! A pretty good sized thing (although they're all pretty huge) with antlers and everything. This was the second moose I'd ever seen. The first was last summer in Colorado. What a cool thing to see though! Many people who have lived in Maine for years and years haven't seen a moose so I guess I lucked out!

We reached Chimney Pond around 9:30am which is about the time I'd be waking up on any other day but I'd already been awake for six hours by then! Most of our party elected to call it good at the pond so Jess, Ben and I forged ahead on our own to conquer Katahdin. Now we could see the mountain we were about to climb from the lake, but like I said, Maine mountains are very tricky. They don't make it obvious just what you're in for. Jess had done the hike once before but as she said, it's not even possible to really describe the hike, you just have to see for yourself what it's like. We started off and were really cruising along and then we hit the actual mountain, where the "trail" was simply a matter of climbing over giant boulder after giant boulder for several hours and the trail markers were blue spray-painted lines on random boulders every couple yards. I want to know whose job that was to do the hike and decide which boulders would make the trail for people to follow. At some points we wondered if the chosen path was a joke, like "Haha let's see what kind of ridiculous things we can make these people climb over, around, and under!" at one point I said to Jess "Hey, remember what it felt like to walk upright?" She said "nope, I can't even remember that far back" it had been hours of climbing up boulders at an unbelievably steep angle and there was no other way but to use both hands and feet like awkward monkeys. The views, however, were completely amazing.

We made it to the top many hours later and ohhhh boy was that view unbelievable! Definitely worth it. We took pictures, rested a little while, then headed back down via a different trail (partially for a change in scenery, and partially because as difficult as it was going up our chosen trail, going down it would have been practically unthinkable) but alas, our new trail was equally rocky. We were essentially dragging our asses down a rockslide. The rocks were often unstable and at awkward places and angles so that we still didn't get to experience upright locomotion for many more hours. In addition, as is the case in downhill hiking/crawling, all three of us were experiencing the wonders of your toes being smashed against the front of your hiking boots to the point where you really wouldn't be surprised to take your shoes off and discover that your toes have been worn down to little nubs and nothing more. Eventually we decided it would be more efficient to describe what DIDN'T hurt, instead of what did. But once again, I must stress, that despite the pain and complaints, the views were incredible and I really did enjoy the hike and I believe Jess and Ben felt the same.

After many many hours of climbing/crawling/sliding/hiking we made it back to the parking lot around 7:30pm where we were indescribably glad to have a ride waiting for us to take us back to the campsite a couple miles down the road. We all climbed into the truck bed and instantly fell asleep. We got out of the truck at the campsite and hobbled over to the campfire, ate some dinner, and basically passed out an hour later. I slept through the night and only woke up once around midnight when it started to rain. I absolutely love the sound of rain on my tent, as long as I'm safe from getting wet, which I was so even that little interruption to my deep slumber was just fine with me!

I think I will venture to say that this 13-hour hike was the longest, and most difficult hike of my life. Well done, Maine, you really do have mountains! It was also one of the most beautiful hikes. I am still amazed at how green the forest was, how clear the water was, and the views from the top of the mountains was incredible. Some facts for you all about the area I was in are such:
-Baxter Peak, one of (or maybe THE) tallest mountains in Maine is, at its summit, 5,267 feet in elevation
-the elevation of Maine's highest point is almost the same elevation as Boulder, CO
-Mount Katahdin is the end of the Appalachian Trail (seems like kind of a cruel joke to those who hike the entire 2,178.3 mile trail to come to the end and still have this enormous rocky mountain to climb)
-hikers are required to bring flashlights or headlamps with them on the hike because is is so common to not finish the hike until after dark, even when starting at 6am!

Today I am sore all over but completely satisfied with my weekend of camping and hiking! Now I will hobble over to the grocery store to buy food, then do some laundry and try to get some other things accomplished today, as I only have a couple more days before my job actually starts and I will probably be constantly busy and exhausted from all the fun!

Last night Jess and Ben and I went to visit Jess' brother Zach in the hospital, where he is because of an unfortunate incident a week ago with a tree branch and his leg. He's doing well now, but could use everyone's good thoughts!

Thanks for reading my epic tale. To see more pictures, go here!

Like a Postcard

This afternoon I was sitting on a rock, at the beach, reading a book and an old man came jogging by me and said I looked like a postcard sitting there - well actually he said I looked like a 'post-cahd' in a perfect Maine accent- which of course made me look around and take in the setting in which I was sitting. He was right, it was pretty enough to be on a post card and I guess I fit into the scenery in my relaxed zoned-out state of reading and enjoying the beautiful Maine day. I guess I'd be crazy not to consider myself very lucky to have had that moment and to be where I am, doing what I'm doing! Money is tight right now while I wait for my camp job to start, so I've been finding as many free forms of entertainment as possible. My new favorite is to ride my bike to Moody Beach and back, then find a really good rock and sit on it and read for a while. Oh, and for those of you who have seen my bike, I am proud to say that thanks to Ben I now have a brand new seat on my bike and it is NOT held together by duct tape! So I've been riding my bike a lot lately, which is also a great way to save money on gas and Wells being fairly small, I can see a pretty good portion of the town on one afternoon's bike ride.

As if riding my bike along the beach and sitting on rocks in postcard scenery wasn't enough, I also start my job at camp next week and looking at my schedule I think it will be an entirely exhausting and amazing summer! The list of things I will be getting PAID to do include: rafting hiking, camping, canoeing, paintballing, go karting, rock climbing, kayaking, tubing and visiting places like Rangeley Lake, Kennebec River, the Appalachian Trail, Acadia National Park, Sebago Lake, and Bar Harbor! I'm still a little nervous about fitting in as the new person at camp but I am SO excited for all the adventures I'll get to go on! The program I am co-coordinating with three others are split into four 2-week sessions with about 25 kids per session, although I am told a lot of the kids do more than one session. The kids are going into 7th, 8th, and 9th grade so I'm expecting kids who think they're so cool but who are also easier to relate to and who I will hopefully enjoy spending time with!!

Another fun adventure I am getting ready for is a camping trip into Baxter State Park with Jess and Ben and their parents and a whole gang of other people. We leave Friday morning, drive 5 hours, camp that night, hike all day Saturday, return to camp, then leave Sunday and drive 5 hours back to Wells. It will be great to start seeing more of this awesome state and do some hiking on what I hope to be really great mountains (being from Colorado makes me a mountain snob I guess, so I have high expectations!) from what I hear I don't think I'll be disappointed. I'm excited!

Last weekend Jess and Ben and I went sea kayaking and that was a lot of fun! It was the second time I'd been sea kayaking in my life. The first time was also in Maine, with Jess, seven or eight years ago. It was quite an arm workout, especially when there was wind blowing against me, but I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself!

Unfortunately I seem to have developed a cold and sore throat in addition to my seasonal allergies so that's put a damper on the past couple days for me. I think I'm on my way to getting better but let's just say I've gone through two and a half boxes of kleenex in two days. Sigh. I don't even know where I would have caught this cold. And who the heck gets sick in the summer?! I better start feeling better soon. Or else.

Guess that's about it for now. I hope all is well with everyone out there reading this!
Peace and love!

Slacklining, Badminton, and Debugging

As I write this there is a nasty huge June bug throwing itself against my window in my cute little garage-room. Sigh. June bugs are probably the nastiest bugs in the world. They're enormous, sticky, loud, and GROSS!!!!!! So far three of the four nights I've been here have included throwing a June bug outside. Sunday also included waging war against the spiders that thought they were living in the garage but were sadly mistaken. After an afternoon of debugging and my nightly June bug elimination rampage my room in Jess and Ben's garage is actually pretty awesome! As Ben says, it doesn't even look like a garage! It's a pretty great space and moving in was great because I could just pull my car into the driveway, open the garage door and throw my stuff inside. I think all rooms should have one wall that can go up to make moving in and out a lot easier. Anything to make moving easier on me, as it seems to have become a hobby of mine over the past few years. I move at least once a year, sometimes more. On the upside though it's a good way to cut down on having too much junk because I just don't want to move that much stuff.

So I'm all settled into my garage-room and thoroughly enjoying Maine! I've got two weeks before I start working at the rec camp so I will be looking into new hobbies, taking lots of photos, and watching some training videos that I have been assigned in preparation for camp. I also want to explore the town of Wells a little and get to know my way around. I finally got my slacklining aspirations into motion and bought 50 feet of webbing from EMS and after several days of Jess, Ben, and I trying various systems for putting the line up between trees in their backyard we have finally got it set up and have all been practicing and gradually improving. So far my record is three steps before falling off. I have also been honing my badminton skills. Yesterday, on Memorial Day, we had a barbeque with some friends over and we played some epic rounds of badminton, and Zach and I practiced some more tonight in the rain. We're determined to become badminton masters. I think we're well on our way.

This afternoon I decided to go for a run in hopes that I wasn't acclimated (or is it de-acclimated?) yet to being at sea level so that I'd feel good about myself. After jogging a little ways down the road parallel to the beach I stopped to breathe on the sea wall and when I decided it was about time to get up and jog back, the sky suddenly opened up and just DUMPED rain down on me. It was actually completely awesome. I love running in the rain, and by the time I got back I was totally soaked and quite happy.

As I drove around Wells a while this afternoon, stopping at the grocery store and drug store, I came to the conclusion that my road trip this spring has caused me to be very comfortable just wandering around (via car or by foot) a city or town I don't know my way around at all. In fact, I quite enjoy it. I did this several times in various cities throughout my trip. I really find myself enjoying being in a new place that I am only vaguely or not at all familiar with and just driving or walking around, not having any particular destination or direction in mind and seeing what I see. I've found some great coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, art, people, photo opportunities, and so on doing this. There's something strangely comforting in knowing that you've got the entire day to just get lost in a place and it doesn't matter when you get back, there's no schedule or deadline for the day. In fact, it seemed that most of the places I stopped in on my trip had at least one day for "getting lost". I've been made fun of a few times for not having a GPS and using an atlas instead to travel across the country. Although I can see the benefit of a GPS I also thing there is value in getting lost or finding your own way without a machine telling you which way to turn and when. If you make a wrong turn somewhere who knows, maybe you'll find something totally awesome around that wrong corner!