Pura Vida + Solstice = Mas Sol

What a wonderful weekend full of SUN.

Friday night I hosted the 12th annual hanukah party potluck. While there was no live Klezmer music this year (the musicians are Juniors in college-and one was in India!), the highlight of this year's event was family. My dad, my grandma, and my new neice Ava. Dad made the latkes, grandma made new friends, and Ava made great faces at all the guests.

I got to spend Saturday with this family, the matriarch of kick-ass leading the way, rolling along, and full of laughter, "I can't get over it!" she'd exclaim when Ava smiled, burped, or my dad fed her a bottle. "You're a grandpa!" she laughed at my dad.

I skyped with Matteus late in the evening, and then stayed up nearly all night to finish the cleaning up, and the packing up. I crawled into bed at 2, woke at 3:30 jumped in the shower and was off in the shuttle at 4.

When I settled into my seat on the Alaskan flight to Pheonix, it was if my mom was there doing her Jewish geography thing. I said hi to the 4th grader next to me, and then talked to her dad Jeremy. Turns out, they are across the street neighbors with Emilie, my colleague, and also teachers! We took a selfie and texted it to Emilie who replied, "Is this a Jewish pilgrimage to Costa Rica?! have fun" I got to share stories of Owen, and monkeys and sloths with this great seattle family.

I fell asleep at least three times drinking a cup of tea on the second flight. I needed that rest. Arriving in Costa Rica, clearing immigration and customs, I saw my name on a sign with my transport company. I remember how when I arrived last time my name sign said Jessica LeBine. This time it said Jessica C Lev. Of course, I thought of Lev Goertzel-Mann, as I certainly will when I get to Monteverde later today.

I slept well at the Adventure Inn, and woke to sun on a orange wall with pink bourgenvilla flowers--such a tropical sight. I went downstairs to my included breakfast--a host of fresh fruits, many of which I've only had here before. pineapple, papaya, sandia (aka watermellon), passion fruit, guava, durian, and bananas. I ordered a tico breakfast--eggs and gallo pinto--yum!

happy solstice--I'm wearing shorts, sandals, and sun glasses.

pura vida.

Getting a Jump on the school year

by working up photos from the summer.
Have a laugh with these:

http://makeagif.com/gdE_V8h
http://makeagif.com/Yejo5P

http://makeagif.com/Tojg1n
http://makeagif.com/2I7kFi

The Quiet Side--July 23

Tuesday morning, July 22, I met Sarah in the common kitchen as we both clomped around in our hiking boots making lunches and breakfasts. We hiked together to Cascade Ampitheatre and First Peak that day with another woman named Kelly.

Wednesday, July 23, we planned to hike again. She was keen to head to Sunshine Meadows, so we walked down the stairs from the hostel to the end of town in an attempt to hitch to the Sunshine Village area. I tried handing out a flower; she put her thumb in the air. A green pick up slowed down and offered us a ride. We threw our bags in the pickup, and rearranged his handyman tools to put the seats up in front. Moments later the old man said again, "Where are you going? I can't hear too well." Ha! He was heading for Canmore, and that was the wrong direction. So he drove us to the freeway intersection and we got out. We continued to wave and thumb for nearly 40 minutes but no body picked us up. They smiled, they laughed, they waved, but no rides. Turns out we were on the wrong end of town for ease of pick up, but alas. We walked back to town the 6 km on the pavement in chilly winds.

We took tea and fine pastries at Peter Poole's Wildflour bakery (he's the dude that gave us a lift back to town Tuesday!). There the sun came out and we made a plan for the day's hiking adventure. We would head to Sulphur Mountain. As we headed across the Bow River the tents of the Wednesday Farmer's market caught our eye, so we stalled and poked around. I sampled ample meads and Sarah and I both gawked at wildlife photos(--She's got a great eye and introduced me to National Geographic's Your Shot!) We also saw a twisted potato: a russet spiral cut on a Stacy style "apple torture device" and then deep fried. Yummer.

We walked up the hill towards the base, and waited for the bus to take us uphill to the gondola. What a gong show! I have never seen so many people at a trail head. Crowds! Cars! Tourists! Cameras! All of them paying over $35 for a ride up the gondola. We hiked the 6.5 km switchbacks, instead. Few folks hiked with us, but one couple from BC was chatty and kind. On a steeper section while waiting for his wife, the pastor offered us all Worther's butterscotch hard candy's. What a treat.

We hit the summit at 3 pm and at lunch at a picnic table on the "quiet side" as chipmunks tried to steal food that fell. Obviously they can't read the Parks Canada sign that says, feeding wildlife is against the law. We dove through the crowded side of gondola summit seekers and snack shop suckers to seek beta from a blonde at the gift shop about the south summit route. Then, we headed to the QUIET SIDE. Seriously, the sign said that. A clear track through the moist and lush forest brought us to a rocky outcrop. We lingered for photos, silence, and bird watching. How cool to be high above the Sunshine Valley and watch the murder of ravens below us, soar in the sky.

We continued to climb a narrow and gnarly traverse across a steep slick rock face.

This challenged my fear of edges, again. Sarah was helpful and we made it across, dropped some elevation to round the next outcrop, and booted up a dirt col to the summit. From here we lingered in the late day light, loving the silence, the rocks, and the joys of a summit. We napped in the sun, took heaps of photos. Ravens and chipmunks entertained us. A happy place.

It was 7 pm before we left the summit and made our way to the gondola station for ice cream. We down climbed a chimney shoot, passed packs, and boot scooted our way down a faster route. We even coached a couple through some of those crux moves. But the snack bar was closed! We checked back with the blonde and thanked her for the summit tips. She said, "go home. get a free ride down and get some dinner."  Did we look that haggard? But the light! We hiked out further on the 300+ wooden stairs and board walk to Mt. Sanson, named for the naturalist who surveyed much of this area, and the Cosmic Ray station from which he did many of his observations. What a contrast to our quick side hike--infrastructure, people, and garbage cans every ten feet. At the top, a young French speaking girl was adding her name in Sharpie marker to the hundreds of others who had defaced the railings and 1903 stone work with their names. Ugh.

It was 8:30 when reached the bottom by gondola stopping to see our cheesy sun glasses, duck-faced photograph they tried to sell us. Imagine the job of that photographer up top who every minute says sweetly, "lean in. okay. BIG SMILES."

The next bus to town was a half hour from then so we started following folks in the parking lot. One couple refused to give us a ride. The next couple said, "Are you looking for something?" as we wandered around. "Yes," Sarah answered, "a ride." They obliged. They were from Austin and I explained to Sarah how Austin was the Seattle of the South, but the driver corrected me with a smile to say that Seattle was the Austin of the PNW. We laughed.

Sarah and I almost stumbled into the Banff Ave Brewery with hunger. The couple in the next booth recognized us from lunch up top and asked "How does that work?" when we explained that we were solo travelers in the hostels who just "met up and hiked."  The Saskatoon berry blonde ale was so tasty!

As I got money out of my wallet to pay for dinner, my phone said it was raining. Sure enough, rain and night time. So we huddled in the door way of the next door chocolate shop and put on our jackets. To kill time waiting for the bus, we popped into the gift shop across the way. No more than ten seconds later there was a large flash of lightning and the power went out. IN. THE. WHOLE. TOWN.  So we put on our headlamps and headed out, chased down the bus, getting some funny looks. What's so funny about prepared hikers looking a little light headed at the end of a GREAT day?!

Rockin my soles in the Rockies

Nine days of hiking in the Cadanian Rockies.
Two provinces: Alberta, and British Columbia
Two National Parks: Banff and Yoho

Three hostels: Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise
Ten random rides to trail heads or hostels. Thank you kind strangers.
Kilometers: more than 80 this last week alone.
Wildlife: black bear and cubs, grizzly, she sheep and lamb, ptarmigan and chicks, mule deer, and more.
Weather: thunder, lightning, rain, darkness, wind, water, sun, heat.
Can't step twice in the same river, but I waded in the Bow River in Calgary and again in Lake Louise. I also dipped my feet in the loess of LakeLouise, and those at the base of Sentinel Pass.

Cold and refreshing.
More details soon.

Chester mountain circumnavigation

Oh Chester have you heard about Harry? He just got back from the army. I heard he knows how to wear a rose. Hip Hip Hoorary for the army.

This was a song my mom used to sing, complete with hand gestures for each word, like pointing to your nose for knows and putting your hands on your hips for each hip hip hoooray! It must have been the influence of the girl scouts singing every minute of my last adventure that had me singing this Chester song every time Ben uttered Chester Lake.

I arrived in Canmore by Greyhound from Calgary. After a short nap on the bus I woke to mountains. I felt at home and equally awed at the newness of this place. Canmore also felt familiar, a bit like Telluride. And the familiarity continued when Ben picked me up at the bus depot. While I'd never met him, his mom and my mom were good friends with the same name, and his sister Bonnie is a friend of mine from the jewish high school community. Ben sounds like Ruthie, and looks like Bon.

Saturday night we enjoyed Thai food and a radler on his porch, remarking that the smoke from earlier fires had indeed dissipated. We swapped stories and planned the adventure for Sunday.

Ben drove out on the gravel Smith Dorian road, also known as Spay Lakes road, past the reservoir and into Spray Lakes Provincial Park. This is Kananskis Country. We parked at the Chester Lake Trail Head. We began the hike to the right as our objective was Headwall Lakes and a circuit back to the car. Along the snowshoe and cross country ski trail we marveled that the weather was holding, and the sunbreaks caught the vibrant red Indian paintbrush on the trails edge. We turned left at a large carin, and climbed higher into the basin. Last years floods had damaged the bridge, so we picked our way through the braided stream crossing.

The scree fields were immense and the Headwalls made it clear I was in the Rockies. Towering geology with fabulous patterns loomed above me and stone over stone beneath my feet. I love the alpine.

The meadow and rocks were full of Dryas, yellow columbine, red and hot pink paintbrush, purple aster, saxifrage, arnica, moss campion/phlox, pink monkey flower, elephanted headed lousewort, and more. it was so nice to see these familiar flora. The chirp of the pika, the scent of the yarrow,and cow parsnip. We also saw ptarmigan and chicks. Ahhh.

We lunched at the first lake and then pushed higher. From the second second we followed the stream in the squishy green moss to nearly the end at the basin of Fortress Mountain. Climbing the scree ridge was tough going, but at least it wasn't raining, there were no bugs, and I wasn't carrying skis. We made it to the col! What views! What a valley in each direction!

The decent was remarkably steep. I was plunge stepping in loose scree, boot skiing rocks. We travevered across the slope to hit a snow patch. Ben called it glissading, I called it boot skiing. Inthe mixed corn, sun cups, and ice runnels, we skied to the basin beside a lake. The coal inthe rocks made for beautiful patterns. The descent to Chester Lake was straight forward, the meadow there was expansive and beautiful with glaciated peaks in the distance.

The final push was a slog, on a wider mountain bike road. We just wanted to get to the car, and I wanted out of my boots. We did it!

http://www.everytrail.com/fullscreen.php?trip_id=737675

Ben drove a loop back to Canmore, which wasn't shorter but offered more views and an ice cream stop. I had the Canadian maple walnut!

He drove me to Banff and I write this next morning listening to the thunder and rain drip through the trees outside my hostel window. It will be a good rest day and a chance to explore town.

Tweets and pictures from #GGCarctic14

Check this out.
https://mobile.twitter.com/GGCArctic14/tweets

Be sure to click on the tweets to see photos. You do not have to have a twitter account to see them!

Waiting for white rocks to move

We had been waiting for white rocks to move.
Bears are harder to see in this season than in the winter. Even armed polar bear guards can stare at white rocks sometimes waiting for it to move. In the winter, the yellow cream color of a polar bear stands out against the brilliant white of snow. Much easier to spot.

None of us could see it, at first. While we lunched on the rocks at Parks Canada Cape Merry, a bear was spotted across the river at Fort Prince of Wales. Indeed, a white rock was moving. It was really far away, just a pixel spot on my zoomed in photo with the big lens on. Our bear guards said, "close enough!", as they couldn't carry a firearm on Parks Canada land. Still, we were thrilled! 

The next day we ventured out on the land with naturalist and guide Paul Ratson of Nature First. He's about my height, with a big belly and a seasonal gray beard. Summer season beard. "can't have a beard in the winter up here unless you want to carry a block of ice around on your chin. Worse, is when your face gets stuck to your sleeping bag." He's donning sunglasses, and a paperboy cap, binoculars around his thick neck, and a lethal riffle slung over his grey sweatshirted shoulder. 

We were going rock hopping. A hike on some Precambrian shield rock dotted with lichens. If the black lichen is wet, he says, it is a slick as grease. Mind your feet. We leave the van and fan out on the squishy land as to not create a trail. We walk on caribou lichen, Dryas (also known as arctic avens), and some snow birch. The hummocks give and recoil on the active layer above the permafrost. Isostaic rebound is a term applied to the land in general here that is rising up after the glaciation. Think of pushing on a pillow due to pressure, and then watching it rebound. Arctic tundra is doing the same, slowly over time. Thus, the Hudson Bay is getting smaller as land mass rises.

We gain a small ridge and the group is stopped. I am awed by the view of the Hudson Bay to my right and take a few photos. Then I hear Paul say blah blah wait blah bear. BEAR! I turn to my left and not more than 60 meters away is a sow and her cub cuddled up sleeping in a day bed. My heart is beating fast...nerves for these girls, excitement, and panic that I can't change my lense fast enough, thinking the bear would soon be gone. That couldn't be farther from the truth of the situation. Paul explained we would stay here and watch. The bear sees us as we see her, but she decides our next move, not us. 

In fact, the actions of a cub could decide what we do next. Cubs are categorized in three ways. A coy is a cub of the year. A yearling is a cub about a year old. Subadults are cubs 2-4 years old. Our cub was a yearling that Paul estimated to weigh 150 pounds. Mama was about 700. For over an hour we had the best episode of 'tundra tv'. Our private viewing of the intimacy of raising a cub on the land. We had the best seats in the house. Solid rock beneath our feet, steady breeze to reduce the bugs, and warm sunshine overhead. Mama bear lifted her head. Then cub stirred. I spotted the fox on the ridge. That was what she smelled, Paul suggested. The fox moved closer. At one point I had the fox and bears in the same tight 300mm frame. I could describe their movements in detail but will simply say that I was awed humbled and so lucky to witness this scene. The mama shooed the fox away and went back to the day bed, while the yearling cub took a swim in the pond beside the bed. We were there! 

Wind water waves and wonder

July thirteenth. It rained all night last night. There may even have been thunder. It was a watershed regardless. We woke to  60km/ hour winds, but dry skies. Over breakfast I overheard another guide tell her client that their kayak tour was off. So I called Sea North to confirm our zodiac tour in the Churchill river estuary. She told me the boys were down on the dock, checking it out and she asked me to call back in a half hour.  When i phoned back, she suggested that we get on a jet boat that would be more stable in the chop. We agreed.

I drove part of the crew in the van, and Sue drove others in the suburban, stopping once to avoid a Canada Goose and her goslings cross the road. (why does the goose cross the gravel road?) in fact, the goose hit the grass on the other side, but then turned back to charge at the car!

As we got shuttled from town to the dock, Kim glued her face to the window of the bus. "that is not a wave," she said of the white caps in Hudson Bay. "I swear that's a whale." sure enough the bay and estuary were teaming with playful mothers and young calves in the chop. We braced the crazy winds with captain Remi, and Dustin and Jules for crew.

"keep shooting, and delete the water shots later," Remi says. I shot 560 shots of super close whales.


Full moon over the tundra.
First clear sky in days.

More soon.

The group

Check out a post by a girl guide on our first day!

http://ggcarctic2014.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/day-1/

Work permit and golden boy

I've never flown into Canada before. I've always driven across, with my own luggage in the car. I've never had to fill out a declaration form. I've simply answered questions with responses like, "no fruit sir; we are going skiing;I'm staying with a cousin; we will bring and leave them a bottle of wine.". In my excitement to work with a group in Canada I checked the "business" box on the customs form.

Little did I know what hassles that caused. I was detained in customs for over an hour, while I graciously and honestly explained the unique situation of my job. The hang up is why would the Canadian girl guides hire a US company to do a job Canadians could do? Why didn't I have a work permit, or a letter of introduction? A few phone calls and checking categories and checking boxes and filling out forms and paying a large sum of money, my passport now holds a Canadian work permit. It is a colorful piece of paper stamped above the NA, folded in thirds vertically and in half again to fit in my passport. Occupation: outdoor sport and recreation guide. Conditions: cant take classes, can't work for anyone else, can't work in other location than stated, and must leave canada by August 16. So much for being a ski instructor at whistler, I joked with the customs agent.

When the sliding doors opened from the silent and empty customs holding area to the baggage claim, I heard my  name almost immediately. Michelle, our transport, recognized my shirt, and  took me to the girls guides who were playing UNO by baggage claim in their uniforms.

Michelle tranported us to the hotel, passing the legislative building topped with a 13 foot high golden boy. A gift from France in 1919, in 14 k gold, the golden boy was held up during the war in the hull of a ship going back and forth. He didn't arrive until 1920 and was put on top.

Girls enjoyed pizza and we made our hand contract to start the expedition in style.

Could YOU name the provinces of Canada?

As I'm learning, this gave me quite the chuckle:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/americans-fail-canada-again

check your own answers here:
http://www.bridges4kids.org/images/canada.gif

Tunter, Inuksuk, Avati--Welcome to the Arctic Environment

The word "tundra" comes from the word tunter in the language of the Sami people. It means "treeless land". Sami are also known as Lapp people, from the far north of Norway. It seems I'm going full circle. The photo below is the demarcation of the Arctic Circle from the train in Norway.

Inuksuk is a stone messenger that stands at the top of the world. They guide Arctic travelers and mark where to find food or how to get home. It can even be a way of saying "welcome." I was welcomed with these two Inuksuks in Vancouver for the Olympic Games of 2010.

Avati means "environment" in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit. 

Research and curriculum materials

Preparing for a trip in another country always includes books from the children's section of the library.  Lucky for me I can reserve a number of juvenile books online and have them held at my local branch for easy pick up. The picture books in the top photo are going back to the library this weekend. They gave me a great sense of the highlights, stories, and concepts to convey to my high school explorers.

The lower set of books and materials are going with me.  (clock wise from top left) The binder of travel information is for the other adults in the program. Night Spirits is a collection of first person narratives regarding the relocation of the Sayisi Dene people from their caribou hunting grounds to the town of Churchill and the subsequent power dynamic and violence, poverty, and alcoholism. Chasing Ice is a remarkable documentary film about climate change by scientist and adventurer James Balog. I'll be sharing it with the explorers and leading a discussion. See it if you haven't yet. Peilous's Naturalist Guide to the Arctic is must. A map of Manitoba. Spirits of the Snow, a gift from my father years ago on native lore on the people of the north. Gretel Erlich's signed copy of Future of Ice, her remarkable inspirational poetry and prose on climate change (what book of her's isn't remarkable, poetic and inspirational--ahhh!).  Barry Lopez's signature Arctic Dreams--I first read on route to Iceland and Norway. Meditations on the Earth--a collection of quotes and sentiments for reflection I hope to share with my explorers. My journal--given to me by Global Explorers with a polar bear on the cover.  Paper work for the expedition--tons of it!

North, not Antarctica

Just a bit of clarification by this great TED-ED video.
I'm heading to the ARCTIC, not Antarctica.

Where there are polar bears, not penguins.

Mosquitos

The map of Manitoba I ordered arrived today. It's full of lakes. Sure, it's north of Minnesota--land of  ten thousand lakes, but it's Canada, so it's like Minnesota on steroids, eh?  

Serendipitously, this morning KOUW aired a report on mosquitos.  

I'm leaving the delight of a northwest summer to head into the swarm. Lakes + arctic =  mosquitos.

I'm already thankful for bug nets.

Riesling Ride

Woodinville is home to over 100 wineries/tasting rooms. Taking two wheels to wine just makes sense.

I pulled the new-ish speedster out of the basement and found it had a flat. So I walked it up the street  on his rear wheel like I was riding a rearing bronco to the fabulous local and lovely 2020 cycle shop.  We discovered a shifted rim tape was at fault, so we fixed the flat and the tape. I rode off through the next crux--hundreds of UW graduates lining the bike path around campus--Congrats! I met Irena at Silver Cloud Hotel corner of the Burke Gillman to push off again. Biking close in race team style we chatted, caught up, and enjoyed the ride. North of Matthews Beach park I had another flat. Same issue--we fixed that sucking hole with a band aid and luckily it held all day.

The trail was dry and lush with greens. I hadn't been that far north on the trail in a long time. The bike road well, quick, fast, and fun. We crossed the Samamish River and headed into town. We pulled out a map of the warehouse district for wine tasting and oriented ourselves. A block later, we pulled into Celæno Winery and enjoyed visiting with the owner and his friend who was volunteering. We tasted an unoaked Voigner from Okanogan, and an then an Oaked Voigner. We also learned more about oak barrels than I knew you could know. French Oak, I'd heard of--but never Hungarian Oak. And American Oak, sure--but to define Pennsylvania Oak from Kentucky Oak for your Pinor Noir. Hmmm. Turns out the Kentucky Oak for the wines are toasted oak, unlike Burbon oak barrels which are charred. So interesting. 

We enjoyed lunch at the Red Hook Brewery, and when we tipsily didn't order a beer, the waiter said, "You do know where you are, don't you?!" We pushed off again into the Hollywood district to enjoy another wine tasting at the Goose Ridge Winnery. There was an artists reception--a painting throw down. People were invited to paint onto Lois and John's canvases, where Lois had done the "underpainting"--a values study, so to speak of darks and lights. I painted orange poppies on one canvas, and purple lavender on another. These paintings were then framed and raffled off to one of the people who participated in the process. While Irena nor I won, we were both fascinated by the process and how the paintings changed in just a short time. So instead of biking home with a painting, we biked home with a bottle of Riesling! 

42 miles, and lots of smiles.  

A plethora of P's to play with

Pingo
Palsa
Pisuw

some of the great words I have to look forward to in the Arctic this summer!

Summerland and the beach

What an incredible May this has been. It felt like Summer, so I went to Summerland.

It was one of the objectives Erik and I laid out together this winter to ski in this spring season. I hadn't been back there in more than 15 years or so with the other Eric. (yes, I have two sets of friends named Erik/Eric and Melissa--both who are ski partners). We had a great day and skied some fine fine corn in the glorious sunshine. It feels good to laugh when I'm out there again.

You can laugh with us here: https://vimeo.com/97089222 (password is skiya)

Then Sunday I went to Golden Gardens to celebrate Jenn's "little brothah"'s birthday! After Jenn left, Nathaniel and I played paddle ball, I ran into some friends, and enjoyed the sun.

What a magical place to live where I can do both in a weekend.

More adventures to come!

Summer in May

It's another day over 70 degrees. It was nearly 100 F on my porch yesterday afternoon, and this morning I biked to work in a t-shirt, sunglasses, and no jacket! The best joys of May are the increasingly longer light, the magic of many blooms (azaleas, rhododendrons, lilacs, and dogwoods), and bike to work month. Oh, and the snowflake like drifts and flurries of the cottonwood dander. ah chooo!

The light rail construction around UW has detoured me most mornings down a gravel path, and around the boat yard, where I sailed as a UW student. Up past the stadium, the baseball park and the purple track, out to the metal sculpture studios. I've enjoyed the new mix of athletics and arts and a relatively empty road of solitude. I enjoy the ride.

Night Skies --a valuable and threatened natural resource

I've always said that I can see more stars from my front porch in Seattle, where I can also see the city skyline, than I ever could growing up in my suburban home in Connecticut. The light pollution out East is huge. Turns out that light pollution continues to be a problem world wide, and now dark skies are a threatened natural resource. Last weekend I attended a talk by Chad Moore who runs the Night Skies Division of the National Park Service. Yes, that really exists. Cool huh? Chad opened his talk with this inspiring little video. 

He went on to give us a history of humans looking out into the heavens. Galileo, a guy so famous we know him by only one name (just like Madonna, Cher, Oprah, Bono, and Sting) said look for yourself. Too bad that got him put under house arrest. You see, if we look out of our own, we can better know ourselves The fact that the sky does not exist for our own benefit, however, became the cornerstone of environmentalism.The milky way is the backbone of the night, said Carl Sagan.

So beware of light trespass, where 50% of lights are wasted. Instead look towards sustainable lighting solutions: only WHERE needed, only WHEN needed, use SHIELDING, avoid blue, minimum AMOUNT, maximum EFFICIENCY. Look up!