I believe in America...again.

What an amazing feeling to watch history being made last week. It was one of those moments in life where you will always remember where you were when you heard. In this case I was in my friend Morgan's house in South Lake Tahoe with her dog Lassen and three friends watching on CNN with their silly holograms. I couldn't believe it when they announced it at 8 pm. After the last two elections I felt there had to be a catch. Maybe thats why I waited so long to write this post?!

I know there are lot of hopes and dreams riding on Obama's election and I don't envy his position, but for now I am still just reveling in this moment when American said no more to Bush and elected a black man to be president. I liked how Jon Stewart put it, we are not longer a tell nation but a show nation, that this county has shown that democracy works and that the principles upon which our nation was founded really do apply. Let's all hope for the positive change Obama has promised us!

Fall Colors

I just returned from a very relaxing vacation in Bloomington, Indiana of all places. My friend Lauren from UCI and studying abroad at St. Andrews just moved there with her partner and I decided it was time to visit the heartland of the United States. I had low expectations although I was excited to visit the setting of one my favorite movies, Breaking Away. But just the drive from Indianapolis to Bloomington revealed Indiana's picturesque rural character, made even more appealing with the leaves turning bright shades of yellow, orange and red.

The Indiana University campus was even more impressive. The buildings were made of cut limestone and built in the style of schools back east. There was a prettyish sort of wilderness in the middle of campus and everywhere the trees were shedding bright and crisp leaves. We visited the Kinsey Institute, where we saw lots of artwork of nude people, and learned about their current research into human sexual behavior...it was a field of research I thought some school like Berkeley would have pioneered but no it was here at Indiana University. We also visited their Art Museum, which was hosting an exhibition on the Art of the Grand Tour. Their permanent collection included pieces by Goya, Picasso, Monet and others...quite impressive and nothing like what we had at UC Irvine! We also visited the Lilly Library which has a copy of the Gutenberg Bible and the smallest books in the world, which are almost microsopic!

Another day we visited Nashville. That is Nashville, Indiana whose claim to fame is being the largest art colony in the Midwest. It was a cute town with lots of stores selling shit I don't need. But they had good pumpkin ice cream. Nearby we also visited Brown County Park, which reminded me a little of Irvine Regional Park with its playgrounds, campgrounds and rolling green lawns. The scenery is very tame compared to the Sierra and I longed for a vista or view but it was still really pretty.

During my stay, I also enjoyed the view from Lauren's house...she and Patrick are renting a house with 3 bedrooms and two baths for $900 a month and here I am in South Lake Tahoe renting a room and sharing a bathroom with three other people for $500 a month! So jealous! I read a lot of books too...it was so nice to be able to actually focus on a book and enjoy it without thinking about work. I finished Inkdeath, the final book in the Inkworld trilogy and also got totally hooked by the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire novels that HBO recently turned into a series called TrueBlood. Not the most complicated or cerebral books but entertaining nonetheless.

Back in Tahoe now and the aspens are about lose all their pale golden leaves. The nights are longer and colder (no more riding my bike to work when it is 32 degrees!). Every night I come home to a crackling fire, which makes me happy for some inexplicable reason. Work is hectic as usual but soon I will have my own AmeriCorps member to help me and it will hopefully make things a bit more manageable.

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful fall. I will leave you with some photos from my most recent stop on the road to find out.

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Lauren and Patrick's cozy living room. They rent the house from an woodworker who built that hutch in the background.

What a cute cottage!

Lauren in front of the much photographed arches at IU.

Cute town of Nashville, Indiana. Apparently its a destination for girlfriends to "go shopping and giggle" according to the brochures.

Yellowwood forest.
Indiana barn and fall colors.

Lauren and I at Brown County Park.

The happy couple. I am going to be a bridesmaid in their wedding next May.

My first real job AND a new blog post!

I apologize again to the three people who actually read my blog for being so bad at posting. But there is good news! I will be staying on in Tahoe for another two years working on water and climate change issues. I am very excited to continue my work here and be able to actually advocate (which we are not allowed to do as AmeriCorps members...only "educate").

There have been some low moments as well. I went to my first meeting with some very talented and experienced policy makers, scientists and academics to talk about climate change and adaptation. While it was an educational experience, it frustrating because I couldn't really make comments as an AmeriCorps member and because it seemed the group was just talking in circles and not identifying the actions that could be taken immediately. Nor did they seem to have much experience with resource managers and the kinds of issues and challenges they face on the ground. It was very overwhelming and I came a way with a whopper of a headache. But after attending our annual conference and talking to my supervisor, I felt reinvigorated and re-inspired by all the activists working in the Sierra and all the amazing things they have achieved.

Its also nice to live in a place with actual seasons. Even though its only September, you can actually smell autumn coming. The air is cool and crisp, the aspens are changing color and the angle of the sun changes the way light hits the trees in the late afternoon. The cold reminds me of Scotland and how much I miss it there! I think I am due for a visit pretty soon. The cold also makes it harder to get out of bed and motivate myself to continue riding my bike to work until the first snow falls. On the left is a photo of me near Granite Lake in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

Now that I have internet at my house, I hope to update this a little more often that I have in the past. I will leave you with a few photos from this past summer and hopefully they will entice some of you to finally come and visit!

Monitor Pass in the spring.

Bodie, an old mining town, with a dusting of spring snow.

Fishing the Owens Rive with my brother, Andrew.
Me and my bro fishing. My dad is so proud! It started snowing right after Katie, AmeriCorps member in Bishop, took this photo.

Sunset over Lake Tahoe.

On the trail up Mt. Tallac.

Moonrise over Loon Lake. Spring in the Eastern Sierra at the site of the former Manzanar Internment Camp.
Sequoias near Giant Sequoia National Monument. We did our spring training in the southern Sierra at River Ridge Ranch in Springville. This is Morgan's puppy, Lassen. Isn't he the cutest?

My buddy Morgan at Granite Lake.

Puppies, Movies, Working for the Environment and Snowshoeing...just a few of my Favorite Things

Today I was lucky enough nay privileged to meet a future avalanche dog at Heavenly Ski Resort. Morgan, who works on the AmeriCorps program and is my co-worker, had to dog-sit today and brought the cutest puppy to work (his name is Jackson). Something on my down jacket must have tasted amazing because he gave it a thorough licking. It was a long day of conference calls, checking details, emailing and organizing but it was made almost painless by "puppy" breaks. Working in a dog friendly office definitely has its perks (dog farts would be on the downside).

Work is progressing well and I am feeling more confidant daily. My boss is already talking of getting funding so I can stay on the climate change program permanently after my AmeriCorps stint is over and that is very encouraging. I have had my share of mistakes, however, that I thought for sure they would not want me around like when I missed a mistake on the Table of Contents of our New Climate Change Toolkit and we had to re-print 5000 pages for a measly $2000. OOOps somehow didn't cover it. But other than that things have been going well. I am only nervous about giving my first public presentations to agencies (like the Dept. of Fish and Game and Inyo National Forest staff in Bishop) and organizations (like the Sierra Club Bishop chapter) on climate change and how we can adapt to these changes (both as individuals and resource planners). I have never been wholly at ease speaking in public so this should be very interesting.

We recently hosted the Patagonia Presents Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, which was a big success and I was also forced to face this fear of public speaking by making an announcement and asking the audience to take our Individual Climate Change Pledge to reduce their emissions. People were not so keen to waste paper especially after watching this great film about disposable coffee cups called "For The Price of a Cup of Coffee" (it will make you use your reusable mugs!!). Here is a link to the trailers for the films if you are interested in checking them out. Not all the films on the site were shown at our festival but check them all out anyway. I really enjoyed a film called "Oil and Water" about two kayakers who drove the Pan-American highway in a biodiesel fire truck, kayaking and teaching kids and anyone interested really about alternative fuels. Especially since they were in Chile at almost the same time I was!
Living in Lake Tahoe makes up for any of the faults I have mentioned or alluded to. I have a beautiful view of the sunset over snowcapped mountains every night. I am about 2 seconds away from a beautiful beach. I can't wait for summer...I am hoping to help my office win Bike to Work week although I have not ridden a bike in 2 years and I live about 8 miles from work. At this point, my enthusiasm continues to trump my obvious lack of physical ability.

Meeting people is a bit hard as so many people are tourists and I believe more than 75% of the homes in the Lake Tahoe Basin are second homes. I have started a knitting/crochet night or Stitch n Bitch at a local coffee house with friends from work. I go snowshoeing every weekend either by myself or with AmeriCorps friends. I plan on taking some classes at the local community college that will hopefully force me to be more sociable, although my roommate warned me to avoid the "crazy" people.

Well I guess I will leave you with some photos I have taken of the winter wonderland that surrounds me (and is melting as we speak...thanks global warming!). More to come soon!

Snowshoeing is cool!

After a busy first week at work learning the difference between SEWC, IRWMPs, the DWR, and many more fun acronyms I took the hills with fellow AmeriCorps volunteer Michelle to go snowshoeing in the Hope Valley. It was a glorious day...a light breeze, clear skies and brilliant, twinkling snow. You can check out the pics below. Also the one on the bottom is a view from my flat out onto Lake Tahoe. I am still pinching myself I have such a sweet living situation and an awesome flatmate who also fly-fishes! What are the chances?

I spoke to my friend Julie today who is working for an NGO in Chad with Darfurian refugees. If you want to read what she has been up to, check out the link by scrolling down the right side of this page. It sounds like a horrible situation there made only worse by UN troops and ineffective NGOs. So if you have time, maybe post some funny stories or inspiring quotes on her blog to keep her spirits up! We miss you Julie and hope you are safe and well!

More on Tahoe and my new job to come soon.

It's cold outside!

So I have finally relocated to Lake Tahoe to start my new position as the AmeriCorps member at the Sierra Nevada Alliance working on their Sierra Water and Climate Change Program. Yesterday was my first day and it was a bit overwhelming as there is so much to learn! Before that, I was in the mountains just outside of Yosemite for the AmeriCorps training. It was a very busy week, learning about all the paperwork we have to fill out (don't you just love the government?), learning how to organize events and playing lots of Nerds (a fun, addictive and competitive game I learned in Chile from another volunteer). We also got the opportunity to go snowshoeing in Yosemite, which was spectacular. Yosemite is breathtaking in the winter...hardly any crowds and everything covered in a fresh blanket of snow. I was lucky enough to visit Yellowstone National Park only a week earlier with my family, which was also amazing! We saw herds of bison from only feet away (in a snowcat), big coyotes feeding on a bison carcass, trumpeter swans, and elk.

I hope to have some fun pics up soon but at the moment I don't have a camera lens so I can't take photos of all the beautiful sunsets over the lake I can see from my apartment deck. I guess you all will just have to come and visit if you want to see it!

Hope you all had a wonderful New Year!