Grand Canyon Pictures! Yes, I finally put them up on Flickr for the people who haven't seen them on facebook or don't have facebook.
Enter into the Abyss
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Time Flys
Has it really almost been a month since the last time I wrote? Hot baked potato, life in Tucson has gone into overdrive. I can't even remember all the things that I've done since the amazing Grand Canyon hike but here are just a few random highlights- CHRPA retreat in the Catalina's, church campout, Halloween festivities, Tucson Broadway- The Color Purple, Tucson Celtic Festival, Jackass in 3D haha, and best of all Day of the Dead!
For people who don't live in Tucson nor have a strong grip on Mexican celebrations, Day of the Dead is a huge festive time here in Tucson, everyone in the whole city takes part of it as we remember the dead and those who have lived before us- The main event then happens on the following weekend on Sunday night where the All Souls Procession shuts the entire city down and main roads are closed for a 2-3 mile stretch that is then lined with people watching and filled with people walking and celebrating in communion with all- It's the largest procession in the country and being a part of it was overwhelming- Me and some other guys dressed up and painted our chests and with bones and were dead cowboys, a costume that was met with many finger pointing, wows, and camera flashes, we had a good number of us and it was fun to join into something so large and be a part of something larger then just you or me.
The march starts around 5 and you walk down some main roads of Tucson, people surrounding- comforted by the noise of many- covered in the lights of the night- dressed to celebrate lives past, some standing, some walking- all smiling- The joy of being encompassed by a gulf of screaming, loving people is indescribable and it all came to it's peak when entering an underpass- Smacked like sardines, lined with the sparkling lights of cameras, beat and drum bubble your blood straight to your heart and senses open their double gated doors to let the feeling flood over mind body and soul- It was an experience to truly admire and soak in as if parched ground- It was a first springs rain to a dry winter as joy, happiness, remembrance, sorrow, smoke, love, sweat, and drink all swirl in the cauldron of Tucson.
The path of streets led to an open space where concert and final processions happened, there was live music then more music as larger organized groups of costumes and celebrations got to show their get up and walk across the main stage- Under the blue lights of the stage and dark sky of the night all of Tucson to gather and celebrate this holy time- We had interpretive dancers, fire dancers and all kinds of aesthetic movement as a large jellyfish rose in the background of the black sky each tentacle being a dancing soul capturing your eye and heart- The cup, the pot, the eternal pocket of a lost coat was raised to its throne, where those who have gone, our angry thoughts, ideas of fear- were placed- to see them burn away in the smoke of freedom and liberation, cleansed by a rebirth- rethought- renewal of joy in life and others- We all share this, those who were there, those who used to be, those who never will be- can always find comfort in restarting a life already lived.
Again, time flies-flys-phlys-flees it truly flees- as summer and fall flee to the clutches of the winter finger icicles, last night I was forced to close my window before bed as the night brings with it coldness that is unwelcome in my heart and under my covers- With my hands gripped onto the rod of denial I am slowly coming to terms that it won't be 85 everyday and I may need to actually wear long sleeves to stay comforted- but it's a slow journey and I'm still working on it. Though sad and at times tear bearing, there is light at the end of the tunnel as there always is, but here in Arizona, the dark, cold tunnel is quite short haha.
Thanksgiving is coming and I can't wait for good friends, good friends and celebrations where people smile- Christmas is coming which means travels to the homeland and time cannot move any faster to that time. I am taking my feet to the land of Gtown gloom and doom aka Goshen College to see faces my eyes miss with severe withdrawals- have surgery- but most importantly take part in the commemorations of Martin Luther King Jr. a man who's only sole goal was that we can come together and learn to love each other- Things to look forward to- things to bring out of fantasy and into reality and I'm big on that.
P.S. went to a Pato Banton reggae concert last night at the coolest store in Tucson, The Twelve Tribes and it was hands down unforgettable- officially entered into the best thing I've done in Tucson competition and I gotta say, it's got a good edge- People were great, music was phenomenal and Pato, well Pato was Pato and I couldn't ask for any more then that.
Keep it real and may us all find blessings and peace in everyday life.
Cheers
For people who don't live in Tucson nor have a strong grip on Mexican celebrations, Day of the Dead is a huge festive time here in Tucson, everyone in the whole city takes part of it as we remember the dead and those who have lived before us- The main event then happens on the following weekend on Sunday night where the All Souls Procession shuts the entire city down and main roads are closed for a 2-3 mile stretch that is then lined with people watching and filled with people walking and celebrating in communion with all- It's the largest procession in the country and being a part of it was overwhelming- Me and some other guys dressed up and painted our chests and with bones and were dead cowboys, a costume that was met with many finger pointing, wows, and camera flashes, we had a good number of us and it was fun to join into something so large and be a part of something larger then just you or me.
The march starts around 5 and you walk down some main roads of Tucson, people surrounding- comforted by the noise of many- covered in the lights of the night- dressed to celebrate lives past, some standing, some walking- all smiling- The joy of being encompassed by a gulf of screaming, loving people is indescribable and it all came to it's peak when entering an underpass- Smacked like sardines, lined with the sparkling lights of cameras, beat and drum bubble your blood straight to your heart and senses open their double gated doors to let the feeling flood over mind body and soul- It was an experience to truly admire and soak in as if parched ground- It was a first springs rain to a dry winter as joy, happiness, remembrance, sorrow, smoke, love, sweat, and drink all swirl in the cauldron of Tucson.
The path of streets led to an open space where concert and final processions happened, there was live music then more music as larger organized groups of costumes and celebrations got to show their get up and walk across the main stage- Under the blue lights of the stage and dark sky of the night all of Tucson to gather and celebrate this holy time- We had interpretive dancers, fire dancers and all kinds of aesthetic movement as a large jellyfish rose in the background of the black sky each tentacle being a dancing soul capturing your eye and heart- The cup, the pot, the eternal pocket of a lost coat was raised to its throne, where those who have gone, our angry thoughts, ideas of fear- were placed- to see them burn away in the smoke of freedom and liberation, cleansed by a rebirth- rethought- renewal of joy in life and others- We all share this, those who were there, those who used to be, those who never will be- can always find comfort in restarting a life already lived.
Again, time flies-flys-phlys-flees it truly flees- as summer and fall flee to the clutches of the winter finger icicles, last night I was forced to close my window before bed as the night brings with it coldness that is unwelcome in my heart and under my covers- With my hands gripped onto the rod of denial I am slowly coming to terms that it won't be 85 everyday and I may need to actually wear long sleeves to stay comforted- but it's a slow journey and I'm still working on it. Though sad and at times tear bearing, there is light at the end of the tunnel as there always is, but here in Arizona, the dark, cold tunnel is quite short haha.
Thanksgiving is coming and I can't wait for good friends, good friends and celebrations where people smile- Christmas is coming which means travels to the homeland and time cannot move any faster to that time. I am taking my feet to the land of Gtown gloom and doom aka Goshen College to see faces my eyes miss with severe withdrawals- have surgery- but most importantly take part in the commemorations of Martin Luther King Jr. a man who's only sole goal was that we can come together and learn to love each other- Things to look forward to- things to bring out of fantasy and into reality and I'm big on that.
P.S. went to a Pato Banton reggae concert last night at the coolest store in Tucson, The Twelve Tribes and it was hands down unforgettable- officially entered into the best thing I've done in Tucson competition and I gotta say, it's got a good edge- People were great, music was phenomenal and Pato, well Pato was Pato and I couldn't ask for any more then that.
Keep it real and may us all find blessings and peace in everyday life.
Cheers
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Canyon
Tucson has become a new home- I've been here about two months now and it has really settle,d in that I'm going to be here for awhile instead of bumming for a few weeks, and this is a good feeling- A bit more settled, more rooted, getting to know people deeper, branching out.
It has been a while since I wrote and I apologize for the few who actually checked my blog and saw a post they have read already, well here's some new material for the spongie eyes- Many know, many don't that this past weekend I hiked The Canyon, rim to rim and back again- It was phenomenal, words do not describe really what my eyes have seen- what my legs have walked- what my hands have felt- what my spirit has experienced, to help give some a picture here are some things that I have said to help virgin minds understand what being in the Canyon is like- Jurassic Park (without dinosaurs), the place where Tamone and Pumba live in Lion King (Hakuna Matata), True Joy, an insatiable Dream of beauty, Heaven- Just to give you a few.
I'll go ahead and shout out all the boring logistics so I can delve into the heart of the hike- or at least some small pieces- I went to work on Thursday at CHRPA, got off a little early and Me, Dan Wilhelm (CHRPA employee), Harvey Hartzler (retired, part time CHRPA volunteer) and Mark Schildt (Head of MVS house and doctor) all set out to just north of Flagstaff, about 10 miles from the South Rim- We arrived at our Red Feather lodge at approximately 10:30 pm and went straight to bed, awakening at 3:30 am and driving the rest of the way to the Rim and meeting the Trinity Mennonite full hiking group- (Trinity Mennonite is a Mennonite church in Phoenix that Harvey use to go to in the 80's)- We then took shuttles to the South Kaibab trailhead where we headed down into the looming dark abyss around 5ish- South to North rim is 21 miles and took me and Mark about 10 hours to hike (North Rim is about 1600 ft higher then the South so South to North is known to be a more difficult hike)- Exhausted, the remaining life of Friday was spent refueling, looking at the wonderful view in awe of what we just traversed and mainly going to bed- it was about 7 or 8 when we hit the sheets- Waking at 7 or 8 we headed over to the restaurant in the lodge and ate a delicious breakfast, then all of Saturday consisted of walking out the soreness and body cries, reading, making some phone calls, taking pictures, having a small meeting with singing and fellowship- and more eating- (We also ate a really good dinner at the lodge too) It was great to relax mind and body and get geared up for Sunday, in which we got up at 3:45 were headed down the trail by 4 am- Now going back to the South we used the Bright Angel trail instead of coming up South Kaibab and this is longer- We hiked 24 miles on Sunday- arriving back just under 10 hours once again (Me and Mark)- Had a fiasco with finding our bags (and Harvey) but I won't get into any of that.
For a true glimpse into what hiking in The Canyon is like I can only say one thing- do it- As I walked down the North Rim in the dead of late morning- no moon- stars scattered marbles across the sky- silence- entering into an unknown darkness- I thought to myself that no person can truly KNOW this unless they have walked where I am walking, looking at what I see- There are so many aspects and stories I wish I could tell but for the sake of keeping one's attention I will try to stick to just a few- Walking down the North side before the Sun had shed its first rays was as if entering a earthen cathedral of immeasurable size- columns of rock sprouting- silhouettes against the horizon- as if ancestors of old surrounding- encompassing your whole being, you felt as though an ant traveling its daily laborious duties- And so many times we pull our cameras and say "I can't wait to show this to people back home!" and click, the picture is taken to share with others who can't- who couldn't be there- but as I continued to consider these things and conveniences of our modern age, the more I realized that this beauty, the shades-giants of the earth-fathers of the ground, brother to the sky- cannot be captured within a photo, no matter how sophisticated we make our camera technologies they will never capture what the human eye can capture and what those neuron synapses firing as information is traveling from your eyes to your brain cause the rest of your body to feel- So in a since I was truly in marvel of the enormity and power of this natural formation of earth and change- that it is millions, billions of years old, yet still is wily enough to keep a part of its inner heart out of sausage like tourist hands- camera lens- and even the most environmental conscious, professional photographers skills and wishes and hopes and capturing what my eyes saw as we dove into the belly of the beast early that Sunday morning.
There is a falls that lies mostly hidden in the recesses of a few straggled cliffs, Ribbon Falls- and it is a true to its name falls, the water falling is not substantial and creates a kind of ribbon stream that pours from 70 ft of rock- A trail splits off the main trail just half mile past Cottonwood if your going North to South and it is only a quarter mile trail that takes you to this place of transcendent beauty- Mark had bought a book about The Canyon and read that it is worth seeing if you have the time and so we decided we should go, though it was just us two, Dan and Harvey continued on the iron footed journey- All I can say is that hiking the extra half mile (round trip) is more then worth seeing what you stumble upon in that natural corner of cliff and rock- You are in the valley of Bright Angel Creek, desert scrub- hot- cactus- with cliffs high enough to still block the sun at 10 am- but as you travel just a few hundred feet and encounter the the stream coming from the falls, as quick as a bat flaps its wings you enter into a completely different world- the ecology completely change, sounds of gurgling and bubbling water become stronger and more apparent, and your eyes are met with an overwhelming color of green that is not too frequent down in the belly- It fascinatingly reminded me of those old (fairly awful) Bible movies of Egypt and Moses floating down this serene, calm, bubbling stream fenced with reeds and flat leaved bush- odd I know- And as if you peel apart curtain you climb over rock-jump-and stumble (literally) upon this ribbon of water falling 40 ft from the rock above down, splattering on a shell of a rock covered with moss- half pooling and trickling down in an indescribable step stone falls- other half bouncing off the moss shell and making the full Ribbon Falls complete- It is no fib-lie-falsity-or exaggeration to say when I saw this I was truly rendered speechless and had nothing but a smile of euphoric proportions- To put it into a lamens scenario to help some really understand the joy and beauty it brought to my soul, if I were to have a conversation with God (I would first do the rim to rim hike with him and talk about what a darn good job he did designing this place) but then taking him to Ribbon Falls and say, "THAT, is what I would like my heaven to be like- just with all the people I love, food to eat, and it would be nice for the water to be warmer"- Mark took some pictures which I will hopefully be putting up soon on my Flickr that you will be able to see the falls but it won't compare to seeing and hearing and Feeling what the falls was like.
The only bummer of the trip was that coming up the Bright Angel trail which is well known because of its beauty and fairly short trip to Indian Gardens another famous hot spot is that the place is filled with repulsive tourists with their LL Bean boots- designer T-shirts- 900 dollar cameras with tripods- cellphones and ipods, yelling and screaming about how bad this energy bar tastes- when do we get to go back to hotel?- are we really hiking all the way back up?- Can a helicopter pick us up?- Hey! Paul, check it out, I have 4 bars down here- Who wants to carry the water now?- The map says Plateau Peak is only a mile and a half away but I don't know if my legs can make it that far- and blah blah blah, from Indian Gardens on- about 4.5 miles from the Rim- its like a cesspool circus of tourist sores- It really wasn't too bad up until the last mile and a half which is the closest "lookout point"-say u hiked part of The Canyon and set up that expensive camera you got last Christmas and capture the real essence of it from there- people can hike to, so once we past that point it we had a mile and a half to go- breathing hard- legs burning- hiking for over 9 hours by now- can't even look up to check out The Canyon anymore as you don't want to start resenting it this near the end- all you want to do is get out of the beast's clutches and rest of sure, familiar ground, but instead you are dodging- trying to find your way through this maze of tourists who know no trail etiquette and think your just two young guns who want to show off how fast they can hike up from the "3 mile lookout"- I wish we could have held signs that said "We are coming from the North Rim, we left at 4 am and are going on 23 miles- PLEASE MOVE OUT OF OUR WAY"- There were many times I want to make a snide comment or just bulldoze my way right through a lovely European couple taking a calm stroll taking up the entire trail- but I held my tongue and my impatience long enough to get out and sit my weary legs down- though still having to endure through the thousands of tourists that swarm the South hive within just a few hours.
In the end, check out the pictures, feel free to ask questions, leave a comment or give me a call- always willing to describe in more detail about the trip- It will go down as one of the coolest things I've ever done, at least so far in my life.
Note to readers, I've been reading a lot of Jack Kerouac, awesome- phenomenal author who has written many short autobiographical books describing (and creating) the beat generation- most famous of his books that I hope most know and/or have read is On The Road but anyways I really enjoy his books and have embraced his writing style and so you just went through one of my first experiments in mirroring some of what I have weened from Kerouac's writing style- let me know what you think and if it is awful or you kinda dig it- because I of course don't want people to be bothered by the writing of something I want them to read.
Art there, Lord Star?- Diminished is the drizzle that broke my calm. -Jack Kerouac, excerpt from his novella Tristessa
Cheers, Daniel
It has been a while since I wrote and I apologize for the few who actually checked my blog and saw a post they have read already, well here's some new material for the spongie eyes- Many know, many don't that this past weekend I hiked The Canyon, rim to rim and back again- It was phenomenal, words do not describe really what my eyes have seen- what my legs have walked- what my hands have felt- what my spirit has experienced, to help give some a picture here are some things that I have said to help virgin minds understand what being in the Canyon is like- Jurassic Park (without dinosaurs), the place where Tamone and Pumba live in Lion King (Hakuna Matata), True Joy, an insatiable Dream of beauty, Heaven- Just to give you a few.
I'll go ahead and shout out all the boring logistics so I can delve into the heart of the hike- or at least some small pieces- I went to work on Thursday at CHRPA, got off a little early and Me, Dan Wilhelm (CHRPA employee), Harvey Hartzler (retired, part time CHRPA volunteer) and Mark Schildt (Head of MVS house and doctor) all set out to just north of Flagstaff, about 10 miles from the South Rim- We arrived at our Red Feather lodge at approximately 10:30 pm and went straight to bed, awakening at 3:30 am and driving the rest of the way to the Rim and meeting the Trinity Mennonite full hiking group- (Trinity Mennonite is a Mennonite church in Phoenix that Harvey use to go to in the 80's)- We then took shuttles to the South Kaibab trailhead where we headed down into the looming dark abyss around 5ish- South to North rim is 21 miles and took me and Mark about 10 hours to hike (North Rim is about 1600 ft higher then the South so South to North is known to be a more difficult hike)- Exhausted, the remaining life of Friday was spent refueling, looking at the wonderful view in awe of what we just traversed and mainly going to bed- it was about 7 or 8 when we hit the sheets- Waking at 7 or 8 we headed over to the restaurant in the lodge and ate a delicious breakfast, then all of Saturday consisted of walking out the soreness and body cries, reading, making some phone calls, taking pictures, having a small meeting with singing and fellowship- and more eating- (We also ate a really good dinner at the lodge too) It was great to relax mind and body and get geared up for Sunday, in which we got up at 3:45 were headed down the trail by 4 am- Now going back to the South we used the Bright Angel trail instead of coming up South Kaibab and this is longer- We hiked 24 miles on Sunday- arriving back just under 10 hours once again (Me and Mark)- Had a fiasco with finding our bags (and Harvey) but I won't get into any of that.
For a true glimpse into what hiking in The Canyon is like I can only say one thing- do it- As I walked down the North Rim in the dead of late morning- no moon- stars scattered marbles across the sky- silence- entering into an unknown darkness- I thought to myself that no person can truly KNOW this unless they have walked where I am walking, looking at what I see- There are so many aspects and stories I wish I could tell but for the sake of keeping one's attention I will try to stick to just a few- Walking down the North side before the Sun had shed its first rays was as if entering a earthen cathedral of immeasurable size- columns of rock sprouting- silhouettes against the horizon- as if ancestors of old surrounding- encompassing your whole being, you felt as though an ant traveling its daily laborious duties- And so many times we pull our cameras and say "I can't wait to show this to people back home!" and click, the picture is taken to share with others who can't- who couldn't be there- but as I continued to consider these things and conveniences of our modern age, the more I realized that this beauty, the shades-giants of the earth-fathers of the ground, brother to the sky- cannot be captured within a photo, no matter how sophisticated we make our camera technologies they will never capture what the human eye can capture and what those neuron synapses firing as information is traveling from your eyes to your brain cause the rest of your body to feel- So in a since I was truly in marvel of the enormity and power of this natural formation of earth and change- that it is millions, billions of years old, yet still is wily enough to keep a part of its inner heart out of sausage like tourist hands- camera lens- and even the most environmental conscious, professional photographers skills and wishes and hopes and capturing what my eyes saw as we dove into the belly of the beast early that Sunday morning.
There is a falls that lies mostly hidden in the recesses of a few straggled cliffs, Ribbon Falls- and it is a true to its name falls, the water falling is not substantial and creates a kind of ribbon stream that pours from 70 ft of rock- A trail splits off the main trail just half mile past Cottonwood if your going North to South and it is only a quarter mile trail that takes you to this place of transcendent beauty- Mark had bought a book about The Canyon and read that it is worth seeing if you have the time and so we decided we should go, though it was just us two, Dan and Harvey continued on the iron footed journey- All I can say is that hiking the extra half mile (round trip) is more then worth seeing what you stumble upon in that natural corner of cliff and rock- You are in the valley of Bright Angel Creek, desert scrub- hot- cactus- with cliffs high enough to still block the sun at 10 am- but as you travel just a few hundred feet and encounter the the stream coming from the falls, as quick as a bat flaps its wings you enter into a completely different world- the ecology completely change, sounds of gurgling and bubbling water become stronger and more apparent, and your eyes are met with an overwhelming color of green that is not too frequent down in the belly- It fascinatingly reminded me of those old (fairly awful) Bible movies of Egypt and Moses floating down this serene, calm, bubbling stream fenced with reeds and flat leaved bush- odd I know- And as if you peel apart curtain you climb over rock-jump-and stumble (literally) upon this ribbon of water falling 40 ft from the rock above down, splattering on a shell of a rock covered with moss- half pooling and trickling down in an indescribable step stone falls- other half bouncing off the moss shell and making the full Ribbon Falls complete- It is no fib-lie-falsity-or exaggeration to say when I saw this I was truly rendered speechless and had nothing but a smile of euphoric proportions- To put it into a lamens scenario to help some really understand the joy and beauty it brought to my soul, if I were to have a conversation with God (I would first do the rim to rim hike with him and talk about what a darn good job he did designing this place) but then taking him to Ribbon Falls and say, "THAT, is what I would like my heaven to be like- just with all the people I love, food to eat, and it would be nice for the water to be warmer"- Mark took some pictures which I will hopefully be putting up soon on my Flickr that you will be able to see the falls but it won't compare to seeing and hearing and Feeling what the falls was like.
The only bummer of the trip was that coming up the Bright Angel trail which is well known because of its beauty and fairly short trip to Indian Gardens another famous hot spot is that the place is filled with repulsive tourists with their LL Bean boots- designer T-shirts- 900 dollar cameras with tripods- cellphones and ipods, yelling and screaming about how bad this energy bar tastes- when do we get to go back to hotel?- are we really hiking all the way back up?- Can a helicopter pick us up?- Hey! Paul, check it out, I have 4 bars down here- Who wants to carry the water now?- The map says Plateau Peak is only a mile and a half away but I don't know if my legs can make it that far- and blah blah blah, from Indian Gardens on- about 4.5 miles from the Rim- its like a cesspool circus of tourist sores- It really wasn't too bad up until the last mile and a half which is the closest "lookout point"-say u hiked part of The Canyon and set up that expensive camera you got last Christmas and capture the real essence of it from there- people can hike to, so once we past that point it we had a mile and a half to go- breathing hard- legs burning- hiking for over 9 hours by now- can't even look up to check out The Canyon anymore as you don't want to start resenting it this near the end- all you want to do is get out of the beast's clutches and rest of sure, familiar ground, but instead you are dodging- trying to find your way through this maze of tourists who know no trail etiquette and think your just two young guns who want to show off how fast they can hike up from the "3 mile lookout"- I wish we could have held signs that said "We are coming from the North Rim, we left at 4 am and are going on 23 miles- PLEASE MOVE OUT OF OUR WAY"- There were many times I want to make a snide comment or just bulldoze my way right through a lovely European couple taking a calm stroll taking up the entire trail- but I held my tongue and my impatience long enough to get out and sit my weary legs down- though still having to endure through the thousands of tourists that swarm the South hive within just a few hours.
In the end, check out the pictures, feel free to ask questions, leave a comment or give me a call- always willing to describe in more detail about the trip- It will go down as one of the coolest things I've ever done, at least so far in my life.
Note to readers, I've been reading a lot of Jack Kerouac, awesome- phenomenal author who has written many short autobiographical books describing (and creating) the beat generation- most famous of his books that I hope most know and/or have read is On The Road but anyways I really enjoy his books and have embraced his writing style and so you just went through one of my first experiments in mirroring some of what I have weened from Kerouac's writing style- let me know what you think and if it is awful or you kinda dig it- because I of course don't want people to be bothered by the writing of something I want them to read.
Art there, Lord Star?- Diminished is the drizzle that broke my calm. -Jack Kerouac, excerpt from his novella Tristessa
Cheers, Daniel
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tired
I had quite the busy weekend and I'm not sure I can even describe everything that went on. To start off, Friday was mostly a usual Friday- I went shopping at the food bank and worked at BICAS, but it also saw some unusual things in going out to breakfast with Jenna, one of the VS's support group members, to talk about taking care of the VS cars which is one of my jobs. As well as at night, our whole house went to the Glow fest which is a bit hard to describe but it was essentially a hippie/alternative art and music festival that was a dude ranch way out north of the Catalina's. Art involved things that glow and most were left for very open interpretations and music involved mostly folky, acoustic sounding noise, sometimes with words, sometimes without. Overall, it was a great experience, and if I had a chance to go again, I probably would, if it were with the right group of people.
We ended up not getting back until past 11 because it was over an hour drive from our place and Saturday morning we had to get up at 5:30 to go hiking! A short sleep, but you can sleep when you're dead- (one of my new life motto's haha). A large group of us, 14 in all-Me, Amy, Audra, and Miriam, Kristi, Dan and Scott, Jacob, Luke and Stevie, Jen, Kaitlin, Erin and Jeff- to name them all. We all headed south to the Santa Maria's which is the mountain range that is straight south of Tucson. I don't know if I ever mentioned this but what makes Tucson so beautiful, and also easy to learn directions is that it is a flat valley that is surrounded by all four sides with mountains. To the north- Catalina's, west- Tucson mountains, east- Rincon's and south- Santa Maria's. Anyway you look, you have a pretty good looking view.
Soooo, we drove down to the Santa Maria's to summit Mt. Wrightson, tallest peak in all four ranges, at least I'm pretty sure. It's quite a hike too, you start at about 5,500 ft. or so and climb to 9,400 give or take a little on both sides. It's five miles to the top which may seem like a bit but when you're climbing four thousand feet it's almost short, in other words, the five miles were UP. Scott, leader of CHRPA and leader of hikes ha, lead us straight to the top in about two and a half hours, we were booking it right up the cliffs. There were six of us in the front pack lead by Scott- Me, Dan, Luke, Jacob and Erin. So we made it to the top and got to hang out for about an hour before the entailing second group made it up. The view of southern Arizona was spectacular and the weather was PERFECT. Us guys had our shirts off and it was still almost a little warm. We all had a good time chatting, eating lunch, and taking pictures. As some of you know, I get a bit antsy on hikes and often try to find anything I can to make things a tad more exciting- well this time it was the other side of the summit- making our own path that is. I convinced Luke and Jacob, two of the YAVer's that we could traverse the rock cliffs and make it back down to the saddle about a mile away on trail, without the trail. Ended up... great idea! It was mad fun, more exciting and make some great pictures. Speaking of, hit the link to check some out- LINK. I wish we could have done that down the whole mountain. In short, we all made it down safely and all 14 of us were tired, sunned and ready for a nap- which most of us saw in the afternoon.
That Saturday night then we organized a little get together which involved fun, chats, star gazing on the roof and DANCING. We had the JVCer's and Luke the solo YAVer over and had a good time. So it was a early hike, lazy afternoon and another late night with fun. Sunday I then got up, a bit reluctantly and biked off to my first soccer game. I felt like a kid again, first just because of the tournament style atmosphere, then we got new jerseys!- which were also yellow and blue which were my old club colors, and of course we won, and that's all I did when I was a kid haha. We won 3-0, playing pretty well I'd say comparatively speaking with our potential. To the other teams defense they didn't have a single sub- in 40 minute halves and 95 degree weather. I should have scored but came out empty handed- last time it will happen, but did help in producing all 3 goals. It was swell and I look forward to our next game. I thankfully came home to a message saying the house got invited to a cook out at a church goers house and so I headed up that way and got a delicious lunch which was just what I needed.
So with out more words, it was hard to get up today and go to work on Monday, but work went well and I look forward to resting up a bit before the week hits another head of steam. Hope ya'll are doing well and I think of you often. I watched this random movie Amy got from the library yesterday called Old Joy, and it was filmed in Portland and the Cascade Mountains somewhere around Colton and it made me pretty homesick. In a good way though, I don't think I get bad homesickness, it just ain't in my blood. Good movie too though, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Be easy and live life- you can sleep when you're dead.
We ended up not getting back until past 11 because it was over an hour drive from our place and Saturday morning we had to get up at 5:30 to go hiking! A short sleep, but you can sleep when you're dead- (one of my new life motto's haha). A large group of us, 14 in all-Me, Amy, Audra, and Miriam, Kristi, Dan and Scott, Jacob, Luke and Stevie, Jen, Kaitlin, Erin and Jeff- to name them all. We all headed south to the Santa Maria's which is the mountain range that is straight south of Tucson. I don't know if I ever mentioned this but what makes Tucson so beautiful, and also easy to learn directions is that it is a flat valley that is surrounded by all four sides with mountains. To the north- Catalina's, west- Tucson mountains, east- Rincon's and south- Santa Maria's. Anyway you look, you have a pretty good looking view.
Soooo, we drove down to the Santa Maria's to summit Mt. Wrightson, tallest peak in all four ranges, at least I'm pretty sure. It's quite a hike too, you start at about 5,500 ft. or so and climb to 9,400 give or take a little on both sides. It's five miles to the top which may seem like a bit but when you're climbing four thousand feet it's almost short, in other words, the five miles were UP. Scott, leader of CHRPA and leader of hikes ha, lead us straight to the top in about two and a half hours, we were booking it right up the cliffs. There were six of us in the front pack lead by Scott- Me, Dan, Luke, Jacob and Erin. So we made it to the top and got to hang out for about an hour before the entailing second group made it up. The view of southern Arizona was spectacular and the weather was PERFECT. Us guys had our shirts off and it was still almost a little warm. We all had a good time chatting, eating lunch, and taking pictures. As some of you know, I get a bit antsy on hikes and often try to find anything I can to make things a tad more exciting- well this time it was the other side of the summit- making our own path that is. I convinced Luke and Jacob, two of the YAVer's that we could traverse the rock cliffs and make it back down to the saddle about a mile away on trail, without the trail. Ended up... great idea! It was mad fun, more exciting and make some great pictures. Speaking of, hit the link to check some out- LINK. I wish we could have done that down the whole mountain. In short, we all made it down safely and all 14 of us were tired, sunned and ready for a nap- which most of us saw in the afternoon.
That Saturday night then we organized a little get together which involved fun, chats, star gazing on the roof and DANCING. We had the JVCer's and Luke the solo YAVer over and had a good time. So it was a early hike, lazy afternoon and another late night with fun. Sunday I then got up, a bit reluctantly and biked off to my first soccer game. I felt like a kid again, first just because of the tournament style atmosphere, then we got new jerseys!- which were also yellow and blue which were my old club colors, and of course we won, and that's all I did when I was a kid haha. We won 3-0, playing pretty well I'd say comparatively speaking with our potential. To the other teams defense they didn't have a single sub- in 40 minute halves and 95 degree weather. I should have scored but came out empty handed- last time it will happen, but did help in producing all 3 goals. It was swell and I look forward to our next game. I thankfully came home to a message saying the house got invited to a cook out at a church goers house and so I headed up that way and got a delicious lunch which was just what I needed.
So with out more words, it was hard to get up today and go to work on Monday, but work went well and I look forward to resting up a bit before the week hits another head of steam. Hope ya'll are doing well and I think of you often. I watched this random movie Amy got from the library yesterday called Old Joy, and it was filmed in Portland and the Cascade Mountains somewhere around Colton and it made me pretty homesick. In a good way though, I don't think I get bad homesickness, it just ain't in my blood. Good movie too though, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Be easy and live life- you can sleep when you're dead.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Hey-o
Been awhile, I have been busy, yes indeed I have. This past weekend was fun filled and volunteer filled ha. On Friday I had fun working at BICAS again, I'm getting to know the guys better and I'm actually working on bikes now so it's good. I can't wait until the end of the year and I know everything there is to know about bikes and how they work. Then that Friday night, Ana, my roommate who works at Catholic Community Services helping with refugees had some of her clients that were our age come over. It was one guy and his two sisters who were all early 20's. They had just arrived in the US from South Africa but were originally from Somalia so it was sweet getting to know them and hearing their stories. As it is was just me and Ana because both Amy and Audra were gone, we invited the 4 Jesuit volunteers, JVCers we know fairly well now so it was a small get together and a great time.
Saturday I woke up early and got a full body massage for free! because an ex-VSer who works at CHRPA, Kristi, is in massage therapy school and she needed volunteers for her final exam. I can totally volunteer for that so I jumped at the chance. In the end, great choice, massage was great, just what I needed and I felt very relaxed and zen. Then, that night it was one of the JVCer's birthday so we had a little party, hanging out, eating ice cream, talking and dancing to some sweet tunes. AND, the Presbyterian volunteers were getting back from a seminar thing and 4 of them came a little bit later and joined the festivities which was grand. I work with Luke who is a YAVer, young adult volunteer, so I had met him but it was the first time getting to know the other 3. They are all cool, and we are all cool and it was a cool time.
Sunday, I woke up at the crack of dawn, 6 am, to get picked up by my boss, Scott, and his younger son and friend to go mountain biking. Tucson is great like that, that you can drive 15 minutes to a sweet plot of desert full of trails just for mountain biking. I guess mountain biking is super popular here so there are trails all over, but Fantasy Island haha, where we went is real close. It was a swell time, out in the desert, ripping trails and cutting up some dirt. I hadn't mountain biked in awhile so it took me a little to get accustomed to the difference in street biking but after that it was so fun. You just have to watch out for cactus haha. After we got done biking, we drove straight to a park where some church/CHRPA people play ultimate frisbee before church and I we played some frisbee. I have to say, I got back home at around 10 and was utterly exhausted. So the rest of the day was spent napping and watching football.
Then last night, the YAVers invited us over to a house that they swam at earlier in the weekend and they were cooking the son of the people's whose house it is dinner in thanks. I hope that made sense, but I'm too lazy to proofread and not sure if that sentence was put together correctly. So me and Ana, for our last night alone went over to the house and played water volleyball, ate some delicious food and hung out with they YAVers and Sam, the son, who is actually our age going to the U of A.
Finally tonight, everyone is back, including our newest member Miriam who just got in from Evansville slash Kansas where she is from. I'm cooking dinner, which I'm pumped about, Greek fennel skillet, and we will all eat together as a full house. It's nice to have people around as it got a little lame and lonely with just me and Ana.
Until next time, keep your heart in your hand and your eyes to the sky.
Cheers, Daniel
Saturday I woke up early and got a full body massage for free! because an ex-VSer who works at CHRPA, Kristi, is in massage therapy school and she needed volunteers for her final exam. I can totally volunteer for that so I jumped at the chance. In the end, great choice, massage was great, just what I needed and I felt very relaxed and zen. Then, that night it was one of the JVCer's birthday so we had a little party, hanging out, eating ice cream, talking and dancing to some sweet tunes. AND, the Presbyterian volunteers were getting back from a seminar thing and 4 of them came a little bit later and joined the festivities which was grand. I work with Luke who is a YAVer, young adult volunteer, so I had met him but it was the first time getting to know the other 3. They are all cool, and we are all cool and it was a cool time.
Sunday, I woke up at the crack of dawn, 6 am, to get picked up by my boss, Scott, and his younger son and friend to go mountain biking. Tucson is great like that, that you can drive 15 minutes to a sweet plot of desert full of trails just for mountain biking. I guess mountain biking is super popular here so there are trails all over, but Fantasy Island haha, where we went is real close. It was a swell time, out in the desert, ripping trails and cutting up some dirt. I hadn't mountain biked in awhile so it took me a little to get accustomed to the difference in street biking but after that it was so fun. You just have to watch out for cactus haha. After we got done biking, we drove straight to a park where some church/CHRPA people play ultimate frisbee before church and I we played some frisbee. I have to say, I got back home at around 10 and was utterly exhausted. So the rest of the day was spent napping and watching football.
Then last night, the YAVers invited us over to a house that they swam at earlier in the weekend and they were cooking the son of the people's whose house it is dinner in thanks. I hope that made sense, but I'm too lazy to proofread and not sure if that sentence was put together correctly. So me and Ana, for our last night alone went over to the house and played water volleyball, ate some delicious food and hung out with they YAVers and Sam, the son, who is actually our age going to the U of A.
Finally tonight, everyone is back, including our newest member Miriam who just got in from Evansville slash Kansas where she is from. I'm cooking dinner, which I'm pumped about, Greek fennel skillet, and we will all eat together as a full house. It's nice to have people around as it got a little lame and lonely with just me and Ana.
Until next time, keep your heart in your hand and your eyes to the sky.
Cheers, Daniel
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
New Things
So first off, an add on to my last post about my phone and tying it to this post "New Things" I hate my new phone haha. Simple as that, but whatever, it works to call and talk, it works to text so what else do I really need from the stupid thing. It's doing its job, I can't fault it for that.
Now, other more germane information, I am and about to start new things this week. First and most exciting is that I have finally signed on to play soccer here. I joined a team called Demon Rum ha, who is headed up by a guy who is friends with Dan Wilhelm who works at CHRPA. Dan hooked me up with a scrimmage they were having and even though their team was full Geoff let me come and play. Turns out, they have room for me now so I just need to register and the season starts next Sunday I'm pretty sure so I'm stoked. It isn't necessarily the level of play I was looking for but I think it'll do just fine, I'm just glad to put my boots on and hit the pitch. Although I don't think the fields here in Tucson really deserve being called a pitch haha. It's hard, filled with ruts and is about half grass half dirt. It was a combination between not having worn my cleats in a while and the super hard ground that caused some major blisters after a full game. But everything is alright, and I can't wait to play again. I also realized how out of shape I am so I want to work at getting into a better fit.
My next new thing is that I joined an Ultimate Frisbee league and the first week is this Wednesday so I'm pumped about that too. Looking forward to meeting new people, everything seems really laid back and not really super competitive which is totally my style when doing something like frisbee ha. My team already seems real cool and chill just by the emails that have been sent thus far. The only downside to all these new things is that they aren't very close to where I live. So with playing soccer, frisbee, and working downtown on Friday I'll probably be putting in around 60 to 70 miles on my bike at the least. So it might be a little tiring, but I'm looking forward to getting in good shape and chiseling my body into super Daniel haha nah just kidding. But it'll be nice to be active again and hopefully my hip won't give me too much trouble.
On a last little note, whoever said Fall starts in September did not live in Tucson haha. Today was one of the hottest working days I feel like I've had so far. I don't know if it was because I was on a roof all day or if the humidity was high but man, I felt like just keeling over and dream about waterfalls. It's 6:30 pm right now and is still 99 degrees. You kidding me? This whole week is suppose to be over 100 until Sunday and were almost past the midway point of September. Not saying I don't like the heat, I do, and it's still the reason I chose Tucson but man, I wouldn't mind some lower 90's. It may sound crazy to some of you reading this but that seems almost chilly to me. 80's? Man, what am I suppose to do after work? 83 ain't warm enough to go swimming haha. But whenever I get kind of tired of the heat I just look at home's weather and see tomorrow it's suppose to be 70 and rainy and I'm glad it's 100 again. But what I really cannot, cannot wait for is come winter when I look at Goshen's weather see that it's below zero and I'll be chilling in shorts in a t-shirt maybe tanning a little bit, maybe I'll have a sweater on or something, but that'll only be in the evenings haha.
Cheers ya'll, Daniel
Now, other more germane information, I am and about to start new things this week. First and most exciting is that I have finally signed on to play soccer here. I joined a team called Demon Rum ha, who is headed up by a guy who is friends with Dan Wilhelm who works at CHRPA. Dan hooked me up with a scrimmage they were having and even though their team was full Geoff let me come and play. Turns out, they have room for me now so I just need to register and the season starts next Sunday I'm pretty sure so I'm stoked. It isn't necessarily the level of play I was looking for but I think it'll do just fine, I'm just glad to put my boots on and hit the pitch. Although I don't think the fields here in Tucson really deserve being called a pitch haha. It's hard, filled with ruts and is about half grass half dirt. It was a combination between not having worn my cleats in a while and the super hard ground that caused some major blisters after a full game. But everything is alright, and I can't wait to play again. I also realized how out of shape I am so I want to work at getting into a better fit.
My next new thing is that I joined an Ultimate Frisbee league and the first week is this Wednesday so I'm pumped about that too. Looking forward to meeting new people, everything seems really laid back and not really super competitive which is totally my style when doing something like frisbee ha. My team already seems real cool and chill just by the emails that have been sent thus far. The only downside to all these new things is that they aren't very close to where I live. So with playing soccer, frisbee, and working downtown on Friday I'll probably be putting in around 60 to 70 miles on my bike at the least. So it might be a little tiring, but I'm looking forward to getting in good shape and chiseling my body into super Daniel haha nah just kidding. But it'll be nice to be active again and hopefully my hip won't give me too much trouble.
On a last little note, whoever said Fall starts in September did not live in Tucson haha. Today was one of the hottest working days I feel like I've had so far. I don't know if it was because I was on a roof all day or if the humidity was high but man, I felt like just keeling over and dream about waterfalls. It's 6:30 pm right now and is still 99 degrees. You kidding me? This whole week is suppose to be over 100 until Sunday and were almost past the midway point of September. Not saying I don't like the heat, I do, and it's still the reason I chose Tucson but man, I wouldn't mind some lower 90's. It may sound crazy to some of you reading this but that seems almost chilly to me. 80's? Man, what am I suppose to do after work? 83 ain't warm enough to go swimming haha. But whenever I get kind of tired of the heat I just look at home's weather and see tomorrow it's suppose to be 70 and rainy and I'm glad it's 100 again. But what I really cannot, cannot wait for is come winter when I look at Goshen's weather see that it's below zero and I'll be chilling in shorts in a t-shirt maybe tanning a little bit, maybe I'll have a sweater on or something, but that'll only be in the evenings haha.
Cheers ya'll, Daniel
Thursday, September 9, 2010
R.I.P.
Sad day yesterday, my love, my companion, my life partner, my cellphone.....broke. I was working, digging a trench, which by the way is quite a fun activity (not really) and had my phone in my pocket. I was on my side for 20 to 30 minutes working to fix a water line, laying in gravel and when I got up to check what time it was, I was face to face to a poor broken screen. Inside and outside. I almost teared up, but I held it together. We've been through so much, it's like a losing a part of my soul. I really thought we were going to be together forever (at least until I got an iPhone ha). Sad day in Tucson. I'll carry on, but knowing that a piece of me has been lost in the never ending battle of life.
Miss you phone, always will- Daniel
Miss you phone, always will- Daniel
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