The transition

I'm always a fan of these little vacations between jobs.  While it's not the best for my finances, it gives me a chance to catch up with the people I care about, which is really much more important in my estimation.
This last couple of weeks I have been in Thousand Oaks, San Diego, San Jose, Petaluma, Napa, Sacramento, and finally arriving in Portland.  

There was a lot going on, so I'll give you guys some highlights of the trip (in chronological order).
1) Sailing a 16' Hobe Cat down in San Diego.
2) Getting to see my friend Soco at her welcome back to America party.  She's got a fantastic family, and some fun friends.  Thanks for all the fun Soco! She's releasing a CD soon, and it's going to be good.  If you want to hear any of her music check it out here.
3)Wine tasting in Napa. Thanks to a friend of mine in the industry, we were able to get into some pretty classy places and taste for free!
Artesa- They had some really solid wines,  but more than anything else they had a great view of the valley, and a fantastic tasting area.
Chandon- Some fantastic sparkling wine.  I wound up getting a chardonnay brut here that I was very happy with.
Alpha Omega- Amazing late harvest desert wine. Scrumptious, but out of my price range unfortunately.
Hall- Probably my least favorite on the tour, but some tasty reds nonetheless.
4)Hanging out with my friend Danny in Sacramento.  We went for a great bike ride and cooled off by taking a dip in the Sacramento River.
5)Arriving back in Portland! Flying in on Monday was such a great experience.  I was able to see all that greenery that I had been missing.  The following day, I went down to Yamhill to do an interview for a job at Bailey's Nursery.  Turns out that I'll be starting as the Plant Health Foreman in two weeks! 

 I've been up to so much traveling lately that it will be nice to settle down and get back in the groove of things.  Thanks everyone for the fun trip!

Saying goodbye to Catalina

These last few months have been full of plant death, crew tom foolery, and really pretty wonderful weather.  I've appreciated my time out here, and have come to be friends with some pretty incredible folks.  There is something special about adventures, thrusting yourself into a new situation, pushing your boundaries, growing and learning everyday.  That being said, I am ready to leave, ready for reconvene with friends that I haven't seen in quite a long while.

So it's goodbye Catalina, hello California (San Jose to see my good friend Socorra) , and then onward... to Oregon (Portland!) and Washington (Sequim/Bellingham?), seeing people along my way up the coast.  I've found on this journey that I do like travel and change, but I have this sweet spot for the Pacific Northwest that I just can't get out of me.  The sad fact of the matter is that it is no secret that the Northwest is where you want to be for Ecology work... it's very competitive, and there seem to be less openings here than for places in, say, the Mid-west (not where I want to live).  But I'll keep on searching, and I'll find something.  Oh if you could only adventure the world for free....


 

Fantastic Weekend!

Yes, we've all heard of it, that dreaded island fever.  I'm afraid it was starting to set in... People getting on your nerves, not enough variety in the day to day routine, small island life.  Nothing gets you out of the rut like a vacation with a friend you haven't seen in a while, and that's just what happened this last weekend.  Danny Slakey, Botanist extraordinaire, was on a work trip in the area and decided to hop on over to Catalina to say hello.  After a couple of unforeseeable delays we finally were able to meet up in Avalon, and thanks to it being Earth Day, we were able to get into the Wrigley Memorial botanical garden for free.  After perusing their fine collections, we made our way back to the town, where we met up with my friend Rose.  Rose and I met in Peace Corps and were even in the same program.  She terminated her service a bit before I did, but we have a lot in common.  We tagged along on the CIMI (Catalina Island Marine Institute) boat back to Fox Camp, where we got a tour and settled in.

In the afternoon, we took some kayaks out around the point towards Two Harbors.  On the way we spotted some seals and even a couple of curious common dolphins!  Then it was back to camp for dinner.  These guys eat well.  Here I was, used to camping food and cooking another variation of spaghetti, but I was met with a veritable feast of all you can eat splendors.  They have actual professional chefs working for them, making some scrumptious stuff.  The following morning we went out snorkeling and saw some great creatures.  My best spot was a three foot leopard shark that swam within five feet of me!  Pacific kelp forests are so much cooler than I had expected... teeming with interesting sea life, everything from the Sea Hare (my new favorite invert) to abalones to myriad fish.

In the afternoon Danny and I took a long hike back to Little Harbor, botanizing along the way.  We found a rather cool pectocarya which turned out to be a locally rather rare plant.  All in all, it was one of the better weekends I've had out here. Thanks Danny and Rose!

Animal Adventures

This past week has been fantastic as far as animal sightings go.  Granted, there have been a lot of cool things prior to that... a day where we saw six foxes on the road, one night where we spooked a burrowing owl from our campsite, and I'm sure several others that are slipping my mind.  However, this week takes the cake. 

Top 5:

5) Seeing one of the banded bald eagles fly overhead

4) Seeing my first black widow spider! It was under a rock we picked up, and was about the size of a peanut m&m

3) Finding the only scorpion species on the island Pseudouroctonus minimus minimus (at ~ 20 mm it is tiny!)

2) Bison antics in the middle of the night.  We were hanging out by the fire for a bit, minding our own business, when we heard a noise from the next campsite over.  We shined our headlamps over that way, and found ourselves a really big bison moseying his way by our camp, munching.  We sort of shooed him away with our lights and a little bit of talking, and he slowly made his way over the hill.  Joke was on us though... as soon as we were in our tents he returned, bringing with him three bison buddies, and they all were very vocal, and just a tad bit creepy. 

1) Fox survey flight.  Codi (a fellow ACE volunteer) and I were able to tag along for a ride in a four person Cessna as another ACE member did a radio survey of all sixty-three foxes on the island.  All present and accounted for!  The views were fantastic and gave me a better idea of the overall topography of the island. 

That's all for this week... hope yours was as adventure filled as mine!

On the road again

I look at my old Peace Corps friends' facebook statuses... 3 months to go they say, counting down the days until their return.  It seems incomprehensible to me that I could still be there.  It seems that so much has happened since my early departure.  I don't question my decision for a moment, but still I wonder what I would be doing if I were there, what kind of person I would have become. 

Although Morocco seems like ages ago to me, it is still constantly scratching its way to the surface of my brain.  I'm not sure if a week goes by where I'm not telling some anecdote about my time there.  I feel a bit like an old man that has a part of him stuck in his past, launching into stories that all begin with the same line: "back when I was in Morocco..."  And it still does cling to me, the exotic nature of it all, the fantastic adventure, but also the slow days and weeks that bled together into nothingness. 

I wonder how all the PC Algeria crew is doing, and I do miss them from time to time.  Soco with her fantastic improv guitar, Colin with his mellow nature and the occasional beyonce dance move, Joe with his artistic mastery and joking manner that always made you feel welcome and right at home no matter where you were.  I really do hope to see them again someday and catch up on what has happened in the interim. 

As for me, I have moved on to the next adventure.  My time in Portland is up and I've relocated south for the remainder of the winter and spring.  I'm doing invasive species removal on Catalina island as an intern with ACE.  I've only been here a week, but I am loving it immensely.  The weather is fantastic, the work is relevant to my degree, and I have a crew that can't be beat. I almost enjoy my work days more than my days off. 

There is some pretty fantastic wildlife out here... there are a lot of plants and animals that occur nowhere else in the world.  Of course, that is pretty common for island ecosystems. The cute macrofauna figurehead over here is the Catalina Island Fox, of which I have seen a few. We have our fair share of introduced species as well, the most noticeable being the Bison that roam the island.  One was hanging around our campsite just the other night! 

Well, I had best be going for now.  To all my Peace Corps buddies... hang in there, you are on your way out, and to the rest of you, I hope you are having excellent adventures of your own.

This is what you missed.

So, if you haven't been directly in contact with me, this is a recap blog of the time between arriving back in Morocco and my upcoming move to Portland.  I know there is a lot to cover. I'll try to keep it brief and not excruciatingly tedious.


So, first off I just relaxed a lot, trying to get back into the swing of America, spending lots of time with my family and doing odd jobs here and there of the gardening/landscaping sort.  Even got to pull out the chainsaw a couple times, which is always fun (kids, please remember that chainsaws are not just awesome zombie killing devices... they can do some serious damage if you aren't careful).

Then it was off to see Allison, girl of my dreams, in her home state of Illinois.  Can I just say one thing?  CORN.  There was an immense amount out there... in fact over the entire midwest, as I was to soon find out.  We had a good time meeting all of her family, seeing where she grew up, as well as visiting her college town for some of the tastiest BBQ I have ever eaten.  Just to prove how awesome she is, she even came along for a round of disc golf.  Yeah, I know I'm a giant nerd.  Sue me. 

We stopped up in Chicago for a couple of days to experience the sights and sounds, as well as one of the coolest music festivals I've ever had the privilege to attend.  Arctic Monkeys and Foo Fighters were especially awesome shows. The following day we went to the Shedd Aquarium and saw a pretty cool jellyfish exhibit (they are Allison's favorite), as well as all sorts of other sea creatures.

Then it was on to the great American roadtrip, from Atlanta, Illinois to Sequim, Washington, seeing just about every amazing thing in between.  It was not exactly a direct route.

We got to see my friend Laurel, who had returned to America just a few months prior from Morocco.  She was my closest volunteer geographically, and it was good to see my old neighbor again.  We hung out for the evening and played some settlers of Catan (one of my personal favorite board games of all time) with her boyfriend Zach while enjoying some very fine libations.

Next was Rocky Mountain National Park for some amazing scenery, camping, and hiking.  It is amazing driving through Colorado.  The whole state feels like one epic mountain range... because it pretty much is.  The Rockies dwarfed the Middle Atlas mountain range that I called home for a year. 

Next stop was Arches National Park, with its massive stone formations.  If you ever find yourself in Utah, these are definitely worth the drive. The next day we traveled to the south rim of the Grand Canyon for more camping and hiking (we did hike into the Canyon and it was hot!).  Words can not express the experience of gazing out over a ten mile wide canyon, especially at sunset.  Epic is the only thing that comes close, but unfortunately that word has lost meaning with chronic overuse.

Then onto Las Vegas for some rest, relaxation as well as the famous Bellagio fountain show.  We stayed at the Hilton (a four star hotel) for a ridiculously cheap amount.  The heat was pretty intense even in the evening, so we spent most of our time darting from one air conditioned casino to the next.  Caesar's palace had some amazing statuary and fountains, and Treasure island was also quite memorable with its nightly show involving sirens, pirates aboard lifelike ships, and fireworks.  

Yosemite was next for yet more camping and hiking (the valley was gorgeous!)  Then on to San Fransisco to see my friend Danny and check out a few of the sites.  Next day was Vancouver, WA to meet up with some of Allison's family, and finally on to Sequim.  

 From there it's been rather a blur of job searching and house searching, all of which came together this week.  I have a landscaping job, a house, and a car to boot,  much thanks to my supportive family.   I'm finally excited to be moving to Portland because all that other stuff I've had to worry about is behind me.  Yes, there is a lot of work to be done, and I still have to settle into life there, but it seems that the worst is behind me and the future looks bright!  

Sorry to have been so long between posts... as you can see, I've been a little busy.  Thanks for reading!

-Anton

p.s. photos of epic American roadtrip are on my facebook if you want to take a gander.

Back in America... this time for good

It is quite late, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm back....

More to come soon.

Happy (slightly belated) Birthday America!