Home Safe ♥

SOMEONE surprised me with a stop by the David's house which was GREAT :) they had cake for me... and a surprise secret that I don't think I'm supposed to share but its OH SO exciting!!

Went through pictures with the family, unpacked (which was a great lot of fun... but not really...) and now am just trying to mellow out a little bit before sleeping until whenever I feel like it because I no longer operate on someone else's schedule (at least for the next week or so...)

book purchasing will be soon... maybe... I dunno when.

Survival

So we're off water (and have been for just over a day now) and things went great! We both stayed safe, nobody got hurt, sick or obtained foot rot. (Yay!) Pictures to come?... I'm sure you'll all see them eventually anyway. (I just don't feel like doing it right now.)

Got off water a few hours earlier than anticipated and so we decided to save ourselves a few dollars (due to the cost of room and board) and drive into Woodbury a day early. The rive was a bit long (especially because we got stopped at the border... they searched EVERYTHING of course and it took quite a while... hehe... I bet customs is a little upset they wasted their time on us...) but we arrived in Woodbury just about on time as planned at 11 pm. We were greeted by Aunt Dena, Tucker and Michael; socialized a bit and then headed to bed. (Megan was already asleep and Rick was out of town... how sad.) We had some french toast, bacon and smoothies for breakfast and then we headed over with Aunt Dena and Michael to watch a bit of a scrimmage match for Megan's Volleyball team which was fun and then we grabbed some Subway for lunch, a quick DQ, gas for Dena and then back to Clipper Way to jump in Big Blue and head to Chicago.

Quite a few hours later... we arrive at the Chesecake Factory in Chicago, eat a delicious dinner and then continue on our way to Ted's house :) where we will again stay for a few nights - tomorrow is a day in the cityand then the next we DRIVE HOME with a little detour in Grand Rapids to see the sister and her new room at GVSU. Oh I'm so ready to be back. Almost... Carl just reminded me that I start school two weeks from tomorrow... oh boy. Well... I'm maybe a little excited for it... I do love my psych <3

OMGZ ALMOST!!!!

We are so totally almost out of here.

I thought today would be the longest day ever ... but really it hasn't been too bad. Wake up was a few hours earlier than usual (but I can't complain because there is no rendezvous tonight) and washed the entirety of the history costumes ... but I had to do it in the admin washer because Aaron Connolley was using all the other ones ;) ... but that worked out okay because I got to hang out there and help Ashely out (she has no more office staff anymore). I got to answer the phones :) and enter a few more evals which ended up being a good time (I even got to forward/re-direct calls). During that time, I also managed to finish getting my checkout form completely filled out and have retrieved my staff photo and med form... so techinically, we could leave now. But where would we stay? :)

(wow... a lot of smiley faces!)

After lunch (with Carl of course), headed back down to history area where John and I put clothes away in boxes and took them to the depot. We took the teepee down and harvested some veggies to use with dinner tonight (which is another "special" staff dinner made special and not by Sysco!).

Oh! Another first of the day also included gator driving which was great fun! So now nobody can say I'm not allowed because I don't know how - I do know how!

So overall, not a terrible last day at all (probably because Madison was already gone...). It may have actually been a little -enjoyable- at times. (but shh... don't tell anyone!). There was possible talk of coming back next year to work in the office (because I like that MUCH better...and there's no John...) but I kind of doubt that will happen (sadly?) - classes to take, Ella to watch :)

So... just a few more things to pack still and then just loading it all in the car tonight so we can leave after breakfast for what I think will be the biggest and best part of this entire summer adventure!

Love you all - I'll write again soon (once we're in Woodbury on Tuesday!!)

Cassie: It's wet.

Alec: You should be a weatherperson!

omgz :)

I'm almost all packed up. I just have my bedding, shower stuff and towel pretty much left to pack. Ugh I'm so ready to get out of here! Being packed is making me anxious to do it for sure!

Super special surprise staff dinner tonight... hope its good.

Didn't do much today in all honesty - helped out in the office for a little bit this morning/afternoon and then Carl and I went through the food he had set aside for our trip - we had most of everything and had to go be scavengers in the "use me box" for dinners... it worked out pretty well and ended up saving us some money which is always good :) Last rendezvous tonight... I guess its kind of bittersweet... I'm ready to be done with them most definitely but I'm going to miss the "acting" ... if you want to call it that. I'll find something around home to do some acting though... hopefully. And maybe the scraft wind ensemble? Hm...

Long time no...

So quite a bit has been happening as we pass through the final weeks of the season up here at the Tier but at the same time, I don't know that I could even manage to remember it all to write about! Maybe there hasn' t been that much going on and it just feels like long days full of events.

Carl's final crew from Boise, ID was great! One of their cars broke down on the way to DQ the night before they were supposed to head home which was unfortunate - it meant about 4 or 5 more days here on base for half of them (the other half headed home in the other car because people needed to be home to work and get to school). They were really great about helping out with daily duties and rendezvous. Sunday, we all took the day off and headed to the Dorthy Molter museum in town as well as the wolf center (where we ALMOST didn't see any wolves but luckily they all came out to play for a little bit before we left!), a few hours on the beach (even though we didn't really swim because it was a crappy day and there wasn't anywhere open for us to change...) and then dinner at the steak house. They really were an exceptional group of kids (plus an adult). I'm glad I got to have some bonding time with them - they helped make the past few days a little more enjoyable.

The internet BROKE on Saturday morning at 3am during routine maintenance and was down until late Monday - I thought for sure the world was going to end the way people around here acted. Now the internet itself is fixed but it won't let anyone do anything on Facebook (oh no!) and it won't let people with Yahoo! mail send emails out... we can read them, we just can't send them.

Carl and I did ALL of our laundry today (except for what we're wearing of course... but its just our uniforms and we will only have to wear those for another 3 days) and it felt good to pack up all my extra clothes into my "Chicago bag" (which will now also be my Woodbury bag...) and to have just the minimum number of clothes and things in my drawer. I'm so ready to be back home! I'm not sure if I'll remember what its like to be a part of a civilization not made up entirely of 20-something Boy Scouts but I'm sure society will survive... maybe if I ease into it :)

Most everyone is leaving tomorrow or the next day... which should be interesting. It means it'll be easier for us to find a parking spot in the staff lot (even though we won't really be leaving our parking spot in the next 3 days) and easier to get access to a computer :) well maybe. I've been helping out with "daily duties" a lot the past few days - working in the office mostly. Yesterday, I helped finish imputing evaluations on the computer and then helped make packets for all of the councils in the country with promo material and summary sheets of how many crews from which council came up this summer... that was fun. I helped put them in alphabetical order this morning and I helped make off water packets this afternoon... there's still a bit of packing up to do in the history department but we'll have to wash clothes before we do any of that which is going to happen... I don't know when. Probably on Thursday John and I will wash clothes and take the tee pee down ... quality bonding time fosho.

Looks like no Kevin Dowling award for me or Carl though. Apparently we're only doing what we've been hired to do and not anything exceptional ... even though some people have gotten the award for doing what they've been hired to do... whatevs. Hmm okay now off to laze my afternoon away. All work and no play makes Cassie ... well... a hard worker and tired girl!!

Only a few more days left :)

Tomorrow, the last crews come off the road and then we'll do who knows what in the afternoons (probably work on closing down camp).

Yesterday was the first real "summer" day we've had - the high was apparently 80ish (79...) and today the high has been in the mid-high 80's. Nothing compared to the weather I hear about from home but MUCH warmer than it has been here all season.

Carl comes off water on Friday and then its only one more week until we're OUT OF HERE and on to explore Quetico all our own :) I'm so excited but so nervous at the same time.

Up here...





...the leaves are already changing colors and falling.


I hope it stays warm so that we can have a decent trip in a few weeks.

Another Day Off!

Today, Carl and I had the day off together. I packed us a picnic lunch and we headed to a beach near town. We did a little bit of swimming but it ended up being really windy and not warm enough for me to be able to enjoy the water... I hear that it was in the high 80's or 90's back home... that would've made the swimming more enjoyable. Carl seemed a little disappointed that I wanted out... he clearly doesn't know how much I don't like to swim to begin with let alone who little I would enjoy it while freezing my bum off.

After our swim and lunch, we wandered around Ely a little bit and we of course had to indulge in some books - they were used books though so not too pricey. I bought Carl the next two books in the Tom Clancy series he's started (so he has something to read while he's on trail) and I bought myself Little Women. We wandered in and out of all the little shops and outfitters. Some of them had some pretty fascinating things and others just cute things.

On the way "home" we decided to take a mini-hike to Kawishiwi Falls (it was only about a mile round-trip). They reminded me a lot of the family trips we used to take and in particular our camping trip when we were at Tahquamenon (...and when I peed on my pants... not in them...).

Pictures from the day anyone?

(I got a shoulder ride... nobody but Carl knows why... I hadn't done that since I was like 9)

Broad Leaf Aster

I remember learning about the Aster plant.

I couldn't have been more than 10 years old. Grandma and I were canoeing along west shore of Hubbard Lake (as we used to spend many summer afternoons doing) and when we rounded the point into the bay of the West Branch River, we sat there surrounded by the lily pads. Along the shoreline in the bay were some plants which Grammy pointed out to me as "nature's toilet paper". I never thought she was serious about the toilet paper part... I just thought she used the toilet paper imagery to make sure I understood how soft it was. Lo and behold though, people do use it for that purpose. Every time I see the furry little plant I smile and think about what my young mind thought when I learned about "nature's toilet paper". I remember that canoe trip into the bay (as well as the many before and after it).


Things have been going fine. Today is Becka's 9th Birthday! (Yay!) I called her this morning - she didn't seem super excited or anything but it was still good to hear her/mom. I miss everyone at home so much - only 21 days left on contract and then the 2-3 Quet trip and the 3 day trek from Quet through Chicago back home.

John (History director) is back on base as of this afternoon and that means I'm no longer in charge. It also means a lot less fun around the history department for the next 20 days... Oh well. At least we got a little bit of a break?

Oh I can't wait to come back home. I miss you all!

Day off!

Yesterday, Carl and I shared a day off :)

He came and woke me up (earlier than I would wake for a work day...) and we set off. I packed us some lunches in the kitchen and we obtained a GPS so we could go geocach Secret Blackstone! We got about half way through the cache but had a really hard time finding the fourth one so we gave up and just continued the hike around the Ennis loop (which was nice in itself ... aside from the BUGS (I have so many red welts its not even funny.)). There was one point in our trek (when we were nearest Ennis lake) where we lost the trail so we kind of made up our own... we climbed through some marshland and up the face of a cliff (not a very steep one but still). THAT was an adventure. When we got to the top though (where the cahce was supposed to be) Carl found me some blueberries :D

After we finished our hike and returned our GPS to the baypost (because Don Lee wanted it by 4:30 for some reason...?), we headed into town to stop by the bank and the BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL! Its been so long since I've been to an art festival! We wandered for a long time just looking at the different vendors and the different crafts and goods they had to offer to us - we didn't buy anything well... except PIE (a la mode of course!) and a ruben for Carl.

Then , we headed to Virginia where we saw Harry Potter (my second time) and it was just still as good as it was when I saw it a week ago :)

John got sent out on a trip of his own because we're so short staffed with regard to interpreters right now and so I'm in charge for the next week - of course its a great feeling (as per usual). We're doing wash right now and I'm full of itchy red welts (...must...not... itch!). Less than 30 days now until we are done here - I'm so excited. Still really nervous about taking that Quet trip with Carl but I keep hearing that I'll be fine. I miss everyone and everything at home so much! Ah civilization... I' m just not too excited about having to buy textbooks...

Photo Post!

Things have been going pretty well lately.

Carl came off water today and it makes me so glad to have him back if only for a few days :) His crew seems great and as always, I hope they all had a great time!

Plenty has been going on here on base - I've gotten pretty close with Kate Weber (an interpreter from Carl's training brigade), Roger Potter (an interpreter who goes to U of M!!) and Adam Brown (who works in the Commissary/Bay Post). They've been really great to me through some History department problems... we went for DQ the other day and we've been spending time after supper some nights picking raspberries.

And so... pictures!

Nothing has changed...

I feel pretty bad about not keeping this as up to date as I originally planned but in reality, nothing too exciting happens from day to day. Most are the same as the last.

Yesterday I finally found some wild strawberries (how I have forgotten the delicious taste of them!) and so between those and the raspberries that are around, it was a berry delicious afternoon! Maddie Price turned 6 yesterday - I called today to wish her a happy birthday; she seemed excited to hear from me :) I miss that girl!

A little over 4 weeks left here. Carl and I are talking about taking a mini-quetico trip all our own (only 2-3 days?) at the end of the season. I think he's pretty excited to show me everything there is out there but I'm pretty anxious that I won't be able to hack it... though I have seen "girlier" girls head out into the wild this summer. I'm just worried about the portages - I'm not exactly the strongest person alive... Then the trek back to Chicago (dispite it being longer that way... we told Andrew we would pick some things up for him in Quet and take them back to him...) and then HOME.

Off to work once again - another afternoon full of engegements and then the evening rendezvous...

PICTURE POST!!

July 4(this is Belle, one of Sarah's many puppies quenching her thirst at
the Ely parade on the very hot 4th of July we had)

(The Ely dance squad did a Michael Jackson dance (which was choreographed BEFORE he died)

ROPE SWING!!



OTHER MISC PICTURES



(The giant loon decoy)

JULY 12 SECRET BLACKSTONE HIKE!
(we found some wild raspberries YUM!)

(check out that beard!)

A Week Later...

Not much has been happening really. We're about halfway though the summer now and things have been fine.

Dad, Brian and Carl made it back safe (or at least alive) from their trip and it sounds like they had a great time. Now, the two visitors are back home and Carl is still here until ... Tuesday? I think.

I got a package of books from Mrs M the other day :) it made me so happy to know that people who are not my family are thinking of me. I've finished Sybil today and am already a good 50 pages into Silence of the Lambs.

Yesterday, Carl was searching his car for something and managed to find my old iPod under the passenger seat of big blue - we thought it was gone forever! Now I have two... hmm. So that was exciting - I still find it quite hard to believe. Now that I know how though, maybe I'll put movies on that one and use the new one exclusively for music? Or maybe I'll just give him the old one - not that he listens to much music anyway? I still need/want to get pictures of the 4th up. I'll do it soon - I promise!

Fantastic Fourth

Yesterday was one of the best 4th of Julys I've had in a long time. I headed toward Ely to go to my friend/roomie Sarah's house (and Katie her sister and my beetis buddy). We had so much fun! We went into town to watch the parade during which I got a REALLY bad sunburn... and then we headed back to her house and did some floating/swimming/kyaking/water sporting which was so fantastic. Its always so much more fun with friends! Then, after dinner, we hung around for a bit and headed back into town to watch the Ely fireworks which was also so great. I'll have to upload pictures from the day later (or tomorrow or in a few days or whenever I get a chance...). Carl, Dad and Brian come off water in a few days now so that's exciting. Rendezvous tonight of course... John is taking the next 2.5 days off (which I find FANTASTIC) so I'm pretty much in charge...

Not much has been happening... not much that is exciting in anyway that is.

Every day is still the same... wake up, morning chores, lunch, afternoon engagement, dinner, rendezvous, bed ... and the cycle goes on.

I finished White Oleander (which we much recall Carl got me for my birthday) and it was delicious and now I'm onto Sybil which is going pretty well. It makes me miss my psych classes a lot. Oh well. Fall is coming soon, right?

Tomorrow is the 4th (duah) and I'm pretty sure I'm headed out to Sarah's house (a roomie) for a little get together. Should be fun times. And... that's all I have I suppose. Carl, Brian and Dad are still on water of course. They get back off ... next Thursday I think.

DQ Challenge

Roger, Matt, Sam and Kendall are going on the DQ challenge tomorrow :(
(because they all have the day off)

DQ challenge - canoe from Moose Lk to Winton and take a portage at Winton and head to Ely where you portage through the drive through (with canoe!) at DQ and get ice cream!

Sounds like an awesome fun time to me!! But no day off for me tomorrow :(
Dad and Brian come tomorrow though so I wouldn't want to miss that even for the DQ challenge

So its been almost a whole week ... I find that hard to believe.

Not much has been happening though. Its hot and sticky now ... I'm not sure if I prefer this or the cold we had before. Carl left for his second trip yesterday morning - I didn't get up to see them off though ... we were up really late finishing laundry and he said that it was okay for me to sleep - how sweet of him, I know.

But we've been pretty busy with crews coming in and out... not much besides that.

The sunsets, stars and wildflowers are beautiful beyond description - they almost make my entire day.

I'm still not really enjoying one particular person I work with (MADISON) - he's 17 going on 7 ...that is seriously the attitude and mindset he has. I'm pretty sure he thinks its funny or that I enjoy him talking to me like I'm not as good as he is but really... it needs to stop. Maybe I'll have to talk to Joe or something (because John knows how it is and frankly doesn't care).

And... now its lunch time - Philly cheese steak day :)

PS - some kids next to me were just having a conversation about what an archdiocese is, becoming Pope, priesthood and being able to marry people ... and then something about being the captain of a ship... it was funny but you had to be here.

PPS - Dad and Brian leave home today!! I'm so excited to see them Monday!

So things lately have been pretty alright.

It took me a decent amount of patience to get onto this computer though because -someone- (who shall remain unnamed ...) has installed "triple a" onto one (probably two now) of the computers and some bozo is sitting there hogging a computer like its his own. Bummer.

The black flies have not completely died out ... but they don't seem to be biting at me anymore? I dunno. Tonight, I learned about a new kind of bug that decided to bite me ... they're biting midges or as one of the interpreters tonight tells me people call them "no-see-ums". They're smaller (or as small as) a fruit fly and when they bite ... I don't even know how to describe it. Its a sharp pain and you can't see the bug so its like "What the..." yeeah. Good fun.

I've been getting plenty of compliments on my phony French accent which is always good, no? :)

Other than that, not much is up. I wish I could go out with Dad and Brian when they come just to go... but I'd never be able to get 10 days off... its hard enough to get one. I just want to go out and experience it and not be stuck here for once. My choice I guess. Along with that, a lot of the crews tend to come back with little gifts for their interpreters (crew shirts, patches, keychains, stickers... something) and as fantastic History staff I get none of that and very little thanks as it is... it makes me feel really jealous but what can I do. Oh well.

Finally Friday

This week feels like the longest week of my life for some reason!

This morning, Carl took off with his first crew that is all his own. He was talking to me about them yesterday - sounds like things might be a little rough sometimes. One of the adults seems to have an ego/attitude problem and that should make things interesting...

As for me, its more of the same. Woke up feeling kind of crappy still (nasty cough/congestion) and then headed down to our little fort to do not much (because it rained last night (so I didn't have to water the garden) and I swept yesterday) which consisted of checking on the bunnies (who are doing well) and building tonight's fire...

Now I'm done engaging the off road crews and am just waiting around doing nothing until dinner after which there will be rendezvous.

Wow. So exciting and different I know :)

Cassie Day!!

So of course yesterday was Cassie Day - it was packed full of action and celebration! Carl came in to the SLU and woke me up around 9:15 which was sweet :) and then I got ready for the day, signed us out and waited in the parking lot for him (he was preparing a secret...).

We drove into Ely where we had some errands to do - I mailed Ariana Bell-Streety's baby shower present (the blanket I'd been making which came out a little messed up...), stopped at Subay (for lunch), Wells Fargo for money and got gas. We drove on through parts of the little town and ended up at a park/beach nearby. (I don't remember the name of it ... it starts with an "s"). We had a picnic lunch on that rock there :) it was cute and romantical. Then we spent some time walking around the little islands by the beach and just enjoying the nice day and a little dip of our feet in the water (which felt VERY nice on the bug bites on my ankles).

After lunching and laying around in the sun and the little foot soak in the water, we took off back on the road headed toward Virginia (because that's the nearest city of decent size...). We were on a quest to find an ATM that wouldn't charge a fee for me to deposit my pay check and that was ... an adventure. We drove 15 miles south of Virginia but it took much longer than it should have because of a fantastic thing called construction... after we found that, we were just in time to see the movie we were headed to. We saw Land of the Lost at a quaint little theater - the movie was okay; not as funny as I thought it would be though. After the movie, we drove around a little bit before dinner - Mom said Virginia is home of the world's largest decoy loon... we went to go find it but it wasn't there -they were preparing it for the parade (?) that is on Saturday... Then we headed to dinner and passed a Target (which means that Virginia is officially a legit city). We ate at a little place called the Whistling Bird - it was a Jamaican restaurant. We had some stuffed mushrooms and for entrees, Carl had steak and I had some shrimp linguine (it was supposed to have lobster too but they didn't have lobster...). Then it was into the car again for the drive "home".

Once back on base, Carl kept finding things to make us stay busy until "time" - we stopped by his cabin to find that he had been moved out of it during the day (so that had added a little bit of a delay on our part...). Then we headed over to the SLU because I assumed we'd just do presents there ... and all (most) my new friends (and REALLY new acquaintences) surprised me :) Then there was presents and delicious cake (from my roomies who work in the kitchen!!) and some general merriment. It was some great fun :) So here are some pictures of those happenings (these were taken by the lovely Sarah Berg herself...)

(<- exept Carl took this one) (Top L to R: Katie Berg, Sarah Berg, Danielle (she got here yesterday and shares my birthday/major!), Me, Erin Beaton Bottom: Millie Axness, Cait and Scott)

(Yeah you know I'm

attractive...Millie too...)

(Carl presents - White Olieander
and froggy umbrella :) )

Picture Catch Up

So I've decided that
I have a bunch of fun pictures that didn't seem suitable for any other posts and so I am taking the initiative to make simply a picture post. Enjoy <3 style="text-align: left;"><- Carl as a Knight at the Chicago Institute of Art :)

Crazy iguana at Shedd

Long time...

So I've been pretty busy lately - we've had rendezvous every night for the past 4 - 5 nights and by the time that's over, I'm just ready to collapse.

So... last Friday.
I'm pretty sure nothing exciting has been happening really. Lots of bugs. Engagements, rendezvous, lunch, dinner, breakfast (sometimes).

The other night, Carl and I decided after rendezvous to drive in and get some DQ (especially because my throat was sore...). We raced to get there and arrived at about 10:05 - they closed at 10. But luckily, Carl has skills with people and managed to talk them into trying to squeeze two cones out of the machine - and they did. Right as we were paying the machine "popped" and that means that there is no more ice cream - we were thankful.

Yesterday was pay day - we ran into town so Carl could open a Wells Fargo and get his pay check cashed. Oh but before that we ran to the post office to pick up a package for me from Alexandria, VA (they were another business that was willing to wait for us - they closed at 4:20 and we got there at 4:25ish). I loves me some packages :) they make me feel super loved.

Anddd I went to a management meeting this morning because John Duke has the day off ... it was great fun. Um... soon is lunch and then more engagement. No rendezvous tonight and I'm not really sure what I'll do.

Tomorrow is Cassie Day and I have it all off :D

Fab Friday

So... I know I missed out on yesterday. Still. We all pretty much had the day off yesterday. Carl and I took Emmet and another kid, Adam to the Soudan mine which was a good time. We did some Simon and Garfunkel jammin' in the car on the way there and actually ran into another staff member who was there with her brother and sister while we were there. We took an elevator.5 mile under ground at about 10 mph then boarded a little train thing and took it deeper into the mine where we climbed the 37 step spiral staircase (which apparently required a warning/disclaimer) to where the mining took place and got to see the ore shafts and hear what the drills sounded like and all kinds of fun things. It was most certainly a good time. Then on the way home, we stopped at a secret location to get something secret which I'm assuming is for my Birthday and then DQ and Pamida (so Carl could buy chapstick ... and Dorthy's Root Beer...)

Today... this morning, we helped move some benches that had been in the tent barn over to the Lodge ... in the rain. It was actually kind of nice. I got to know Maidson Shaw (our new History member) a little better and have decided I really don't like him in the slightest. He's a 17 almost 18 year old boy who is a know it all back talking snot ... I don't like him at all. We had 6 crews come off road today and so got to dress up in our fab clothes and do that shinding. We had the afternoon off after they came through because of course there was nothing to do after that. I went and finished casting off my knitting of that blanket and it looks really stupid ... somehow I managed to increase stitches and so the end of the blanket is bigger than the beginning. Hm... not cool. But... I got some mail today which is always fun. Package from home (with my itch relief products and my railroad hat and what I'm assuming is a Birthday card from the Martins (which I haven't opened yet of course) :)