This past week just flew by. We had a really great group of kids that toughed out a lot of dicey weather and did a great job maintaining their focus while they were here. It snowed on them 2 out of the 3 days they were in the field, but rather than complain or get discouraged, they instead viewed it as a unique opportunity that they may never get to experience again. (It doesn't snow very frequently in LA County.) By the end, they were calling to Chickadees, pointing out juniper and Jeffrey pines, smelling the wild onion and talking about the age of mountain ranges. I know it's idealistic to think that all these bits of knowledge will change the way they live their day to day lives, but I think it's important that they have a little more perspective on the world they live in. Los Angeles is a big city. It's a huge city, actually. Many of them have never lived anywhere else, some have never even been outside the county lines. But now they have a connection to and a mental image of a place that's so starkly different from where they live, yet also very intimately linked. And they understand the history and reality of that relationship. As I watch these kids begin to connect the dots, the connection grows deeper within me too. I've never had any desire to go to Los Angeles, but I'm now feeling a responsibility to these kids. If I'm teaching them how their daily lives affect ours up here, I should understand what that means, what that looks like. It's unlikely that I'll make it down to LA in the near future, but I'm hoping that at some point during this season I'll be able to make the 338 mile trek down the aqueduct and take a look at the other end of the pipe.
In other news, yesterday was my day off. Originally Morgan and I had talked about going skiing (Mammoth Mountain is 30 mins away, they got 500 inches of snow so far this year and are getting more every day.) But because it's been so snowy and cold here, we decided to look for the sun. Jess, another Committee employee, drove us down to Bishop to the Happy Boulders, where Morgan got to put her new shoes to use for the first time and I got to thoroughly embarrass myself with how long it's been since I climbed. Jess is a really great climbing partner/mentor. She worked at a climbing gym in Boulder, CO for a while, so not only is she super knowledgeable about body positions, hand grips, etc, she is also really encouraging and supportive. To me, this has always been one of the biggest barriers to truly enjoying climbing - the feeling of innate competition between you and the people you are climbing with. I always used to get really frustrated that I wasn't as good as the people I was with, and I wasn't seeing improvement as quickly as I wanted. But I'm slowly learning that the only competition should be between me and myself. It's a slow process, the strengthening of those tiny finger and forearm muscles and while it's going to take a lot of persistence, it will also require patience. It'll be good practice for me!
Anyway, we had a really nice day - lots of sun, lots of laughs, lots of fun! Here are a few pictures from our adventure:
What a great day!
After exhausting ourselves on the rock, we ran down to the Owen's River and Jess and I dunked our toes in to cool off while Morgan dove in. The cold literally stole her breath and she couldn't do anything except sputter until she got back onto shore. We all left feeling very refreshed! Then we went into Bishop and hit Mammoth Mountaineering Supply, an outdoor gear and consignment store, where we had to restrain ourselves from buying out the whole place. But we all came away with a reasonable amount of stuff and didn't spend our entire months wages so it was a success!
Going to Bishop is kind of like going to the city for us - there are so many things there that we don't have in Lee Vining: a movie theatre, a big grocery store, gear and thrift stores, a nursery, Mexican food, etc so it's pretty easy to go crazy when we're there. After a day spent in the sun, nothing sounded better than a giant margarita, so we made our way over to Las Palmas to meet Ryan, our friend who lives in Bishop. We gorged ourselves on chips, salsa, margaritas and the largest burrito I have ever seen. It was wonderful!
On the way home we stopped at Wild Willie's - a complex of hot spring pools outside of Mammoth - and soaked our exhausted bodies for 30 minutes or so. What a wonderful day! Thanks, girls, for the fun!
Sounds like another wonderful day - great photos. I climbed up to the M today with Carol. I loved your comment about the exhileration of pushing yourself uphill. It has been like that for me since we got back from Utah and I am no longer instantly and consistenly breathless. The Arrowleaf are amazing up there and the views of the Hyalites gorgeous. I will try to get some photos to you.
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