Family Visit

Last weekend I was fortunate to have my parents and Gil come for a last visit to Yosemite.  In some ways this was a last-hurrah for me before leaving for my new job.  I know I'll visit this park again, but for now, it was a chance to say goodbye.

Everyone arrived Friday night and though we were up late visiting, we were still up early Saturday and off to Tuolumne.  We hiked to Cathedral Lake.  It was a place I hadn't yet been and it was lovely.  The trail was really busy but the weather was perfect.

Stopping for a break.

We had lunch on the lake and enjoyed the views.  It was chilly up there, especially when the wind blew.

Mom and Dad with Cathedral Peak in the background.

Sunday we went to church and had a restful afternoon.  Monday morning Gil left for Las Vegas and my parents and I went up to Glacier Point.  It was a little hazy with forest fire smoke and the waterfalls were mere trickles, but it is still a beautiful view of Half Dome and the east end of Yosemite Valley.  

Pondering my park one last time from a comfortable perch in the Geologist cabin at Glacier Point. 

My parents left Monday afternoon.  It was a grand weekend and it went way too fast.  Now I'm in the mad dash to get projects finished at work and my life arranged and packed for my next big adventure.

Changes

My third summer season in Yosemite National Park is quickly winding to a close.  You wouldn't know it by looking at my room and the lack of packing taking place at the moment, though.  

Winter.  What is Kate doing for the winter?  I'm sure this is the question on all your minds.  Will she go back to Death Valley?  Will she go to another park?  Will she spend the winter in Houston again?  Will she work on an agricultural exchange somewhere in South America to improve her Spanish?

No to all of the above.  This winter holds a big change for me.  A significant change.

My first season with the park service was in 2004.  Over the past twelve years I have worked 14 seasons with the National Park Service in seven different parks and six different states.  I was able to celebrate the NPS Centennial last month in the Yosemite high country.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.

After 12 wonderful and fulfilling years with the NPS, I'll be turning in my hat and badge and hanging up my NPS uniform next week.  I will be saying goodbye to the Department of the Interior...

... and hello to the Department of Agriculture.  Oh my.  I have accepted a permanent job with the US Forest Service.  I start the beginning of October as a Natural Resource Specialist - Recreation for the Eldorado National Forest.

I will be moving to the Placerville, CA area, about four hours north of where I'm living now.  The job is permanent, which means no more moving every six months, no more limbo as to whether or not I have a job, and there is no furlough.  I'm excited and nervous for this new adventure which is fast approaching and immensely blessed.

Labor Day Weekend

The joke of the weekend was I flew from California to Nevada so I could drive back to California.

It was a wonderful weekend.  I was already scheduled for a four day weekend and was able to squeeze a fifth day out of my supervisor and it was grand.

I flew from San Jose to Las Vegas on Friday.  Gil picked me up from the airport and we hurried to campus.  He went to class and I went to the library.  The University of Nevada Las Vegas library doesn't quite have the feel or the smell of my no-longer standing Merrill Library from my USU days, but it served as a quiet place to take a quick nap and read until Gil got out of class.

We left early Saturday morning, headed for Newport Beach.  We made good time and arrived around 10 am.  We wandered the beach, looking at tide pools and watching the waves.  Gil is an expert at catching the little crabs that were hanging out in the tide pools.  I did put my feet in the surf but my goodness, that water is COLD!  The Pacific is definitely colder than the Gulf of Mexico. 

 The section of beach we were on was a CA state park called Crystal Cove and a favorite of Gil's.  There was a quaint visitor center, and lots of cute little rental cabins along one section of the beach.  There was also a shake shack where we got lunch and shared a malted chocolate milk shake.

 We changed into our swimsuits and picked a spot on the beach and set up the umbrella and put down our towels.  Gil went and frolicked in the water and I stayed in the shade.  That water is cold.  Gil had brought a kite and we enjoyed that for a bit.  I stayed under the umbrella and read my book while he put on his wetsuit and did some snorkeling.  It was a beautiful, clear, warm but not too hot, sunny day. 

We stayed the night in Redlands with Gil's cousin and her family and went to church with them the next morning.  The Redlands Temple shares a parking lot with their church building.  We also drove by the Newport Beach Temple on Saturday.

Monday we headed up into the Spring Mountains on the west side of Las Vegas to explore the bristlecone grove up there and to see if we could find the Rain Tree.  I know I've said it many times, but I love bristlecones!

A very sappy cone.  The sunlight made the sap really sparkly.  Lovely!

 We made it to the Rain Tree.  It was huge for a bristlecone.

 Out there somewhere, just barely out of sight, is Las Vegas.

I flew back to San Jose on Tuesday.  It was a lovely weekend and a great semi-last big adventure before school, classes, homework, reading, projects, and papers start in earnest for Gil.