Best of 2017

My 2017 was full of more change than any other year of my life. I graduated from UW's Evans School with a Masters in Public Administration, survived a very scary job search, moved to California, moved in with my wonderful boyfriend Ben, and started my first real completely grown up job as a Climate Resiliency Fellow for Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. I went on a once in a lifetime backpacking trip with my dad in Alaska. And I went skydiving!

In 2017, I: 

• Lived in 2 states
• Worked 2 jobs: UW Admissions and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
• Applied to 15 jobs 
• Visited Alaska, New York, Maine, Virginia, South Carolina, California, and Oregon
• Took 21 flights  
• Saw 13 plays/shows 
• Read 9 books (not counting books for school) 
• Ran/hiked 255 miles
• Biked 154 miles

JANUARY

I started the year with a nice break from my second year of grad school - my family's annual trip to New York for an opera at the Met! 

We also saw Waitress and Book of Mormon, both of which are fantastic. 

It is also always a treat to see my wonderful friend Lauren! 

FEBRUARY

Amidst the grind of grad school we stayed sane with fun and silly activities, like the game night Ben inaugurated...

... and Melissa's magic-themed birthday party. 

Ben and I went to my dad's house for a relaxing long weekend in Bend!

MARCH

I led a group of about 15 students on a snowshoe trip at Mount Rainier for Green Evans, the student environmental club I was the president of. 

Spring break! Ben and I spent 10 days road tripping to San Francisco and back. First stop, sailing around the San Francisco Bay. 

Views of San Francisco from the sailboat

At Ben's friends' wedding!

Point Reyes National Seashore

Then we road tripped back up the California and Oregon coasts. Next stop, Redwood National Park and some serious camping in the rain. 

Oregon coast views

My final quarter of grad school (and 18th quarter at the University of Washington!) started in typical spring cherry blossom beauty. 

I spent a lot of time in this classroom. 

Ben and I went to some great shows, including the Game of Thrones Musical Experience. Not ashamed. 

APRIL

I tried to make the most of the occasional sunny days in Ballard, my gorgeous neighborhood. 

Marion and I marched for science. 

MAY

I had a lovely relaxing weekend on the Olympic Peninsula with my mom for Mother's Day. 

Ben and I went to see Cirque du Soleil with his friends, so good! 

We BEAT THE BRIDGE! Better than last year, when 2 of the 4 of us were too hungover to even make it to the race and the other 2 failed to beat the bridge. 

We celebrated the last few weeks of grad school with Evans Prom! 

Many cute photos were taken. 

After a very stressful few months juggling job applications with grad school classes and capstone project, I got a job interview and flew to the Bay Area (during the LAST week of class) to interview for the job I'd end up getting!

JUNE

We marked the end of grad school classes with the Evans School picnic. That afternoon, I got the phone call offering me my job! A job offer on my very last day of grad school - the timing was crazy perfect. 

We celebrated Marion's birthday with a great boat ride around Lake Union and a rooftop party. 

Grad school graduation! 

I didn't think my masters would come with the world's best boyfriend, but I got lucky. 

Graduation time!

A very meh ceremony

Evans School class of 2017!

It was an intense two years in this building. I learned so much and made such wonderful friends, but I was also ready to be done and move on to the next chapter. I miss it already, and I'll always be grateful for the endless hours in Parrington Hall. 

Summer funemployment adventures begin! We went on some nice hikes with a very resistant dog. 

Ben got a job offer with San Mateo County shortly after my job offer, so we finalized our plans to move to the Bay Area. It was a bittersweet decision for both of us that kicked off a frantic few weeks of packing and trying to cram in as much Northwest fun as we could. Top of the priority list was a goodbye trip to Mount Rainier!

We spent a very fun few days with Ben's friends visiting Leavenworth, whitewater rafting, camping, and backpacking in North Cascades. 

Dirty hikers in North Cascades!

The final stop on our goodbye tour of Washington was staying with friends at Ben's boss's cabin on the Hood Canal. 

JULY

We had a lovely going away party with many of our favorite people, including some out of town friends and family. 

We managed to check one last thing off the Seattle bucket list - biking to Woodinville!

I celebrated the 4th of July with great firework views and a few of my favorite women. 

Our last night in Seattle was beautiful. Again, bittersweet, but I was ready for a new adventure and I know Seattle will always be there if I want to come home to it. 

My city, always. 

We packed all our stuff into a janky trailer and survived a white-knuckle 2 days driving down to the Bay Area. 

Our new town: Redwood City! It's kind of suburban and has the world's worst town slogan, but we're making the most of it. 

We spent a very chaotic week apartment hunting before finding this place. This is pretty much the level of furniture we had for two months. 

In a very jarring transition, I left my brand new apartment after two nights and headed to Alaska for two weeks for a wonderful trip! First, a great day in Juneau getting the local's tour with Claire. 

We hiked to crazy ice caves in the Mendenhall Glacier, ate delicious seafood, wandered cute downtown Juneau, and watched the Game of Thrones premiere because a girl has priorities even when she's in Alaska. 

Then I met up with my dad and our three family friends for the 8-hour ferry ride to Skagway! The first leg of the beautiful journey to the Chilkoot Trail. 

The focus of our trip was 7 days backpacking the Chilkoot Trail. This was a once in a lifetime trip because my dad and our two family friends were all backcountry rangers on the trail in 1983, where they all met. I've grown up hearing stories about the trail my whole life so it was incredibly special to share one of my dad's favorite places with him. 

1983 backcountry rangers, revisiting the ranger station 13 miles up the trail where they worked together decades ago! 

The first few days of our hike wove slowly up through the forest. On the fourth day we got to the main event: ascending the Chilkoot Pass. The Chilkoot Trail is the historic route used by Klondike Gold Rush stampeders in the 1890s. This was the most grueling part they had to haul their hundreds of pounds of gear up - it was no easy feat just with a backpack. Chilkoot Pass is where the most recognizable image of the Gold Rush was taken: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/images/stairscl.jpg

Taking in the world from the top of Chilkoot Pass. A moment I'll never forget. 

Heading down from the pass into Canada - a totally spectacular and different landscape on the other side. 

An example of the thousands and thousands of Gold Rush artifacts that are strewn all along the trail. The Chilkoot Trail is known as "the world's longest museum" for this reason. 

A real live Alaskan grizzly bear! The final incredible bit of luck on a trip where we had already hit the jackpot with weather, health, and company. 

Soaking in the beauty of our lunch spot on day 6.

Spectacular views of glacial lakes and Alaskan peaks all through the second half of the trail. 

7 days, 35 miles, and we made it to the end of the Chilkoot Trail! A totally breathtaking place to cap it all off. It was a magical experience. 

A snapshot of dinner time on our last night - it was so good to get into the backpacking routine and state of mind for 7 full days. 

We took a very picturesque train ride back to civilization, which was quite jarring to suddenly be surrounded by cruise ship tourists when we'd been immersed in quiet and beauty and the company of other backpackers for a full week. We got ourselves some beer, took a prideful walk through town back to our hotel like our backpacks weighed nothing at all, and had the greatest shower and dinner of all time. The next day we took the ferry back to Juneau, then parted ways. It was such a special trip that I'll never forget. 

AUGUST

In a very quick and rough turnaround, I had 3 days to recover from my Alaska trip, continue moving in to our new totally unfurnished apartment, and start my new job at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. Thankfully, I was welcomed with tons of swag and friendly coworkers!

Continuing the summer of upheaval, Ben and I promptly flew to Virginia for his friends' beautiful wedding. 

I went to my first conference! My job is focused on developing my organization's climate action plan to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. It's been a very interesting and meaningful project to work on so far. 

SEPTEMBER

As Ben and I slowly got settled in to our new apartment and new jobs, we started sparing some time to go to fun shows in San Francisco like this musical.

I took Ben on a very surprising surprise outing for his belated birthday: SKYDIVING! It was awesome. Totally lived up to the hype. 

After a hellish few months of buying furniture and unpacking, we slowly started to get out and explore the area. This is from a hike in one of my park district's preserves near our house - love those views of the ocean! 

I started working at the open space district just in time to be there for the organization's largest accomplishment in decades - opening a brand new park to the public, allowing access to the highest peak on our side of the Bay Area. It was a really special milestone to experience, and quite a view of the whole bay!

Ben and I have spent some fun weekend time exploring his hometown, Oakland. 

Another highlight of our time in the Bay Area so far has been going sailing on Ben's friend's boat! We even raced in a couple of low key sailboat races. 

I took a quick weekend vacation for my family's annual get-together in Myrtle Beach, though unfortunately I was sick the whole time. I also got to see Dahlia briefly! 

OCTOBER

Open space district staff photo - it's been a great place to work so far. 

I also finally started exploring some of San Francisco! We're about 30 miles south of the city, so it's been harder to spend time there than I expected. On this day I was going to a talk at the Presidio for work, so I got to go up early and do a quick hike beforehand. 

NOVEMBER

Ben and I spent our 2-year anniversary in Napa with his friends. One of them works at a winery so we got the insider tour.

No more romantic way to spend an anniversary than at a municipal management conference, right? 

We had the delightful treat of a visit from Elise and Hannah during Thanksgiving break! I spent Thanksgiving with Ben's family in Oakland. 

Another nice hike in our favorite nearby park.

DECEMBER

We had our first houseguest, Ben's college roommate, and went on a nice hike and checked out our closest beach town. It is definitely a California perk to be half an hour from sandy beaches and wander in a t shirt in December! 

Ben took me on a great surprise outing to Marin County, including this iconic spot. 

We also did a little hike in Muir Woods National Monument - great to check off a new national park site this year! 

I spent Christmas with my mom's family in beautiful snowy Maine.

I always love visiting Maine and walking around the island by my aunt and uncle's house!

A beautiful and relaxing way to spend some of winter break. 

Finally, I spent the last few days of my year celebrating my 27th birthday on a surprise trip to Monterey that Ben planned. We went to the aquarium, went sea kayaking and saw otters, seals, sea lions, and THOUSANDS of jellyfish, and enjoyed a cute dinner and bed and breakfast in town. We spent the last few days of the year relaxing and celebrated New Years with friends, hot pot, board games, and champagne. 

Here's to a less chaotic and more adventure-filled 2018!