Best of 2012

I thought it would be a fun project to look through all my pictures from 2012 and pull out the best ones and do a recap. This was a fun exercise because it reminded me just what an incredible year I've had - the most I could narrow it down is 83 pictures! I'm so thankful for all the opportunities and fun I've had and what great friends and family I have. In 2012 I went on 23 flights, including trips to Hawaii, New Zealand, Oregon, and Maine. I am one lucky girl and I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store!

JANUARY

2012 began in college tradition - watching the Space Needle fireworks at Gasworks park with my best friends!

I had just gotten home from 6 months in New Zealand and was very happy to be reunited with this incredible ladies.

Claire, Darcy and I started 2012 by doing the Resolution Run 5K on New Years Day, which included a freezing but exhilarating dip in Lake Washington.

I started school at UW again and had a newfound appreciation for how beautiful my city is after being gone for six months.

I belatedly celebrated my 21st birthday with some friends.

I did the No Pants Light Rail Ride for the third year with Claire and Ellie. Our picture, out of the 500 participants, ended up on the front page of the Seattle Weekly website.

It snowed, which is very unusual for Seattle, and we had a whole week off from school.

We sledded on the giant hill behind our house with dozens of other college students. It was awesome.

Taylor, Darcy and I went to the Tour de Nerdfighting, a show/concert/book signing for a brilliant and hilarious pair of brothers we've watched on Youtube for years.

We got to meet them! They are some of my personal heroes so this was very exciting.

FEBRUARY

February was pretty uneventful because I was too busy being depressed about being home from New Zealand and winter and school to do fun things. But Darcy turned 21 and we had a fun party and all dressed up so that brightened the month! 

MARCH

Bernard and I combatted our newfound long distance situation by meeting in Hawaii for spring break - it's halfway between Seattle and New Zealand! Totally justified! Yep, that's my life. It was incredible, I absolutely love Hawaii!

We went to the Big Island and stayed in a condo in Kona for a few days and enjoyed the beach and the adorable laid-back town vibe.

We did a little road trip around the island and saw some amazing places, like Hapuna Beach.

We visited the beautiful (and giant) Akaka Falls.

Then we went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for a night.

We saw lava!! This is a terrible picture because it was so far away but it was still cool.

There are lava flows all over the place, so cool.

This is the steaming Kilauea lava lake, seen at night.

We spent our last night at a fancy resort back in Kona.

A trip that was way too short and emotionally charged, of course, but a vacation of a lifetime! I hope I can go back someday soon!

I came back to school to start spring quarter and the amazing cherry trees in bloom made things a lot better.

We also got some weirdly nice spring weather so of course we took full advantage of that and hung out outside a lot.

APRIL

Claire and I got really into zombie tag this quarter and I made it the farthest I've ever made it in the game - we made it to the final mission and were the last 2 girls and among the last 7 players standing! We perished valiantly in the final mission.

My amazing mom got a new job and left her job at Mt. Rainier National Park after 10 years. She sold the house I grew up in in Puyallup and moved to the beautiful San Juan Island. So proud of her, I really enjoyed hearing her staff sing her praises at her going away party.

Amy and Darcy and I started to utilize finally being 21, seen here at a friend's birthday party in Fremont!

MAY

Claire and I went to see one of my favorite musicians, Ben Kweller, which was an awesome show.

I took a much-needed weekend out of town at my dad's house in beautiful Sunriver, Oregon.

I was an extra in a web series I watch that's shot in Seattle! It was fascinating to meet people I've watched online for years and see how the show is put together. You can see me this episode at 8:30!

Jorge hosted a tequila night and taught us all sorts of interesting facts. We went a bar called Booze and Burritos that apparently doesn't serve burritos after 10. We concluded our night at the most disgusting 24-hour Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood.

Claire, Darcy and I went up to my mom's gorgeous new place on San Juan Island for Memorial Day weekend. This beach is right in front of our house!

We did some walking and enjoyed the sun and scenery.

It was a much needed break from the city!

JUNE

Darcy and I completed the Survivor Mud Run 5K. We had a lot of fun on the obstacles getting dirty!

I finished my junior year of college! Post-finals delirium seen here.

We celebrated by going to Sky High, the trampoline gym for adults.

Then I got on a plane and headed back to New Zealand for the summer!!

I found an [unpaid] internship with Habitat for Humanity and worked 20 hours a week all summer. I was ecstatic to find something productive to do so I could build my resume and get work experience while getting to see my boyfriend and returning to my home away from home in Christchurch. 

My first weekend there, we went to see the All Blacks rugby team play. When I was in New Zealand last time they hosted the rugby world cup and the All Blacks won. Kiwis are obsessed with rugby so this was a pretty big deal!

We went up to Wellington for the weekend so I could run my first ever half marathon! I didn't walk too much and finished in 2:23. This was a huge accomplishment that took months of training so I'm proud of myself for doing it :)

JULY

Bernard and I and our friends Greg and Suyi went on an epic backpacking trip to the Welcome Flats hot pools (a trip I did last time and loved). It was winter in New Zealand because our seasons are opposite, by the way. My last summer was in 2010.

Hot pools! We made some hiking buddies on the 7 hour slog to the hut.

Happy to be back at the car!

Suyi had an extremely fun Playboy-themed birthday party.

AUGUST

Christchurch continued to recover, slowly, from the devastating earthquakes in 2011 and I continued to be fascinated by that process.

Bernard and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary at Hanmer Springs!

We went on a short trip down to Queenstown, where neither of us had spent much time before. It was a lovely weekend!

The weather was terrible but Queenstown was beautiful anyway!

We went up the gondola to the luge track - extremely fun and awesome views.

They have a bar where drinks are served in teapots. Need I say more?

Even though it was winter there were still some warm sunny days so I enjoyed exploring the city after work and revisiting some of my favorite spots from my last stay.

Bernard and I went on a weekend trip up to Arthur's Pass National Park and did a lot of fun exploring. I'm still not desensitized to New Zealand's beauty.

Castle Hill, basically a rocky playground and possibly one of my favorite places in the world!

Classic NZ scenery at Castle Hill

Me getting my tourist on at Lake Colleridge. What an incredible country. 

SEPTEMBER

All too soon, my summer in New Zealand was over. I'm so thankful that I had the chance to go back. It was heartwrenching to leave a place that I've lived in and loved for 9 months now, and of course to leave my boyfriend, but I hope as my post-graduation plans come together I'll find myself back there someday soon!

Soon after getting back to Seattle, Claire and I set off to climb Mt. St. Helens before school started! It was quite the climb...

After 5 hours we made it to the summit! A life goal crossed off my list, one of the most amazing hikes I've ever done.

It was a truly incredible sight, especially knowing that 30 years ago this mountain used to be cone-shaped. It was awesome to look down on that huge crater and imagine the force that blasted all of that rock out in a matter of seconds! 

Claire and Darcy and I made a trip down to Portland for the weekend to do the Color Run 5K!

Naturally we celebrated after, and had fun getting to know Portland a little better. 

OCTOBER

I couldn't be too sad about leaving New Zealand because before I knew it Bernard was in Seattle! He came to the US with some friends for a month. Unfortunately I didn't get to spend the whole thing with him but I did get 5 days to show him Seattle! It was fun for our roles to finally be reversed and to have him see where I'm from and meet my friends and family.

I wore him out playing tour guide. We were blessed with a whole week of warm sunny weather, unheard of for October!

It was great to have him here :)

Then we went to Vegas with his friends! I'd never been. I think 3 days was about all I needed.

We mostly enjoyed the sunny weather and the pool in our hotel.

We also enjoyed checking out the Vegas nightlife. Unfortunately a lot of our trip was overshadowed by having to say goodbye at the end, not knowing when we'll see each other next! We're hanging in there and hopefully we'll have a plan soon :)

I applied to graduate in March 2013. I spent the rest of the quarter freaking out about how quickly college has gone and what I'm going to do after.

Darcy and Claire and I made the most of college Halloween festivities and went to some house parties, some clubs on Capitol Hill, and some bars in U District on different nights. 

Clearly, Halloween was successful.

NOVEMBER

Oh yeah, there was a little election, remember that? Washington legalized gay marriage and marijuana and this was the first presidential election I could vote in so it was exciting to be into the election for the first time and I was very happy with the results. 

Darcy, Claire, Amy and I did the Mustache Dash 5K, which was obviously hilarious. 

I went out to my mom's awesome house for Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and some family friends. It was great to have some time to relax and get out of the city and hang out with adorable dogs. 

Have I mentioned that San Juan Island is gorgeous? 

We did some painting! I discovered that I'm awful at painting but it was really fun and inspiring anyway. 

DECEMBER

Amy, Claire, Darcy, Ellie, and I (finally, all the housemates in one place!) went to see the Nutcracker ballet, which was awesome of course. 

Katy, Amy, Claire, Darcy and I celebrated being done with finals by finally checking out some of the clubs in downtown Seattle!

Then finally, it was winter break. I spent a week at my dad's house in Sunriver but forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of the snowy woodsy gorgeousness. Then we went to Portland for Christmas with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Olivia and I made a gingerbread house. How cute is she?

Every year my dad dresses up as Santa and brings books for everyone. The kids love it and haven't caught on yet so that's always a fun tradition.

Then I headed to Maine with my mom to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins! I celebrated my 22nd birthday with a reunion with my study abroad best friend Dahila. I don't know if I could have thought of a better birthday gift :) 

I also got to spend a lot of quality time with my cousin Leah and enjoy how gorgeous Maine is!

I concluded the year cross-country skiing with Dahlia and her boyfriend Steve.

It really was quite a year. Thankful, and can't wait for the next! 

<3

My second summer in New Zealand!

If you had told me when I wrote my last New Zealand blog 10 months ago that I’d be spending my entire summer back in Christchurch I would have been in a state of disbelief, excitement, and gratitude. That's how I still feel now and I’ve been back from my second stay down under for a month! I have been incredibly lucky to spend 9 months of the last 15 abroad and I can only wonder what the next entry on this blog will be considering I graduate in only 5 short months!

My second stay in New Zealand was completely different than the first. I was working (unpaid of course) in an internship at Habitat for Humanity instead of studying at the University of Canterbury. I was living with my lovely boyfriend Bernard instead of living in student housing with all of my study abroad friends. I was completely surrounded by Kiwis instead of hanging out with Americans a lot. Essentially, it was real life instead of study abroad fantasy travel life, and it was awesome!

I thought it would be fun to do a recap with some pictures of what I did in my 3 months of NZ “summer” (remember, their seasons are opposite ours, so this was actually my 4^th winter in a row)! First of all, we did some awesome trips.

About a week after I arrived Bernard and I hopped on a plane and went up to the amazing capital city Wellington for the weekend. We had a lot of fun out on the town with his friends but the most significant thing that happened is that I ran my first half marathon! 

Welcome Flats - the group

Welcome Flats - one of the most awesome hikes! 

Welcome Flats is an overnight hike to incredible hot pools in the mountains that we did last year. It was so awesome we had to do it again! It was unfortunately the only overnight hike of my summer because Bernard sprained his ankle and other things took priority but we packed a lot of fun into one trip - road trip across the island, great company, amazing scenery, and of course you can't beat the hot pools! 

Hanmer Springs

For our one year anniversary (woohoo!) Bernard and I drove up to a nearby resort town with natural hot pools with our friends Greg and Suyi. An excellent celebration! 

 Queenstown

Probably the best weekend trip Bernard and I made was to the beautiful tourist destination of Queenstown. He hadn't been since he was a kid and I only spent one day there last time so we really enjoyed the amazing scenery, the nightlife, and the gondola and luge despite our bad luck with weather! 

Arthur's Pass - Foggy Peak

Arthur's Pass - Castle Hill

Arthur's Pass - Lake Coleridge

Bernard and I got a good deal on a hotel in the middle of Arthur's Pass National Park so we had a great time on this weekend getaway - one of my favorite weekends. We had a lot of fun exploring various gorgeous (and I mean GORGEOUS) spots along the way and the best part is that all of this is within 2 hours of Christchurch! These Kiwis take their backyard for granted.

Mt. Somers

We spent one of our last weekends doing a day hike around the very pretty Mt. Somers. There are so many beautiful spots in NZ, I still haven't even come close to seeing everything I want to see! 

New Zealand is stunning, obviously, and all of these trips were ‘heaps’ of fun (sweet as, mate!) but what I really loved about my second stay in NZ was that I was actually living normal life. I was going to work every day, going to the grocery store and the movies, enjoying the highs and lows of living with a boyfriend for the first time, and just hanging out with Bernard and his friends and making the most of the crazy experience of assimilating into his life. It was really cool to get to a point where Christchurch just became home and I stopped noticing all the little differences so much (accents, money, driving on the left). Some snapshots of my normal Christchurch life: 

The Habitat for Humanity office where I worked for 20 hours a week - a great way to fill my time and build my resume while still getting to spend my summer where I wanted! 

Many a weekend spent watching the All Blacks kick butt at rugby :)

Our extremely successful pub quiz team, Team Boom, where we spent every Monday evening! 

Silliness at Suyi's birthday party

Exploring the city - there's been some rebuilding over the year I've known Christchurch so that continued to be something that interested me. Lots of cool art and shows and cafes popped up during the summer that weren't there last year! 

More city exploring - the coastline in Christchurch is beautiful and I wish I'd spent more time out there! On this lovely sunny day I went for a walk/wander after work and it was probably one of my favorite days because it reminded me of first exploring this area a year ago and how much things had changed and how happy I was to be there again. 

Surprise birthday brunch for Bernard at the awesome restaurant across the street from our house

Hanging out at home - lovely normal life! 

All in all, an incredible summer. I loved what a fun and unique (and yes, sometimes challenging) experience it was to settle in to real, normal daily life in another country and those little moments of novelty that still persist. Most of all (cheesiness alert!) I am so thankful that I had the chance to spend 3 months with Bernard actually getting to be together in semi-normal circumstances and how fun and easy that turned out to be. Bernard - thank you for some of the best months I can remember. All this madness has been worth it and I hope we manage to keep riding this roller coaster together a little longer so I can have more amazing NZ photos to put on this blog! :) It has been a crazy year but I've also had more fun and learned more about myself this year than in the rest of my life combined. Coming home has been rough, just like last time, but I'm excited to see what the future holds for me once I graduate in March and I'm hoping that New Zealand will be seeing me in 2013! 

x

Response - Conservation Philosophy

This is a response to the book Secret Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs for the Honors class I'm taking this quarter. Mostly posting this here because the photos make the file too big to send any other way :)

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The thing I found most interesting about The Secret Knowledge of Water was how the desert, a rather unconventional environment, served as the backdrop for a classic story of solitary, adventurous, and even spiritual travel in the desert. It made me think about the desert, and in thinking about the desert I realized I’d never really given it any thought before. I definitely fall into the camp of associating wilderness with mountains, probably because I’ve grown up around a lot of mountains and it’s where most of my outdoor experiences have taken place. Thinking about wilderness and why we care about it in the context of the desert helped me think more about some of my own values and assumptions and realize that the reasons I value mountains and forests can apply more broadly to all environments.

Many of the benefits I think wilderness can give to people are in the traditional romantic view of wilderness. The most important is that being in wilderness allows us to test ourselves and be humbled by our own powerlessness. I think being in nature can humble you and awe you with the beauty and complexity of the environment and that can be a very profound experience. I also think wilderness can offer people a place to escape from all the technology and stress of normal life, which is only becoming more important with time as our society changes. What surprised me so much when reading Childs’ story was that he experienced all of these benefits in a place I’d never imagined could amaze and humble you because I’ve never thought of the desert as very complex or beautiful.

The personal nature of this book made me think about my own experiences outdoors and it surprised me to realize how similar the things Childs thought about in a desert are to things I’ve experienced too. I grew up mostly in the Pacific Northwest and my parents are Park Rangers so I spent a lot of time outside as a kid but have only really come back to hiking and such on my own in the last few years. I find myself very drawn to mountains, possibly in a similar way that Childs identifies with deserts because they represent home and his family/parents, so almost all of the outdoor experience I’ve had has been in mountains. What I’d like to do now is go through a few photos from my most memorable outdoor experiences and connect those experiences to the similar ideas I found in Childs’ book.

(Mt. Fyffe, New Zealand)

One similarity that I’d never considered before reading Childs’ book is between mountains and deserts. I think in the desert Childs feels fear and awe at the power of the inhospitable environment around him and that the challenge of living in that environment is a test that sharpens your senses and makes you appreciate the fragility of life. This is clearly true for mountains as well. This day hike was the first real mountain I’ve summited and even though it was an easy, non-technical climb I was still struck by how extreme the environment was and how easily I could take what I was looking at, extrapolate it to a few times higher and steeper and more technical, and imagine how scary and invigorating that would be. 

(Welcome Flats, New Zealand)

(Routeburn Track [Great Walk], New Zealand)

One difference that was really noticeable between New Zealand and my limited knowledge of conservation in the US is that the protected lands in New Zealand are substantially more developed. The best example of this is the huge number of backcountry huts, which range from the really nice huts pictured here (containing mattresses, running water, drop or even flush toilets, often firewood that’s been lifted in by helicopter, and sometimes a hut warden) to small bivouacs that contain only two mattresses and maybe a candle holder. They have an immense network of trails with various degrees of maintenance, from awesome suspension bridges to just occasional orange markers on trees where you have to cross rivers in between. The high-end example of developing protected land for tourism is the nine “great walks”, including the Routeburn Track, which provide a lot of revenue for the Department of Conservation (high season hut tickets are $50 a night). These are very maintained with multiple huts along the way. When I did the Routeburn Track it was just towards the end of avalanche season so they had been using dynamite to bring down snow above the trail and were offering a subsidized helicopter ride across the one remaining part of the track that was closed so visitors could complete the whole trail. I think this is a great example of different views on conservation.

(Abel Tasman Track [Great Walk], New Zealand)

The main reason I bring up how developed much of the protected land in New Zealand is is to make the point that meaningful experiences with nature can happen outside of what’s strictly defined as “wilderness”. None of the places pictured are wilderness, and in fact, I’m not sure that I’ve ever been in a true wilderness. The closest I came to wilderness was a few hiking trips where we carried tents and water and hiked on less of a trail and more of a bushwhack between markers – but of course there was still a visible human impact in these places. However, I still often had a sense of having these places to myself – when the environment around you is so huge and beautiful and stunning I don’t think another few people makes a difference. This is shown above in pictures of a 3-day hike in New Zealand’s most visited National Park where we rarely saw other hikers.

(Welcome Flats, New Zealand)

To go back to the powerful experiences that people can find in nature, as found in Childs: wilderness can test you, help you realize how little you know and how sheltered your usual life is, give you time and space away to think and connect with the environment, humble you with your insignificance and the power of nature, and amaze you with the beauty and complexity of the environment. I want to argue that all of these experiences are possible outside of wilderness, too. Of course there’s a certain romantic appeal to the solitary adventures of Childs or Muir, but the fact is that a lot of the meaning of those experiences comes from exclusion – that they’re the only ones in these places and that most people cannot, for whatever reason, do the same. I think idealizing that sort of experience is harmful because it’s not something that the general public can have. If we want people to care about the environment they need to be able to experience it, and we need to admit that just because an area isn’t wilderness doesn’t mean it has no value. One of my greatest moments of appreciation of the environment was hiking 7 hours in the rain to get to the natural hot pools in the picture above and soaking in the pools with my friends appreciating how unspoiled they are despite all the visitors and then seeing an avalanche come down one of the surrounding mountains.

(Milford Sound, New Zealand)

Accepting that there is value in places where people have visited is, in my opinion, the first step towards a better philosophy of how to manage the land. There is an inherent contradiction that wilderness advocates don’t seem to address, which is that these powerful experiences of Childs and Muir can only happen in sacred untouched places where you’re the only one. It is not possible for all of us to have that, but if we admit that a view is beautiful regardless of if you’re standing on a trail or other people are around, it becomes clear that we need to change our value system so the value of an environment is not determined by how many people are there but by its actual ecological and aesthetic value. We should set some land, like wilderness, aside for biocentric purposes regardless of human concerns and then allow access to other areas. I think only by seeing nature with your own eyes can you appreciate and value it, so we should not demean places like the Grand Canyon or Milford Sound because they are touristy.

The last point I want to make is that valuing landscapes other than the traditional romantic wilderness allows us to be amazed by a wider range of places and appreciate the environment as we interact with it in everyday life. We should not say that just because we’re in a city people can’t feel elated as they walk through the quad when the cherry trees are in bloom. I think we should encourage people to stop and look even for a few seconds when the mountain is out because that kind of connection of the environment to us is what makes people want to protect the environment. I think one of the greatest lessons I learned from all the time I spent hiking in New Zealand is that you should notice the beauty all around you, no matter how much it is wilderness.